評論
打印
"ART, SCIENCE–you seem to have paid a fairly high price for your happiness," said the Savage, when they were alone. "Anything else?"
“藝術，科學——你好像為你的幸福付出了相當高的代價，”只剩下他們倆時，野蠻人說，“還付出了別的什么嗎？”
"Well, religion, of course," replied the Controller. There used to be something called God–before the Nine Years' War.
“當然，還有宗教?！笨偨y回答，以前曾經有過一種叫做上帝的東西。那是在九年戰爭以前。
But I was forgetting; you know all about God, I suppose.
不過我忘了：關于上帝你是知道的，我估計。
"Well …" The Savage hesitated. He would have liked to say something about solitude, about night, about the mesa lying pale under the moon,
“啊……”野蠻人猶豫了，他想談談孤獨，夜，月光下的蒼白的石源，
about the precipice, the plunge into shadowy darkness, about death.
懸崖，談一談往陰影里的黑暗中跳下去和死亡。
He would have liked to speak; but there were no words. Not even in Shakespeare.
他想談，但是找不出話來表達，甚至用莎士比亞也無法表達。
The Controller, meanwhile, had crossed to the other side of the room and was unlocking a large safe set into the wall between the bookshelves.
這時總統已走到屋子另一邊，開始打開一個嵌在書架間的墻壁里的保險箱。
The heavy door swung open. Rummaging in the darkness within,
沉重的門一晃，開了，總統伸手在黑暗里摸索，
"It's a subject," he said, "that has always had a great interest for me."
“這是一個，”總統說，“我一向很感興趣的題目?！?/div>
He pulled out a thick black volume. "You've never read this, for example."
他抽出一本黑色的厚書?！澳銖膩頉]有讀過這本書吧？比如?！?/div>
The Savage took it. "The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments," he read aloud from the title-page.
野蠻人接了過來，“《圣經.新舊約全書》，”他念著書名頁。
"Nor this." It was a small book and had lost its cover.
“這書也沒有讀過吧？”哪是一本小書，封面沒有了。
The Imitation of Christ.
《追效基督》。
"Nor this." He handed out another volume.
“這書也沒有吧？”他又遞給他一本。
The Varieties of Religious Experience. By William James.
《宗教體驗種種》，威廉.詹姆斯作。
"And I've got plenty more," Mustapha Mond continued, resuming his seat.
“我還有很多，”穆斯塔法.蒙德說下去，
A whole collection of pornographic old books. God in the safe and Ford on the shelves.
一整套猥褻的古書。保險箱里放著上帝，書架上放著福帝，
He pointed with a laugh to his avowed library–to the shelves of books, the rack full of reading-machine bobbins and sound-track rolls.
他指著他自稱的圖書館——那一架架的書，一架架的閱讀機線圈和錄音帶盤——哈哈大笑。
"But if you know about God, why don't you tell them?" asked the Savage indignantly. "Why don't you give them these books about God?"
“可你既然知道上帝，你為什么不告訴他們？”野蠻人義憤填膺，問，“你為什么不把這些有關上帝的書給他們讀？”
For the same reason as we don't give them Othello: they're old; they're about God hundreds of years ago. Not about God now.
理由跟不讓他們讀《奧塞羅》一樣，古老了。那是幾百年前關于上帝的書，不是關于今天的上帝的書。
But God doesn't change.
上帝可是不會變的。
Men do, though.
但是人會變。
What difference does that make?
那能有什么區別？
"All the difference in the world," said Mustapha Mond.
“有天大的區別。”穆斯塔法橡德說著又站了起來，
