美麗新世界 Brave New World 第2章(2)

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

主任搓著手。“好極了!”他說，‘簡直像有意表演似的。”

The swiftest crawlers were already at their goal.

爬得最快的已經(jīng)快到目標了。

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

小手搖搖晃晃伸了出來，摸著，抓著，玫瑰花變了形，花瓣扯掉了，書本上有插圖的書頁揉皺了。

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

主任等待著，趁他們?nèi)伎旎畹孛β抵臅r候，“好好地看著吧。”他說，同時舉起手發(fā)出了信號。

The Head Nurse, who was standing by a switchboard at the other end of the room, presseddown a little lever.

站在屋子那頭儀表盤邊的護士長按下了一根小小的杠桿。

There was a violent explosion. Shriller and ever shriller, a siren shrieked. Alarm bellsmaddeningly sounded.

一聲猛烈的爆炸，汽笛拉了起來，聲音越來越刺耳，警鈴也瘋狂地響著。

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

孩子們震驚了，尖叫了;臉兒因為恐怖而扭曲了。

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

“現(xiàn)在，”主任因為噪聲震耳欲聾高叫道，“現(xiàn)在我們用柔和的電臺來鞏固一下這次的教訓。”

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

他再揮了揮手，護士長按下第二根杠桿。

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

嬰兒們的尖叫突然變了調(diào)子，發(fā)出的抽搐叫喊中有一種絕望的、幾乎是瘋狂的調(diào)子。

Their little bodies twitched and stiffened; their limbs moved jerkily as if to the tug of unseenwires.

一個個小身子抽搐著，僵直著;四肢抖動著，好像有看不見的線在扯動他們。

"We can electrify that whole strip of floor," bawled the Director in explanation. " But that'senough," he signalled to the nurse.

“還可以讓那片地板整個通電，”主任大聲解釋，“不過，就這就已經(jīng)夠了，”他向護士做了個手勢。

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

爆炸停止，鈴聲停止，警報一聲聲低去，終于靜止。

The stiffly twitching bodies relaxed, and what had become the sob and yelp of infant maniacsbroadened out once more into a normal howl of ordinary terror.

僵直的、抽搐的身子放松了，嬰兒的已經(jīng)微弱的瘋狂啜泣和驚叫再次加大，變成平時受到驚嚇時的一般哭嚎。

"Offer them the flowers and the books again."

“再給他們花和書。”

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

護士們照辦了。但是玫瑰花、色彩鮮艷的小貓、小雞和咩咩叫的黑羊剛一靠近，

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

嬰兒們就嚇得閃躲。哭喊聲突然響亮了起來。

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

“注意，”主任勝利地說，“注意。”

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

在嬰兒們心里花朵跟巨大的噪聲的匹配，花朵跟電擊的匹配已經(jīng)熔融、結(jié)合到了一起。

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

像這樣的或類似的課程接連進行兩百次之后，兩者之間就建立了無法分離的關系。

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

這種人造的聯(lián)系木是自然所能夠拆散的。

"They'll grow up with what the psychologists used to call an 'instinctive' hatred of books andflowers.

“他們會帶著。心理學家稱之為‘本能’的對書本和鮮花的厭惡長大成人。

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

反射的條件無可逆轉(zhuǎn)地形成了。他們一輩子都不會有愛書籍和愛植物的危險了。”

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

主任轉(zhuǎn)身對護士們說，“把孩子們帶走。”

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

穿咔嘰衣服的啼啼哭哭的嬰兒被塞回車上推走了，在身后留下一些發(fā)酸的奶味和非常受歡迎的寂靜。