美麗新世界 Brave New World 第3章(2)

The child scampered off into the bushes and was lost to sight.

那姑娘匆匆地跑掉了，消失在灌木叢里。

"Exquisite little creature!" said the Director, looking after her.

“美妙的小東西!”主任望著她說，

Then, turning to his students, "What I'm going to tell you now," he said, "may sound incredible. But then, when you're not accustomed to history, most facts about the past do sound incredible."

然后轉(zhuǎn)身對學(xué)生們講，“我現(xiàn)在要想告訴你們的話，”他說，“聽起來也許有些難以相信，不過，在你們不了解歷史的時候，過去的事大部分聽起來的確叫人難以相信。”

He let out the amazing truth.

他講出了一些驚人的事實。

For a very long period before the time of Our Ford, and even for some generations afterwards, erotic play between children had been regarded as abnormal (there was a roar of laughter); and not only abnormal, actually immoral (no!): and had therefore been rigorously suppressed.

在我主福帝時代之前很久，甚至那以后好多代，孩子之間的性游戲都是被看做不正常的(爆發(fā)出一陣哈哈大笑);不但不正常，甚至不道德(不會吧!);因此曾經(jīng)受到嚴厲的壓制。

A look of astonished incredulity appeared on the faces of his listeners.

聽他說話的人臉上露出驚訝的、不肯相信的表情。

Poor little kids not allowed to amuse themselves? They could not believe it.

連讓可憐的小娃娃快活快活都不行嗎?他們簡直不能相信。

"Even adolescents," the D.H.C. was saying, "even adolescents like yourselves …"

“就連少年也不準的，”主任說著，“就連像你們這樣的少年也……”，

"Not possible!"

“不可能!”

"Barring a little surreptitious auto-erotism and homosexuality–absolutely nothing."

“除了一點偷偷摸摸的自戀行為和同性戀之外絕對什么都沒有。”

"Nothing?"

“什么都沒有?”

"In most cases, till they were over twenty years old."

“大部分人沒有，直到滿了二十歲。”

"Twenty years old?" echoed the students in a chorus of loud disbelief.

“二十歲?”學(xué)生們一起大聲叫道，簡直難以置信。

"Twenty," the Director repeated. "I told you that you'd find it incredible."

“二十歲，”主任重復(fù)道，“我告訴過你們，確實令人難以相信。”

"But what happened?" they asked. "What were the results?"

“可后來怎么樣啦?”學(xué)生們問道，“結(jié)果呢?”

"The results were terrible." A deep resonant voice broke startlingly into the dialogue.

“結(jié)果很可怕。”一個深沉震響的聲音插了進來，叫大家吃了一驚。

They looked around.

他們轉(zhuǎn)身一看。

On the fringe of the little group stood a stranger–a man of middle height, black-haired, with a hooked nose, full red lips, eyes very piercing and dark.

人群旁邊站了個陌生人——中等個子，黑頭發(fā)，鷹鉤鼻子，豐滿的紅嘴唇，黑眼睛，犀利的目光。

"Terrible," he repeated.

“可怕。”那人重復(fù)道。

The D.H.C. had at that moment sat down on one of the steel and rubber benches conveniently scattered through the gardens;

這時主任已經(jīng)在一條鋼架橡膠凳上坐下來——為了方便，這種長凳在花園里到處都有。

but at the sight of the stranger, he sprang to his feet and darted forward, his hand outstretched, smiling with all his teeth, effusive.

但是一見到那陌生人，卻立即跳了起來，伸出兩手，跑了上去，露出了他的全部大牙，滿臉堆笑。

"Controller! What an unexpected pleasure!

“總統(tǒng)!多么意外的幸運!

Boys, what are you thinking of? This is the Controller; this is his fordship, Mustapha Mond."

孩子們!你們在想什么呀?這就是總統(tǒng);就是穆斯塔法·蒙德福下。”

In the four thousand rooms of the Centre the four thousand electric clocks simultaneously struck four.

中心的四千間屋子里四千座電鐘同時敲了四點。

Discarnate voices called from the trumpet mouths.

喇叭口發(fā)出了并非出自血肉的聲音：

"Main Day-shift off duty. Second Day-shift take over. Main Day-shift off …"

“前白班下班。后白班接班。前白班下班……”

In the lift, on their way up to the changing rooms, Henry Foster and the Assistant Director of Predestination rather pointedly turned their backs on Bernard Marx from the Psychology Bureau: averted themselves from that unsavoury reputation.

在去更衣室的電梯上，亨利·福斯特和條件設(shè)置中心主任助理見了心理局來的伯納·馬克思便相當不客氣地背過臉，避開了那個名聲不好的人。

The faint hum and rattle of machinery still stirred the crimson air in the Embryo Store.

微弱的嗡嗡聲和機器的輕微滴答仍震蕩著胚胎室里猩紅的空氣。

Shifts might come and go, one lupus-coloured face give place to another; majestically and for ever the conveyors crept forward with their load of future men and women.

班組交替著，一張張紅斑狼瘡似的面孔被一張張紅斑狼瘡似的面孔代替著;傳送帶永遠帶著未來的男人和女人莊重地向前運行。