美丽新世界Brave New World 第12章(6)

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此时的伯纳却睡得正酣，正对着他梦中的私人天堂微笑。微笑，微笑。

But inexorably, every thirty seconds, the minute hand of the electric clock above his bed jumped forward with an almost imperceptible click.

但无可改变的是，他床头电钟的分外每三十秒就要发出几乎听不见的一声“嗒”，跳前一步。

Click, click, click, click … And it was morning. Bernard was back among the miseries¹ of space and time.

嗒、嗒、嗒、嗒……于是到了早上。伯纳又回到了时间与空间里的苦恼之中。

It was in the lowest spirits that he taxied across to his work at the Conditioning Centre.

他坐上出租飞机来到条件设置中心上班时，情绪低落到了极点。

The intoxication² of success had evaporated;

成功的刺激已经烟消云散，

he was soberly his old self; and by contrast with the temporary balloon of these last weeks,

他又清醒了，又故我依然了。跟前几周暂时膨胀的气球一对照，

the old self seemed unprecedentedly³ heavier than the surrounding atmosphere.

他原来的自我在周围的气氛里似乎空前地沉重了起来。

To this deflated⁴ Bernard the Savage⁵ showed himself unexpectedly sympathetic.

对这个泄气的伯纳野蛮人表现了意料之外的同情。

"You're more like what you were at Malpais," he said, when Bernard had told him his plaintive⁶ story. Do you remember when we first talked together? Outside the little house. You're like what you were then.

“你倒更像在马尔佩斯时的样子了。”伯纳把自己的悲惨遭遇告诉他时，野蛮人说，“你还记得我们第一次谈话的时候吗？在那所小房子外面。你现在就跟那时一样。”

Because I'm unhappy again; that's why.

我又不快活了，原因就在这里。

Well, I'd rather be unhappy than have the sort of false, lying happiness you were having here.

要是我呀，我倒宁愿不快活，而不愿意得到你在这儿的这种撒谎撒来的快活。

"I like that," said Bernard bitterly. When it's you who were the cause of it all.

“可是我喜欢，”伯纳痛苦地说，“这都怪你。

Refusing to come to my party and so turning them all against me!

你拒绝参加晚会，弄得他们全都反对我！

He knew that what he was saying was absurd in its injustice⁷; he admitted inwardly, and at last even aloud,

他明白自己这话不公正，因而很荒谬。

the truth of all that the Savage now said about the worthlessness of friends who could be turned upon so slight a provocation⁸ into persecuting⁹ enemies.

他心里也承认野蛮人此刻的话说得很对：能够因为那么渺小的理由就反目成仇的朋友是没有价值的。

But in spite of this knowledge and these admissions, in spite of the fact that his friend's support and sympathy were now his only comfort,

但是尽管他明白而且承认这个，尽管实际上朋友的支持和同情现在是他仅有的安慰，

Bernard continued perversely¹⁰ to nourish, along with his quite genuine affection, a secret grievance¹¹ against the Savage, to mediate¹² a campaign of small revenges to be wreaked¹³ upon him.

他仍然在心里顽固地、秘密地滋长着一种对那野蛮人的怨恨之情（伴随那怨恨的也有对他的真诚情感），要想对他搞一场小小的报复，给他点苦头吃吃。

Nourishing a grievance against the Arch-Community-Songster was useless;

让对首席歌唱家的怨恨滋长是没有用的，

there was no possibility of being revenged on the Chief Bottler or the Assistant Predestinator.

要报复换瓶主任或命运设置主任助理也办不到。

As a victim, the Savage possessed¹⁴, for Bernard, this enormous superiority over the others:

可在伯纳看来，那野蛮人作为报复对象却具有超过那几个人的巨大优越性，

that he was accessible. One of the principal functions of a friend is to suffer (in a milder and symbolic¹⁵ form) the punishments that we should like,

因为他是可以报复的。朋友的主要功能之一就是：我们想施加而无法施加于敌人的惩罚，

but are unable, to inflict¹⁶ upon our enemies.

他们能够以一种较为温和也较为象征性的形式接受。

Bernard's other victim-friend was Helmholtz.

伯纳可以伤害的另一个人是赫姆霍尔兹。

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