美麗新世界Brave New World 第7章(1)

Chapter Seven

第七章

The mesa was like a ship becalmed in a strait of lion-coloured dust.

崖頂螈像一艘靜靜旋泊在獅子黃的海灣邊的船。

The channel wound between precipitous banks,and slanting from one wall to the other across thevalley ran a streak of green-the river and its fields.

峽谷迤邐在陡峭的谷岸里，谷里一道道崖壁逐漸矮去，露出一帶綠色——那是河流和它的原野。

On the prow of that stone ship in the centre of the strait, and seemingly a part of it, a shapedand geometrical outcrop of the naked rock, stood the pueblo of Malpais.

海峽正中的石船頭上，伸出一片幾何圖形的光溜溜的整齊的山崖，馬爾佩斯印第安人村就在那里，好像是石船的一部分。

Block above block, each story smaller than the one below, the tall houses rose like stepped andamputated pyramids into the blue sky.

那高高的房屋一幢一幢直往藍天伸去，越高越小，宛如一級一級砍掉了角的金字塔。

At their feet lay a straggle of low buildings, a criss-cross of walls; and on three sides theprecipices fell sheer into the plain.

腳下是七零八落的矮屋的縱橫交錯的墻壁。懸崖峭壁從三面直落平原。

A few columns of smoke mounted perpendicularly into the windless air and were lost.

沒有風，幾縷炊煙筆直地升上來，消失了。

"Queer," said Lenina. "Very queer." It was her ordinary word of condemnation.

“這兒很怪，”列寧娜說，“太怪了。”那是她表示譴責的一貫用語。

"I don't like it. And I don't like that man."

“我不喜歡，那個人我也不喜歡。”

She pointed to the Indian guide who had been appointed to take them up to the pueblo.

她指著被指定帶他們上印第安村落去的向導。

Her feeling was evidently reciprocated; the very back of the man, as he walked along beforethem, was hostile, sullenly contemptuous.

她的感覺顯然得到了響應。走在他們前面的人就連背也帶著敵意和陰沉的輕蔑。

"Besides," she lowered her voice, "he smells."

“而且，”她放低了聲音說，“他有臭味。”

Bernard did not attempt to deny it. They walked on.

伯納沒有打算反對。他們往前走去。

Suddenly it was as though the whole air had come alive and were pulsing, pulsing with theindefatigable movement of blood. Up there, in Malpais, the drums were being beaten.

突然，整個空氣都似乎活躍了起來，搏動起來，以不疲倦的脈沖跳動著——在上面，馬爾佩斯，有人在打鼓。

Their feet fell in with the rhythm of that mysterious heart; they quickened their pace. Theirpath led them to the foot of the precipice.

他們踏著那神秘的心跳的節(jié)拍，加快了步伐，沿著小徑來到了懸崖底下。

The sides of the great mesa ship towered over them, three hundred feet to the gunwale.

那碩大的石原船的峭壁高聳在他們頭上，船舷距地面有三百公尺之高。

"I wish we could have brought the plane," said Lenina, looking up resentfully at the blankimpending rock-face. "I hate walking. And you feel so small when you're on the ground at thebottom of a hill."

“我真恨不得能夠帶了飛機來，”列寧娜抬頭望著那高峻逼人的絕壁，氣惱地說，“我討厭走路，在高山下的地面上走路，叫人覺得渺小。”

They walked along for some way in the shadow of the mesa, rounded a projection, and there,in a water-worn ravine, was the way up the companion ladder.

他們在石源的陰影里走過一段路，繞過一道突巖，崖水浸漬的峽谷中有一條小徑通向“艦艇軍官扶梯”。

They climbed. It was a very steep path that zigzagged from side to side of the gully.

他們開始爬山。山道陡峭，在山谷兩邊拐來拐去。

Sometimes the pulsing of the drums was all but inaudible, at others they seemed to bebeating only just round the corner.

那搏動的鼓點有時幾乎聽不見了，有時又仿佛拐過彎就能看見。

When they were half-way up, an eagle flew past so close to them that the wind of his wingsblew chill on their faces.

他們爬到半山，一只蒼鷹貼面飛過，翅膀扇來一陣寒風，吹到他們臉上。

In a crevice of the rock lay a pile of bones.

巖石的縫隙里有一堆猙獰可怕的白骨。

It was all oppressively queer, and the Indian smelt stronger and stronger.

一切都奇怪得通人。印第安人的氣味越來越濃。

They emerged at last from the ravine into the full sunlight.

他們終于走出峽谷，進入陽光。

The top of the mesa was a flat deck of stone.

石源的頂是平坦的“甲板”。

"Like the Charing-T Tower," was Lenina's comment.

“跟切林T字架大樓一樣。”列寧娜評價道。

But she was not allowed to enjoy her discovery of this reassuring resemblance for long. Apadding of soft feet made them turn round.

但是她卻沒有多少機會欣賞這個令她欣慰的發(fā)現，一陣軟底的腳步聲叫他們轉過了身子。

Naked from throat to navel, their dark brown bodies painted with white lines ("like asphalttennis courts," Lenina was later to explain), their faces inhuman with daubings of scarlet, blackand ochre, two Indians came running along the path.

兩人都從喉嚨赤裸到肚臍，黑褐色的身子上畫著白道道(像鋪瀝青的網球場，列寧娜后來解釋說)，臉上涂滿朱紅、漆黑和黃褐，已經不像人樣。兩個印第安人跑了過來。

Their black hair was braided with fox fur and red flannel.

黑頭發(fā)用狐貍毛和紅色的法蘭絨編成鞭子。