第六章
Odd, odd, odd, was Lenina's verdict on Bernard Marx.
古怪,古怪,太古怪,这是列宁娜对伯纳·马克思所下的断语。
So odd, indeed, that in the course of the succeeding weeks she had wondered more than once whether she shouldn't change her mind about the New Mexico holiday, and go instead to the North Pole with Benito Hoover.
太古怪,以后的几个星期,她曾不止一次地考虑要不要改变跟他到墨西哥去旅游的打算,而跟本尼托·胡佛一起到北极去。
The trouble was that she knew the North Pole, had been there with George Edzel only last summer, and what was more, found it pretty grim.
问题是她已经去过北极,去年夏天才跟乔治·埃泽尔去过,而且觉得那儿相当难受。
Nothing to do, and the hotel too hopelessly old-fashioned–no television laid on in the bedrooms, no scent organ, only the most putrid synthetic music, and not more than twenty-five Escalator-Squash Courts for over two hundred guests.
无事可做。旅馆又老式得要命。寝室里没有配备电视,没有香味乐器,只有最讨厌的合成音乐,两千多客人只有二十五个自动扶梯手球场。
No, decidedly she couldn't face the North Pole again.
不行,她绝对不能再到北极去玩。
Added to which, she had only been to America once before. And even then, how inadequately!
何况她还只去过美国一次,去得多么糟糕!
A cheap week-end in New York–had it been with Jean-Jacques Habibullah or Bokanovsky Jones? She couldn't remember.
只在纽约过了一个廉价的周末,是跟让·雅克·哈比布拉还是跟波坎诺夫斯基·琼斯去的她已经不记得了,
Anyhow, it was of absolutely no importance.
可那毕竟一点也不重要。
The prospect of flying West again, and for a whole week, was very inviting.
再到西方去整整过一个礼拜,对她还是很有吸引力的。
Moreover, for at least three days of that week they would be in the Savage Reservation.
何况其中至少可以有三天在野蛮人保留地度过
Not more than half a dozen people in the whole Centre had ever been inside a Savage Reservation.
——那地方在整个胎孕中心只有六七个人去过。
As an Alpha-Plus psychologist, Bernard was one of the few men she knew entitled to a permit.For Lenina, the opportunity was unique.
她知道伯纳是个阿尔法加,心理学家,是少数几个有被批准资格的人之一。 对她说来,那是个罕见的机会。
And yet, so unique also was Bernard's oddness that she had hesitated to take it, had actually thought of risking the Pole again with funny old Benito.
而伯纳的古怪也罕见,要接受伯纳,她感到犹豫,实际上她还考虑过冒一冒险,跟有趣的老本尼托再去一趟北极。
At least Benito was normal. Whereas Bernard …
本尼托至少是正常的,而伯纳却……
"Alcohol in his blood-surrogate," was Fanny's explanation of every eccentricity.
范尼对每一种怪脾气的解释都是:“代血剂里的酒精。”
But Henry, with whom, one evening when they were in bed together, Lenina had rather anxiously discussed her new lover, Henry had compared poor Bernard to a rhinoceros.
但是有天晚上列宁娜跟亨利一起在床上很焦急地谈起了她那新情人时,亨利却把可怜的伯纳比做一头犀牛。
"You can't teach a rhinoceros tricks," he had explained in his brief and vigorous style. "Some men are almost rhinoceroses; they don't respond properly to conditioning.
“你可没有法子教犀牛玩花样,”他以他那简短有力的风格解释,‘有些人简直跟犀牛差不多,对于条件设置不能正常反应。
Poor Devils! Bernard's one of them. Luckily for him, he's pretty good at his job.
可怜的怪物!伯纳就是一个。幸好他业务还挺律,否则主任早开除他了。
Otherwise the Director would never have kept him. However," he added consolingly, "I think he's pretty harmless."
不过,”他安慰说,“我觉得他倒无伤大雅。”
Pretty harmless, perhaps; but also pretty disquieting.
无伤大雅,也许,可也叫人很不放心。
That mania, to start with, for doing things in private. Which meant, in practice, not doing anything at all.
首先,他那老干私事的怪癖,实际上就是游手好闲。
For what was there that one could do in private.
一个人私下能够有什么可干?
(Apart, of course, from going to bed: but one couldn't do that all the time.) Yes, what was there? Precious little.
(当然,除了上床之外,可人总不能老上床的,)而床上能干什么?没有多少可干的。
The first afternoon they went out together was particularly fine.
他们俩第一次出去那天天气特别好。
Lenina had suggested a swim at Toquay Country Club followed by dinner at the Oxford Union. But Bernard thought there would be too much of a crowd.
列宁娜建议去牛津联合会去吃饭,然后到托开乡村俱乐部游泳,可是伯纳嫌人多。
Then what about a round of Electro-magnetic Golf at St. Andrew's? But again, no: Bernard considered that Electro-magnetic Golf was a waste of time.
那么到圣安德鲁司去打电磁高尔夫呢?仍然不同意。玩电磁高尔夫总不能认为是浪费时间吧!
"Then what's time for?" asked Lenina in some astonishment.
“那么时间是拿来干什么的呢?”列宁娜多少有些惊讶地问。
Apparently, for going walks in the Lake District; for that was what he now proposed.
那显然是到湖区去散步了。因为那就是他现在提出的建议。
Land on the top of Skiddaw and walk for a couple of hours in the heather. "Alone with you, Lenina."
在斯基朵的尽头上岸,到石南丛里去转一两个小时。“跟你单独在一起,列宁娜。”
"But, Bernard, we shall be alone all night."
“但是,伯纳,我们整个晚上都要单独在一起的。”