美麗新世界Brave New World 第12章(6)

Bernard, by this time, was fast asleep and smiling atthe private paradise of his dreams. Smiling, smiling.

此時的伯納卻睡得正酣，正對著他夢中的私人天堂微笑。微笑，微笑。

But inexorably, every thirty seconds, the minutehand of the electric clock above his bed jumpedforward with an almost imperceptible click.

但無可改變的是，他床頭電鐘的分外每三十秒就要發(fā)出幾乎聽不見的一聲“嗒”，跳前一步。

Click, click, click, click … And it was morning. Bernard was back among the miseries of spaceand time.

嗒、嗒、嗒、嗒……于是到了早上。伯納又回到了時間與空間里的苦惱之中。

It was in the lowest spirits that he taxied across to his work at the Conditioning Centre.

他坐上出租飛機來到條件設置中心上班時，情緒低落到了極點。

The intoxication of success had evaporated;

成功的刺激已經(jīng)煙消云散，

he was soberly his old self; and by contrast with the temporary balloon of these last weeks,

他又清醒了，又故我依然了。跟前幾周暫時膨脹的氣球一對照，

the old self seemed unprecedentedly heavier than the surrounding atmosphere.

他原來的自我在周圍的氣氛里似乎空前地沉重了起來。

To this deflated Bernard the Savage showed himself unexpectedly sympathetic.

對這個泄氣的伯納野蠻人表現(xiàn)了意料之外的同情。

"You're more like what you were at Malpais," he said, when Bernard had told him his plaintivestory. Do you remember when we first talked together? Outside the little house. You're likewhat you were then.

“你倒更像在馬爾佩斯時的樣子了。”伯納把自己的悲慘遭遇告訴他時，野蠻人說，“你還記得我們第一次談話的時候嗎?在那所小房子外面。你現(xiàn)在就跟那時一樣。”

Because I'm unhappy again; that's why.

我又不快活了，原因就在這里。

Well, I'd rather be unhappy than have the sort of false, lying happiness you were having here.

要是我呀，我倒寧愿不快活，而不愿意得到你在這兒的這種撒謊撒來的快活。

"I like that," said Bernard bitterly. When it's you who were the cause of it all.

“可是我喜歡，”伯納痛苦地說，“這都怪你。

Refusing to come to my party and so turning them all against me!

你拒絕參加晚會，弄得他們?nèi)挤磳ξ?

He knew that what he was saying was absurd in its injustice; he admitted inwardly, and at lasteven aloud,

他明白自己這話不公正，因而很荒謬。

the truth of all that the Savage now said about the worthlessness of friends who could beturned upon so slight a provocation into persecuting enemies.

他心里也承認野蠻人此刻的話說得很對：能夠因為那么渺小的理由就反目成仇的朋友是沒有價值的。

But in spite of this knowledge and these admissions, in spite of the fact that his friend'ssupport and sympathy were now his only comfort,

但是盡管他明白而且承認這個，盡管實際上朋友的支持和同情現(xiàn)在是他僅有的安慰，

Bernard continued perversely to nourish, along with his quite genuine affection, a secretgrievance against the Savage, to mediate a campaign of small revenges to be wreaked uponhim.

他仍然在心里頑固地、秘密地滋長著一種對那野蠻人的怨恨之情(伴隨那怨恨的也有對他的真誠情感)，要想對他搞一場小小的報復，給他點苦頭吃吃。

Nourishing a grievance against the Arch-Community-Songster was useless;

讓對首席歌唱家的怨恨滋長是沒有用的，

there was no possibility of being revenged on the Chief Bottler or the Assistant Predestinator.

要報復換瓶主任或命運設置主任助理也辦不到。

As a victim, the Savage possessed, for Bernard, this enormous superiority over the others:

可在伯納看來，那野蠻人作為報復對象卻具有超過那幾個人的巨大優(yōu)越性，

that he was accessible. One of the principal functions of a friend is to suffer (in a milder andsymbolic form) the punishments that we should like,

因為他是可以報復的。朋友的主要功能之一就是：我們想施加而無法施加于敵人的懲罰，

but are unable, to inflict upon our enemies.

他們能夠以一種較為溫和也較為象征性的形式接受。

Bernard's other victim-friend was Helmholtz.

伯納可以傷害的另一個人是赫姆霍爾茲。