王承磊·《平等的待遇》英译

某市新上一座高档火化炉。

没钱用低档的，费用一千。有钱用高档的，费用五千。

低档与高档的区别是骨灰全与不全。

但谁都想给老人留个全骨，只是价格太高。

有人将此事诉至市长信箱。

分管市长见后，不以为然。有钱的进高级酒店，没钱的进小吃店，有钱的开车，没钱人骑车。有点档次，很正常嘛。

没几天，这市长的亲爹没了。去火化时，不巧，高档楼坏了，只好在低档炉烧了。

三天以后，殡仪馆接到了市里的一红头文件：关于取缔高档炉的决定。

其中一句是：要给死者一个平等的待遇。

Equal Treatment

A sophisticated crematory furnace was recently installed in the mortuary house of xx city.

Of course it served the rich people, who could afford the cost—5000 for each use. The poor people could only make use of the ordinary furnace. Its cost was only 1000.

What made the difference between the sophisticated and the ordinary was whether the ashes gathered were full or partial.

Who didn’t want to keep full ashes, the only remains of the ancestor? But the cost was indeed too high.

Somebody made an appeal to the mayor through the channel of the mayor’s mailbox, deeming the practice unfair.

The deputy mayor in charge of the matter didn’t see eye to eye with the appeal. He thought there was nothing wrong about it. Rich people went to high-ranking restaurants, while the poor had their meals at snacks. Rich people drove their private cars while the poor rode their bicycles. It was quite natural for the existence of such different social ranks.

Just a few days later, the father of the related mayor died and was sent to the crematorium. Unfortunately the sophisticated furnace was out of function at the moment and the body had to be committed to the flames in the ordinary one.

Three days since this incident happened, an official notice in red heading was issued to the crematorium from the municipal authorities. It conveyed the formal decision of abolishing the sophisticated furnace.

The decision contained such an argument as: all the dead were entitled to an equal treatment.