美麗新世界Brave New World 第11章(15)

The taxicopter landed on the roof of Lenina'sapartment house.

計程直升機在列寧娜公寓房頂降落。

"At last," she thought exultantly as she stepped outof the cab. At last—even though he had been soqueer just now.

“終于”她下了飛機興奮激動地說。終于——哪怕他剛才那么奇怪。

Standing under a lamp, she peered into her handmirror. At last. Yes, her nose was a bit shiny. She shook the loose powder from her puff.

她站在一盞燈下望著小鏡子。終于到手了，是的，她的鼻子有點發(fā)亮。她用粉撲拍上了一點粉。

While he was paying off the taxi—there would just be time.

時間正好，他在付計程飛機機費。

She rubbed at the shininess, thinking，He's terribly good-looking. No need for him to be shylike Bernard.

她抹著發(fā)光的地方想著，他漂亮得驚人，其實用不著像伯納那樣害羞。

And yet ... Any other man would have done it long ago. Well, now at last."

可是......要是換了個人，老早就干起來了。好了，現(xiàn)在，終于到手了。

That fragment of a face in the little round mirror suddenly smiled at her.

小圓鏡里那半張臉突然對她笑了。

"Good-night," said a strangled voice behind her. Lenina wheeled round.

“再見。”她身后一個聲音吃力地說。列寧娜急忙轉(zhuǎn)過身子。

He was standing in the doorway of the cab, his eyes fixed, staring;

約翰站在計程飛機門口，眼睛緊盯著她，

had evidently been staring all this time while she was powdering her nose, waiting—but whatfor?

顯然從她給鼻子擦粉時起就在盯著，等待著?？伤诘仁裁?

or hesitating, trying to make up his mind, and all the time thinking, thinking—she could notimagine what extraordinary thoughts.

是在猶豫，是還沒有下定決心，一直在想，想——她想不出他究竟有些什么不尋常的念頭。

"Good-night, Lenina," he repeated, and made a strange grimacing attempt to smile.

“晚安，列寧娜。”他又說，努力做出個奇怪的面相，想笑。

But, John ... I thought you were ... I mean, aren't you? ...

可是，約翰......我以為你打算......我是說，你是否......?

He shut the door and bent forward to say something to the driver. The cab shot up into the air.

他關(guān)了門，向前彎過身子對駕駛員說了點什么，計程飛機射向了空中。

Looking down through the window in the fioor, the Savage could see Lenina's upturned face,pale in the bluish light of the lamps.

野蠻人從機底的窗戶往下看，看見了列寧娜仰起的頭在淡藍色的燈光里顯得蒼白，

The mouth was open, she was calling.

嘴張著，在叫著什么。

Her foreshortened figure rushed away from him; the diminishing square of the roof seemedto be falling through the darkness.

她那因透視而縮小的身姿急速離他而去。房頂那越來越小的方形似乎落進了黑暗里。

Five minutes later he was back in his room.

五分鐘后他已回到了自己的房間。

From its hiding-place he took out his mouse-nibbled volume, turned with religious care itsstained and crumbled pages, and began to read Othello.

他從隱藏的地方找出了那本被老鼠咬破的書。帶著宗教的細(xì)心翻開了那臟污打皺的書頁，開始讀起了《奧塞羅》。

Othello, he remembered, was like the hero of Three Weeks in a Helicopter—a black man.

他記得，奧塞羅跟《直升機上三星期》里的人一樣是黑人。

Drying her eyes, Lenina walked across the roof to the lift.

列寧娜擦著眼睛走過房頂，來到電梯前。

On her way down to the twenty-seventh floor she pulled out her soma bottle.

在下到二十七樓時，她掏出了她的唆麻瓶子。

One gramme, she decided, would not be enough; hers had been more than a one-grammeaffliction.

一克是不會夠的，她決定，她的痛苦比一克要大。

But if she took two grammes, she ran the risk of not waking up in time to-morrow morning.

但是如果吞下兩克，她就有明天早上不能及時醒來的危險。

She compromised and, into her cupped left palm, shook out three half-gramme tablets.

她折中了一下，往她左手手心抖出了三粒半克的藥片。