美丽新世界 Brave New World 第4章(8)

"Oh, Helmholtz, darling, do come and have a picnicsupper with us on Exmoor." They clung round himimploringly.

“哦，赫姆霍尔兹，亲爱的，晚饭时一定到老荒原来吧，跟我们一起野餐。”她们缠住他乞求道。

He shook his head, he pushed his way throughthem. "No, no."

他摇摇头，从姑娘们中挤了出来。“不行，不行。”

"We're not inviting any other man."

“别的男人我们一个都不请。”

But Helmholtz remained unshaken even by thisdelightful promise.

但就连这样动人的承诺也打不动赫姆霍尔兹。

"No," he repeated, "I'm busy." And he held resolutely on his course.

“不行，”他仍然说，“我有事。”说完便径直走掉了。

The girls trailed after him. It was not till he had actually climbed into Bernard's plane andslammed the door that they gave up pursuit.

姑娘们跟在他身后，直到赫姆霍尔兹上了伯纳的飞机，砰的一声关上了门，才放弃了追逐。

Not without reproaches.

她们对他并非没有抱怨。

"These women!" he said, as the machine rose into the air.

“这些女人!”飞机升上天空，赫姆霍尔兹说。

"These women!" And he shook his head, he frowned. "Too awful," Bernard hypocritically agreed,wishing, as he spoke the words, that he could have as many girls as Helmholtz did, and with aslittle trouble.

这些女人飞时摇着脑袋，皱起眉头，“真叫人吃不消!”伯纳假惺惺表示同意，说话时倒恨不得也像赫姆霍尔兹能够有那么多姑娘，那么少烦恼。

He was seized with a sudden urgent need to boast.

一种自我吹嘘的迫切需要突然攫住了他，

"I'm taking Lenina Crowne to New Mexico with me," he said in a tone as casual as he couldmake it.

“我要带列宁娜到新墨西哥州去。”他竭力装出漫不经心的样子说。

"Are you?" said Helmholtz, with a total absence of interest.

“是吗?”赫姆霍尔兹毫无兴趣地回答，

Then after a little pause, "This last week or two," he went on, "I've been cutting all mycommittees and all my girls.

稍停之后他又说了下去，“前一两周我谢绝了所有的委员会会议和所有的姑娘。

You can't imagine what a hullabaloo they've been making about it at the College.

姑娘们为了这个在学院里大吵大闹，那场面你简直难以想象。

Still, it's been worth it, I think. The effects …"

不过，倒还是值得的。其结果是……”

He hesitated. "Well, they're odd, they're very odd."

他犹豫了一下，“总之，她们非常奇怪，非常奇怪。”

A physical shortcoming could produce a kind of mental excess.

生理上的缺陷可能造成一种。

The process, it seemed, was reversible.

心理上的过分负担。那过程似乎也能够逆反。

Mental excess could produce, for its own purposes, the voluntary blindness and deafness ofdeliberate solitude, the artificial impotence of asceticism.

心理上的过分负担为了它自身的目的也可能蓄意孤立自己，从而造成自觉的盲目和聋聩，人为地产生禁欲主义的性无能。

The rest of the short flight was accomplished in silence.

短暂的飞行剩下的部分是在沉默里度过的。

When they had arrived and were comfortably stretched out on the pneumatic sofas in Bernard'sroom, Helmholtz began again.

他俩来到伯纳的房间，在气垫沙发上舒舒服服地伸展开来之后，赫姆霍尔兹又开始了谈话。

Speaking very slowly, "Did you ever feel," he asked, "as though you had something inside youthat was only waiting for you to give it a chance to come out?

话说得很慢。“你曾经有过这种感觉没有，”他问道，“你身子里好像有了什么东西，一直等着你给它机会宣泄。

Some sort of extra power that you aren't using–you know, like all the water that goes down thefalls instead of through the turbines?"

某种过剩的精力，你不会使用的精力——你知道，就像所有的水都流成了瀑布，并没有冲动涡轮，你有过这种感觉没有?”

He looked at Bernard questioningly.

他带着疑问望着伯纳。

"You mean all the emotions one might be feeling if things were different?"

“你是说，如果情况不同人们可能产生的感觉广