美丽新世界Brave New World 第16章(4)

 　　The Savage¹ was silent for a little. "All the same," he insisted obstinately², "Othello's good, Othello's better than those feelies."

　　野蛮人沉默了一会儿。“可是《奥塞罗》是好的，《奥塞罗》要比感官电影好。”

　　"Of course it is," the Controller agreed. But that's the price we have to pay for stability.

　　“当然要好，”总统表示同意，可那正是我们为安定所付出的代价。

　　You've got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art.

　　你不能不在幸福和人们所谓的高雅艺术之间进行选择。

　　We've sacrificed the high art. We have the feelies and the scent³ organ instead.

　　我们就用感官电影和馨香乐器代替了艺术。

　　But they don't mean anything.

　　可那些东西什么意思都没有。

　　They mean themselves; they mean a lot of agreeable sensations to the audience.

　　意思就在它们本身。它们对观众意味着大量的感官享受。

　　But they're … they're told by an idiot.

　　可是，它们是……是一个白痴所讲的故事。

　　The Controller laughed. You're not being very polite to your friend, Mr. Watson.One of our most distinguished⁴ Emotional Engineers …

　　总统哈哈大笑。你对你的朋友华生先生可不太礼貌，他可是我们一个最杰出的情绪工程师呢……

　　"But he's right," said Helmholtz gloomily. "Because it is idiotic⁵. Writing when there's nothing to say …"

　　“可是他倒说对了，”赫姆霍尔兹阴郁地说，“无事可写却偏要写，确实像个白痴……”

　　Precisely⁶. But that require the most enormous ingenuity⁷.

　　说个正着，但是那正好要求最巨大的聪明才智，

　　You're making fiivvers out of the absolute minimum of steel–works of art out of practically nothing but pure sensation.

　　是叫你使用少到不能再少的钢铁去制造汽车——实际上是除了感觉之外几乎什么都不用，却制造着艺术品。

　　The Savage shook his head. "It all seems to me quite horrible."

　　野蛮人摇摇头。“在我看来这似乎可怕极了。”

　　Of course it does. Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery⁸.

　　当然可怕。但是跟受苦受难的太高代价比起来，现实的幸福看起来往往相当廉价。

　　And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability.

　　而且，稳定当然远远不如动乱那么热闹；

　　And being contented⁹ has none of the glamour¹⁰ of a good fight against misfortune,

　　心满意足也不如跟不幸做殊死斗争那么动人；

　　none of the picturesqueness¹¹ of a struggle with temptation,or a fatal overthrow¹² by passion or doubt.

　　也不如抗拒引诱，或是抗拒为激情和怀疑所颠倒那么引人入胜。

　　Happiness is never grand.

　　幸福从来就不伟大。

1 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。

2 obstinately   

ad.固执地，顽固地

参考例句：

• He obstinately asserted that he had done the right thing. 他硬说他做得对。
• Unemployment figures are remaining obstinately high. 失业数字仍然顽固地居高不下。

3 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

4 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

5 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。

6 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

7 ingenuity   

n.别出心裁；善于发明创造

参考例句：

• The boy showed ingenuity in making toys.那个小男孩做玩具很有创造力。
• I admire your ingenuity and perseverance.我钦佩你的别出心裁和毅力。

8 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

9 contented   

adj.满意的，安心的，知足的

参考例句：

• He won't be contented until he's upset everyone in the office.不把办公室里的每个人弄得心烦意乱他就不会满足。
• The people are making a good living and are contented,each in his station.人民安居乐业。

10 glamour   

n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住

参考例句：

• Foreign travel has lost its glamour for her.到国外旅行对她已失去吸引力了。
• The moonlight cast a glamour over the scene.月光给景色增添了魅力。

11 picturesqueness   

参考例句：

• The picturesqueness of the engineer's life was always attractive to Presley. 这司机的丰富多彩的生活，始终叫普瑞斯莱醉心。
• Philip liked the daring picturesqueness of the Americans'costume. 菲利浦喜欢美国人装束的那种粗犷的美。

12 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。