美丽新世界Brave New World 第14章(4)

 　　A sudden noise of shrill¹ voices made him open his eyes and, after hastily brushing away the tears, look round.

　　一阵突如其来的尖声吵闹叫他睁开了眼睛，他匆匆擦去眼泪，四面一望。

　　What seemed an interminable stream of identical eight-year-old male twins was pouring into the room.

　　一道好像无穷无尽的人流正在往病房里泛滥。全是八岁的、长相相同的多生子男孩，

　　Twin after twin, twin after twin,they came—a nightmare.

　　一个跟一个，一个跟一个像梦魇一样进来了。

　　Their faces, their repeated face—for there was only one between the lot of them—puggishly stared, all nostrils² and pale goggling³ eyes.

　　那些面孔，那些老是重复的面孔——那么多人却只有一张脸——一模一样的鼻孔，一模一样的灰色大眼，像哈巴狗一样瞪着，转动着。

　　Their uniform was khaki. All their mouths hung open. Squealing⁵ and chattering⁶ they entered.

　　他们穿着咔叽制服，耷拉着嘴唇，尖叫着唧喳着进来了。

　　In a moment, it seemed, the ward⁷ was maggoty with them.

　　顷刻之间病房里就像爬满了蛆虫。

　　They swarmed⁸ between the beds, clambered over, crawled under, peeped into the television boxes,made faces at the patients.

　　有的又从病床下钻过，有的则往电视机里张望，有的则对病人做鬼脸。

　　Linda astonished and rather alarmed them. A group stood clustered at the foot of her bed, staring with the frightened and stupid curiosity of animals suddenly confronted by the unknown.

　　琳妲叫他们吃惊，或者说是叫他们害怕。一大群人挤在她的床头，带着恐怖而愚昧的好奇盯着她，像野兽突然发现了从未见过的东西。

　　"Oh, look, look!" They spoke⁹ in low, scared voices.

　　“啊，看看，看看！”多生子们用恐怖的低声说道，

　　Whatever is the matter with her? Why is she so fat?

　　她这到底是怎么回事了？怎么这么肥呀？

　　They had never seen a face like hers before—had never seen a face that was not youthful and taut-skinned, a body that had ceased to be slim and upright.

　　他们以前从来没有见过像她这样的面孔，他们见过的面孔都是年轻的光洁的，身子都是苗条的笔挺的。

　　All these moribund¹⁰ sexagenarians had the appearance of childish girls.

　　所有这些六十多岁的垂死的人都有着青春少女的容貌。

　　At forty-four, Linda seemed, by contrast, a monster of flaccid and distorted senility.

　　琳妲才四十多岁，可对比起来，她已经是一个皮肤松弛，形容歪扭的老妖怪。

　　"Isn't she awful?" came the whispered comments. "Look at her teeth!"

　　“她不是很吓人吗？”悄悄的议论传来，“你看她那牙！”

　　Suddenly from under the bed a pug-faced twin popped up between John's chair and the wall, and began peering into Linda's sleeping face.

　　一个哈巴狗脸的多生子突然从约翰的椅子和墙壁之间的床下钻了出来，开始盯着琳妲睡着了的脸。

　　"I say …" he began; but the sentence ended prematurely¹¹ in a squeal⁴.

　　“我说呀……”他开始说话了，可话还没说完，突然变成了尖叫。

1 shrill   

adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫

参考例句：

• Whistles began to shrill outside the barn.哨声开始在谷仓外面尖叫。
• The shrill ringing of a bell broke up the card game on the cutter.刺耳的铃声打散了小汽艇的牌局。

2 nostrils   

鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her nostrils flared with anger. 她气得两个鼻孔都鼓了起来。
• The horse dilated its nostrils. 马张大鼻孔。

3 goggling   

v.睁大眼睛瞪视， （惊讶的）转动眼珠( goggle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

4 squeal   

v.发出长而尖的声音；n.长而尖的声音

参考例句：

• The children gave a squeal of fright.孩子们发出惊吓的尖叫声。
• There was a squeal of brakes as the car suddenly stopped.小汽车突然停下来时，车闸发出尖叫声。

5 squealing   

v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Pigs were grunting and squealing in the yard. 猪在院子里哼哼地叫个不停。
• The pigs were squealing. 猪尖叫着。

6 chattering   

n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The teacher told the children to stop chattering in class. 老师叫孩子们在课堂上不要叽叽喳喳讲话。
• I was so cold that my teeth were chattering. 我冷得牙齿直打战。

7 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

8 swarmed   

密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去

参考例句：

• When the bell rang, the children swarmed out of the school. 铃声一响，孩子们蜂拥而出离开了学校。
• When the rain started the crowd swarmed back into the hotel. 雨一开始下，人群就蜂拥回了旅社。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 moribund   

adj.即将结束的，垂死的

参考例句：

• The moribund Post Office Advisory Board was replaced.这个不起作用的邮局顾问委员会已被替换。
• Imperialism is monopolistic,parasitic and moribund capitalism.帝国主义是垄断的、寄生的、垂死的资本主义。

11 prematurely   

adv.过早地，贸然地

参考例句：

• She was born prematurely with poorly developed lungs. 她早产，肺部未发育健全。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His hair was prematurely white, but his busy eyebrows were still jet-black. 他的头发已经白了，不过两道浓眉还是乌黑乌黑的。 来自辞典例句