美丽新世界Brave New World 第17章(9)

 　　In the past you could only accomplish these things by making a great effort and after years of hard moral training.

　　在过去，你得做出巨大的努力，经受多年艰苦的道德训练；

　　Now, you swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are.

　　现在只需吞下两三个半克的唆麻就行了。

　　Anybody can be virtuous¹ now. You can carry at least half your mortality about in a bottle.

　　现在谁都可以道德高尚，一个瓶子就可以装下你至少一半的道德，让你带了走。

　　Christianity without tears–that's what soma is.

　　没有眼泪的基督教——唆麻就是这种东西。

　　But the tears are necessary. Don't you remember what Othello said?

　　但是眼泪是需要的。你还记得〈奥塞罗〉的话吧？

　　If after every tempest came such calms, may the winds blow till they have wakened death.

　　要是每一次暴风雨之后都有这样和煦的阳光，就让狂风恣意地吹，把死亡都吹醒了吧。

　　There's a story one of the old Indians used to tell us, about the Girl of Mátaski.

　　有一个印第安老人常告诉我们一个故事。是关于玛塔斯吉的姑娘的。

　　The young men who wanted to marry her had to do a morning's hoeing in her garden.

　　小伙子要想跟她结婚必须到她园子里去锄一上午地。

　　It seemed easy; but there were flies and mosquitoes, magic ones.

　　锄地好像很容易，但是那儿有许多许多有魔法的蚊子和苍蝇。

　　Most of the young men simply couldn't stand the biting and stinging. But the one that could–he got the girl.

　　大部分小伙子都受不了叮咬，可受得住叮咬的却得到了那姑娘。

　　"Charming! But in civilized² countries," said the Controller,

　　“这故事很好听！但是在文明的国家里，”总统说，

　　you can have girls without hoeing for them, and there aren't any flies or mosquitoes to sting you. We got rid of them all centuries ago.

　　你可以用不着替姑娘种地就得到她。也没有苍蝇蚊子叮咬。我们好多个世纪以前就消灭了蚊蝇了。

　　The Savage³ nodded, frowning. You got rid of them. Yes, that's just like you.

　　野蛮人皱起双眉点了点头。你们把苍蝇蚊子消灭了，

　　Getting rid of everytfung unpleasant instead of learning to put up with it.

　　把一切不愉快的东西消灭了，而不是学会忍受它们。

　　Whether 'tis better in the mind to suffer the slings⁴ and arrows of outrageous⁵ fortune,

　　默然忍受命运的暴虐的毒箭，

　　or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them … But you don't do either.

　　或是面对着苦海，拿起刀子做个一了百了。

　　Neither suffer nor oppose. You just abolish the slings and arrows. It's too easy.

　　既不‘默然忍受’，也不‘一了百了’。只是把毒箭取消，那太容易了。

　　He was suddenly silent, thinking of his mother.

　　他突然沉默了，想起了他的母亲。

1 virtuous   

adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的

参考例句：

• She was such a virtuous woman that everybody respected her.她是个有道德的女性，人人都尊敬她。
• My uncle is always proud of having a virtuous wife.叔叔一直为娶到一位贤德的妻子而骄傲。

2 civilized   

a.有教养的，文雅的

参考例句：

• Racism is abhorrent to a civilized society. 文明社会憎恶种族主义。
• rising crime in our so-called civilized societies 在我们所谓文明社会中日益增多的犯罪行为

3 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。

4 slings   

抛( sling的第三人称单数 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往

参考例句：

• "Don't you fear the threat of slings, Perched on top of Branches so high?" 矫矫珍木巅，得无金丸惧？ 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学
• Used for a variety of things including slings and emergency tie-offs. 用于绳套，设置保护点，或者紧急情况下打结。

5 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。