第二章

　　Mr.Foster was left in the Decanting Room.

　　福斯特先生被留在了换瓶车间。

　　The D.H.C. and his students stepped into the nearest lift and were carried up to the fifth floor.

　　孵化与条件设置中心主任和学生们踏上了附近的电梯，上了五楼。

　　INFANT NURSERIES. NEO-PAVLOVIAN CONDITIONING ROOMS, announced the notice board.

　　育婴室。新巴甫洛夫条件设定室，门牌上写着。

　　The Director opened a door.

　　主任打开一道门，

　　They were in a large bare room, very bright and sunny; for the whole of the southern wall was a single window.

　　他们来到一个巨大的空房间里。阳光照耀得异常明亮，因为南墙整个是一扇窗户。

　　Half a dozen nurses, trousered and jacketed in the regulation white viscose-linen uniform,

　　六个护士全穿着白色制服：粘胶纤维短上衣和长裤；

　　their hair aseptically hidden under white caps, were engaged in setting out bowls of roses in a long row across the floor.

　　为了防止污染，把头发压在帽子下面。她们正忙着把～R排玫瑰花在地板上摆列开来。

　　Big bowls, packed tight with blossom.

　　盆子很大，开着密密的花朵，

　　Thousands of petals, ripe-blown and silkily smooth, like the cheeks of innumerable little cherubs, but of cherubs, in that bright light, not exclusively pink and Aryan, but also luminously Chinese, also Mexican, also apoplectic with too much blowing of celestial trumpets, also pale as death, pale with the posthumous whiteness of marble.

　　千万片花瓣盛开，光致得像丝绸，有如无数张小天使的脸，但在明亮的光照之下的并不全是雅利安型和粉红色的脸，其间还有开朗的中国人的脸、墨西哥人的脸。有的大约因为吹奏天上的喇叭太多而中风般地歪扭了，苍白得像死亡，像大理石。

　　The nurses stiffened to attention as the D.H.C. came in.

　　主任一到，护士们就立正，挺直了身子。

　　"Set out the books," he said curtly.

　　“把书摆出来。”他简短地说。

　　In silence the nurses obeyed his command.

　　护士们一声不响，服从了命令，

　　Between the rose bowls the books were duly set out–a row of nursery quartos opened invitingly each at some gaily coloured image of beast or fish or bird.

　　把书在花钵的行列之间排开——一大排幼儿园用的四开本大书翻了开来，露出了一些色彩鲜艳的鸟儿、野兽和鱼的形象，美丽动人。

　　"Now bring in the children."

　　“现在把孩子们带进来。”

　　They hurried out of the room and returned in a minute or two, each pushing a kind of tall dumb-waiter laden,

　　护士们急忙出了屋子，一两分钟之后每人推来了一辆车，

　　on all its four wire-netted shelves, with eight-month-old babies,

　　车上的四个钢丝网架上各睡着一个八个月的婴儿，

　　all exactly alike (a Bokanovsky Group, it was evident) and all (since their caste was Delta) dressed in khaki.

　　全都一模一样（显然是同一批波坎诺夫斯基产品），因为是同属德尔塔种姓，所以一律穿咔叽制服。

　　"Put them down on the floor."

　　“把他们放到地板上。”

　　The infants were unloaded.

　　婴儿们被放了下来。

　　"Now turn them so that they can see the flowers and books."

　　“现在让他们转过身来看见花朵和书籍。”

　　Turned, the babies at once fell silent, then began to crawl towards those clusters of sleek colours, those shapes so gay and brilliant on the white pages.

　　婴儿们一转过身就不出声了，都向一丛丛花花绿绿的颜色和白色的书页上鲜艳耀眼的形象爬去。

　　As they approached, the sun came out of a momentary eclipse behind a cloud.

　　他们靠近时，太阳从暂时的云翳后面照射了出来；

　　The roses flamed up as though with a sudden passion from within; a new and profound sigruficance seemed to suffuse the shining pages of the books. From the ranks of the crawling babies came little squeals of excitement, gurgles and twitterings of pleasure.

　　玫瑰花仿佛由于内在的突然激情变得灿烂了。明亮的书页上仿佛弥漫了一种深沉的新意。爬着的婴儿队伍里发出了激动的尖叫，欢乐的笑声和咕咕声。