美麗新世界 Brave New World 第1章(8)

He became rather technical; spoke of theabnormal endocrine co-ordination which made mengrow so slowly; postulated a germinal mutation toaccount for it.

他相當專門化地談起了使人生長遲緩的內分泌失調問題，并提出萌芽期突變作為解釋。

Could the effects of this germinal mutation beundone?

那么，這種突變的影響能不能消除?

Could the individual Epsilon embryo be made arevert, by a suitable technique, to the normalityof dogs and cows?

能不能采用一種適當的技術使個別的愛撲塞隆胚胎回歸到狗和牛一樣的常規去?

That was the problem. And it was all but solved.

問題就在這里，而這個問題已經差不多解決了。

Pilkington, at Mombasa, had produced individuals who were sexually mature at four and full-grown at six and a half.

蒙巴薩的琵金頓已經培育出四歲就性成熟，六歲半就充分成長的個體。

A scientific triumph. But socially useless.

那是科學的勝利，可在社會上卻還沒有用處。

Six-year-old men and women were too stupid to do even Epsilon work.

六歲的男人和女人太愚蠢，連愛撲塞隆的工作都干不了。

And the process was an all-or-nothing one; either you failed to modify at all, or else youmodified the whole way.

而這卻是個“一攬子”程序，要就是不變，要就是全變。

They were still trying to find the ideal compromise between adults of twenty and adults of six.

他們打算在二十歲的成人和六歲的成人之間尋求理想的折中，

So far without success. Mr. Foster sighed and shook his head.

到目前為止還沒有取得成功。福斯特先生嘆了口氣，搖了搖頭。

Their wanderings through the crimson twilight had brought them to the neighborhood of Metre170 on Rack 9.

他們在猩紅的光線里轉悠著，來到了九號架的一百七十公尺附近。

From this point onwards Rack 9 was enclosed and the bottle performed the remainder of theirjourney in a kind of tunnel,interrupted here and there by openings two or three metres wide.

從這兒往下九號架就封閉了。瓶子在一個隧道樣的東西里結束了行程。隧道里每隔一定距離就有一個口子，兩三公尺寬。

"Heat conditioning," said Mr. Foster.

“是調節溫度的。”福斯特先生說。

Hot tunnels alternated with cool tunnels. Coolness was wedded to discomfort in the form ofhard X-rays.

熱隧道與冷隧道交替出現。以強X射線的形式出現的冷凍跟不舒服結合在一起，

By the time they were decanted the embryos had a horror of cold.

胚胎換瓶時經歷了可怕的冷凍。

They were predestined to emigrate to the tropics, to be miner and acetate silk spinners andsteel workers.

這批胚胎是預定要移民到赤道地區去做礦工、人造絲繅絲工和鋼鐵工人的。

Later on their minds would be made to endorse the judgment of their bodies.

以后還要給他們的身體配合心靈判斷力。

"We condition them to thrive on heat," concluded Mr.

“我們設置條件讓他們能在炎熱氣候里興旺成功，”福斯特先生下了結論，

Foster. "Our colleagues upstairs will teach them to love it."

“我們樓上的同事會培養他們喜愛炎熱。”

"And that," put in the Director sententiously, "that is the secret of happiness and virtue–likingwhat you've got to do.

“而幸福與德行的訣竅，”主任像說格言一樣道，“是愛好你非干不可的事。

All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny."

一切條件設置的目標都是：讓人們喜歡他們無法逃避的社會命運。”

In a gap between two tunnels, a nurse was delicately probing with a long fine syringe into thegelatinous contents of a passing bottle.

在兩條隧道交合點的一個空處，一個護士正用細長的針管小心探索著走過的瓶中的膠狀物質。

The students and their guides stood watching her for a few moments in silence.

學生們和向導默默地看了一會兒。

"Well, Lenina," said Mr. Foster, when at last she withdrew the syringe and straightened herselfup.

“列寧娜。”護土抽回針管，站直身子后，福斯特先生說。

The girl turned with a start. One could see that, for all the lupus and the purple eyes, she wasuncommonly pretty.

那姑娘吃了一驚轉過身來。人們可以看出，盡管光線令她紅得像害了紅斑狼瘡，眼睛也通紅，卻美麗非凡。

"Henry!" Her smile flashed redly at him–a row of coral teeth.

“亨利。”她向他閃來一個紅色的微笑——一排珊瑚樣的牙齒。

"Charming, charming," murmured the Director and, giving her two or three little pats, receivedin exchange a rather deferential smile for himself.

“迷人，迷人。”主任喃喃地說，輕輕地拍了她兩三下，從她那兒得到一個畢恭畢敬的微笑。

"What are you giving them?" asked Mr. Foster, making his tone very professional.

“你在給他們加什么?”福斯特先生問道，有意讓聲音帶公事公辦的調子。

"Oh, the usual typhoid and sleeping sickness."

“啊，平常的傷寒和昏睡癥疫苗。”

"Tropical workers start being inoculated at Metre 150," Mr. Foster explained to the students. "

“赤道工人到一百五十公尺處就注射預防疫苗。”福斯特先生對學生們說。

The embryos still have gills. We immunize the fish against the future man's diseases."

“這時胚胎還長著鰓。我們讓‘魚’免疫，以后就不會傳染人類的疾病。”

Then, turning back to Lenina, "Ten to five on the roof this afternoon," he said, "as usual."

他轉向列寧娜，“今天下午四點五十分在屋頂上，”他說，“照舊。”

"Charming," said the Dhector once more, and, with a final pat, moved away after the others.

“迷人。”主任又說了一句，又最后拍了她一下，跟別人一起走掉了。