美丽新世界Brave New World 第1章(7)

 　　He rubbed his hands. For of course, they didn't content themselves with merely hatching out embryos²: any cow could do that.

　　他搓搓手。因为当然，他们并没有以孵化出胚胎为满足：孵化胚胎是无论哪条母牛都能干的事。

　　"We also predestine and condition. We decant³ our babies as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or future …"

　　“我们也预定人的命运，设置人的条件。我们把婴儿换瓶为社会化的人，叫做阿尔法或爱扑塞隆，以后让他们掏阴沟或是……”

　　He was going to say "future World controllers," but correcting himself, said "future Directors of Hatcheries," instead.

　　他原打算说“主宰世界”，却改了口道：“做孵化中心主任。”

　　The D.H.C. acknowledged the compliment with a smile.

　　孵化中心主任笑了笑，接受了赞美。

　　They were passing Metre 320 on Rack 11. A young Beta-Minus mechanic was busy with screw-driver and spanner on the blood-surrogate pump of a passing bottle.

　　他们正从三百二十米处的十一号架前经过。一个年轻的比塔减技术员正忙着用螺丝刀和扳手处理路过的血泵——那是用以泵出瓶里的代血剂的。

　　The hum of the electric motor deepened by fractions of a tone as he turned the nuts.

　　他拧紧了螺丝，马达的嗡嗡声极轻微地加大了。

　　Down, down … A final twist, a glance at the revolution counter, and he was done.

　　往下，往下……拧了最后一下，他看了一下旋转柜台，任务完成。

　　He moved two paces down the line and began the same process on the next pump.

　　他沿着流水线前进了两步，在下一个血泵前重复起了同样的程序。

　　"Reducing the number of revolutions per minute," Mr. Foster explained. "

　　“每分钟旋转数一减少，”福斯特先生解释道，

　　The surrogate goes round slower; therefore passes through the lung at longer intervals⁵; therefore gives the embryo¹ less oxygen.

　　“代血剂的循环就减慢了，流经肺部的时间也随之延长，这样，输送给胚胎的氧气就减少了。

　　Nothing like oxygen-shortage for keeping an embryo below par⁶." Again he rubbed his hands.

　　要降低胚胎规格没有比减少氧气更好的办法了。”他又搓了搓手。

　　"But why do you want to keep the embryo below par?" asked an ingenuous⁷ student.

　　“可你为什么要降低胚胎规格？”一个聪明的学生问道。

　　"Ass⁴!" said the Director, breaking a long silence. "

　　“傻孩子！’长时间的沉默，

　　Hasn't it occurred to you that an Epsilon embryo must have an Epsilon environment as well as an Epsilon heredity?"

　　最后，主任才说，“你就没有想到爱扑塞隆胚胎必须有爱扑塞隆环境和爱扑塞隆遗传吗？”

　　It evidently hadn't occurred to him. He was covered with confusion.

　　那学生显然没有想到过，感到惶惑。

　　"The lower the caste," said Mr. Foster, "the shorter the oxygen." The first organ affected⁸ was the brain.

　　“种姓越低，”福斯特先生说，“供氧越少。最早受到影响的是头脑，

　　After that the skeleton. At seventy per cent of normal oxygen you got dwarfs⁹. At less than seventy eyeless monsters.

　　然后是骨骼。供氧量只达正常量百分之七十就形成侏儒。低于百分之七十就成了没有眼睛的怪胎。”

　　"Who are no use at all," concluded Mr. Foster.

　　“那就完全是废品了。”福斯特先生总结说。

　　Whereas (his voice became confidential¹⁰ and eager), if they could discover a technique for shortening the period of maturation what a triumph, what a benefaction to Society!

　　而同时，他们要是能找到一种缩短成熟期的技术，对社会又是多么大的贡献呀！（他说话时带着机密的口气，而且迫切。）

　　"Consider the horse."

　　“设想一下马吧。”

　　They considered it.

　　他们设想了一下。

　　Mature at six; the elephant at ten. While at thirteen a man is not yet sexually mature; and is only full-grown at twenty.

　　马六年成熟；象十年成熟；而人到十三岁性还没有成熟，等到充分成熟已经二十岁了。

　　Hence, of course, that fruit of delayed development, the human intelligence.

　　当然，发育迟缓的结果是智力发育也迟缓。

　　"But in Epsilons," said Mr. Foster very justly, "we don't need human intelligence."

　　“但我们在爱扑塞隆们身上，”福斯特先生非常公正地说，“并不需要人类的智慧。”

　　Didn't need and didn't get it. But though the Epsilon mind was mature at ten, the Epsilon body was not fit to work till eighteen.

　　“本来就不需要，而且也得不到。但是爱扑塞隆们到十岁时心智就已成熟，而身体呢，不到十八岁却成熟不了。

　　Long years of superfluous¹¹ and wasted immaturity¹².

　　让非成熟期占去许多年是不必要的，也是浪费。

　　If the physical development could be speeded up till it was as quick, say, as a cow's, what an enormous saving to the Community!

　　如果体力的发展能够加速，比如能够跟母牛一样快，那对社会会是多大的节约呀！”

　　"Enormous!" murmured the students. Mr. Foster's enthusiasm was infectious.

　　“了不起的节约！”学生们喃喃地说。福斯特先生的热情带有传染性。

1 embryo   

n.胚胎，萌芽的事物

参考例句：

• They are engaging in an embryo research.他们正在进行一项胚胎研究。
• The project was barely in embryo.该计划只是个雏形。

2 embryos   

n.晶胚；胚，胚胎( embryo的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Somatic cells of angiosperms enter a regenerative phase and behave like embryos. 被子植物体细胞进入一个生殖阶段，而且其行为象胚。 来自辞典例句
• Evolution can explain why human embryos look like gilled fishes. 进化论能够解释为什么人类的胚胎看起来象除去了内脏的鱼一样。 来自辞典例句

3 decant   

v.慢慢倒出

参考例句：

• She always used to decant the milk into a jug.她过去总是把牛奶倒入一个壶中。
• Vintage ports must be decanted to remove natural sediments.上等的波尔图葡萄酒必须倒入其他容器中以滤除自然沉淀物。

4 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

5 intervals   

n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息

参考例句：

• The forecast said there would be sunny intervals and showers. 预报间晴，有阵雨。
• Meetings take place at fortnightly intervals. 每两周开一次会。

6 par   

n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的

参考例句：

• Sales of nylon have been below par in recent years.近年来尼龙织品的销售额一直不及以往。
• I don't think his ability is on a par with yours.我认为他的能力不能与你的能力相媲美。

7 ingenuous   

adj.纯朴的，单纯的；天真的；坦率的

参考例句：

• Only the most ingenuous person would believe such a weak excuse!只有最天真的人才会相信这么一个站不住脚的借口！
• With ingenuous sincerity,he captivated his audience.他以自己的率真迷住了观众。

8 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

9 dwarfs   

n.侏儒，矮子（dwarf的复数形式）vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Shakespeare dwarfs other dramatists. 莎士比亚使其他剧作家相形见绌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The new building dwarfs all the other buildings in the town. 新大楼使城里所有其他建筑物都显得矮小了。 来自辞典例句

10 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。

11 superfluous   

adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的

参考例句：

• She fined away superfluous matter in the design. 她删去了这图案中多余的东西。
• That request seemed superfluous when I wrote it.我这样写的时候觉得这个请求似乎是多此一举。

12 immaturity   

n.不成熟；未充分成长；未成熟；粗糙

参考例句：

• It traces the development of a young man from immaturity to maturity. 它描写一位青年从不成熟到成熟的发展过程。 来自辞典例句
• Immaturity is the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from another. 不成熟就是不经他人的指引就无法运用自身的理解力。 来自互联网