評論
打印
Your descendants will be even in a better position than you,
你們的后代甚至比你們處于更加有利的地位，
for they will learn what you think I think, and yet another intermediate will be added to the chain.
因為他們會學習你們想我是如何想的，這時就有另一個中間人增添到這條鏈子中來，
And in time” – his voice rose – “there will come a generation that had got beyond facts,
在適當時候，他的意見將勃然興起——“總會有超越了事實、
beyond impressions, a generation absolutely colourless, a generation seraphically free, from taint of personality,
超越了印象的一代人要來，那是絕對不帶色彩的一代人，是……快樂的、天使般的、完全沒有個性的污點的一代人，
which will see the French Revolution not as it happened, nor as they would like it to have happened,
這一代人將會看到，法國大革命并不是像它所發生的那樣，也不是像他們愿意它發生的那樣，
but as it would have happened, had it taken place in the days of the Machine.”
而是像它可能會發生的那樣——假定它是發生在大機器的時代的話?！?/p>
Tremendous applause greeted this lecture,
這篇演講被報以劇烈的掌聲，
which did but voice a feeling already latent in the minds of men – a feeling that terrestrial facts must be ignored,
它的確只是道出了已經潛在于人們頭腦中的一種感識，這種感識是：地上的事實一定不要去理會，
and that the abolition of respirators was a positive gain.
呼吸保護器的取締是一個肯定的勝利。
It was even suggested that air-ships should be abolished too.
甚至還有人提出就是飛艇也應當取締。
This was not done, because air-ships had somehow worked themselves into the Machine”s system.
這是做不到的，因為飛艇已經使它們自己或多或少納入大機器的系統之內，
But year by year they were used less, and mentioned less by thoughtful men.
但是年復一年它們會較少使用，而又有思想的人們也會較少提到它們。
The second great development was the re-establishment of religion.
第二項偉大的改進是宗教的重建。
This, too, had been voiced in the celebrated lecture.
這一點也在一些著名的演說里呼吁過。
No one could mistake the reverent tone in which the peroration had concluded, and it awakened a responsive echo in the heart of each.
沒有人會誤解在那種虔敬語氣中所總結出的主要梗概，而且它在每個人的心里喚起一種反響。
Those who had long worshipped silently, now began to talk.
那些早已默默崇拜著的人，現在開始講話了。
They described the strange feeling of peace that came over them when they handled the Book of the Machine,
他們描述說，每當他們運用大機器的那本大書時，他們便立刻渾身感到那種奇異的恬靜，
the pleasure that it was to repeat certain numerals out of it, however little meaning those numerals conveyed to the outward ear,
他們的快事就是一再反復重述大書中的某些數字，雖然那些數字對聽者傳達不出什么意義。
the ecstasy of touching a button, however unimportant, or of ringing an electric bell, however superfluously.
他們描述了按一個電鈕時的狂喜，雖然這個電鈕并不重要。他們還描述了使電鈴響起來時的狂喜，盡管讓它響著是多余的。
“The Machine,” they exclaimed, “feeds us and clothes us and houses us;
“那大機器，”他們感嘆地說，“供給我們吃，供給我們衣服穿，供給我們房子住，
through it we speak to one another, through it we see one another, in it we have our being.
通過大機器，我們彼此交談，通過它我們彼此相見，我們在它里面享有我們的生存。
The Machine is the friend of ideas and the enemy of superstition: the Machine is omnipotent, eternal; blessed is the Machine.”
大機器是思想意念的朋友，是迷信的敵人；大機器是萬能的，永遠長存的，大機器是神圣的?！?
And before long this allocution was printed on the first page of the Book,
沒有多久，這篇訓諭就印在大書的首頁上面了，
and in subsequent editions the ritual swelled into a complicated system of praise and prayer.
在其后的版本里，儀禮便擴大化成為為歌頌和祈禱的一個復雜體系。
The word “religion” was sedulously avoided, and in theory the Machine was still the creation and the implement of man.
“宗教”這個詞卻始終是避而不用的，并且在理論上，大機器仍然是人的創造和工具。
but in practice all, save a few retrogrades, worshipped it as divine.
但在實際上，除了少數幾個倒退人物以外，一切人都把它當作神明來崇拜。
Nor was it worshipped in unity.
大機器倒也不是以統一的形式受到崇拜的。
One believer would be chiefly impressed by the blue optic plates, through which he saw other believers;
某個信徒之所以獲得深刻的印象，可能主要是由于那個藍光盤，通過它，他可以看見別的信徒們，
another by the mending apparatus, which sinful Kuno had compared to worms; another by the lifts, another by the Book.
另一個信徒可能是由于修理機，罪惡的基諾曾把那些修理機比做一些蟲；另外別的信徒是由于升降機，還有的信徒是由于那本大書。
And each would pray to this or to that, and ask it to intercede for him with the Machine as a whole.
而每一個人都會向這個或向那個祈禱，祈求它代他向作為整體的大機器說情。
