美丽新世界Brave New World 第2章(2)

 　　The Director rubbed his hands. "Excellent!" he said. "It might almost have been done on purpose."

　　主任搓着手。“好极了！”他说，‘简直像有意表演似的。”

　　The swiftest crawlers were already at their goal.

　　爬得最快的已经快到目标了。

　　Small hands reached out uncertainly, touched, grasped, unpetaling the transfigured roses, crumpling¹ the illuminated² pages of the books.

　　小手摇摇晃晃伸了出来，摸着，抓着，玫瑰花变了形，花瓣扯掉了，书本上有插图的书页揉皱了。

　　The Director waited until all were happily busy. Then, "Watch carefully," he said. And, lifting his hand, he gave the signal.

　　主任等待着，趁他们全都快活地忙碌着的时候，“好好地看着吧。”他说，同时举起手发出了信号。

　　The Head Nurse, who was standing³ by a switchboard at the other end of the room, pressed down a little lever.

　　站在屋子那头仪表盘边的护士长按下了一根小小的杠杆。

　　There was a violent explosion. Shriller and ever shriller, a siren shrieked⁵. Alarm bells maddeningly sounded.

　　一声猛烈的爆炸，汽笛拉了起来，声音越来越刺耳，警铃也疯狂地响着。

　　The children started, screamed; their faces were distorted with terror.

　　孩子们震惊了，尖叫了；脸儿因为恐怖而扭曲了。

　　"And now," the Director shouted (for the noise was deafening), " now we proceed to rub in the lesson with a mild electric shock."

　　“现在，”主任因为噪声震耳欲聋高叫道，“现在我们用柔和的电台来巩固一下这次的教训。”

　　He waved his hand again, and the Head Nurse pressed a second lever.

　　他再挥了挥手，护士长按下第二根杠杆。

　　The screaming of the babies suddenly changed its tone. There was something desperate, almost insane, about the sharp spasmodic yelps⁷ to which they now gave utterance⁸.

　　婴儿们的尖叫突然变了调子，发出的抽搐叫喊中有一种绝望的、几乎是疯狂的调子。

　　Their little bodies twitched⁹ and stiffened¹⁰; their limbs moved jerkily as if to the tug¹¹ of unseen wires.

　　一个个小身子抽搐着，僵直着；四肢抖动着，好像有看不见的线在扯动他们。

　　"We can electrify¹² that whole strip of floor," bawled¹³ the Director in explanation. " But that's enough," he signalled to the nurse.

　　“还可以让那片地板整个通电，”主任大声解释，“不过，就这就已经够了，”他向护士做了个手势。

　　The explosions ceased, the bells stopped ringing, the shriek⁴ of the siren died down from tone to tone into silence.

　　爆炸停止，铃声停止，警报一声声低去，终于静止。

　　The stiffly twitching¹⁴ bodies relaxed, and what had become the sob¹⁵ and yelp⁶ of infant maniacs¹⁶ broadened out once more into a normal howl of ordinary terror.

　　僵直的、抽搐的身子放松了，婴儿的已经微弱的疯狂啜泣和惊叫再次加大，变成平时受到惊吓时的一般哭嚎。

　　"Offer them the flowers and the books again."

　　“再给他们花和书。”

　　The nurses obeyed; but at the approach of the roses, at the mere¹⁷ sight of those gaily-coloured images of pussy¹⁸ and cock-a-doodle-doo and baa-baa black sheep,

　　护士们照办了。但是玫瑰花、色彩鲜艳的小猫、小鸡和咩咩叫的黑羊刚一靠近，

　　the infants shrank away in horror, the volume of their howling suddenly increased.

　　婴儿们就吓得闪躲。哭喊声突然响亮了起来。

　　"Observe," said the Director triumphantly¹⁹, "observe."

　　“注意，”主任胜利地说，“注意。”

　　Books and loud noises, fiowers and electric shocks–already in the infant mind these couples were compromisingly linked;

　　在婴儿们心里花朵跟巨大的噪声的匹配，花朵跟电击的匹配已经熔融、结合到了一起。

　　and after two hundred repetitions of the same or a similar lesson would be wedded²⁰ indissolubly.

　　像这样的或类似的课程接连进行两百次之后，两者之间就建立了无法分离的关系。

　　What man has joined, nature is powerless to put asunder²¹.

　　这种人造的联系木是自然所能够拆散的。

　　"They'll grow up with what the psychologists used to call an 'instinctive²²' hatred²³ of books and flowers.

　　“他们会带着。心理学家称之为‘本能’的对书本和鲜花的厌恶长大成人。

　　Reflexes unalterably conditioned. They'll be safe from books and botany all their lives."

　　反射的条件无可逆转地形成了。他们一辈子都不会有爱书籍和爱植物的危险了。”

　　The Director turned to his nurses. "Take them away again."

　　主任转身对护士们说，“把孩子们带走。”

　　Still yelling, the khaki babies were loaded on to their dumb-waiters and wheeled out, leaving behind them the smell of sour milk and a most welcome silence.

　　穿咔叽衣服的啼啼哭哭的婴儿被塞回车上推走了，在身后留下一些发酸的奶味和非常受欢迎的寂静。

1 crumpling   

压皱，弄皱( crumple的现在分词 )； 变皱

参考例句：

• His crumpling body bent low from years of carrying heavy loads. 由于经年累月的负重，他那皱巴巴的身子被压得弯弯的。
• This apparently took the starch out of the fast-crumpling opposition. 这显然使正在迅速崩溃的反对党泄了气。

2 illuminated   

adj.被照明的；受启迪的

参考例句：

• Floodlights illuminated the stadium. 泛光灯照亮了体育场。
• the illuminated city at night 夜幕中万家灯火的城市

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 shriek   

v./n.尖叫，叫喊

参考例句：

• Suddenly he began to shriek loudly.突然他开始大声尖叫起来。
• People sometimes shriek because of terror,anger,or pain.人们有时会因为恐惧，气愤或疼痛而尖叫。

5 shrieked   

v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She shrieked in fright. 她吓得尖叫起来。
• Li Mei-t'ing gave a shout, and Lu Tzu-hsiao shrieked, "Tell what? 李梅亭大声叫，陆子潇尖声叫：“告诉什么？ 来自汉英文学 - 围城

6 yelp   

vi.狗吠

参考例句：

• The dog gave a yelp of pain.狗疼得叫了一声。
• The puppy a yelp when John stepped on her tail.当约翰踩到小狗的尾巴，小狗发出尖叫。

7 yelps   

n.（因痛苦、气愤、兴奋等的）短而尖的叫声( yelp的名词复数 )v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The woman emitted queer regular little snores that sounded like yelps. 她那跟怪叫差不多的鼾声一股一股地从被里冒出来。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• As the moments passed the yelps grew closer and louder. 一会儿，呼叫声越来越近、越来越响了。 来自互联网

8 utterance   

n.用言语表达，话语，言语

参考例句：

• This utterance of his was greeted with bursts of uproarious laughter.他的讲话引起阵阵哄然大笑。
• My voice cleaves to my throat,and sob chokes my utterance.我的噪子哽咽，泣不成声。

9 twitched   

vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Her lips twitched with amusement. 她忍俊不禁地颤动着嘴唇。
• The child's mouth twitched as if she were about to cry. 这小孩的嘴抽动着，像是要哭。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 stiffened   

加强的

参考例句：

• He leaned towards her and she stiffened at this invasion of her personal space. 他向她俯过身去，这种侵犯她个人空间的举动让她绷紧了身子。
• She stiffened with fear. 她吓呆了。

11 tug   

v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船

参考例句：

• We need to tug the car round to the front.我们需要把那辆车拉到前面。
• The tug is towing three barges.那只拖船正拖着三只驳船。

12 electrify   

v.使充电；使电气化；使触电；使震惊；使兴奋

参考例句：

• The country is now making effort to electrify and informationize manufacture.国家正在致力于制造业的电气化和信息化。
• He needs money to electrify his surface lines.他需要钱把他的地面线路电气化。

13 bawled   

v.大叫，大喊( bawl的过去式和过去分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物）

参考例句：

• She bawled at him in front of everyone. 她当着大家的面冲他大喊大叫。
• My boss bawled me out for being late. 我迟到，给老板训斥了一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 twitching   

n.颤搐

参考例句：

• The child in a spasm kept twitching his arms and legs. 那个害痉挛的孩子四肢不断地抽搐。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My eyelids keep twitching all the time. 我眼皮老是跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

15 sob   

n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣

参考例句：

• The child started to sob when he couldn't find his mother.孩子因找不到他妈妈哭了起来。
• The girl didn't answer,but continued to sob with her head on the table.那个女孩不回答，也不抬起头来。她只顾低声哭着。

16 maniacs   

n.疯子（maniac的复数形式）

参考例句：

• Hollywood films misrepresented us as drunks, maniacs and murderers. 好莱坞电影把我们歪曲成酒鬼、疯子和杀人凶手。 来自辞典例句
• They're not irrational, potentially homicidal maniacs, to start! 他们不是非理性的，或者有杀人倾向的什么人！ 来自电影对白

17 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

18 pussy   

n.(儿语)小猫，猫咪

参考例句：

• Why can't they leave my pussy alone?为什么他们就不能离我小猫咪远一点？
• The baby was playing with his pussy.孩子正和他的猫嬉戏。

19 triumphantly   

ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地

参考例句：

• The lion was roaring triumphantly. 狮子正在发出胜利的吼叫。
• Robert was looking at me triumphantly. 罗伯特正得意扬扬地看着我。

20 wedded   

adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She's wedded to her job. 她专心致志于工作。
• I was invited over by the newly wedded couple for a meal. 我被那对新婚夫妇请去吃饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 asunder   

adj.分离的，化为碎片

参考例句：

• The curtains had been drawn asunder.窗帘被拉向两边。
• Your conscience,conviction,integrity,and loyalties were torn asunder.你的良心、信念、正直和忠诚都被扯得粉碎了。

22 instinctive   

adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的

参考例句：

• He tried to conceal his instinctive revulsion at the idea.他试图饰盖自己对这一想法本能的厌恶。
• Animals have an instinctive fear of fire.动物本能地怕火。

23 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。