美丽新世界 Brave New World 第6章(4)

"Every one says I'm awfully pneumatic," said Leninareflectively, patting her own legs.

“大家都说我极其有灵气。”列宁娜拍着两腿，若有所思地说。

"Awfully." But there was an expression of pain inBernard's eyes. "Like meat," he was thinking.

“极其有灵气，”但是伯纳的眼里却是痛苦的表情，“像个肉体。”他想。

She looked up with a certain anxiety. "But youdon't think I'm too plump, do you?"

她带着几分焦急抬头看他。“但是你不会认为我太丰满吧?”

He shook his head. Like so much meat.

他摇摇头，就像那么大一个肉体。

"You think I'm all right." Another nod. "In every way?"

“你觉得我可爱。”又是点点头。“各方面都可爱吗?”

"Perfect," he said aloud. And inwardly. "She thinks of herself that way. She doesn't mind beingmeat."

“无懈可击。”他大声说。心里却想，“她自以为是，并不在乎当一个肉体。”

Lenina smiled triumphantly. But her satisfaction was premature.

列宁娜胜利地笑了。但是她满意得太早。

"All the same," he went on, after a little pause, "I still rather wish it had all ended differently."

“可照样，”伯纳稍停之后说了下去，“我仍然很希望昨天换个方式结束。”

"Differently?" Were there other endings?

“不同?还能有什么别的方式结束吗?”

"I didn't want it to end with our going to bed," he specified.

“我希望不是以我俩上床结束。”他解释道。

Lenina was astonished.

列宁娜大吃一惊。

"Not at once, not the first day."

“不是立即上床，头一天就上床。”

"But then what …?"

“可那样……。”

He began to talk a lot of incomprehensible and dangerous nonsense.

他开始说起许多玄妙的废话;

Lenina did her best to stop the ears of her mind; but every now and then a phrase would insiston becoming audible. "

列宁娜尽可能堵住自己心灵的耳朵，可总有些话会钻进来。

… to try the effect of arresting my impulses," she heard him say. The words seemed to touch aspring in her mind.

“……看看控制我的冲动以后会怎么样，”她听见他说，那些话仿佛触动了她心里的一根弹簧。

"Never put off till to-morrow the fun you can have to-day," she said gravely.

“今朝有乐事，何必推明天，”她郑重地说。

"Two hundred repetitions, twice a week from fourteen to sixteen and a half," was all hiscomment.

“一周两次，从十四点到十六点半，每回重复两百次。”这是他的评价。

The mad bad talk rambled on. "I want to know what passion is," she heard him saying. "I wantto feel something strongly."

他那疯狂的错误言论随意发表下去。“我想知道什么是激情，”她听见他说，“我想要产生强烈的感受。”

"When the individual feels, the community reels," Lenina pronounced.

“个人一动感情，社会就难稳定。”列宁娜断定。

"Well, why shouldn't it reel a bit?"

“晤，让社会摇晃一下为什么就不可以?”

"Bernard!"

“伯纳!”

But Bernard remained unabashed.

可是伯纳仍然不觉得羞耻。

"Adults intellectually and during working hours," he went on. "Infants where feeling and desireare concerned."

“智力和工作是成年人，”他继续说，“感受和欲望却是孩子。”

"Our Ford loved infants."

“我们的福帝喜欢孩子。”

Ignoring the interruption. "It suddenly struck me the other day," continued Bernard, "that itmight be possible to be an adult all the time."

他对她的打岔置之不理。“那天我突然想到，”伯纳说下去，“要永远保持成人状态还是可能的。”

"I don't understand." Lenina's tone was firm.

“我不明白。”列宁娜的口气坚定。

"I know you don't. And that's why we went to bed together yesterday–like infants–instead ofbeing adults and waiting."

“我知道你不会明白。也就是因为这个我们昨天才上了床的——跟小娃娃一样。不像大人能够等待。”

"But it was fun," Lenina insisted. "Wasn't it?"

“可我们这样很有趣，”列宁娜坚持自己的意见。“是吗?”

"Oh, the greatest fun," he answered, but in a voice so mournful, with an expression soprofoundly miserable, that Lenina felt all her triumph suddenly evaporate.

“最有趣不过。”他回答，但那声音却非常忧伤，表情里有深沉的痛苦。列宁娜觉得她的胜利突然烟消云散了。

Perhaps he had found her too plump, after all.

说到底，他也许嫌她太胖吧。

"I told you so," was all that Fanny said, when Lenina came and made her confidences. "It's thealcohol they put in his surrogate."

“我早告诉过你了。”列宁娜找范尼谈心事，范尼说。“全都是因为在他的代血剂里多加了酒精。”

"All the same," Lenina insisted. "I do like him. He has such awfully nice hands.

“可都一样，”列宁娜坚持自己的意见，“我喜欢他。他的手太叫人心爱了。

And the way he moves his shoulders–that's very attractive." She sighed. "But I wish heweren't so odd."

还有他晃动肩头的样子——非常有魅力，”她叹了一口气，“可是我希望他不那么希奇古怪。”