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People were crawling about, people were screaming, whimpering, gasping for breath,
人們在到處爬行著，人們在尖聲叫著，哭泣著，喘息著，
touching each other, vanishing in the dark, and ever and anon being pushed off the platform on to the live rail.
彼此互相碰撞著，消失在黑暗里，不時地被推下月臺去，撞到那活動的路軌上。
Some were fighting round the electric bells, trying to summon trains which could not be summoned.
有些人在圍著電鈴打架，想要叫來那永遠也叫不來的火車。
Others were yelling for Euthanasia or for respirators, or blaspheming the Machine.
還有些人大喊大叫著，要求無痛死亡或者要呼吸保護器，或者在罵大機器。
Others stood at the doors of their cells fearing, like herself, either to stop in them or to leave them.
另有些人像她自己一樣，站在他們自己的房門口，既害怕呆在房間里，又不敢離開房間。
And behind all the uproar was silence – the silence which is the voice of the earth and of the generations who have gone.
在一切喧囂聲的背后是一片沉寂——這種沉寂是大地的和已經逝去的那代代人的語言。
No – it was worse than solitude. She closed the door again and sat down to wait for the end.
不——這比孤寂還糟。她又關起門來，坐下等待最終的結局。
The disintegration went on, accompanied by horrible cracks and rumbling.
崩潰繼續進行著，伴隨著可怖的斷裂聲和隆隆聲。
The valves that restrained the Medical Apparatus must have weakened, for it ruptured and hung hideously from the ceiling.
控制醫療機的那些閥門一定變得軟弱無力了，因為它凸了出來，可怕地在天花板上耷拉著。
The floor heaved and fell and flung her from the chair. A tube oozed towards her serpent fashion.
地板起伏著，把她從椅子里甩了出來。一根管子朝她那蛇樣的體形滲出液體。
And at last the final horror approached – light began to ebb, and she knew that civilization”s long day was closing.
后來那最終的恐怖來臨了——光開始暗淡下來，她知道文明的漫長時代要結束了。
She whirled around, praying to be saved from this, at any rate, kissing the Book, pressing button after button.
她暈得打轉兒，祈禱著要從中得救，不管怎樣，一直在吻著那本大書，按著一個又一個的電鈕。
The uproar outside was increasing, and even penetrated the wall.
外面的喧囂聲越來越大，甚至穿透了墻壁。
Slowly the brilliancy of her cell was dimmed, the reflections faded from the metal switches.
慢慢地她那小房間的光亮朦朧了，反射光從她那些金屬的開關上漸漸消失了，
Now she could not see the reading-stand, now not the Book, though she held it in her hand.
現在她看不見那個小書桌，也看不見那本大書，盡管她把它抱在手里。
Light followed the flight of sound, air was following light, and the original void returned to the cavern from which it has so long been excluded.
光隨著聲音的飛逝消失了，空氣隨著光消失了，接著這種原始的真空又恢復成為那很久不許進去的巖洞。
Vashti continued to whirl, like the devotees of an earlier religion, screaming, praying, striking at the buttons with bleeding hands.
瓦西蒂繼續暈得打轉，做早期宗教的虔誠信徒那樣，大聲叫喊著，祈禱著，用鮮血淋漓的雙手敲著那些電鈕。
It was thus that she opened her prison and escaped – escaped in the spirit:
就這樣，她打開了她的牢房逃脫了——是精神上的逃脫！
at least so it seems to me, ere my meditation closes.
至少在我的沉思結束以前，在我看來是如此。
That she escapes in the body – I cannot perceive that.
她在肉體上的逃脫，那我無法覺察得出。
She struck, by chance, the switch that released the door, and the rush of foul air on her skin,
偶然的機會，她敲中了使門打開的那個開關，污濁的空氣猛沖到她的皮膚上，
the loud throbbing whispers in her ears, told her that she was facing the tunnel again,
高聲的震顫在她的耳朵里響著，告訴她，她又在面對著那隧道，
and that tremendous platform on which she had seen men fighting.
面對著她曾看到人們在上面打架的那個大月臺。
They were not fighting now. Only the whispers remained, and the little whimpering groans.
他們現在并沒有打架。只有耳語聲仍然縈回著，還有那微弱啜泣的嗚咽聲。
They were dying by hundreds out in the dark.
在外面的黑暗里，他們成千上萬人正在奄奄一息。
She burst into tears. Tears answered her.
她一下子落下淚來。 有幾滴淚水回答了她。
They wept for humanity, those two, not for themselves.
他們是在為人類而哭，他們兩人不是為他們自己而哭。
They could not bear that this should be the end. Ere silence was completed their hearts were opened,
他們無法忍受這該是末日的結局。在沉寂終了以前，他們的心房打開了。
and they knew what had been important on the earth.
他們知道了在地球上什么是重要的。
