第二章
Mr.Foster was left in the Decanting Room.
福斯特先生被留在了換瓶車間。
The D.H.C. and his students stepped into thenearest lift and were carried up to the fifth floor.
孵化與條件設(shè)置中心主任和學(xué)生們踏上了附近的電梯,上了五樓。
INFANT NURSERIES. NEO-PAVLOVIANCONDITIONING ROOMS, announced the noticeboard.
育嬰室。新巴甫洛夫條件設(shè)定室,門牌上寫著。
The Director opened a door.
主任打開一道門,
They were in a large bare room, very bright and sunny; for the whole of the southern wall was asingle window.
他們來(lái)到一個(gè)巨大的空房間里。陽(yáng)光照耀得異常明亮,因?yàn)槟蠅φ麄€(gè)是一扇窗戶。
Half a dozen nurses, trousered and jacketed in the regulation white viscose-linen uniform,
六個(gè)護(hù)士全穿著白色制服:粘膠纖維短上衣和長(zhǎng)褲;
their hair aseptically hidden under white caps, were engaged in setting out bowls of roses in along row across the floor.
為了防止污染,把頭發(fā)壓在帽子下面。她們正忙著把~R排玫瑰花在地板上擺列開來(lái)。
Big bowls, packed tight with blossom.
盆子很大,開著密密的花朵,
Thousands of petals, ripe-blown and silkily smooth, like the cheeks of innumerable littlecherubs, but of cherubs, in that bright light, not exclusively pink and Aryan, but alsoluminously Chinese, also Mexican, also apoplectic with too much blowing of celestial trumpets,also pale as death, pale with the posthumous whiteness of marble.
千萬(wàn)片花瓣盛開,光致得像絲綢,有如無(wú)數(shù)張小天使的臉,但在明亮的光照之下的并不全是雅利安型和粉紅色的臉,其間還有開朗的中國(guó)人的臉、墨西哥人的臉。有的大約因?yàn)榇底嗵焐系睦忍喽酗L(fēng)般地歪扭了,蒼白得像死亡,像大理石。
The nurses stiffened to attention as the D.H.C. came in.
主任一到,護(hù)士們就立正,挺直了身子。
"Set out the books," he said curtly.
“把書擺出來(lái)。”他簡(jiǎn)短地說(shuō)。
In silence the nurses obeyed his command.
護(hù)士們一聲不響,服從了命令,
Between the rose bowls the books were duly set out–a row of nursery quartos openedinvitingly each at some gaily coloured image of beast or fish or bird.
把書在花缽的行列之間排開——一大排幼兒園用的四開本大書翻了開來(lái),露出了一些色彩鮮艷的鳥兒、野獸和魚的形象,美麗動(dòng)人。
"Now bring in the children."
“現(xiàn)在把孩子們帶進(jìn)來(lái)。”
They hurried out of the room and returned in a minute or two, each pushing a kind of talldumb-waiter laden,
護(hù)士們急忙出了屋子,一兩分鐘之后每人推來(lái)了一輛車,
on all its four wire-netted shelves, with eight-month-old babies,
車上的四個(gè)鋼絲網(wǎng)架上各睡著一個(gè)八個(gè)月的嬰兒,
all exactly alike (a Bokanovsky Group, it was evident) and all (since their caste was Delta)dressed in khaki.
全都一模一樣(顯然是同一批波坎諾夫斯基產(chǎn)品),因?yàn)槭峭瑢俚聽査N姓,所以一律穿咔嘰制服。
"Put them down on the floor."
“把他們放到地板上。”
The infants were unloaded.
嬰兒們被放了下來(lái)。
"Now turn them so that they can see the flowers and books."
“現(xiàn)在讓他們轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)身來(lái)看見(jiàn)花朵和書籍。”
Turned, the babies at once fell silent, then began to crawl towards those clusters of sleekcolours, those shapes so gay and brilliant on the white pages.
嬰兒們一轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)身就不出聲了,都向一叢叢花花綠綠的顏色和白色的書頁(yè)上鮮艷耀眼的形象爬去。
As they approached, the sun came out of a momentary eclipse behind a cloud.
他們靠近時(shí),太陽(yáng)從暫時(shí)的云翳后面照射了出來(lái);
The roses flamed up as though with a sudden passion from within; a new and profoundsigruficance seemed to suffuse the shining pages of the books. From the ranks of the crawlingbabies came little squeals of excitement, gurgles and twitterings of pleasure.
玫瑰花仿佛由于內(nèi)在的突然激情變得燦爛了。明亮的書頁(yè)上仿佛彌漫了一種深沉的新意。爬著的嬰兒隊(duì)伍里發(fā)出了激動(dòng)的尖叫,歡樂(lè)的笑聲和咕咕聲。