英國語文第五冊(雙語):活生生的火爐(3)
If, on the other hand, the heat of the body should become unreasonably intense, a very cunning process of reduction is adopted. When a substance grows too hot, the simplest method of bringing it into a cooler frame is to sprinkle it with water. This is precisely what occurs in our human frames. For no sooner does our internal heat rise above its standard height than the perspiration tubes, with their six or seven millions of openings, indignant at the event, begin to pour out the fluid. so as to bathe the surface of the whole body. Whenever, therefore, a man becomes over-heated, by working, running, rowing, fighting, making furious speeches or other violent exertions, he invariably resorts to this method of quenching the heat, by "pouring on water."
另一方面，如果體內(nèi)熱量高的離譜，我們能采用一種巧妙的方式來減低熱量。如果一件物品變得很熱，要使其冷卻下來的最簡單辦法就是往上面澆水。我們的體內(nèi)也正進行著這樣的過程。一旦我們體內(nèi)的熱量高出警戒線，數(shù)以六七百萬計的毛細血管就會打開，將汗排出，這樣，整個身體表面就會被弄濕。因此，每次工作，跑步，劃船，搏斗，進行激情洋溢的演講或是其他劇烈運動之后，人體內(nèi)熱量就會變得過高，身體就會用這種方法降低熱量——即“往上倒水”。
What shall we say, then, good reader? Speaking seriously, and looking at the question from a mere human point of view, could any project appear more hopeless than one for burning fuel in a soft, delicate fabric, like the human body—a fabric composed for the most part of mere fluids—a fabric which might be easily scorched by excess of heat or damaged by excess of cold? Does it not seem strange that a stove should have flesh for its walls, veins for its flues, and skin for its covering? Yet here is an apparatus which, as if by magic, produces a steady stream of heat;—not trickling penuriously from its fountains, but flowing on day and night, winter and summer, without a moment's cessation, from January to December.
親愛的讀者，我們這時又該說什么呢？嚴肅的說，從一個純粹的人的角度來看這個問題，有哪一個工程能比這更沒有希望呢：一個在柔軟精致的體內(nèi)燃燒，如人體——一個大部分由液體組成的身體——隨時會被過高的熱量燒焦或者被過低的熱量摧毀。一個火爐把人體當成爐壁，將血管當成冷媒管，用皮膚當做覆蓋，這難道不奇怪嗎？但是有這么一個神奇的裝置能產(chǎn)生穩(wěn)定的熱量流；——它不會噴出，只是日日夜夜，不分季節(jié)，不分年月，時時刻刻都在不停地流動。
Carry this splendid machine to the coldest regions on the globe, set it up where the frosts are so crushing that nature seems to be trampled dead,—still it pours out its mysterious supplies with unabated profusion. It is an apparatus, too, which does its work unwatched, and in a great measure unaided. The very fuel, which is thrown into it in random heaps, is internally sifted and sorted, so that the true combustible elements are conveyed to their place and applied to their duty with unerring precision.
人即使到了地球上最冷的地方，那里全部覆蓋著霜雪，大自然死氣沉沉，——體內(nèi)也還是能不斷產(chǎn)出這種熱量。人體這種提供熱量的裝置工作時不用監(jiān)管，很大程度上也沒有受到幫助。人攝入的能量隨意堆積，在體內(nèi)會經(jīng)過篩選，這樣，真正可燃的材料就會被精確地輸送到該去的地方，產(chǎn)生熱量。
No hand is needed to trim its fires, to temper its glow, to remove its ashes. Smoke there is none, spark there is none, flame there is none. All is so delicately managed that the fairest skin is neither shrivelled nor blackened by the burning within. Is this apparatus placed in circumstances which rob it too fast of its heat? Then the appetite becomes clamorous for food, and in satisfying its demands the fleshy stove is silently replenished. Or, are we placed in peril from superabundant warmth? Then the tiny flood-gates of perspiration are flung open, and the surface is laid under water until the fires within are reduced to their wonted level.
爐子里的火不需要人去燒，不需要人去控制熱量，也不需要人去清灰。那里面無煙，無火星，也沒有火焰。左右的事情就是這么奇妙，最美的皮膚沒有被里面燃燒著的火燒皺或因此變黑。這個裝置所在的地方難道能快速將火熄滅嗎？然后人就會胃口大開，得到食物的滿足后，能量又會重新填滿。或者說，過多的熱量會讓我們置身險境嗎？這時毛細血管就會張開，人體表面就會流汗，直到體內(nèi)的熱量恢復到正常水平。
Assailed on the one hand by heat, the body resists the attack, if resistance be possible, until the store of moisture is dissipated; assailed on the other by cold, it keeps the enemy at bay until the hoarded fuel is expended. Thus protected, thus provisioned, let us ask whether these human hearths are not entitled to rank among the standing marvels of creation; for is it not startling to find, that, let the climate be mild or rigorous, let the wind blow from the sultry desert or come loaded with polar sleet, let the fluctuations of temperature be as violent as they may without us, there shall still be a calm, unchanging, undying summer within us?
一只手的問題過高時，如果可能的話整個身體都會幫忙進行調(diào)節(jié)，直到熱量散開；另一只手受冷時，體內(nèi)貯存的熱量會發(fā)出抵抗。因此，人體能得到保護，也能得到能量?？?，人體內(nèi)的火爐能不能算是現(xiàn)存的創(chuàng)造奇跡？我們可以不驚訝地發(fā)現(xiàn)，無論天氣是溫和還是極端，不管是從沙漠吹來的悶熱的風，還是極地飄來的雨夾雪，不管天氣如何劇烈變化，我們體內(nèi)是否還是會有一個平靜，穩(wěn)定，永不消失的夏天？
