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Yet as Vashti saw the vast flank of the ship, stained with exposure to the outer air, her horror of direct experience returned.
不過，當瓦西蒂看到飛艇的寬大翅膀由于暴露在外界空氣中而受到污染的時候，她對直接經(jīng)驗的恐懼又來了。
It was not quite like the air-ship in the cinematophote.
飛艇倒不是十分像在影片里那樣，
For one thing it smelt – not strongly or unpleasantly, but it did smell, and with her eyes shut she should have known that a new thing was close to her.
而是有一種氣味——不太強烈或難聞，可是確實聞得到。她閉著眼睛，也會知道有一種新東西距離她很近。
Then she had to walk to it from the lift, had to submit to glances form the other passengers.
于是她不得不屈尊走過去，不得不忍受其他旅客們瞥視的目光。
The man in front dropped his Book – no great matter, but it disquieted them all.
前面那個男人掉了他的那本大書——這不是什么大事，可是鬧得大家都不安起來。
In the rooms, if the Book was dropped, the floor raised it mechanically, but the gangway to the air-ship was not so prepared, and the sacred volume lay motionless.
在房間里，如果大書掉下來，地板就會自動地把它托起，但是飛艇的走道并沒有這樣的裝備，于是這卷圣書便一動不動地擺在那里。
They stopped – the thing was unforeseen – and the man, instead of picking up his property, felt the muscles of his arm to see how they had failed him.
他們都楞住了——這種事是以前沒有見過的。那個人并沒有拾起他的寶貴財產(chǎn)，卻摸了摸他胳膊上的肌肉，要看一看那肌肉怎么會使他沒有把它拿好。
Then some one actually said with direct utterance: "We shall be late" – and they trooped on board, Vashti treading on the pages as she did so.
這時有人直接議論說：“我們要遲了。”——接著他們擁擠在飛艇里。瓦西蒂走過去的時候，踩在那書頁上。
Inside, her anxiety increased.
在內心中，她愈來愈焦慮了。
The arrangements were old-fashioned and rough. There was even a female attendant, to whom she would have to announce her wants during the voyage.
一切安排都是舊式的、簡陋的，甚至還有一個女服務員，瓦西蒂在旅程中得向她說出自己的需要。
Of course a revolving platform ran the length of the boat, but she was expected to walk from it to her cabin.
當然，有一個轉動的陽臺轉過飛艇的整個長度，可是她得從踏臺步行到她的房艙啊。
Some cabins were better than others, and she did not get the best.
有些房艙要比其他房艙好一些，不過她沒有分到那最好的。
She thought the attendant had been unfair, and spasms of rage shook her.
她認為那個服務員不公平，陣陣的怒火弄得她混身亂顫。
The glass valves had closed, she could not go back.
玻璃活門已經(jīng)關閉，她無法走回去了。
She saw, at the end of the vestibule, the lift in which she had ascended going quietly up and down, empty.
她看到在通道的盡頭，她乘著它上來的那個電梯正靜靜地升降著，里面空空的。
Beneath those corridors of shining tiles were rooms, tier below tier, reaching far into the earth, and in each room there sat a human being, eating, or sleeping, or producing ideas.
在那瓦片閃閃發(fā)光的走廊下面是些房間，層層排列，遠遠伸到地下，每間房里坐著一個人，在吃或在睡，或在創(chuàng)造思想意念。
And buried deep in the hive was her own room. Vashti was afraid.
那埋藏在蜂窩深處的是她自己的房間。瓦西蒂害怕起來。
"O Machine!" she murmured, and caressed her Book, and was comforted.
“哦，大機器啊！哦，大機器啊！”她喃喃地說，隨即摩挲著她的那本大書，她感到寬慰了。
Then the sides of the vestibule seemed to melt together, as do the passages that we see in dreams, the lift vanished,
這時通道的兩側仿佛就要融匯到一起，就像我們在夢中看到兩條通路要融匯到一起一樣。升降機消失了。
the Book that had been dropped slid to the left and vanished, polished tiles rushed by like a stream of water,
剛剛掉落的那本大書滑到左邊不見了，那些閃閃發(fā)光的瓦片像一條河水從旁邊湍急沖去。
there was a slight jar, and the air-ship, issuing from its tunnel, soared above the waters of a tropical ocean.
那里有一個不大的開口，接著飛艇從隧道飛了出去，翱翔在熱帶汪洋水面的上空。
