美丽新世界Brave New World 第11章(8)

 From behind a door in the corridor leading to the Beta-Minus geography room, a ringing soprano voice called, "One, two, three, four," and then, with a weary impatience¹, "As you were."

一个响亮的女高音在通向比塔减地理教室的走廊门后叫道，“一、二、三、四，”然后带着疲倦的口气说，“照做。”

"Malthusian Drill," explained the Head Mistress. "Most of our girls are freemartins, of course. I'm a freemartin myself."

“马尔萨斯操，”校长解释道，“当然，我们的姑娘大部分都是不孕女，我自己就是。”

She smiled at Bernard.

她对伯纳笑了笑。

But we have about eight hundred unsterilized ones who need constant drilling.

但是我们还有大约八百个没有绝育的姑娘需要经常操练。

In the Beta-Minus geography room John learnt that,a savage² reservation is a place which,owing to unfavourable climatic or geological conditions, or poverty of natural resources,

约翰在比塔减教室的地理课学到了这样的东西, 野蛮人保留地是由于气候或地理条件不利，或天然资源缺乏，

has not been worth the expense of civilizing³.

不值得花费功夫去文明化的地区。

A click; the room was darkened; and suddenly, on the screen above the Master's head, there were the Penitentes of Acoma prostrating⁴ themselves before Our Lady, and wailing⁵ as John had heard them wail,confessing their sins before Jesus on the Cross, before the eagle image of Pookong.

咔哒一声，房间黑了。老师头顶的银幕上,突然出现了阿科马的悔罪人匍匐在圣母像面前的样子。他们也匍匐在十字架上的耶稣面前和菩公的鹰像面前，哀号着悔罪（那是约翰以前听见过的）。

The young Etonians fairly shouted with laughter.

年轻的伊顿学生喊叫起来，大笑起来。

Still wailing, the Penitentes rose to their feet, stripped off their upper garments and, with knotted whips, began to beat themselves, blow after blow.

悔罪人站起身子，仍然哀号着，脱下了上衣，开始一鞭一鞭地抽打自己。

Redoubled, the laughted drowned even the amplified⁶ record of their groans⁷.

笑声增加了四倍，悔罪人的呻吟声虽被放大，却仍被笑声淹没了。

"But why do they laugh?" asked the Savage in a pained bewilderment.

“可他们在笑什么？”野蛮人感到痛心的困惑，问道。

"Why?" The Provost turned towards him a still broadly grinning face.

“为什么？”院长向他转过仍然满是笑意的脸。

Why? But because it's so extraordinarily⁸ funny.

为什么？不就是因为好笑得太不平常了嘛。

In the cinematographic twilight⁹, Bernard risked a gesture which, in the past, even total darkness would hardly have emboldened¹⁰ him to make.

在电影的昏暗里伯纳冒险做出了他以前即使在漆黑之中也不敢做的动作。

Strong in his new importance, he put his arm around the Head Mistress's waist.

他仗恃新获得的重要身份伸出胳臂，搂住了女校长的腰。

It yielded, willowily.

对方如杨柳轻摇般承受了。

He was just about to snatch a kiss or two and perhaps a gentle pinch, when the shutters¹¹ clicked open again.

他正打算偷吻她一两次，或是轻轻捏她一把，百叶窗咔嗒一声又打开了。

1 impatience   

n.不耐烦，急躁

参考例句：

• He expressed impatience at the slow rate of progress.进展缓慢，他显得不耐烦。
• He gave a stamp of impatience.他不耐烦地跺脚。

2 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

3 civilizing   

v.使文明，使开化( civilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The girls in a class tend to have a civilizing influence on the boys. 班上的女生往往能让男生文雅起来。
• It exerts a civilizing influence on mankind. 这产生了教化人类的影响。 来自辞典例句

4 prostrating   

v.使俯伏，使拜倒( prostrate的现在分词 )；（指疾病、天气等）使某人无能为力

参考例句：

• The pain associated with pancreatitis has been described as prostrating. 胰腺炎的疼痛曾被描述为衰竭性的。 来自辞典例句

5 wailing   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱

参考例句：

• A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。
• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。

6 amplified   

放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述

参考例句：

• He amplified on his remarks with drawings and figures. 他用图表详细地解释了他的话。
• He amplified the whole course of the incident. 他详述了事件的全过程。

7 groans   

n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• There were loud groans when he started to sing. 他刚开始歌唱时有人发出了很大的嘘声。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was a weird old house, full of creaks and groans. 这是所神秘而可怕的旧宅，到处嘎吱嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

9 twilight   

n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期

参考例句：

• Twilight merged into darkness.夕阳的光辉融于黑暗中。
• Twilight was sweet with the smell of lilac and freshly turned earth.薄暮充满紫丁香和新翻耕的泥土的香味。

10 emboldened   

v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Emboldened by the wine, he went over to introduce himself to her. 他借酒壮胆，走上前去向她作自我介绍。
• His success emboldened him to expand his business. 他有了成就因而激发他进一步扩展业务。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 shutters   

百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门

参考例句：

• The shop-front is fitted with rolling shutters. 那商店的店门装有卷门。
• The shutters thumped the wall in the wind. 在风中百叶窗砰砰地碰在墙上。