美丽新世界 Brave New World 第5章(2)

"Even an Epsilon …" Lenina suddenly remembered anoccasion when, as a little girl at school,

“即使是爱扑塞隆……”列宁娜想起了一件事。那时她还是小姑娘，还在学校里读书。

she had woken up in the middle of the night andbecome aware, for the first time, of the whisperingthat had haunted all her sleeps.

她半夜醒了过来，第一次意识到了在她每次人睡后萦绕着她的那种细语。

She saw again the beam of moonlight, the row ofsmall white beds; heard once more the soft, softvoice that said (the words were there, unforgotten, unforgettable after so many night-longrepetitions):

她眼前出现了那月光，那排小白床;听见了那轻悄的柔和的细语(那声音依然在耳，经过了那么多个长夜的一再重复，她没有忘记，也无法忘记。)

"Every one works for every one else. We can't do without any one.

那细语在说：“每个人都为每个别的人工作。没有别的人我们是不行的。

Even Epsilons are useful. We couldn't do without Epsilons.

即使是爱扑塞隆也有用处，没有爱扑塞隆我们也是木行的。

Every one works for every one else. We can't do without any one …"

每个人都为每个别的人工作，没有别的人我们是木行的……”

Lenina remembered her first shock of fear and surprise; her speculations through half a wakefulhour;

列宁娜记起了她第一次所感到的震惊和意外;她猜测了半个小时，睡不着。

and then, under the influence of those endless repetitions, the gradual soothing of her mind,the soothing, the smoothing, the stealthy creeping of sleep. …

然后，由于那永远重复的话句，她的心灵逐渐舒坦起来，舒坦起来，平静下去，于是睡意悄悄到来。

"I suppose Epsilons don't really mind being Epsilons," she said aloud.

“我估计爱扑塞隆们并不真的在乎当爱扑塞隆。”她大声说道。

"Of course they don't. How can they? They don't know what it's like being anything else.

“他们当然不在乎。他们怎么会在乎呢?他们并不知道做其他种类的人的感觉。

We'd mind, of course. But then we've been differently conditioned. Besides, we start with adifferent heredity."

而我们当然是会在乎的。可是，我们接受了不同的条件设计，何况遗传也根本不同。”

"I'm glad I'm not an Epsilon," said Lenina, with conviction.

“我很高兴不是个爱扑塞隆。”列宁娜深信不疑地说。

"And if you were an Epsilon," said Henry, "your conditioning would have made you no lessthankful that you weren't a Beta or an Alpha."

“可你如果是个爱扑塞隆，”亨利说，“你的条件设置就会让你感谢福帝，不亚于自己是个比塔或阿尔法的。”

He put his forward propeller into gear and headed the machine towards London.

他给前飞推进器挂上挡，让飞机往伦敦城飞去。

Behind them, in the west, the crimson and orange were almost faded; a dark bank of cloud hadcrept into the zenith.

他们背后，西方的深红与橘红已然淡去，漠漠的乌云爬上了天顶。

As they flew over the crematorium, the plane shot upwards on the column of hot air risingfrom the chimneys, only to fall as suddenly when it passed into the descending chill beyond.

越过火葬场时，从高烟囱升起的热气把飞机抬升了起来，直到飞到下降的冷空气流里，才又突然沉降。

"What a marvellous switchback!" Lenina laughed delightedly.

“多么有趣的沉浮!”列宁娜快活地笑了。

But Henry's tone was almost, for a moment, melancholy.

可是亨利的调子一时却几乎是忧伤的。

"Do you know what that switchback was?" he said. "It was some human being finally anddefinitely disappearing. Going up in a squirt of hot gas.

“你知道那升降是什么意思吗?”他说，“那意味着一个人最终消失了，一去不复返了，变做了一股热气，升了上来。

It would be curious to know who it was–a man or a woman, an Alpha or an Epsilon. …" Hesighed. Then, in a resolutely cheerful voice, "Anyhow," he concluded, "there's one thing we canbe certain of; whoever he may have been, he was happy when he was alive. Everybody's happynow."

要是能够知道那是什么人一定会很有趣的——是男人，是妇女，是阿尔法，或是爱扑塞隆?……”他叹了口气，然后以一种坚决的快活的声音结束，“总之，有一点我们可以肯定：不管他原来是什么，他活着的时候是幸福的。现在每个人都很幸福。”

"Yes, everybody's happy now," echoed Lenina.

“是的，现在每个人都很幸福。”列宁娜重复道。

They had heard the words repeated a hundred and fifty times every night for twelve years.

他俩每天晚上要听这话重复一百五十次，已经听了十二年。

Landing on the roof of Henry's forty-story apartment house in Westminster, they went straightdown to the dining-hall.

亨利的公寓在西敏寺，有四十层楼，他们在楼顶降落下来，径直往餐厅走去。

There, in a loud and cheerful company, they ate an excellent meal.

他俩在那儿跟一群喧嚣快活的伙伴吃了一顿可口的晚餐。

Soma was served with the coffee. Lenina took two half-gramme tablets and Henry three.

唆麻跟咖啡同时送上。列宁娜吃了两个半克，亨利吃了三个。

At twenty past nine they walked across the street to the newly opened Westminster AbbeyCabaret.

九点二十分两人横过了大街，来到新开的西敏寺歌舞餐厅。

It was a night almost without clouds, moonless and starry; but of this on the whole depressingfact Lenina and Henry were fortunately unaware.

那天晚上差不多没有云，也没有月亮，只有星星，幸好这叫人沮丧的事实没有为列宁娜和亨利注意到。

The electric sky-signs effectively shut off the outer darkness. "CALVIN STOPES AND HISSIXTEEN SEXOPHONISTS." From the fa.ade of the new Abbey the giant letters invitingly glared.

因为天空的灯光招牌有效地掩饰了天外的黑暗：“加尔文·司徒普率十六位色唆风手演出。”巨大的字体在西敏寺新的门面上闪着诱惑的光。

"LONDON'S FINEST SCENT AND COLOUR ORGAN. ALL THE LATEST SYNTHETIC MUSIC."

“伦敦最佳色香乐队演奏最新合成音乐”。