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I tried to pull my senses together. I realized that if I was to find out about this new and undreamed-of future, I must go at it systematically.
我努力想使自己的頭腦冷靜下來。我現在意識到，如果我要想弄清楚這個做夢都沒有想到過的新的未來，我就要系統地來了解。
"I see," I said after a pause, "that momentous things have happened since my time. I wish you would explain to me bit by bit. First, what do you mean by saying that there is no work?"
“我懂了，”我停了停，說，“自從我那個年代到現在，已經發生了巨大的變化。我希望您能 一點一點地給我解釋。首先，您說工作已經不存在了，是什么意思？ ”
"Why," answered my strange acquaintance, "it died out of itself. Machinery killed it. If I remember rightly, you had a certain amount of machinery even in your time."
“很簡單，”我那新交的怪朋友回答說，“它自己就消失了。是機器把它給消滅了。假如我沒有記錯的話，在您那個時代就有一些機器了，是吧？”
I nodded assent.
我點了點頭。
"But you found it did you no good. The better your machines, the harder you worked. The more things you had, the more things you wanted. You were all caught in the cogs of your own machines."
“但是你們發現那些機器對你們沒什么好處。機器越好，你們干活就干得越辛苦。你們生產的東西越豐富，你們要的東西也就越多。你們都像被卡在那些機器的齒輪之間，動彈不得。”
"That is quite true," I said.
“您說得一點也不錯，”我說。
"Well, then, there came the Era of the Great Conquest of Nature, the final victory of Man and Machinery."
“后來，就到了‘征服自然的偉大時代’，人和機器取得了最終的勝利。”
"They did conquer it?" I asked quickly, with a thrill of the old hope in my veins again.
“這么說，他們真的把自然征服了？”我馬上問他，當年的希望，重新使我血脈僨張起來。
"Conquered it," he said, "beat it out! Things came one by one. In a hundred years it was all done. In fact, just as soon as mankind turned its energy to decreasing its needs instead of increasing its desires, the whole thing was easy. Chemical Food came first. Heavens! The simplicity of it. Agriculture went overboard. Eating and all that goes with it, domestic labor, housework—all ended. Nowadays one takes a concentrated pill every year or so, that's all.
“征服了，”他說，“把它徹底打敗了！之后，很多東西就一一出現了。100年之內，一切都解決了。實際上，當人類把他們的精力從擴大欲望轉向減少需要，一切就立刻變得十分容易了。先是化學食品。我的天！這簡直簡單得不能再簡單了。這一來，農業就沒用了。吃飯，以及與此有關的工作、家務勞動，一切的一切，都沒有了。現在，每個人只要一年左右服一粒濃縮藥丸，就全妥了。”
