美麗新世界 Brave New World 第4章(8)

"Oh, Helmholtz, darling, do come and have a picnicsupper with us on Exmoor." They clung round himimploringly.

“哦，赫姆霍爾茲，親愛的，晚飯時一定到老荒原來吧，跟我們一起野餐。”她們纏住他乞求道。

He shook his head, he pushed his way throughthem. "No, no."

他搖搖頭，從姑娘們中擠了出來。“不行，不行。”

"We're not inviting any other man."

“別的男人我們一個都不請。”

But Helmholtz remained unshaken even by thisdelightful promise.

但就連這樣動人的承諾也打不動赫姆霍爾茲。

"No," he repeated, "I'm busy." And he held resolutely on his course.

“不行，”他仍然說，“我有事。”說完便徑直走掉了。

The girls trailed after him. It was not till he had actually climbed into Bernard's plane andslammed the door that they gave up pursuit.

姑娘們跟在他身后，直到赫姆霍爾茲上了伯納的飛機，砰的一聲關上了門，才放棄了追逐。

Not without reproaches.

她們對他并非沒有抱怨。

"These women!" he said, as the machine rose into the air.

“這些女人!”飛機升上天空，赫姆霍爾茲說。

"These women!" And he shook his head, he frowned. "Too awful," Bernard hypocritically agreed,wishing, as he spoke the words, that he could have as many girls as Helmholtz did, and with aslittle trouble.

這些女人飛時搖著腦袋，皺起眉頭，“真叫人吃不消!”伯納假惺惺表示同意，說話時倒恨不得也像赫姆霍爾茲能夠有那么多姑娘，那么少煩惱。

He was seized with a sudden urgent need to boast.

一種自我吹噓的迫切需要突然攫住了他，

"I'm taking Lenina Crowne to New Mexico with me," he said in a tone as casual as he couldmake it.

“我要帶列寧娜到新墨西哥州去。”他竭力裝出漫不經心的樣子說。

"Are you?" said Helmholtz, with a total absence of interest.

“是嗎?”赫姆霍爾茲毫無興趣地回答，

Then after a little pause, "This last week or two," he went on, "I've been cutting all mycommittees and all my girls.

稍停之后他又說了下去，“前一兩周我謝絕了所有的委員會會議和所有的姑娘。

You can't imagine what a hullabaloo they've been making about it at the College.

姑娘們?yōu)榱诉@個在學院里大吵大鬧，那場面你簡直難以想象。

Still, it's been worth it, I think. The effects …"

不過，倒還是值得的。其結果是……”

He hesitated. "Well, they're odd, they're very odd."

他猶豫了一下，“總之，她們非常奇怪，非常奇怪。”

A physical shortcoming could produce a kind of mental excess.

生理上的缺陷可能造成一種。

The process, it seemed, was reversible.

心理上的過分負擔。那過程似乎也能夠逆反。

Mental excess could produce, for its own purposes, the voluntary blindness and deafness ofdeliberate solitude, the artificial impotence of asceticism.

心理上的過分負擔為了它自身的目的也可能蓄意孤立自己，從而造成自覺的盲目和聾聵，人為地產生禁欲主義的性無能。

The rest of the short flight was accomplished in silence.

短暫的飛行剩下的部分是在沉默里度過的。

When they had arrived and were comfortably stretched out on the pneumatic sofas in Bernard'sroom, Helmholtz began again.

他倆來到伯納的房間，在氣墊沙發(fā)上舒舒服服地伸展開來之后，赫姆霍爾茲又開始了談話。

Speaking very slowly, "Did you ever feel," he asked, "as though you had something inside youthat was only waiting for you to give it a chance to come out?

話說得很慢。“你曾經有過這種感覺沒有，”他問道，“你身子里好像有了什么東西，一直等著你給它機會宣泄。

Some sort of extra power that you aren't using–you know, like all the water that goes down thefalls instead of through the turbines?"

某種過剩的精力，你不會使用的精力——你知道，就像所有的水都流成了瀑布，并沒有沖動渦輪，你有過這種感覺沒有?”

He looked at Bernard questioningly.

他帶著疑問望著伯納。

"You mean all the emotions one might be feeling if things were different?"

“你是說，如果情況不同人們可能產生的感覺廣