美丽新世界Brave New World 第12章(10)

 Helmholtz had been restless throughout the entire scene; but when, pathetically mimed¹ by the Savage², Juliet cried out:

赫姆霍尔兹听那一幕时一直不大安静，但是在这时宋丽叶用野蛮人模仿出的伤感语调叫道:

Is there no pity sitting in the clouds, That sees into the bottom of my grief? O sweet my mother, cast me not away:

在云端难道就没有慈悲的神灵能看见我心里这悲伤的底奥？啊，亲爱的妈妈，不要扔弃我，

Delay this marriage for a month, a week;Or, if you do not, make the bridal bed In that dim monument where Tybalt lies.

让婚礼推迟一个月，一个星期吧，要是不行，就把我的婚庆放进提伯尔特长眠的那昏暗的墓地。

when Juliet said this, Helmholtz broke out in an explosion of uncontrollable guffawing³.

听到这一段时赫姆霍尔兹突然忍不住了，爆发出了一阵哈哈怪笑。

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The mother and father (grotesque obscenity) forcing the daughter to have some one she didn't want!

妈妈！爸爸！多么荒唐的猥亵，叫女儿要她不愿意要的人！

And the idiotic⁴ girl not saying that she was having some one else whom (for the moment, at any rate) she preferred!

而那女儿竟然白痴到不知道说明她已经有了心上人（至少那时有）！

In its smutty absurdity⁵ the situation was irresistibly⁶ comical.

这样的淫猥荒唐，叫人不能够不觉得滑稽。

He had managed, with a heroic effort, to hold down the mounting pressure of his hilarity⁷; but "sweet mother" (in the Savage's tremulous tone of anguish) and the reference to Tybalt lying dead, but evidently uncremated and wasting his phosphorus on a dim monument, were too much for him.

对于从心底升起的笑意，他曾经竭力压制，但是，又是“亲爱的妈妈”（那野蛮人用那伤感的颤抖的语调念出的），又是提伯尔特死了，却躺在那里，显然没有火化，为一座阴暗的陵墓浪费了他的磷。这些都叫他实在难于控制自己。

He laughed and laughed till the tears streamed down his face–quenchlessly laughed while, pale with a sense of outrage⁸,

他哈哈大笑，再哈哈大笑，笑得眼泪直流。

the Savage looked at him over the top of his book and then, as the laughter still continued, closed it indignantly,

他老是忍不住要笑，野蛮人感到受了侮辱，脸色苍白了，越过书页顶上盯着他。

got up and, with the gesture of one who removes his pearl from before swine, locked it away in its drawer.

然后，由于他还在笑，便愤愤地合上书，站了起来，像一个从猪猡面前收起珍珠的人，把书锁进了抽屉。

"And yet," said Helmholtz when, having recovered breath enough to apologize,

“不过，”在赫姆霍尔兹喘过气来，可以道歉时，

he had mollified the Savage into listening to his explanations, I know quite well that one needs ridiculous, mad situations like that; one can't write really well about anything else. Why was that old fellow such a marvellous propaganda technician?

便让野蛮人听了他的解释，消了气，我很懂得人们是需要那样荒唐疯狂的情节的，因为不这样写就不能写出真正好的东西来。那老家伙为什么能够成为那么了不起的宣传专家呢？

Because he had so many insane, excruciating things to get excited about.

因为他有那么多糊涂的、能气死人的故事，能叫人激动。

You've got to be hurt and upset; otherwise you can't think of the really good, penetrating⁹, X-rayish phrases.

他得叫你难受，叫你生气，否则你就体会不到那些真正美好的、深刻的、像X光一样的词语。

But fathers and mothers! He shook his head. You can't expect me to keep a straight face about fathers and mothers.

可是那些‘爸爸’呀，‘妈妈’呀，他摇摇头。在那些‘爸爸’、‘妈妈’面前你就无法叫我板着面孔。

And who's going to get excited about a boy having a girl or not having her?

谁能够因为一个男娃娃要了，或是没有要一个女娃娃而激动呢？

(The Savage winced¹⁰; but Helmholtz, who was staring pensively¹¹ at the floor, saw nothing.) "No." he concluded, with a sigh, it won't do. We need some other kind of madness and violence. But what? What? Where can one find it?

（野蛮人退缩了；但赫姆霍尔兹凝望着地板沉思，没有看见。）“不会的。”他叹了一口气，结束了谈话。不会激动的。我们需要别的种类的疯狂和暴力。但是，是什么？什么样的？到哪儿找去？

He was silent; then, shaking his head, "I don't know," he said at last, "I don't know."

他住了嘴，摇着头说，“我不知道，”最后再说了一句，“我不知道。”

1 mimed   

v.指手画脚地表演，用哑剧的形式表演( mime的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The man mimed the slaying of an enemy. 此人比手划脚地表演砍死一个敌人的情况。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The acting students mimed eating an apple. 这些学生正在用哑剧形式表演吃苹果。 来自互联网

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 guffawing   

v.大笑，狂笑( guffaw的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Then, hand in hand they made off, guffawing gloatingly. 然后，他们手挽着手，哈哈大笑着回到了欧洲。 来自互联网

4 idiotic   

adj.白痴的

参考例句：

• It is idiotic to go shopping with no money.去买东西而不带钱是很蠢的。
• The child's idiotic deeds caused his family much trouble.那小孩愚蠢的行为给家庭带来许多麻烦。

5 absurdity   

n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论

参考例句：

• The proposal borders upon the absurdity.这提议近乎荒谬。
• The absurdity of the situation made everyone laugh.情况的荒谬可笑使每个人都笑了。

6 irresistibly   

adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地

参考例句：

• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside. 她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was irresistibly attracted by her charm. 他不能自已地被她的魅力所吸引。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 hilarity   

n.欢乐；热闹

参考例句：

• The announcement was greeted with much hilarity and mirth.这一项宣布引起了热烈的欢呼声。
• Wine gives not light hilarity,but noisy merriment.酒不给人以轻松的欢乐，而给人以嚣嚷的狂欢。

8 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

9 penetrating   

adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的

参考例句：

• He had an extraordinarily penetrating gaze. 他的目光有股异乎寻常的洞察力。
• He examined the man with a penetrating gaze. 他以锐利的目光仔细观察了那个人。

10 winced   

赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He winced as the dog nipped his ankle. 狗咬了他的脚腕子，疼得他龇牙咧嘴。
• He winced as a sharp pain shot through his left leg. 他左腿一阵剧痛疼得他直龇牙咧嘴。

11 pensively   

adv.沉思地，焦虑地

参考例句：

• Garton pensively stirred the hotchpotch of his hair. 加顿沉思着搅动自己的乱发。 来自辞典例句
• "Oh, me,'said Carrie, pensively. "I wish I could live in such a place." “唉，真的，"嘉莉幽幽地说，"我真想住在那种房子里。” 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹