美丽新世界Brave New World 第18章(8)

 　　Three days later, like turkey buzzards setthug on a corpse 1, the reporters came.

　　三天以后，记者来了，像兀鹰落到了尸体上。
　　Dried and hardened over a slow fire of green wood, the bow was ready.
　　尸体已在鲜叶燃成的文火上烘干，可以用了，
　　The Savage 2 was busy on his arrows.
　　野蛮人在忙着做箭杆。
　　Thirty hazel sticks had been whittled 3 and dried, tipped with sharp nails, carefully nocked.
　　三十根樟树条已经削好烤干，用尖利的钉子做了箭镞，弦口也仔细地刻好了。
　　He had made a raid one night on the Puttenham poultry 4 farm, and now had feathers enough to equip a whole armoury.
　　有天晚上他袭击了帕特南家禽场，现在他已经有了足够制造一个武器库的羽毛。
　　It was at work upon the feathering of his shafts 5 that the first of the reporters found him.
　　第一个记者找到他时他正在往箭杆上安装羽毛。
　　Noiseless on his pneumatic shoes, the man came up behind him.
　　那人的气垫鞋没有声音，悄悄来到了他的身后。
　　"Good-morning, Mr. Savage," he said. "I am the representative of The Hourly Radio."
　　“早上好，野蛮人先生，”他说，“我是《每时广播》的记者。”
　　Startled as though by the bite of a snake, the Savage sprang to his feet, scattering 6 arrows, feathers, glue-pot and brush in all directions.
　　野蛮人仿佛叫蛇咬了一口，跳了起来，箭、羽毛、胶水罐和刷子掀了一地。
　　"I beg your pardon," said the reporter, with genuine compunction. "I had no intention …"
　　“请原谅，”记者说，真心地感到过不去，“我不是故意的……”
　　He touched his hat–the aluminum 7 stove-pipe hat in which he carried his wireless 8 receiver and transmitter.
　　他用手碰了碰帽子边缘——那是一顶铝制的烟囱帽，镶嵌了无线电收发报机。
　　"Excuse my not taking it off," he said. "It's a bit heavy. Well, as I was saying, I am the representative of The Hourly …"
　　“请原谅我不能脱帽致敬，”他说，“帽子有点重。噢，我刚才在说，我代表《每时广播》……”
　　"What do you want?" asked the Savage, scowling 9. The reporter returned his most ingratiating smile.
　　“你要干什么？”野蛮人皱着眉头问。记者用他最讨好的微笑回答。
　　"Well, of course, our readers would be profoundly interested …"
　　“当然，我们的读者会非常感到兴趣的，如果……”
　　He put his head on one side, his smile became almost coquettish. "Just a few words from you, Mr. Savage."
　　他把脑袋偏到一边，微笑得几乎有点献媚的意思。“只需要你说几句话，野蛮人先生。”
　　And rapidly, with a series of ritual gestures,
　　他做了几个礼貌性的手势，
　　he uncoiled two wires connected to the portable battery buckled 10 round his waist;
　　迅速把两根电线解开（电线连．接着系在腰间的移动电池上），
　　plugged them simultaneously 11 into the sides of his aluminum hat;
　　分头插进他那铝制帽子的两侧。
　　touched a spring on the crown–and antenn? shot up into the air;
　　然后碰了碰帽子顶上一根弹簧，呛，一根天线射了出来；
　　touched another spring on the peak of the brim–and, like a jack-in-the-box, out jumped a microphone and hung there,
　　他再碰了碰帽檐上的一根弹簧，一个麦克风就像玩具弹簧人一样蹦了出来，
　　quivering, six inches in front of his nose; pulled down a pair of receivers over his ears;
　　悬在离他鼻子六英寸的地点，摇晃着。他再拉下受话器盖住耳朵，
　　pressed a switch on the left side of the hat-and from within came a faint waspy buzzing;
　　按了一下左边的按钮——一种轻微的黄蜂般的嗡嗡声出现了；
　　turned a knob on the right–and the buzzing was interrupted by a stethoscopic wheeze 12 and cackle, by hiccoughs and sudden squeaks 13.
　　再扭了一下右边的把手，嗡嗡声便为一种听诊器里的咝咝声、咯咯声、打嗝声和突然的吱吱声所代替。