美丽新世界Brave New World 第8章(2)

 　　He remembered a huge room, rather dark; and there were big wooden things with strings¹ fastened to them, and lots of women standing² round them–making blankets, Linda said.

　　他记起了一间相当阴暗的房间；里面有些奇怪的木头制品，牵着许多线，许多妇女站在周围。琳妲说那是在编毛毡。

　　Linda told him to sit in the corner with the other children, while she went and helped the women.

　　琳妲要他跟别的孩子们一起坐在屋角，她自己去帮女人们工作。

　　He played with the little boys for a long time.

　　他跟小孩子们玩了很久。

　　Suddenly people started talking very loud, and there were the women pushing Linda away, and Linda was crying.

　　人们突然非常大声地讲起话来，有女人在推着琳妲，要她出去。

　　She went to the door and he ran after her.

　　琳妲在哭，在往门边走。

　　He asked her why they were angry. "Because I broke something," she said.

　　他跟了上去，问她那些女人为什么生气。“因为我弄坏了东西。”然后琳妲也生气了。

　　And then she got angry too. "How should I know how to do their beastly weaving?" she said. "Beastly savages³."

　　“她们那种混账编织法我怎么会知道？”她说，“恶劣的野蛮人。”

　　He asked her what savages were.

　　他问她什么叫野蛮人。

　　When they got back to their house, Popé was waiting at the door, and he came in with them.

　　他们回到自己屋里时波培已经等在门口，他跟他俩进了屋。

　　He had a big gourd⁴ full of stuff that looked like water;

　　波培有一个大葫芦，里面装着些像水一样的东西，

　　only it wasn't water, but something with a bad smell that burnt your mouth and made you cough.

　　不过不是水，而是一种有臭味、烧嘴巴，能弄得你咳嗽的东西。

　　Linda drank some and Popé drank some, and then Linda laughed a lot and talked very loud;

　　琳妲喝了一点，波培也喝了一点。然后琳妲便哈哈大笑，大声说话。

　　and then she and Popé went into the other room.

　　然后她便跟波培进了另一间屋子……

　　When Pope went away, he went into the room. Linda was in bed and so fast asleep that he couldn't wake her.

　　波培走掉以后他进了屋子。琳妲躺在床上睡得很熟，他没有法子叫醒她。

　　Popé used to come often.

　　那时波培来得很勤。

　　He said the stuff in the gourd was called mescal; but Linda said it ought to be called soma; only it made you feel ill afterwards.

　　他说葫芦里的东西叫美似可。可是琳妲说那应该叫做唆麻，只是喝了之后不舒服。

　　He hated Popé. He hated them all–all the men who came to see Linda.

　　他恨波培，也恨所有的人——所有的来看琳妲的男人。

　　One afternoon, when he had been playing with the other children—it was cold, he remembered, and there was snow on the mountains—he came back to the house and heard angry voices in the bedroom.

　　有天下午他正在跟别的孩子们玩——那天很冷，他记得，山上有雪，——他回到屋里听见寝室里有愤怒的叫喊。

　　They were women's voices, and they said words he didn't understand, but he knew they were dreadful words.

　　是女人的声音，说的话他听不懂，但是知道那是可怕的话。

　　Then suddenly, crash! something was upset; he heard people moving about quickly, and there was another crash and then a noise like hitting a mule⁵, only not so bony; then Linda screamed.

　　然后，突然叭的一声响，有什么东西摔倒了。他听见人们跑来跑去。然后又是叭的一声，再后是像驴子挨鞭打的声音，只是挨打的不像驴那么瘦。琳妲尖叫起来。

　　"Oh, don't, don't, don't!" she said. He ran in.

　　“啊，别，别，别打！”她说。他跑了进去。

　　There were three women in dark blankets. Linda was on the bed.

　　三个妇女披着黑毡子，琳妲在床上。

　　One of the women was holding her wrists. Another was lying across her legs, so that she couldn't kick.

　　一个妇女抓住她的手腕；另一个压在她的腿上，不让她踢。

　　The third was hitting her with a whip.

　　第三个妇女正在用鞭子抽她。

　　Once, twice, three times; and each time Linda screamed.

　　一鞭，两鞭，三鞭，每一鞭抽下去琳妲都尖声大叫。

　　Crying, he tugged⁶ at the fringe of the woman's blanket.

　　他哭着拽那女人的毡子边。

　　"Please, please." With her free hand she held him away.

　　“求你啦，求你啦。”他说。那女人用空手把他拉开。

　　The whip came down again, and again Linda screamed.

　　又抽了一鞭子，琳妲又尖叫起来。

　　He caught hold of the woman's enormous brown hand between his own and bit it with all his might.

　　他两手抓住那女人褐色的大手，使尽力气咬了下去。

　　She cried out, wrenched⁷ her hand free, and gave him such a push that he fell down.

　　那女人叫了起来，挣脱了手，狠命一巴掌把他推倒在地上，

　　While he was lying on the ground she hit him three times with the whip. It hurt more than anything he had ever felt–like fire.

　　还趁他躺在地上时抽了他三鞭子，那鞭子比什么都厉害，他痛得像火烧。

　　The whip whistled again, fell. But this time it was Linda who screamed.

　　鞭子又呼啸了，抽了下来。可这一次叫喊的是琳妲。

1 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 savages   

未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There're some savages living in the forest. 森林里居住着一些野人。
• That's an island inhabited by savages. 那是一个野蛮人居住的岛屿。

4 gourd   

n.葫芦

参考例句：

• Are you going with him? You must be out of your gourd.你和他一块去？你一定是疯了。
• Give me a gourd so I can bail.把葫芦瓢给我，我好把水舀出去。

5 mule   

n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人

参考例句：

• A mule is a cross between a mare and a donkey.骡子是母马和公驴的杂交后代。
• He is an old mule.他是个老顽固。

6 tugged   

v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She tugged at his sleeve to get his attention. 她拽了拽他的袖子引起他的注意。
• A wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. 他的嘴角带一丝苦笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 wrenched   

v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛

参考例句：

• The bag was wrenched from her grasp. 那只包从她紧握的手里被夺了出来。
• He wrenched the book from her hands. 他从她的手中把书拧抢了过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》