段落功能与意义的再现（2）

　　(13)有一天，他忽然得了急病，赶快叫家人去请东街的汪医生。那家人急急忙忙地跑去，一时寻不着东街的汪大夫，却把西街牛医王大夫请来了。差不多先生病在床上，知道寻错了人;但病急了，身上痛哭，心里焦急，等不得了，心里想道：“好在王大夫同汪大夫也差不多，让他试试看罢。”于是这位牛医生王大夫走近床前，用医牛的法子给差不多先生治病。不上一点钟，差不多先生就一命呜呼了。

　　One day he suddenly fell ill and immediately told one of his family to fetch Dr. Wang of East Street. The latter went in a hurry, but couldn't find the physician on East Street. So he fetched instead Veterinarian Wang of West Street. Mr. Cha Buduo, lying on his sickbed, knew that a wrong person had been brought home. But, with pain and worry, he could not afford to wait any longer. So he said to himself, "Luckily, Vet Wang is about the same as Dr. Wang. Why not let Vet Wang have a try?" Thereupon, the veterinarian walked up to his bed to work on him as if he were a cow. Consequently, Mr. Cha Buduo kicked the bucket before an hour was out.

　　(胡适《差不多先生传》，张培基译)

　　该段文字语言流畅、幽默，通过看病的具体实例，塑造了一位凡事苟且、办事不认真的人物形象：知道请错医生后，差不多先生不但不纠正，反而依旧马虎，让兽医治病，最终命丧黄泉。作者借此针砭这种害人又害己的社会陋习。由于人物形象主要是通过具体事件表现出来的，因此清楚地表现整个事件的起因、发展和结局，对烘托主题很重要。译文完全遵循原文的时间发展顺序排列信息，并相应译出必要的衔接词语，如“so、but、thereupon”等等，清楚地展现整个事件发展脉络，较好地表现了原文的信息功能。