美麗新世界 Brave New World 第2章(3)

One of the students held up his hand;

一個學生舉起了手：

and though he could see quite well why you couldn'thave lower-cast people wasting the Community'stime over books,

不能讓低種姓的人在書本上去浪費社會的時間，而且讀書總有可能讀到什么東西，

and that there was always the risk of their readingsomething which might undesirably decondition oneof their reflexes,

有破壞他們的某個條件設置的危險，那是不可取的。

yet … well, he couldn't understand about the flowers.

這些他都很想得通;但……晤，但對花他卻想不通，

Why go to the trouble of making it psychologically impossible for Deltas to like flowers?

為什么要費力氣去讓德爾塔們從心理上厭惡花?

Patiently the D.H.C. explained.

孵化及條件設置中心主任耐。

If the children were made to scream at the sight of a rose, that was on grounds of higheconomic policy.

心地做了解釋。培養(yǎng)孩子們見了玫瑰花就尖叫是為了高度節(jié)約。

Not so very long ago (a century or thereabouts), Gammas, Deltas, even Epsilons, had beenconditioned to like flowers–flowers in particular and wild nature in general.

不能算很久以前(大約才過去一個世紀)，伽瑪們、德爾塔們甚至愛撲塞隆們都有喜歡花朵的條件設置——一般地說是喜歡野外的自然，特殊地說是喜歡花朵。

The idea was to make them want to be going out into the country at every availableopportunity, and so compel them to consume transport.

其目的是讓他們一有機會就產生到田野里去的要求，逼得他們多花交通費。

"And didn't they consume transport?" asked the student.

“他們花交通費了嗎?”學生問。

"Quite a lot," the D.H.C. replied. "But nothing else."

“花了很多，”主任回答，“但是別的費用卻不必花了。”

Primroses and landscapes, he pointed out, have one grave defect: they are gratuitous.

主任指出，櫻草花和風景都有一個嚴重的缺點：它們是免費的。

A love of nature keeps no factories busy.

愛好大自然能使工廠工作懈怠。

It was decided to abolish the love of nature, at any rate among the lower classes; to abolish thelove of nature, but not the tendency to consume transport.

于是決定取消了對大自然的愛——至少取消了低種姓的人對大自然的愛;卻并不取消花交通費的傾向。

For of course it was essential that they should keep on going to the country, even though theyhated it.

因為他們仍須到農村去，即使憎恨也得去，那是根本的。

The problem was to find an economically sounder reason for consuming transport than a mereaffection for primroses and landscapes.

問題是能在經濟上為交通消費找出更站得住腳的理由，而不是喜歡櫻草花和風景什么的。

It was duly found.

恰當的理由后來找到了。

"We condition the masses to hate the country," concluded the Director.

“我們設置了條件，讓人群不喜歡鄉(xiāng)村，”主任的結論是，

"But simultaneously we condition them to love all country sports.

“卻又設置了條件讓他們喜歡田野里的一切運動。

At the same time, we see to it that all country sports shall entail the use of elaborateapparatus.

而我們同時又注意讓田野里的運動消耗精美的器材;

So that they consume manufactured articles as well as transport. Hence those electricshocks."

讓他們既消費工業(yè)品也花交通費。因此我們才給嬰兒電擊。”

"I see," said the student, and was silent, lost in admiration.

“明白了。”學生說完便住了嘴，佩服得五體投地。

There was a silence; then, clearing his throat, "Once upon a time," the Director began, "whileour Ford was still on earth, there was a little boy called Reuben Rabinovitch. Reuben was thechild of Polish-speaking parents."

沉默。主任清了清嗓子，“從前，”他開始說，“在我主福帝還在世的時候，有一個小孩，叫做魯本·拉賓挪維奇，父母說波蘭語，’

The Director interrupted himself. "You know what Polish is, I suppose?"

主任岔開了一句，“你們是知道什么叫波蘭語的吧，我看?”

"A dead language."

“是一種死亡的語言。”

"Like French and German," added another student, officiously showing off his learning.

“像法語和德語一樣。”另一個學生插嘴補充，炫耀著學識。

"And 'parent'?" questioned the D.H.C.

“還有‘父母’，你們知道吧?”主任問。

There was an uneasy silence. Several of the boys blushed.

短暫的木好意思的沉默，幾個孩子臉紅了。

They had not yet learned to draw the significant but often very fine distinction between smutand pure science.

他們還沒有學會區(qū)別粗俗科學與純粹科學之間的重大的卻也微妙的差異。

One, at last, had the courage to raise a hand.

但畢竟有一個學生鼓起勇氣舉起了手。