美丽新世界Brave New World 第16章(6)

 　　Only an Epsilon can be expected to make Epsilon sacrifices, for the good reason that for him they aren't sacrifices;

　　爱扑塞隆式的牺牲只能由爱扑塞隆来做。有个很好的理由，爱扑塞隆们并不觉得在做牺牲。

　　they're the line of least resistance.

　　他们是抵抗力最小的一群。

　　His conditioning has laid down rails along which he's got to run.

　　他们的条件设置给他们铺好了轨道，让他们非沿着轨道跑下可，

　　He can't help himself; he's foredoomed.

　　他们早就命定了要倒霉，情不自禁要跑。

　　Even after decanting¹, he's still inside a bottle–an invisible bottle of infantile and embryonic² fixations.

　　即使换了瓶他们仍然在瓶子里——他们被一种看不见的瓶子像婴儿一样、胚胎一样固定。

　　Each one of us, of course, the Controller meditatively³ continued, goes through life inside a bottle.

　　当然，我们每个人的一生，总统沉思地说，都是在一种瓶子里度过的。

　　But if we happen to be Alphas, our bottles are, relatively⁴ speaking, enormous.

　　可我们如果幸而成了阿尔法，我们的瓶子就相对而言比较广阔。

　　We should suffer acutely if we were confined in a narrower space.

　　把我们关在狭窄的空间里我们就会非常痛苦。

　　You cannot pour upper-caste champagne-surrogate into lower-caste bottles. It's obvious theoretically.

　　理论上很明显，你不能把高种姓的代香摈加过低种姓的瓶子里。

　　But it has also been proved in actual practice. The result of the Cyprus experiment was convincing.

　　而在实践上，也已经得到了证明。塞浦路斯实验的结果是很有说服力的。

　　"What was that?" asked the Savage⁵.

　　“什么实验？”野蛮人问。

　　Mustapha Mond smiled. Well, you can call it an experiment in rebottling if you like. It began in A.F. 473.

　　穆斯塔法.蒙德微笑了。你要是愿意可以称之为重新换瓶实验。是从福帝纪元四七三年开始的。

　　The Controllers had the island of Cyprus cleared of all its existing inhabitants and re-colonized with a specially⁶ prepared batch⁷ of twenty-two thousand Alphas.

　　总统清除了塞浦路斯岛上的全体居民，让两万两千个专门准备的阿尔法住了进去。

　　All agricultural and industrial equipment was handed over to them and they were left to manage their own affairs.

　　给了他们一切工农业设备，让他们自己管理自己。

　　The result exactly fulfilled all the theoretical prediotions.

　　结果跟所有的理论预计完全吻合。

　　The land wasn't properly worked; there were strikes in all the factories;

　　土地耕种不当；工厂全闹罢工；

　　the laws were set at naught⁸, orders disobeyed;

　　法纪废弛；号令不行。

　　all the people detailed⁹ for a spell of low-grade work were perpetually intriguing¹⁰ for high-grade jobs,

　　指令做一段时间低级工作的人总搞阴谋，要换成高级工种。

　　and all the people with high-grade jobs were counter-intriguing at all costs to stay where they were.

　　而做着高级工作的人则不惜一切代价串联回击，要保住现有职位。

　　Within six years they were having a first-class civil war.

　　不到六年功夫就打起了最高级的内战。

　　When nineteen out of the twenty-two thousand had been killed,

　　等到二十二万人死掉十九万，

　　the survivors¹¹ unanimously petitioned the World Controllers to resume the government of the island.

　　幸存者们就向总统们送上了请愿书，要求恢复对岛屿的统治。

　　Which they did. And that was the end of the only society of Alphas that the world has ever seen.

　　他们接受了。世界上出现过的唯一全阿尔法社会便是这样结束了。

　　The Savage sighed, profoundly.

　　野蛮人深沉地叹了一口气。

1 decanting   

n.滗析（手续）v.将（酒等）自瓶中倒入另一容器( decant的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• It was exhausting work moving the heavy buckets, decanting the liquids. 搬动沉重的桶，滗出液体，这些都是使人精疲力竭的工作。 来自辞典例句
• To purify, separate, or remove(ore, for example) by washing, decanting, and settling. 淘洗，淘选，淘析用清洗、倾析和沉淀的方法来提纯、分离或清除（例如，矿石） 来自互联网

2 embryonic   

adj.胚胎的

参考例句：

• It is still in an embryonic stage.它还处于萌芽阶段。
• The plan,as yet,only exists in embryonic form.这个计划迄今为止还只是在酝酿之中。

3 meditatively   

adv.冥想地

参考例句：

• The old man looked meditatively at the darts board. 老头儿沉思不语，看着那投镖板。 来自英汉文学
• "Well,'said the foreman, scratching his ear meditatively, "we do need a stitcher. “这--"工头沉思地搔了搔耳朵。 "我们确实需要一个缝纫工。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

4 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

5 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

6 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

7 batch   

n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量

参考例句：

• The first batch of cakes was burnt.第一炉蛋糕烤焦了。
• I have a batch of letters to answer.我有一批信要回复。

8 naught   

n.无，零 [=nought]

参考例句：

• He sets at naught every convention of society.他轻视所有的社会习俗。
• I hope that all your efforts won't go for naught.我希望你的努力不会毫无结果。

9 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

10 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者