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"The tunnels, of course, were lighted.
“當然，那些隧道是照得通明的。
Everything is light, artificial light; darkness is the exception.
樣樣東西是亮堂堂的，人工制造的亮堂堂；黑暗是例外。
So when I saw a black gap in the tiles, I knew that it was an exception, and rejoiced.
所以，每當我看到那些瓦片中間的一條黑隙的時候，我便知道那是一個例外，于是我大為高興起來。
I put in my arm – I could put in no more at first – and waved it round and round in ecstasy.
我把胳膊放進去——最初我一點兒也放不進去——后來在狂喜中我不停地擺動我的胳膊，
I loosened another tile, and put in my head, and shouted into the darkness:
我搖松了另一片瓦，我把頭鉆進去，向黑暗里喊著
"I am coming, I shall do it yet," and my voice reverberated down endless passages.
“我要來了，我現在就要來。”我的喊聲回蕩在沒有盡頭的通道里，
I seemed to hear the spirits of those dead workmen who had returned each evening to the starlightand to their wives,
我似乎聽到那些已經死去的工人的幽靈，他們每天晚上回到星光下，回到他們的妻子身邊，
and all the generations who had lived in the open air called back to me,
世世代代一切曾經住在露天里的那些人，都在回答我的呼聲，喊著：
"You will do it yet, you are coming,""
“你現在就來，你就來吧。”
He paused, and, absurd as he was, his last words moved her.
他停頓了一下，雖然他是荒唐可笑的，他最后的話卻使她深深有所觸動。
For Kuno had lately asked to be a father, and his request had been refused by the Committee.
因為基諾最近曾經要求過要做父親，他的要求被大機器拒絕了。
His was not a type that the Machine desired to hand on.
他不是屬于大機器希望傳代的那一型人。
"Then a train passed. It brushed by me, but I thrust my head and arms into the hole.
“后來一列火車過去了，它在我身邊掃了一下，不過我把頭和兩只胳膊都一起鉆到那個窟窿里面去了。
I had done enough for one day, so I crawled back to the platform,
我已經足干了一天，于是我爬回月臺，
went down in the lift, and summoned my bed.
乘電梯下來，叫來了我的床。
Ah what dreams! And again I called you, and again you refused."
啊，多么甜美的夢啊！我又打電話給您，您又一次拒絕了。”
She shook her head and said: "Don't. Don't talk of these terrible things.
她搖搖頭，隨后說道：“不要說了。不要說這些怪可怕的事吧。
You make me miserable. You are throwing civilization away."
你搞得我好難過。你簡直把文明都拋到遠遠的地方去了。”
"But I had got back the sense of space and a man cannot rest then.
“可是我已經得回了空間感，而且一個人不能總停著不動啊。
I determined to get in at the hole and climb the shaft. And so I exercised my arms.
我決定鉆進那個窟窿去爬一爬那上下行的通道。我就這樣鍛煉了我的兩只胳膊。
Day after day I went through ridiculous movements, until my flesh ached,
一天又一天地去做這些滑稽可笑的運動，直到我肌肉疼痛為止，
and I could hang by my hands and hold the pillow of my bed outstretched for many minutes.
但后來我能用兩手懸吊著，能抱著床上的枕頭伸展下肢達到許多分鐘。
Then I summoned a respirator, and started.
然后我要了一個呼吸保護器，就起程了。
"It was easy at first. The mortar had somehow rotted, and I soon pushed some more tiles in,
“最初是容易的。那灰泥多少有點糟朽了，我沒有一會兒就把更多的瓦片推了進去，
and clambered after them into the darkness, and the spirits of the dead comforted me.
經過這些地方爬進黑暗里，死者的幽靈安慰著我。
I don"t know what I mean by that. I just say what I felt.
我不知道我這樣說是什么意思。我只是說我所見覺到的罷了。
I felt, for the first time, that a protest had been lodged against corruption,
我第一次感到對于腐化已經存在著一種抗議，
and that even as the dead were comforting me, so I was comforting the unborn.
再有，就連那些死者也在慰籍著那些還沒有出生的人。
I felt that humanity existed, and that it existed without clothes.
當時我成到人類過去存在著，他們不穿衣服存在著。
How can I possibly explain this?
我怎么能夠解釋這一點呢？
It was naked, humanity seemed naked, and all these tubes and buttons and machineries neither came into the world with us,
人類是赤身裸體的，似乎是赤條條的，而且所有這些管子、電組和機器，它們既不是同我們一起來到這個世界，
nor will they follow us out, nor do they matter supremely while we are here.
也不會隨著我們一起走出去，當我們在這個世界上的時候，它們也不是至高無上的。
Had I been strong, I would have torn off every garment I had, and gone out into the outer air unswaddled.
要是我強而有力的話，我會把我所有的衣服件件撕個粉碎，無拘無束地走到外界去。
But this is not for me, nor perhaps for my generation.
可是這對我說來是不行的，說不定對我這一代人說來，也是不行的。
I climbed with my respirator and my hygienic clothes and my dietetic tabloids!
我戴著我的呼吸保護器，穿著我的健身服，帶著我的食品丸往上爬！
Better thus than not at all.
這樣總比什么都沒有要好些。
"There was a ladder, made of some primeval metal.
“那里有一個梯子，是用古代的什么金屬制造的。
The light from the railway fell upon its lowest rungs,
從鐵路來的光照到梯子最低的幾層梯階上，
and I saw that it led straight upwards out of the rubble at the bottom of the shaft.
于是我看到了它是從上下通道的底部那些破磚碎瓦中徑直通到上方的。
Perhaps our ancestors ran up and down it a dozen times daily, in their building.
說不定我們的祖先在他們修建的時候，每天上上下下要跑上十幾趟哩。
As I climbed, the rough edges cut through my gloves so that my hands bled.
在我爬著的時候，那些粗糙的邊邊楞楞劃破了我的手套，這樣我雙手流著血，
The light helped me for a little, and then came darkness and, worse still, silence which pierced my ears like a sword.
那亮光幫了我一點忙，接著黑暗來臨了，而更糟的是，寂靜像一把利劍似的刺著我的耳朵。
