美丽新世界 Brave New World 第1章(8)

He became rather technical; spoke of theabnormal endocrine co-ordination which made mengrow so slowly; postulated a germinal mutation toaccount for it.

他相当专门化地谈起了使人生长迟缓的内分泌失调问题，并提出萌芽期突变作为解释。

Could the effects of this germinal mutation beundone?

那么，这种突变的影响能不能消除?

Could the individual Epsilon embryo be made arevert, by a suitable technique, to the normalityof dogs and cows?

能不能采用一种适当的技术使个别的爱扑塞隆胚胎回归到狗和牛一样的常规去?

That was the problem. And it was all but solved.

问题就在这里，而这个问题已经差不多解决了。

Pilkington, at Mombasa, had produced individuals who were sexually mature at four and full-grown at six and a half.

蒙巴萨的琵金顿已经培育出四岁就性成熟，六岁半就充分成长的个体。

A scientific triumph. But socially useless.

那是科学的胜利，可在社会上却还没有用处。

Six-year-old men and women were too stupid to do even Epsilon work.

六岁的男人和女人太愚蠢，连爱扑塞隆的工作都干不了。

And the process was an all-or-nothing one; either you failed to modify at all, or else youmodified the whole way.

而这却是个“一揽子”程序，要就是不变，要就是全变。

They were still trying to find the ideal compromise between adults of twenty and adults of six.

他们打算在二十岁的成人和六岁的成人之间寻求理想的折中，

So far without success. Mr. Foster sighed and shook his head.

到目前为止还没有取得成功。福斯特先生叹了口气，摇了摇头。

Their wanderings through the crimson twilight had brought them to the neighborhood of Metre170 on Rack 9.

他们在猩红的光线里转悠着，来到了九号架的一百七十公尺附近。

From this point onwards Rack 9 was enclosed and the bottle performed the remainder of theirjourney in a kind of tunnel,interrupted here and there by openings two or three metres wide.

从这儿往下九号架就封闭了。瓶子在一个隧道样的东西里结束了行程。隧道里每隔一定距离就有一个口子，两三公尺宽。

"Heat conditioning," said Mr. Foster.

“是调节温度的。”福斯特先生说。

Hot tunnels alternated with cool tunnels. Coolness was wedded to discomfort in the form ofhard X-rays.

热隧道与冷隧道交替出现。以强X射线的形式出现的冷冻跟不舒服结合在一起，

By the time they were decanted the embryos had a horror of cold.

胚胎换瓶时经历了可怕的冷冻。

They were predestined to emigrate to the tropics, to be miner and acetate silk spinners andsteel workers.

这批胚胎是预定要移民到赤道地区去做矿工、人造丝缫丝工和钢铁工人的。

Later on their minds would be made to endorse the judgment of their bodies.

以后还要给他们的身体配合心灵判断力。

"We condition them to thrive on heat," concluded Mr.

“我们设置条件让他们能在炎热气候里兴旺成功，”福斯特先生下了结论，

Foster. "Our colleagues upstairs will teach them to love it."

“我们楼上的同事会培养他们喜爱炎热。”

"And that," put in the Director sententiously, "that is the secret of happiness and virtue–likingwhat you've got to do.

“而幸福与德行的诀窍，”主任像说格言一样道，“是爱好你非干不可的事。

All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny."

一切条件设置的目标都是：让人们喜欢他们无法逃避的社会命运。”

In a gap between two tunnels, a nurse was delicately probing with a long fine syringe into thegelatinous contents of a passing bottle.

在两条隧道交合点的一个空处，一个护士正用细长的针管小心探索着走过的瓶中的胶状物质。

The students and their guides stood watching her for a few moments in silence.

学生们和向导默默地看了一会儿。

"Well, Lenina," said Mr. Foster, when at last she withdrew the syringe and straightened herselfup.

“列宁娜。”护土抽回针管，站直身子后，福斯特先生说。

The girl turned with a start. One could see that, for all the lupus and the purple eyes, she wasuncommonly pretty.

那姑娘吃了一惊转过身来。人们可以看出，尽管光线令她红得像害了红斑狼疮，眼睛也通红，却美丽非凡。

"Henry!" Her smile flashed redly at him–a row of coral teeth.

“亨利。”她向他闪来一个红色的微笑——一排珊瑚样的牙齿。

"Charming, charming," murmured the Director and, giving her two or three little pats, receivedin exchange a rather deferential smile for himself.

“迷人，迷人。”主任喃喃地说，轻轻地拍了她两三下，从她那儿得到一个毕恭毕敬的微笑。

"What are you giving them?" asked Mr. Foster, making his tone very professional.

“你在给他们加什么?”福斯特先生问道，有意让声音带公事公办的调子。

"Oh, the usual typhoid and sleeping sickness."

“啊，平常的伤寒和昏睡症疫苗。”

"Tropical workers start being inoculated at Metre 150," Mr. Foster explained to the students. "

“赤道工人到一百五十公尺处就注射预防疫苗。”福斯特先生对学生们说。

The embryos still have gills. We immunize the fish against the future man's diseases."

“这时胚胎还长着鳃。我们让‘鱼’免疫，以后就不会传染人类的疾病。”

Then, turning back to Lenina, "Ten to five on the roof this afternoon," he said, "as usual."

他转向列宁娜，“今天下午四点五十分在屋顶上，”他说，“照旧。”

"Charming," said the Dhector once more, and, with a final pat, moved away after the others.

“迷人。”主任又说了一句，又最后拍了她一下，跟别人一起走掉了。