評(píng)論
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The Machine hums! Did you know that?
大機(jī)器嗡嗡響著！您過去知道那個(gè)嗎？
Its hum penetrates our blood, and may even guide our thoughts.
它的嗡嗡響聲穿進(jìn)我們的血液甚至可能指導(dǎo)我們的思想。
Who knows! I was getting beyond its power.
誰知道呢？我當(dāng)時(shí)正在超出它的威力。
Then I thought: "This silence means that I am doing wrong."
隨后我這樣想：“這種寂靜意味著我是在做錯(cuò)事。”
But I heard voices in the silence, and again they strengthened me." He laughed.
可是在寂靜中，我聽到了說話的聲音，這聲音又一次給了我力量。”
"I had need of them. The next moment I cracked my head against something."
他大笑起來。“我當(dāng)時(shí)需要這些說話聲。沒有一會(huì)兒，我一下子撞到什么東西上面了。”
She sighed. "I had reached one of those pneumatic stoppers that defend us from the outer air.
她嘆了一口氣。“我已經(jīng)走到那些空氣制動(dòng)器當(dāng)中的一個(gè)，那些空氣制動(dòng)器是預(yù)防我們接觸外界空氣的。
You may have noticed them no the air- ship.
您坐在飛艇里可能已經(jīng)看見過那些制動(dòng)器了。
Pitch dark, my feet on the rungs of an invisible ladder, my hands cut;
一片漆黑，我的兩腳登上一個(gè)看不見的梯子的梯階上，我的兩手劃破了；
I cannot explain how I lived through this part, but the voices till comforted me, and I felt for fastenings.
我無法解釋我怎么活過了著一段，但那說話的聲音還在安慰著我，我摸索著尋找支撐的東西。
The stopper, I suppose, was about eight feet across. I passed my hand over it as far as I could reach.
那個(gè)制動(dòng)器，我估量著約有8英尺寬。我用手摸索它，我摸索到能夠達(dá)到的地方。
It was perfectly smooth. I felt it almost to the centre.
它是十分光滑的。我覺得我差不多摸到了它的中心。
Not quite to the centre, for my arm was too short.
不是正中心，因?yàn)槲业母觳蔡獭?/p>
Then the voice said: "Jump. It is worth it.
這時(shí)有聲音說；“跳一下，這是值得的。
There may be a handle in the centre, and you may catch hold of it and so come to us your own way.
在中心的地方可能有個(gè)把手，你可以抓住它，那樣，你就走你自己的路來到我們這里了。
And if there is no handle, so that you may fall and are dashed to pieces –
要是沒有把手的話，那你就會(huì)掉下去，摔得粉身碎骨——
it is till worth it: you will still come to us your own way."
那也還是值得的：你還是走你自己的路來我們這里吧，”
So I jumped. There was a handle, and —"
這樣，我就跳了一下。那里有一個(gè)把手，接著——”
He paused. Tears gathered in his mother's eyes.
他停了下來。他的母親熱淚盈眶。
She knew that he was fated. If he did not die today he would die tomorrow.
她知道他的命運(yùn)已經(jīng)注定了。如果他今天不死，明天也會(huì)死的。
There was not room for such a person in the world. And with her pity disgust mingled.
在這個(gè)世界上，是沒有這樣一個(gè)人的容身之地的。
She was ashamed at having borne such a son, she who had always been so respectable and so full of ideas.
她懷著憐惜夾雜著厭惡的感情。她以生了這樣一個(gè)兒子為恥，她總是那么值得受人尊重，思想意念總是那么豐富。
Was he really the little boy to whom she had taught the use of his stops and buttons,
難道他真的就是她教導(dǎo)過他使用他的止動(dòng)器和電鈕，
and to whom she had given his first lessons in the Book?
又教導(dǎo)過他那大書里最初幾課的那個(gè)小男孩嗎？
The very hair that disfigured his lip showed that he was reverting to some savage type.
正是使他嘴唇變形的那些毛毛顯示出他恢復(fù)到有點(diǎn)野蠻的類型。
On atavism the Machine can have no mercy.
對(duì)于返祖現(xiàn)象，大機(jī)器絕不會(huì)有所憐憫的。
"There was a handle, and I did catch it.
“那里有個(gè)把手，我確實(shí)也抓住了它。
I hung tranced over the darkness and heard the hum of these workings as the last whisper in a dying dream.
我恍恍惚惚地懸浮在黑暗中，聽到嗡嗡的操作聲好像是行將逝去的一場夢(mèng)中的最后低語。
All the things I had cared about and all the people I had spoken to through tubes appeared infinitely little.
我過去關(guān)心的一切事情和我曾通過管子說過話的那些人一時(shí)都顯得無限渺小。
Meanwhile the handle revolved. My weight had set something in motion and I span slowly, and then—
正在這時(shí)，那個(gè)把手轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)了。我的體重使得什么東西動(dòng)了起來，接著我慢慢地跨了過去，于是——
"I cannot describe it. I was lying with my face to the sunshine.
“我不能詳細(xì)敘述這個(gè)了。我把臉朝向太陽平躺著。
Blood poured from my nose and ears and I heard a tremendous roaring.
血從我的鼻孔和耳朵里流出來，我聽到一種極大的轟鳴聲。
The stopper, with me clinging to it, had simply been blown of the earth,
我緊緊抓住的那個(gè)制動(dòng)器已經(jīng)完全從地下爆了出來，
and the air that we make down here was escaping through the vent into the air above.
我們壓到這里來的空氣通過通氣孔散到上方的空氣里去了。
It burst up like a fountain. I crawled back to it – for the upper air hurts –
它像一個(gè)噴泉那樣向四面八方噴著。我爬回通氣孔，因?yàn)樯戏降目諝馐莻说摹?/p>
and, as it were, I took great sips from the edge.
其實(shí)我已從通氣孔的邊邊上吸進(jìn)好幾大口了。
My respirator had flown goodness knows here, my clothes were torn.
我的呼吸保護(hù)器，天知道飛到什么地方去了。我的衣服撕破了。
I just lay with my lips close to the hole, and I sipped until the bleeding stopped.
我只是躺著，把嘴緊挨近孔口，我一口口地吸著氣，直到血不流了為止。
You can imagine nothing so curious.
您不可能想像有什么事是這樣稀奇古怪。
This hollow in the grass – I will speak of it in a minute,
在草叢里的這片洼地——我一會(huì)兒就要說說它
– the sun shining into it, not brilliantly but through marbled clouds,
——太陽照在里面，倒不是照得光輝耀眼，而是穿過云石般的片片浮云，
– the peace, the nonchalance, the sense of space, and, brushing my cheek, the roaring fountain of our artificial air!
那種寧靜，那種萬念俱寂的心情，那種空間感，還有我們的人工空氣嘩嘩響著的噴泉拂著我的臉。
Soon I spied my respirator, bobbing up and down in the current high above my head, and higher still were many air-ships.
沒有一會(huì)兒功夫，我便偵察到我的呼吸保護(hù)器在我頭上高高的氣流里上下顛動(dòng)著，在更高一些的地方有許多飛艇。]
