美丽新世界Brave New World 第12章(7)

When, discomfited, he came and asked once morefor the friendship which, in his prosperity, he hadnot thought it worth his while to preserve.

在他心烦的时候伯纳又去跟赫姆霍尔兹套近乎了在他得意时是认为那友谊不值得维持的。

Helmholtz gave it; and gave it without a reproach,without a comment, as though he had forgottenthat there had ever been a quarrel.

赫姆霍尔兹给了他友谊，没有责备，没有指斥，好像忘了曾经有过的争吵。

Touched, Bernard felt himself at the same time humiliated by this magnanimity–amagnanimity the more extraordinary,

伯纳很感动，同时又觉得那种宽容对他还是一种侮辱。

and therefore the more humiliating in that it owed nothing to soma and everything toHelmholtz's character.

这种宽容越是不寻常就越是叫他丢脸，因为那全是出于赫姆霍尔兹的性格，而与唆麻无关。

It was the Helmholtz of daily life who forgot and forgave, not the Helmholtz of a half-grammeholiday.

那是日常生活里的不计前嫌、慷慨给予的赫姆霍尔兹，而不是在半克唆麻造成的假期里的赫姆霍尔兹。

Bernard was duly grateful (it was an enormous comfort to have his friend again), and alsoduly reseritful (it would be pleasure to take some revenge on Helmholtz for his generosity).

伯纳照常心怀感激(朋友回到身边是一种巨大的安慰)，却也照常心师不满(若是能够报复一下赫姆霍尔兹的慷慨倒是一种乐趣)。

At their first meeing after the estrangement, Bernard poured out the tale of his miseries andaccepted consolation.

在两人生疏之后第一次见面时，伯纳倾诉了苦痛，接受了安慰。

It was not till some days later that he learned, to his surprise and with a twinge of shame, thathe was not the only one who had been in trouble.

等到他意识到自己并不是唯一遇上麻烦的人因而感到意外和惭愧时已经是好几天以后的事了。

Helmholtz had also come into conflict with Authority."It was over some rhymes," he explained.I was giving my usual course of Advanced Emotional Engineering for Third Year Students.

赫姆霍尔兹跟领导之间也有过冲突。“那是几首顺口溜引起的，”赫姆霍尔兹解释道，我在教三年级学生高级情绪工程课。

Twelve lectures, of which the seventh is about rhymes. 'On the Use of Rhymes in MoralPropaganda and Advertisement,' to be precise.

分十二讲。其中第七讲是关于顺口溜的。确切地说是：顺口溜的使用在道德宣传和广告中的作用。

I always illustrate my lecture with a lot of technical examples.

我一向用许多技术上的例子证实我的报告。

This time I thought I'd give them one I'd just written myself. Pure madness, of course; but Icouldn't resist it.

这一回我觉得应该拿我新写的一首顺口溜作为例子。当然，那纯粹是发疯，但是我忍不住。

He laughed. I was curious to see what their reactions would be.

他笑了。我很好奇，想看看学生们的反应。

Besides, he added more gravely, I wanted to do a bit of propaganda;

而且他更加严肃地说，我想做一点宣传。

I was trying to engineer them into feeling as I'd felt when I wrote the rhymes. Ford! He laughedagain.

我想支配他们，让他们也体会到我写那顺口溜时的感受。福帝呀!”他又笑了。

What an outcry there was! The Principal had me up and threatened to hand me the immediatesack. l'm a marked man.

好个轩然大波!校长叫了我去，威胁说马上要开除我。我受到了他们的注意。

"But what were your rhymes?" Bernard asked.

“你那是个什么顺口溜?”伯纳问。

They were about being alone.

那是关于孤独的。

Bernard's eyebrows went up.

伯纳扬起了眉头。

"I'll recite them to you, if you like." And Helmholtz began: "Yesterday's committee,Sticks, but abroken drum, Midnight in the City, Flutes in a vacuum,"

“你要是愿意听，我就背给你听听。”赫姆霍尔兹开始了：“委员们昨天开过的会，只是个破鼓，残留未去，黑更半夜的这个城市，不过是真空里几声长笛。”

Shut lips, sleeping faces,Every stopped machine,The dumb and littered places Where crowdshave been:

紧闭的嘴唇，满脸的睡意，已经停开的每一部机器，扔满杂物的寂静的场地，会众们就曾在这里来去……

All silences rejoice,Weep (loudly or low),Speak–but with the voice Of whom, I do not know.

大家都喜欢这片片的寂静，哭吧，放声大哭或是饮泣;说话吧——可那说出的话语是谁的声音，我并不明白。