【双语有声阅读】红砖城 Coketown

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Coketown

 

红砖城

Coketown was a town of red brick,or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and the ashes had allowed it;but as matters stood it was a town of unnatural¹ red and black like the painted face of a savage².

Coketown曾是一座红砖城，或者可以这样说，如果没有了烟熏和灰尘的话，它应该是一座红砖城。但事实上哪是一座不自然的红黑相间的城镇，就像野人涂了色彩的脸。

It was a town of machinery³ and tall chimneys,out of which smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever.

Cokettown是一座到处是钢铁机械和高高烟囱的城镇，烟雾总是从那些烟囱中飘出。

It had a black canal in it,and a river that ran purple with ill-smelling dye,and vast piles of buildings full of windows where there was a rattling⁴ and a trembling all day long,and where the piston⁵ of the steam-engine worked monotonously⁶ up and down like the head of an elephant in a state of madness.

城里有一条黑色的水沟和一条被难闻的燃料染成紫色的河流，还有成堆满是窗户的楼房。这些大厦整天震动，发出咔嗒咔嗒的声音，大厦内的蒸汽机活塞单调地上下摆动，就像处于疯狂状态的大象的头。

The town contained several large streets all very like one another,and many small streets still more like one another,inhabited by people equally like one another.

Coketown有几条非常相似的大街，还有许多更加相似的小巷，居住着同样彼此相似的人们。

A sunny midsummer day.

一个阳光灿烂的仲夏日。

There was such a thing sometimes, even in Coketown.

即使是在Coketown，有时也会有这样的夏日。

Seen from a distance in such weather,Coketown lay covered in a haze⁷ of its own.

在这样的天气里从远处看Coketown,它笼罩在一层自己的雾霭中。

You only knew the town was there,because you knew there could have been no such blotch⁸ upon the view without a town.

你只知道城镇就在那里，因为你知道如果没有城镇的话，就不会有那么大的斑点在那里。

The streets were hot and dusty on the summer day,and the sun was so bright that it even shone through the haze over Coketown,and could not be looked at steadily⁹.

在夏天，街道上非常炎热，而且满是灰尘。阳光是如此的强烈以致于穿透了城镇上空的烟雾，使人们没法一直盯着太阳看。

Workers emerged from low underground doorways¹⁰ into factory yards,and sat on posts and steps,wiping their faces and contemplating¹¹ coals.

工人们从低矮的地下室门洞走进厂房，坐在柱子上或是台阶上，擦着脸，心想着挖出的煤。

The whole town seemed to be frying in oil.

整个城镇就像是在油里煎炸着，

There was a stifling¹² smell of hot oil everywhere.

到处都弥漫着令人窒息的热油味。

The atmosphere of those places was like the breath of hell,and their inhabitants wasting with heat,toiled languidly in the desert.

这些地方的空气像是地狱吐出的气息。这些居民因热而消耗着他们的体力，没精打采地在这不毛之地劳作着。

But no temperature made the mad elephants more mad or more sane¹³.

但是蒸汽机不会因为温度的变化而变得更加疯狂或清醒。

Their wearisome heads went up and down at the same rate,in hot weather and in cold,wet weather and dry,fair weather and foul¹⁴.

不管天气是冷是热，是干是湿，是好是坏，它们那疲惫的机头都会以同样的节奏上上下下地摆动。

The measured motion of their shadows on the walls,was the substitute Coketown had to show for the shadows of rustling¹⁵ woods;while for the summer hum of insects,it could offer all the year round,from the dawn of Monday to the night of Saturday,the whirr of shafts¹⁶ and wheels.

Coketown能展示给人们的不是瑟瑟作响的树林映在墙上的影子，而是机头映在墙上有规律的动作。至于夏日的是虫鸣之声，Coketown所能提供的是一年到头，从星期一早上到星期六夜晚终日不绝于耳的机器轮轴发出的急促嗓音。

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