美丽新世界Brave New World 第8章(10)

　　The moon was behind him; he looked down into the black shadow of the mesa, into the black shadow of death.

　　他向下看看石塬漆黑的影子，看看死亡漆黑的影子。

　　He had only to take one step, one little jump. …

　　他只要向前一步，轻轻一跳……

　　He held out his right hand in the moonlight.

　　他把右手伸进月光里。

　　From the cut on his wrist the blood was still oozing¹.

　　手腕上的伤口还在渗血，

　　Every few seconds a drop fell, dark, almost colourless in the dead light.

　　几秒钟滴一滴。

　　Drop, drop, drop. To-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow …

　　一滴，一滴，又一滴。明天，明天，还有明天……。

　　He had discovered Tirne and Death and God.

　　他已经找到了时间、死亡和上帝。

　　"Alone, always alone," the young man was saying.

　　“孤独，永远孤独。”小伙子说。

　　The words awoke a plaintive² echo in Bernard's mind. Alone, alone …

　　那话在伯纳心里引起了一种凄凉的反响。孤独，孤独……

　　"So am I," he said, on a gush³ of confidingness. "Terribly alone."

　　“我也孤独，”他说，情不自禁说了句体已话，“孤独得可怕。”

　　"Are you?" John looked surprised. "I thought that in the Other Place …"

　　你也孤独吗？”约翰露出一脸惊讶，“我还以为在那边……”

　　I mean, Linda always said that nobody was ever alone there.

　　我是说琳妲总说那边的人从来不会孤独。

　　Bernard blushed uncomfortably.

　　伯纳扭泥地涨红了脸。

　　"You see," he said, mumbling⁴ and with averted⁵ eyes, I'm rather different from most people, I suppose. If one happens to be decanted⁶ different …

　　“你看，”他嘟哝说，眼睛望着别处，我估计，我跟我那儿的人很不相同。如果一个人换瓶时就有了不同……

　　"Yes, that's just it." The young man nodded.

　　“对，说得正好，”小伙子点点头，

　　If one's different, one's bound to be lonely. They're beastly to one.

　　如果有了不同，就必定会孤独。他们对人太凶恶。

　　Do you know, they shut me out of absolutely everything?

　　他们把我完全排斥在一切之外，你知道吗？

　　When the other boys were sent out to spend the night on the mountains–you know, when you have to dream which your sacred animal is–they wouldn't let me go with the others; they wouldn't tell me any of the secrets.

　　别的小伙子被打发上山去过夜——那是你必须去梦想出你的神圣动物的时候，你知道他们却不让我跟他们去，什么秘密都不告诉我。

　　"I did it by myself, though," he added.

　　“可我自己告诉了我自己，”他说下去，

　　"Didn't eat anything for five days and then went out one night alone into those mountains there." He pointed⁷.

　　“我五天没有吃东西，然后那天晚上我一个人出去了，进入了那边的山。”他指点着说。

　　Patronizingly, Bernard smiled. "And did you dream of anything?" he asked.

　　伯纳居高临下地笑了，“你梦想出了什么吗？”他问。

　　The other nodded. "But I mustn't tell you what."

　　对方点点头。“但是我不能告诉你是什么，”

　　He was silent for a little; then, in a low voice, "Once," he went on, I did something that none of the others did:I stood against a rock in the middle of the day, in summer, with my arms out, like Jesus on the Cross.

　　他停了一会儿低声说，“有一回，”他说下去，我做了一件别人从没有做过的事。夏天的正午，我双手分开靠在一块岩石上，好像十字架上的耶稣。

　　What on earth for?

　　为什么？

　　I wanted to know what it was like being crucified. Hanging there in the sun …

　　我想知道钉在十字架上是什么滋味。吊在那儿，太阳光里……

　　But why?

　　可你是为了什么？

　　"Why? Well …" He hesitated.

　　“为了什么？哦……”他犹豫了一下，

　　Because I felt I ought to. If Jesus could stand it.

　　因为我觉得，既然耶稣受得了，我也就应该受得了。

　　And then, if one has done something wrong …

　　而且，一个人如果做了什么错事……

　　Besides, I was unhappy; that was another reason.

　　何况我很不幸；那也是一个理由。

　　"It seems a funny way of curing your unhappiness," said Bernard.

　　“用这种办法治疗你的不幸似乎有些好笑。”帕纳说。

　　But on second thoughts he decided⁸ that there was, after all, some sense in it.

　　可是再想了一下他觉得这样做也有一定的道理，

　　Better than taking soma …

　　总比吃唆麻好……。

　　"I fainted after a time," said the young man.

　　“过了一会儿我晕了过去，”小伙子说，

　　Fell down on my face. Do you see the mark where I cut myself?

　　扑倒在地上。你看见我受伤的地方了吗？

　　He lifted the thick yellow hair from his forehead.

　　他从他的额头上捞起了那厚密的黄头发，

　　The scar showed, pale and puckered⁹, on his right temple.

　　露出了右太阳穴上的伤疤。一道灰痕。

　　Bernard looked, and then quickly, with a little shudder¹⁰, averted his eyes.

　　伯纳看了一眼，但。心里立即一怔，望到了一边。

　　His conditioning had made him not so much pitiful as profoundly squeamish.

　　他的条件设置使他不那么容易产生怜悯，却十分敏感娇气。

1 oozing   

v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的现在分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出

参考例句：

• Blood was oozing out of the wound on his leg. 血正从他腿上的伤口渗出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wound had not healed properly and was oozing pus. 伤口未真正痊瘉，还在流脓。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 plaintive   

adj.可怜的，伤心的

参考例句：

• Her voice was small and plaintive.她的声音微弱而哀伤。
• Somewhere in the audience an old woman's voice began plaintive wail.观众席里，一位老太太伤心地哭起来。

3 gush   

v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发

参考例句：

• There was a gush of blood from the wound.血从伤口流出。
• There was a gush of blood as the arrow was pulled out from the arm.当从手臂上拔出箭来时，一股鲜血涌了出来。

4 mumbling   

含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I could hear him mumbling to himself. 我听到他在喃喃自语。
• He was still mumbling something about hospitals at the end of the party when he slipped on a piece of ice and broke his left leg. 宴会结束时，他仍在咕哝着医院里的事。说着说着，他在一块冰上滑倒，跌断了左腿。

5 averted   

防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移

参考例句：

• A disaster was narrowly averted. 及时防止了一场灾难。
• Thanks to her skilful handling of the affair, the problem was averted. 多亏她对事情处理得巧妙，才避免了麻烦。

6 decanted   

v.将（酒等）自瓶中倒入另一容器( decant的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Afterwards the aqueous solution from above the nitroglycerine was decanted. 然后倒出硝化甘油之上的水溶液。 来自辞典例句
• The coated particles are centrifuged and the liquid decanted. 将包覆的颗粒进行离心，除去液体。 来自辞典例句

7 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 puckered   

v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His face puckered , and he was ready to cry. 他的脸一皱，像要哭了。
• His face puckered, the tears leapt from his eyes. 他皱着脸，眼泪夺眶而出。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 shudder   

v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动

参考例句：

• The sight of the coffin sent a shudder through him.看到那副棺材，他浑身一阵战栗。
• We all shudder at the thought of the dreadful dirty place.我们一想到那可怕的肮脏地方就浑身战惊。