美麗新世界 Brave New World 第5章(2)

"Even an Epsilon …" Lenina suddenly remembered anoccasion when, as a little girl at school,

“即使是愛撲塞隆……”列寧娜想起了一件事。那時(shí)她還是小姑娘，還在學(xué)校里讀書。

she had woken up in the middle of the night andbecome aware, for the first time, of the whisperingthat had haunted all her sleeps.

她半夜醒了過來，第一次意識到了在她每次人睡后縈繞著她的那種細(xì)語。

She saw again the beam of moonlight, the row ofsmall white beds; heard once more the soft, softvoice that said (the words were there, unforgotten, unforgettable after so many night-longrepetitions):

她眼前出現(xiàn)了那月光，那排小白床;聽見了那輕悄的柔和的細(xì)語(那聲音依然在耳，經(jīng)過了那么多個(gè)長夜的一再重復(fù)，她沒有忘記，也無法忘記。)

"Every one works for every one else. We can't do without any one.

那細(xì)語在說：“每個(gè)人都為每個(gè)別的人工作。沒有別的人我們是不行的。

Even Epsilons are useful. We couldn't do without Epsilons.

即使是愛撲塞隆也有用處，沒有愛撲塞隆我們也是木行的。

Every one works for every one else. We can't do without any one …"

每個(gè)人都為每個(gè)別的人工作，沒有別的人我們是木行的……”

Lenina remembered her first shock of fear and surprise; her speculations through half a wakefulhour;

列寧娜記起了她第一次所感到的震驚和意外;她猜測了半個(gè)小時(shí)，睡不著。

and then, under the influence of those endless repetitions, the gradual soothing of her mind,the soothing, the smoothing, the stealthy creeping of sleep. …

然后，由于那永遠(yuǎn)重復(fù)的話句，她的心靈逐漸舒坦起來，舒坦起來，平靜下去，于是睡意悄悄到來。

"I suppose Epsilons don't really mind being Epsilons," she said aloud.

“我估計(jì)愛撲塞隆們并不真的在乎當(dāng)愛撲塞隆。”她大聲說道。

"Of course they don't. How can they? They don't know what it's like being anything else.

“他們當(dāng)然不在乎。他們怎么會(huì)在乎呢?他們并不知道做其他種類的人的感覺。

We'd mind, of course. But then we've been differently conditioned. Besides, we start with adifferent heredity."

而我們當(dāng)然是會(huì)在乎的?？墒?，我們接受了不同的條件設(shè)計(jì)，何況遺傳也根本不同。”

"I'm glad I'm not an Epsilon," said Lenina, with conviction.

“我很高興不是個(gè)愛撲塞隆。”列寧娜深信不疑地說。

"And if you were an Epsilon," said Henry, "your conditioning would have made you no lessthankful that you weren't a Beta or an Alpha."

“可你如果是個(gè)愛撲塞隆，”亨利說，“你的條件設(shè)置就會(huì)讓你感謝福帝，不亞于自己是個(gè)比塔或阿爾法的。”

He put his forward propeller into gear and headed the machine towards London.

他給前飛推進(jìn)器掛上擋，讓飛機(jī)往倫敦城飛去。

Behind them, in the west, the crimson and orange were almost faded; a dark bank of cloud hadcrept into the zenith.

他們背后，西方的深紅與橘紅已然淡去，漠漠的烏云爬上了天頂。

As they flew over the crematorium, the plane shot upwards on the column of hot air risingfrom the chimneys, only to fall as suddenly when it passed into the descending chill beyond.

越過火葬場時(shí)，從高煙囪升起的熱氣把飛機(jī)抬升了起來，直到飛到下降的冷空氣流里，才又突然沉降。

"What a marvellous switchback!" Lenina laughed delightedly.

“多么有趣的沉浮!”列寧娜快活地笑了。

But Henry's tone was almost, for a moment, melancholy.

可是亨利的調(diào)子一時(shí)卻幾乎是憂傷的。

"Do you know what that switchback was?" he said. "It was some human being finally anddefinitely disappearing. Going up in a squirt of hot gas.

“你知道那升降是什么意思嗎?”他說，“那意味著一個(gè)人最終消失了，一去不復(fù)返了，變做了一股熱氣，升了上來。

It would be curious to know who it was–a man or a woman, an Alpha or an Epsilon. …" Hesighed. Then, in a resolutely cheerful voice, "Anyhow," he concluded, "there's one thing we canbe certain of; whoever he may have been, he was happy when he was alive. Everybody's happynow."

要是能夠知道那是什么人一定會(huì)很有趣的——是男人，是婦女，是阿爾法，或是愛撲塞隆?……”他嘆了口氣，然后以一種堅(jiān)決的快活的聲音結(jié)束，“總之，有一點(diǎn)我們可以肯定：不管他原來是什么，他活著的時(shí)候是幸福的。現(xiàn)在每個(gè)人都很幸福。”

"Yes, everybody's happy now," echoed Lenina.

“是的，現(xiàn)在每個(gè)人都很幸福。”列寧娜重復(fù)道。

They had heard the words repeated a hundred and fifty times every night for twelve years.

他倆每天晚上要聽這話重復(fù)一百五十次，已經(jīng)聽了十二年。

Landing on the roof of Henry's forty-story apartment house in Westminster, they went straightdown to the dining-hall.

亨利的公寓在西敏寺，有四十層樓，他們在樓頂降落下來，徑直往餐廳走去。

There, in a loud and cheerful company, they ate an excellent meal.

他倆在那兒跟一群喧囂快活的伙伴吃了一頓可口的晚餐。

Soma was served with the coffee. Lenina took two half-gramme tablets and Henry three.

唆麻跟咖啡同時(shí)送上。列寧娜吃了兩個(gè)半克，亨利吃了三個(gè)。

At twenty past nine they walked across the street to the newly opened Westminster AbbeyCabaret.

九點(diǎn)二十分兩人橫過了大街，來到新開的西敏寺歌舞餐廳。

It was a night almost without clouds, moonless and starry; but of this on the whole depressingfact Lenina and Henry were fortunately unaware.

那天晚上差不多沒有云，也沒有月亮，只有星星，幸好這叫人沮喪的事實(shí)沒有為列寧娜和亨利注意到。

The electric sky-signs effectively shut off the outer darkness. "CALVIN STOPES AND HISSIXTEEN SEXOPHONISTS." From the fa.ade of the new Abbey the giant letters invitingly glared.

因?yàn)樘炜盏臒艄庹信朴行У匮陲椓颂焱獾暮诎担?ldquo;加爾文·司徒普率十六位色唆風(fēng)手演出。”巨大的字體在西敏寺新的門面上閃著誘惑的光。

"LONDON'S FINEST SCENT AND COLOUR ORGAN. ALL THE LATEST SYNTHETIC MUSIC."

“倫敦最佳色香樂隊(duì)演奏最新合成音樂”。