美丽新世界Brave New World 第4章(7)

 　　Helmholtz Watson was writing when the message came down.

　　电话打来时赫姆霍尔兹华生先生正在写作。

　　"Tell him I'm coming at once," he said and hung up the receiver. Then, turning to his secretary, "I'll leave you to put my things away," he went on in the same official and impersonal¹ tone;

　　“告诉他我立刻就来，”他说毕挂上了话筒，然后转身对秘书说，“我的东西就交给你收拾了。”他对她那明媚的微笑不予理会，仍用公事公办的口气说着话，

　　and, ignoring her lustrous² smile, got up and walked briskly to the door.

　　同时站起身子，迅速来到了门边。

　　He was a powerfully built man, deep-chested, broad-shouldered, massive, and yet quick in his movements, springy and agile³.

　　赫姆霍尔兹·华生先生身体壮实，深厚的胸膛，宽阔的肩头，魁梧的个子，可是行动迅速，步履矫捷而富于弹性。

　　美丽新世界.jpg

　　The round strong pillar of his neck supported a beautifully shaped head.

　　脖子像一根结实的圆柱，撑起一个轮廓美丽的头。

　　His hair was dark and curly, his features strongly marked.

　　深色的鬈发，五官棱角分明。的确漂亮非凡，引人注目。

　　In a forcible emphatic⁴ way, he was handsome and looked, as his secretety was never tired of repeating, every centimetre an Alpha Plus.

　　正如他的秘书所不疲倦地重复的：每一公分都是个阿尔法加。

　　By profession he was a lecturer at the College of Emotional Engineering (Department of Writing) and the intervals⁵ of his educational activities, a working Emotional Engineer.

　　他的职业是情绪工程学院写作系的讲师，业余又从事教育活动，是个在职的情绪工程师。

　　He wrote regularly for The Hourly Radio, composed feely scenarios⁶, and had the happiest knack⁷ for slogans and hypnop.dic rhymes.

　　他定期为《每时广播》写稿，写感官片脚本，而且精通写口号和睡眠教育顺口溜的奥妙。

　　"Able," was the verdict of his superiors. " Perhaps, (and they would shake their heads, would significantly lower their voices) "a little too able."

　　能干，他的上司对他的评价是，“也许，（说到此他们便摇摇头，含义深刻地放低了嗓门）过分能干了一点。”

　　Yes, a little too able; they were right.

　　是的，过分能干了一点，他们没有错。

　　A mental excess had produced in Helmholtz Watson effects very similar to those which, in Bernard Marx, were the result of a physical defect.

　　智力过高对于赫姆霍尔兹·华生所产生的后果跟生理缺陷对于伯纳·马克思所产生的后果很为相似。

　　Too little bone and brawn⁸ had isolated⁹ Bernard from his fellow men, and the sense of this apartness,

　　骨架太小肌肉太少让伯纳和他的伙伴们疏远了。

　　being, by all the current standards, a mental excess, became in its turn a cause of wider separation.

　　从一切流行标准看来，那种疏远都是心灵所难以承受的，于是他和他们之间疏远得更厉害了。

　　That which had made Helmholtz so uncomfortably aware of being himself and and all alone was too much ability.

　　而使赫姆霍尔兹极不愉快地意识到自己和自己的孤独的则是过分能干。

　　What the two men shared was the knowledge that they were individuals.

　　两人共同的感觉都是孤独。

　　But whereas the physically¹⁰ defective¹¹ Bernard had suffered all his life from the consciousness of being separate, it was only quite recently that, grown aware of his mental excess, Helmholtz Watson had also become aware of his difference from the people who surrounded him.

　　可是有生理缺陷的伯纳感到孤独的痛苦已经有一辈子；而赫姆霍尔兹·华生因为意识到自己过分聪明、跟周围的人的差异却是新近的事。

　　This Escalator-Squash champion, this indefatigable¹² lover (it was said that he had had six hundred and forty different girls in under four years), this admirable committee man and best mixer had realized quite suddenly that sport, women, communal¹³ activities were only, so far as he was concerned, second bests.

　　这位自动扶梯手球冠军，这位不知疲倦的情人（据说他四年不到就有过六百四十个不同的姑娘），这位可敬的委员、交际能手最近才突然明白了一个道理：游戏、女人、社交对他只能算是第二等的好事。

　　Really, and at the bottom, he was interested in something else.

　　实际上（也是根本上）他感到兴趣的是另外一个问题。

　　But in what? In what? That was the problem which Bernard had come to discuss with him–or rather,since it was always Helmholtz who did all the talking, to listen to his friend discussing, yet once more.

　　什么问题？那正是伯纳要来跟他讨论的问题——或者说，要来听他再谈谈的问题，因为谈话的永远是赫姆霍尔兹。

　　Three charming girls from the Bureau of Propaganda by Synthetic¹⁴ Voice waylaid¹⁵ him as he stepped out of the lift.

　　赫姆霍尔兹一跨出电梯便受到三个迷人的姑娘拦路袭击——她们刚踏出了合成声宣传局。

1 impersonal   

adj.无个人感情的，与个人无关的，非人称的

参考例句：

• Even his children found him strangely distant and impersonal.他的孩子们也认为他跟其他人很疏远，没有人情味。
• His manner seemed rather stiff and impersonal.他的态度似乎很生硬冷淡。

2 lustrous   

adj.有光泽的；光辉的

参考例句：

• Mary has a head of thick,lustrous,wavy brown hair.玛丽有一头浓密、富有光泽的褐色鬈发。
• This mask definitely makes the skin fair and lustrous.这款面膜可以异常有用的使肌肤变亮和有光泽。

3 agile   

adj.敏捷的，灵活的

参考例句：

• She is such an agile dancer!她跳起舞来是那么灵巧！
• An acrobat has to be agile.杂技演员必须身手敏捷。

4 emphatic   

adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的

参考例句：

• Their reply was too emphatic for anyone to doubt them.他们的回答很坚决，不容有任何人怀疑。
• He was emphatic about the importance of being punctual.他强调严守时间的重要性。

5 intervals   

n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息

参考例句：

• The forecast said there would be sunny intervals and showers. 预报间晴，有阵雨。
• Meetings take place at fortnightly intervals. 每两周开一次会。

6 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

7 knack   

n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法

参考例句：

• He has a knack of teaching arithmetic.他教算术有诀窍。
• Making omelettes isn't difficult,but there's a knack to it.做煎蛋饼并不难，但有窍门。

8 brawn   

n.体力

参考例句：

• In this job you need both brains and brawn.做这份工作既劳神又费力。
• They relied on brains rather than brawn.他们靠的是脑力，而不是体力。

9 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

10 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

11 defective   

adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的

参考例句：

• The firm had received bad publicity over a defective product. 该公司因为一件次品而受到媒体攻击。
• If the goods prove defective, the customer has the right to compensation. 如果货品证明有缺陷， 顾客有权索赔。

12 indefatigable   

adj.不知疲倦的，不屈不挠的

参考例句：

• His indefatigable spirit helped him to cope with his illness.他不屈不挠的精神帮助他对抗病魔。
• He was indefatigable in his lectures on the aesthetics of love.在讲授关于爱情的美学时，他是不知疲倦的。

13 communal   

adj.公有的，公共的，公社的，公社制的

参考例句：

• There was a communal toilet on the landing for the four flats.在楼梯平台上有一处公共卫生间供4套公寓使用。
• The toilets and other communal facilities were in a shocking state.厕所及其他公共设施的状况极其糟糕。

14 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

15 waylaid   

v.拦截，拦路( waylay的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I got waylaid on my way here. 我在来这里的路上遭到了拦路抢劫。
• He was waylaid by thieves. 他在路上被抢了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》