美丽新世界Brave New World 第16章(2)

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号：tingroom，领取免费英语资料大礼包。

　　伯纳吃了一惊，满脸惶恐。总统会怎么想呢？

　　To be labelled as the friend of a man who said that he didn't like civilization–said it openly and, of all people, to the Controller–it was terrible.

　　给他安上个罪名，说他跟不喜欢文明的人做朋友——而且是在总统面前，不是在别人面前公开表示，太可怕了。

　　"But, John," he began. A look from Mustapha Mond reduced him to an abject² silence.

　　“可是，约翰……”他说话了。但穆斯塔法.蒙德瞄了他一眼，他便卑微地闭了嘴。

　　"Of course," the Savage³ went on to admit, "there are some very nice things. All that music in the air, for instance …"

　　“当然，”野蛮人继续交代，“有一些很好的东西。比如空中的音乐……”

　　Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about my ears and sometimes voices.

　　有时候千百种弦乐之音会在我耳里缭绕不去，有时又有歌声。

　　The Savage's face lit up with a sudden pleasure. "Have you read it too?" he asked.

　　野蛮人的脸突然焕发出了欢乐的光彩。“你也读过莎士比亚？”他问道，

　　I thought nobody knew about that book here, in England.

　　我还以为这本书在英格兰这地方没有人知道呢。

　　Almost nobody. I'm one of the very few. It's prohibited, you see.

　　几乎没有人知道，我是极少数知道的人之一。那书是被禁止的，你看。

　　But as I make the laws here, I can also break them. With impunity⁴, Mr. Marx, he added, turning to Bernard.

　　但这儿的法律既然是我制定的，我当然也可以不遵守，我有豁免权，马克思先生，他转身对着伯纳，

　　"Which I'm afraid you can't do." Bernard sank into a yet more hopeless misery⁵.

　　加上一句，“而你，我怕是不能够不遵守。”伯纳沉入了更加绝望的痛苦之中。

　　"But why is it prohibited?" asked the Savage.

　　“可是，为什么要禁止莎士比亚呢？”野蛮人问道。

　　In the excitement of meeting a man who had read Shakespeare he had momentarily forgotten everything else.

　　由于见到一个读过莎士比亚的人感到兴奋，他暂时忘掉了别的一切。

　　The Controller shrugged⁶ his shoulders.

　　总统耸了耸肩。

　　Because it's old; that's the chief reason. We haven't any use for old things here.

　　因为莎士比亚古老，那是主要的理由。古老的东西在我们这儿是完全没有用的。

　　Even when they're beautiful?

　　即使美也没有用？

　　Particularly when they're beautiful. Beauty's attractive, and we don't want people to be attracted by old things.

　　特别是美的东西。美是有吸引力的，而我们却不愿意让人们受到古老的东西吸引。

　　We want them to like the new ones.

　　我们要他们喜欢新东西。

　　But the new ones are so stupid and horrible.

　　可这些新东西却那么愚蠢而且可怕。

　　Those plays, where there's nothing but helicopters flying about and you feel the people kissing.

　　那些新戏里除了飞来飞去的直升机和叫你感觉得到的接吻，什么都没有。

　　He made a grimace⁷.

　　他做了个鬼脸。

分享到：