【有声英语文学名著】美丽新世界(16)
时间:2019-02-16 作者:英语课 分类:有声英语文学名著
英语课
Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley
Chapter Sixteen
THE ROOM into which the three were ushered 1 was the Controller's study.
"His fordship will be down in a moment." The Gamma butler left them to themselves.
Helmholtz laughed aloud.
"It's more like a caffeine-solution party than a trial," he said, and let himself fall into the most luxurious 3 of the pneumatic arm-chairs. "Cheer up, Bernard," he added, catching 4 sight of his friend's green unhappy face. But Bernard would not be cheered; without answering, without even looking at Helmholtz, he went and sat down on the most uncomfortable chair in the room, carefully chosen in the obscure hope of somehow deprecating the wrath 5 of the higher powers.
The Savage 6 meanwhile wandered restlessly round the room, peering with a vague superficial inquisitiveness 8 at the books in the shelves, at the sound-track rolls and reading machine bobbins in their numbered pigeon-holes. On the table under the window lay a massive volume bound in limp black leather-surrogate, and stamped with large golden T's. He picked it up and opened it. MY LIFE AND WORK, BY OUR FORD 2. The book had been published at Detroit by the Society for the Propagation of Fordian Knowledge. Idly he turned the pages, read a sentence here, a paragraph there, and had just come to the conclusion that the book didn't interest him, when the door opened, and the Resident World Controller for Western Europe walked briskly into the room.
Mustapha Mond shook hands with all three of them; but it was to the Savage that he addressed himself. "So you don't much like civilization, Mr. Savage," he said.
The Savage looked at him. He had been prepared to lie, to bluster 9, to remain sullenly 10 unresponsive; but, reassured 11 by the good-humoured intelligence of the Controller's face, he decided 12 to tell the truth, straightforwardly 13. "No." He shook his head.
Bernard started and looked horrified 14. What would the Controller think? To be labelled as the friend of a man who said that he didn't like civilization-said it openly and, of all people, to the Controller-it was terrible. "But, John," he began. A look from Mustapha Mond reduced him to an abject 15 silence.
"Of course," the Savage went on to admit, "there are some very nice things. All that music in the air, for instance ..."
"Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about my ears and sometimes voices."
The Savage's face lit up with a sudden pleasure. "Have you read it too?" he asked. "I thought nobody knew about that book here, in England."
"Almost nobody. I'm one of the very few. It's prohibited, you see. But as I make the laws here, I can also break them. With impunity 16, Mr. Marx," he added, turning to Bernard. "Which I'm afraid you can't do."
Bernard sank into a yet more hopeless misery 17.
"But why is it prohibited?" asked the Savage. In the excitement of meeting a man who had read Shakespeare he had momentarily forgotten everything else.
The Controller shrugged 18 his shoulders. "Because it's old; that's the chief reason. We haven't any use for old things here."
"Even when they're beautiful?"
"Particularly when they're beautiful. Beauty's attractive, and we don't want people to be attracted by old things. We want them to like the new ones."
"But the new ones are so stupid and horrible. Those plays, where there's nothing but helicopters flying about and you feel the people kissing." He made a grimace 19. "Goats and monkeys!" Only in Othello's word could he find an adequate vehicle for his contempt and hatred 20.
"Nice tame animals, anyhow," the Controller murmured parenthetically.
"Why don't you let them see Othello instead?"
"I've told you; it's old. Besides, they couldn't understand it."
Yes, that was true. He remembered how Helmholtz had laughed at Romeo and Juliet. "Well then," he said, after a pause, "something new that's like Othello, and that they could understand."
"That's what we've all been wanting to write," said Helmholtz, breaking a long silence.
"And it's what you never will write," said the Controller. "Because, if it were really like Othello nobody could understand it, however new it might be. And if were new, it couldn't possibly be like Othello."
"Why not?"
"Yes, why not?" Helmholtz repeated. He too was forgetting the unpleasant realities of the situation. Green with anxiety and apprehension 21, only Bernard remembered them; the others ignored him. "Why not?"
"Because our world is not the same as Othello's world. You can't make flivvers without steel-and you can't make tragedies without social instability. The world's stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can't get. They're well off; they're safe; they're never ill; they're not afraid of death; they're blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they're plagued with no mothers or fathers; they've got no wives, or children, or lovers to feel strongly about; they're so conditioned that they practically can't help behaving as they ought to behave. And if anything should go wrong, there's soma. Which you go and chuck out of the window in the name of liberty, Mr. Savage. Liberty!" He laughed. "Expecting Deltas 22 to know what liberty is! And now expecting them to understand Othello! My good boy!"
The Savage was silent for a little. "All the same," he insisted obstinately 23, "Othello's good, Othello's better than those feelies."
"Of course it is," the Controller agreed. "But that's the price we have to pay for stability. You've got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art. We've sacrificed the high art. We have the feelies and the scent 24 organ instead."
"But they don't mean anything."
"They mean themselves; they mean a lot of agreeable sensations to the audience."
"But they're ... they're told by an idiot."
The Controller laughed. "You're not being very polite to your friend, Mr. Watson. One of our most distinguished 25 Emotional Engineers ..."
"But he's right," said Helmholtz gloomily. "Because it is idiotic 26. Writing when there's nothing to say ..."
"Precisely 27. But that requires the most enormous ingenuity 28. You're making flivvers out of the absolute minimum of steel-works of art out of practically nothing but pure sensation."
The Savage shook his head. "It all seems to me quite horrible."
"Of course it does. Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented 29 has none of the glamour 30 of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness 32 of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow 33 by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand."
"I suppose not," said the Savage after a silence. "But need it be quite so bad as those twins?" He passed his hand over his eyes as though he were trying to wipe away the remembered image of those long rows of identical midgets at the assembling tables, those queued-up twin-herds at the entrance to the Brentford monorail station, those human maggots swarming 34 round Linda's bed of death, the endlessly repeated face of his assailants. He looked at his bandaged left hand and shuddered 35. "Horrible!"
"But how useful! I see you don't like our Bokanovsky Groups; but, I assure you, they're the foundation on which everything else is built. They're the gyroscope that stabilizes 36 the rocket plane of state on its unswerving course." The deep voice thrillingly vibrated; the gesticulating hand implied all space and the onrush of the irresistible 37 machine. Mustapha Mond's oratory 38 was almost up to synthetic 39 standards.
"I was wondering," said the Savage, "why you had them at all-seeing that you can get whatever you want out of those bottles. Why don't you make everybody an Alpha Double Plus while you're about it?"
Mustapha Mond laughed. "Because we have no wish to have our throats cut," he answered. "We believe in happiness and stability. A society of Alphas couldn't fail to be unstable 40 and miserable 41. Imagine a factory staffed by Alphas-that is to say by separate and unrelated individuals of good heredity and conditioned so as to be capable (within limits) of making a free choice and assuming responsibilities. Imagine it!" he repeated.
The Savage tried to imagine it, not very successfully.
"It's an absurdity 42. An Alpha-decanted, Alpha-conditioned man would go mad if he had to do Epsilon Semi-Moron work-go mad, or start smashing things up. Alphas can be completely socialized-but only on condition that you make them do Alpha work. Only an Epsilon can be expected to make Epsilon sacrifices, for the good reason that for him they aren't sacrifices; they're the line of least resistance. His conditioning has laid down rails along which he's got to run. He can't help himself; he's foredoomed. Even after decanting 43, he's still inside a bot-tle-an invisible bottle of infantile and embryonic 44 fixations. Each one of us, of course," the Controller meditatively 45 continued, "goes through life inside a bottle. But if we happen to be Alphas, our bottles are, relatively 46 speaking, enormous. We should suffer acutely if we were confined in a narrower space. You cannot pour upper-caste champagne-surrogate into lower-caste bottles. It's obvious theoretically. But it has also been proved in actual practice. The result of the Cyprus experiment was convincing."
"What was that?" asked the Savage.
Mustapha Mond smiled. "Well, you can call it an experiment in rebot-tling if you like. It began in A.F. 473. The Controllers had the island of Cyprus cleared of all its existing inhabitants and re-colonized with a specially 47 prepared batch 48 of twenty-two thousand Alphas. All agricultural and industrial equipment was handed over to them and they were left to manage their own affairs. The result exactly fulfilled all the theoretical predictions. The land wasn't properly worked; there were strikes in all the factories; the laws were set at naught 49, orders disobeyed; all the people detailed 50 for a spell of low-grade work were perpetually intriguing 51 for high-grade jobs, and all the people with high-grade jobs were counter-intriguing at all costs to stay where they were. Within six years they were having a first-class civil war. When nineteen out of the twenty-two thousand had been killed, the survivors 52 unanimously petitioned the World Controllers to resume the government of the island. Which they did. And that was the end of the only society of Alphas that the world has ever seen."
The Savage sighed, profoundly.
"The optimum population," said Mustapha Mond, "is modelled on the iceberg-eight-ninths below the water line, one-ninth above."
"And they're happy below the water line?"
"Happier than above it. Happier than your friend here, for example." He pointed 53.
"In spite of that awful work?"
"Awful? They don't find it so. On the contrary, they like it. It's light, it's childishly simple. No strain on the mind or the muscles. Seven and a half hours of mild, unexhausting labour, and then the soma ration 54 and games and unrestricted copulation and the feelies. What more can they ask for? True," he added, "they might ask for shorter hours. And
of course we could give them shorter hours. Technically 55, it would be perfectly 56 simple to reduce all lower-caste working hours to three or four a day. But would they be any the happier for that? No, they wouldn't. The experiment was tried, more than a century and a half ago. The whole of Ireland was put on to the four-hour day. What was the result? Unrest and a large increase in the consumption of soma; that was all. Those three and a half hours of extra leisure were so far from being a source of happiness, that people felt constrained 57 to take a holiday from them. The Inventions Office is stuffed with plans for labour-saving processes. Thousands of them." Mustapha Mond made a lavish 58 gesture. "And why don't we put them into execution? For the sake of the labourers; it would be sheer cruelty to afflict 59 them with excessive leisure. It's the same with agriculture. We could synthesize every morsel 60 of food, if we wanted to. But we don't. We prefer to keep a third of the population on the land. For their own sakes-because it takes longer to get food out of the land than out of a factory. Besides, we have our stability to think of. We don't want to change. Every change is a menace to stability. That's another reason why we're so chary 61 of applying new inventions. Every discovery in pure science is potentially subversive 62; even science must sometimes be treated as a possible enemy. Yes, even science."
Science? The Savage frowned. He knew the word. But what it exactly signified he could not say. Shakespeare and the old men of the pueblo 63 had never mentioned science, and from Linda he had only gathered the vaguest hints: science was something you made helicopters with, some thing that caused you to laugh at the Corn Dances, something that prevented you from being wrinkled and losing your teeth. He made a desperate effort to take the Controller's meaning.
"Yes," Mustapha Mond was saying, "that's another item in the cost of stability. It isn't only art that's incompatible 64 with happiness; it's also science. Science is dangerous; we have to keep it most carefully chained and muzzled 65."
"What?" said Helmholtz, in astonishment 66. "But we're always saying that science is everything. It's a hypnopaedic platitude 67."
"Three times a week between thirteen and seventeen," put in Bernard.
"And all the science propaganda we do at the College ..."
"Yes; but what sort of science?" asked Mustapha Mond sarcastically 68. "You've had no scientific training, so you can't judge. I was a pretty good physicist 69 in my time. Too good-good enough to realize that all our science is just a cookery book, with an orthodox theory of cooking that nobody's allowed to question, and a list of recipes that mustn't be added to except by special permission from the head cook. I'm the head cook now. But I was an inquisitive 7 young scullion once. I started doing a bit of cooking on my own. Unorthodox cooking, illicit 70 cooking. A bit of real science, in fact." He was silent.
"What happened?" asked Helmholtz Watson.
The Controller sighed. "Very nearly what's going to happen to you young men. I was on the point of being sent to an island."
The words galvanized Bernard into violent and unseemly activity. "Send me to an island?" He jumped up, ran across the room, and stood gesticulating in front of the Controller. "You can't send me. I haven't done anything. It was the others. I swear it was the others." He pointed accusingly to Helmholtz and the Savage. "Oh, please don't send me to Iceland. I promise I'll do what I ought to do. Give me another chance. Please give me another chance." The tears began to flow. "I tell you, it's their fault," he sobbed 71. "And not to Iceland. Oh please, your fordship, please ..." And in a paroxysm of abjection 72 he threw himself on his knees before the Controller. Mustapha Mond tried to make him get up; but Bernard persisted in his grovelling 73; the stream of words poured out inexhaustibly. In the end the Controller had to ring for his fourth secretary.
"Bring three men," he ordered, "and take Mr. Marx into a bedroom. Give him a good soma vaporization and then put him to bed and leave him."
The fourth secretary went out and returned with three green-uniformed twin footmen. Still shouting and sobbing 74. Bernard was carried out.
"One would think he was going to have his throat cut," said the Controller, as the door closed. "Whereas, if he had the smallest sense, he'd understand that his punishment is really a reward. He's being sent to an island. That's to say, he's being sent to a place where he'll meet the most interesting set of men and women to be found anywhere in the world. All the people who, for one reason or another, have got too selfconsciously individual to fit into community-life. All the people who aren't satisfied with orthodoxy, who've got independent ideas of their own. Every one, in a word, who's any one. I almost envy you, Mr. Watson."
Helmholtz laughed. "Then why aren't you on an island yourself?"
"Because, finally, I preferred this," the Controller answered. "I was given the choice: to be sent to an island, where I could have got on with my pure science, or to be taken on to the Controllers' Council with the prospect 75 of succeeding in due course to an actual Controllership. I chose this and let the science go." After a little silence, "Sometimes," he added, "I rather regret the science. Happiness is a hard master-particularly other people's happiness. A much harder master, if one isn't conditioned to accept it unquestioningly, than truth." He sighed, fell silent again, then continued in a brisker tone, "Well, duty's duty. One can't consult one's own preference. I'm interested in truth, I like science. But truth's a menace, science is a public danger. As dangerous as it's been beneficent. It has given us the stablest equilibrium 76 in history. China's was hopelessly insecure by comparison; even the primitive 77 matriarchies weren't steadier than we are. Thanks, I repeat, to science. But we can't allow science to undo 78 its own good work. That's why we so carefully limit the scope of its researches-that's why I almost got sent to an island. We don't allow it to deal with any but the most immediate 79 problems of the moment. All other enquiries are most sedulously 80 discouraged. It's curious," he went on after a little pause, "to read what people in the time of Our Ford used to write about scientific progress. They seemed to have imagined that it could be allowed to go on indefinitely, regardless of everything else. Knowledge was the highest good, truth the supreme 81 value; all the rest was secondary and subordinate. True, ideas were beginning to change even then. Our Ford himself did a great deal to shift the emphasis from truth and beauty to comfort and happiness. Mass production demanded the shift. Universal happiness keeps the wheels steadily 82 turning; truth and beauty can't. And, of course, whenever the masses seized political power, then it was happiness rather than truth and beauty that mattered. Still, in spite of everytung, unrestricted scientific research was still permitted. People still went on talking about truth and beauty as though they were the sovereign goods. Right up to the time of the Nine Years' War. That made them change their tune 31 all right. What's the point of truth or beauty or knowledge when the anthrax bombs are popping all around you? That was when science first began to be controlled-after the Nine Years' War. People were ready to have even their appetites controlled then. Anything for a quiet life. We've gone on controlling ever since. It hasn't been very good for truth, of course. But it's been very good for happiness. One can't have something for nothing. Happiness has got to be paid for. You're paying for it, Mr. Watson-paying because you happen to be too much interested in beauty. I was too much interested in truth; I paid too."
"But you didn't go to an island," said the Savage, breaking a long silence.
The Controller smiled. "That's how I paid. By choosing to serve happiness. Other people's-not mine. It's lucky," he added, after a pause, "that there are such a lot of islands in the world. I don't know what we should do without them. Put you all in the lethal 83 chamber 84, I suppose. By the way, Mr. Watson, would you like a tropical climate? The Marquesas, for example; or Samoa? Or something rather more bracing 85?"
Helmholtz rose from his pneumatic chair. "I should like a thoroughly 86 bad climate," he answered. "I believe one would write better if the climate were bad. If there were a lot of wind and storms, for example ..."
The Controller nodded his approbation 87. "I like your spirit, Mr. Watson. I like it very much indeed. As much as I officially disapprove 88 of it." He smiled. "What about the Falkland Islands?"
"Yes, I think that will do," Helmholtz answered. "And now, if you don't mind, I'll go and see how poor Bernard's getting on."
by Aldous Huxley
Chapter Sixteen
THE ROOM into which the three were ushered 1 was the Controller's study.
"His fordship will be down in a moment." The Gamma butler left them to themselves.
Helmholtz laughed aloud.
"It's more like a caffeine-solution party than a trial," he said, and let himself fall into the most luxurious 3 of the pneumatic arm-chairs. "Cheer up, Bernard," he added, catching 4 sight of his friend's green unhappy face. But Bernard would not be cheered; without answering, without even looking at Helmholtz, he went and sat down on the most uncomfortable chair in the room, carefully chosen in the obscure hope of somehow deprecating the wrath 5 of the higher powers.
The Savage 6 meanwhile wandered restlessly round the room, peering with a vague superficial inquisitiveness 8 at the books in the shelves, at the sound-track rolls and reading machine bobbins in their numbered pigeon-holes. On the table under the window lay a massive volume bound in limp black leather-surrogate, and stamped with large golden T's. He picked it up and opened it. MY LIFE AND WORK, BY OUR FORD 2. The book had been published at Detroit by the Society for the Propagation of Fordian Knowledge. Idly he turned the pages, read a sentence here, a paragraph there, and had just come to the conclusion that the book didn't interest him, when the door opened, and the Resident World Controller for Western Europe walked briskly into the room.
Mustapha Mond shook hands with all three of them; but it was to the Savage that he addressed himself. "So you don't much like civilization, Mr. Savage," he said.
The Savage looked at him. He had been prepared to lie, to bluster 9, to remain sullenly 10 unresponsive; but, reassured 11 by the good-humoured intelligence of the Controller's face, he decided 12 to tell the truth, straightforwardly 13. "No." He shook his head.
Bernard started and looked horrified 14. What would the Controller think? To be labelled as the friend of a man who said that he didn't like civilization-said it openly and, of all people, to the Controller-it was terrible. "But, John," he began. A look from Mustapha Mond reduced him to an abject 15 silence.
"Of course," the Savage went on to admit, "there are some very nice things. All that music in the air, for instance ..."
"Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about my ears and sometimes voices."
The Savage's face lit up with a sudden pleasure. "Have you read it too?" he asked. "I thought nobody knew about that book here, in England."
"Almost nobody. I'm one of the very few. It's prohibited, you see. But as I make the laws here, I can also break them. With impunity 16, Mr. Marx," he added, turning to Bernard. "Which I'm afraid you can't do."
Bernard sank into a yet more hopeless misery 17.
"But why is it prohibited?" asked the Savage. In the excitement of meeting a man who had read Shakespeare he had momentarily forgotten everything else.
The Controller shrugged 18 his shoulders. "Because it's old; that's the chief reason. We haven't any use for old things here."
"Even when they're beautiful?"
"Particularly when they're beautiful. Beauty's attractive, and we don't want people to be attracted by old things. We want them to like the new ones."
"But the new ones are so stupid and horrible. Those plays, where there's nothing but helicopters flying about and you feel the people kissing." He made a grimace 19. "Goats and monkeys!" Only in Othello's word could he find an adequate vehicle for his contempt and hatred 20.
"Nice tame animals, anyhow," the Controller murmured parenthetically.
"Why don't you let them see Othello instead?"
"I've told you; it's old. Besides, they couldn't understand it."
Yes, that was true. He remembered how Helmholtz had laughed at Romeo and Juliet. "Well then," he said, after a pause, "something new that's like Othello, and that they could understand."
"That's what we've all been wanting to write," said Helmholtz, breaking a long silence.
"And it's what you never will write," said the Controller. "Because, if it were really like Othello nobody could understand it, however new it might be. And if were new, it couldn't possibly be like Othello."
"Why not?"
"Yes, why not?" Helmholtz repeated. He too was forgetting the unpleasant realities of the situation. Green with anxiety and apprehension 21, only Bernard remembered them; the others ignored him. "Why not?"
"Because our world is not the same as Othello's world. You can't make flivvers without steel-and you can't make tragedies without social instability. The world's stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can't get. They're well off; they're safe; they're never ill; they're not afraid of death; they're blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they're plagued with no mothers or fathers; they've got no wives, or children, or lovers to feel strongly about; they're so conditioned that they practically can't help behaving as they ought to behave. And if anything should go wrong, there's soma. Which you go and chuck out of the window in the name of liberty, Mr. Savage. Liberty!" He laughed. "Expecting Deltas 22 to know what liberty is! And now expecting them to understand Othello! My good boy!"
The Savage was silent for a little. "All the same," he insisted obstinately 23, "Othello's good, Othello's better than those feelies."
"Of course it is," the Controller agreed. "But that's the price we have to pay for stability. You've got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art. We've sacrificed the high art. We have the feelies and the scent 24 organ instead."
"But they don't mean anything."
"They mean themselves; they mean a lot of agreeable sensations to the audience."
"But they're ... they're told by an idiot."
The Controller laughed. "You're not being very polite to your friend, Mr. Watson. One of our most distinguished 25 Emotional Engineers ..."
"But he's right," said Helmholtz gloomily. "Because it is idiotic 26. Writing when there's nothing to say ..."
"Precisely 27. But that requires the most enormous ingenuity 28. You're making flivvers out of the absolute minimum of steel-works of art out of practically nothing but pure sensation."
The Savage shook his head. "It all seems to me quite horrible."
"Of course it does. Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented 29 has none of the glamour 30 of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness 32 of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow 33 by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand."
"I suppose not," said the Savage after a silence. "But need it be quite so bad as those twins?" He passed his hand over his eyes as though he were trying to wipe away the remembered image of those long rows of identical midgets at the assembling tables, those queued-up twin-herds at the entrance to the Brentford monorail station, those human maggots swarming 34 round Linda's bed of death, the endlessly repeated face of his assailants. He looked at his bandaged left hand and shuddered 35. "Horrible!"
"But how useful! I see you don't like our Bokanovsky Groups; but, I assure you, they're the foundation on which everything else is built. They're the gyroscope that stabilizes 36 the rocket plane of state on its unswerving course." The deep voice thrillingly vibrated; the gesticulating hand implied all space and the onrush of the irresistible 37 machine. Mustapha Mond's oratory 38 was almost up to synthetic 39 standards.
"I was wondering," said the Savage, "why you had them at all-seeing that you can get whatever you want out of those bottles. Why don't you make everybody an Alpha Double Plus while you're about it?"
Mustapha Mond laughed. "Because we have no wish to have our throats cut," he answered. "We believe in happiness and stability. A society of Alphas couldn't fail to be unstable 40 and miserable 41. Imagine a factory staffed by Alphas-that is to say by separate and unrelated individuals of good heredity and conditioned so as to be capable (within limits) of making a free choice and assuming responsibilities. Imagine it!" he repeated.
The Savage tried to imagine it, not very successfully.
"It's an absurdity 42. An Alpha-decanted, Alpha-conditioned man would go mad if he had to do Epsilon Semi-Moron work-go mad, or start smashing things up. Alphas can be completely socialized-but only on condition that you make them do Alpha work. Only an Epsilon can be expected to make Epsilon sacrifices, for the good reason that for him they aren't sacrifices; they're the line of least resistance. His conditioning has laid down rails along which he's got to run. He can't help himself; he's foredoomed. Even after decanting 43, he's still inside a bot-tle-an invisible bottle of infantile and embryonic 44 fixations. Each one of us, of course," the Controller meditatively 45 continued, "goes through life inside a bottle. But if we happen to be Alphas, our bottles are, relatively 46 speaking, enormous. We should suffer acutely if we were confined in a narrower space. You cannot pour upper-caste champagne-surrogate into lower-caste bottles. It's obvious theoretically. But it has also been proved in actual practice. The result of the Cyprus experiment was convincing."
"What was that?" asked the Savage.
Mustapha Mond smiled. "Well, you can call it an experiment in rebot-tling if you like. It began in A.F. 473. The Controllers had the island of Cyprus cleared of all its existing inhabitants and re-colonized with a specially 47 prepared batch 48 of twenty-two thousand Alphas. All agricultural and industrial equipment was handed over to them and they were left to manage their own affairs. The result exactly fulfilled all the theoretical predictions. The land wasn't properly worked; there were strikes in all the factories; the laws were set at naught 49, orders disobeyed; all the people detailed 50 for a spell of low-grade work were perpetually intriguing 51 for high-grade jobs, and all the people with high-grade jobs were counter-intriguing at all costs to stay where they were. Within six years they were having a first-class civil war. When nineteen out of the twenty-two thousand had been killed, the survivors 52 unanimously petitioned the World Controllers to resume the government of the island. Which they did. And that was the end of the only society of Alphas that the world has ever seen."
The Savage sighed, profoundly.
"The optimum population," said Mustapha Mond, "is modelled on the iceberg-eight-ninths below the water line, one-ninth above."
"And they're happy below the water line?"
"Happier than above it. Happier than your friend here, for example." He pointed 53.
"In spite of that awful work?"
"Awful? They don't find it so. On the contrary, they like it. It's light, it's childishly simple. No strain on the mind or the muscles. Seven and a half hours of mild, unexhausting labour, and then the soma ration 54 and games and unrestricted copulation and the feelies. What more can they ask for? True," he added, "they might ask for shorter hours. And
of course we could give them shorter hours. Technically 55, it would be perfectly 56 simple to reduce all lower-caste working hours to three or four a day. But would they be any the happier for that? No, they wouldn't. The experiment was tried, more than a century and a half ago. The whole of Ireland was put on to the four-hour day. What was the result? Unrest and a large increase in the consumption of soma; that was all. Those three and a half hours of extra leisure were so far from being a source of happiness, that people felt constrained 57 to take a holiday from them. The Inventions Office is stuffed with plans for labour-saving processes. Thousands of them." Mustapha Mond made a lavish 58 gesture. "And why don't we put them into execution? For the sake of the labourers; it would be sheer cruelty to afflict 59 them with excessive leisure. It's the same with agriculture. We could synthesize every morsel 60 of food, if we wanted to. But we don't. We prefer to keep a third of the population on the land. For their own sakes-because it takes longer to get food out of the land than out of a factory. Besides, we have our stability to think of. We don't want to change. Every change is a menace to stability. That's another reason why we're so chary 61 of applying new inventions. Every discovery in pure science is potentially subversive 62; even science must sometimes be treated as a possible enemy. Yes, even science."
Science? The Savage frowned. He knew the word. But what it exactly signified he could not say. Shakespeare and the old men of the pueblo 63 had never mentioned science, and from Linda he had only gathered the vaguest hints: science was something you made helicopters with, some thing that caused you to laugh at the Corn Dances, something that prevented you from being wrinkled and losing your teeth. He made a desperate effort to take the Controller's meaning.
"Yes," Mustapha Mond was saying, "that's another item in the cost of stability. It isn't only art that's incompatible 64 with happiness; it's also science. Science is dangerous; we have to keep it most carefully chained and muzzled 65."
"What?" said Helmholtz, in astonishment 66. "But we're always saying that science is everything. It's a hypnopaedic platitude 67."
"Three times a week between thirteen and seventeen," put in Bernard.
"And all the science propaganda we do at the College ..."
"Yes; but what sort of science?" asked Mustapha Mond sarcastically 68. "You've had no scientific training, so you can't judge. I was a pretty good physicist 69 in my time. Too good-good enough to realize that all our science is just a cookery book, with an orthodox theory of cooking that nobody's allowed to question, and a list of recipes that mustn't be added to except by special permission from the head cook. I'm the head cook now. But I was an inquisitive 7 young scullion once. I started doing a bit of cooking on my own. Unorthodox cooking, illicit 70 cooking. A bit of real science, in fact." He was silent.
"What happened?" asked Helmholtz Watson.
The Controller sighed. "Very nearly what's going to happen to you young men. I was on the point of being sent to an island."
The words galvanized Bernard into violent and unseemly activity. "Send me to an island?" He jumped up, ran across the room, and stood gesticulating in front of the Controller. "You can't send me. I haven't done anything. It was the others. I swear it was the others." He pointed accusingly to Helmholtz and the Savage. "Oh, please don't send me to Iceland. I promise I'll do what I ought to do. Give me another chance. Please give me another chance." The tears began to flow. "I tell you, it's their fault," he sobbed 71. "And not to Iceland. Oh please, your fordship, please ..." And in a paroxysm of abjection 72 he threw himself on his knees before the Controller. Mustapha Mond tried to make him get up; but Bernard persisted in his grovelling 73; the stream of words poured out inexhaustibly. In the end the Controller had to ring for his fourth secretary.
"Bring three men," he ordered, "and take Mr. Marx into a bedroom. Give him a good soma vaporization and then put him to bed and leave him."
The fourth secretary went out and returned with three green-uniformed twin footmen. Still shouting and sobbing 74. Bernard was carried out.
"One would think he was going to have his throat cut," said the Controller, as the door closed. "Whereas, if he had the smallest sense, he'd understand that his punishment is really a reward. He's being sent to an island. That's to say, he's being sent to a place where he'll meet the most interesting set of men and women to be found anywhere in the world. All the people who, for one reason or another, have got too selfconsciously individual to fit into community-life. All the people who aren't satisfied with orthodoxy, who've got independent ideas of their own. Every one, in a word, who's any one. I almost envy you, Mr. Watson."
Helmholtz laughed. "Then why aren't you on an island yourself?"
"Because, finally, I preferred this," the Controller answered. "I was given the choice: to be sent to an island, where I could have got on with my pure science, or to be taken on to the Controllers' Council with the prospect 75 of succeeding in due course to an actual Controllership. I chose this and let the science go." After a little silence, "Sometimes," he added, "I rather regret the science. Happiness is a hard master-particularly other people's happiness. A much harder master, if one isn't conditioned to accept it unquestioningly, than truth." He sighed, fell silent again, then continued in a brisker tone, "Well, duty's duty. One can't consult one's own preference. I'm interested in truth, I like science. But truth's a menace, science is a public danger. As dangerous as it's been beneficent. It has given us the stablest equilibrium 76 in history. China's was hopelessly insecure by comparison; even the primitive 77 matriarchies weren't steadier than we are. Thanks, I repeat, to science. But we can't allow science to undo 78 its own good work. That's why we so carefully limit the scope of its researches-that's why I almost got sent to an island. We don't allow it to deal with any but the most immediate 79 problems of the moment. All other enquiries are most sedulously 80 discouraged. It's curious," he went on after a little pause, "to read what people in the time of Our Ford used to write about scientific progress. They seemed to have imagined that it could be allowed to go on indefinitely, regardless of everything else. Knowledge was the highest good, truth the supreme 81 value; all the rest was secondary and subordinate. True, ideas were beginning to change even then. Our Ford himself did a great deal to shift the emphasis from truth and beauty to comfort and happiness. Mass production demanded the shift. Universal happiness keeps the wheels steadily 82 turning; truth and beauty can't. And, of course, whenever the masses seized political power, then it was happiness rather than truth and beauty that mattered. Still, in spite of everytung, unrestricted scientific research was still permitted. People still went on talking about truth and beauty as though they were the sovereign goods. Right up to the time of the Nine Years' War. That made them change their tune 31 all right. What's the point of truth or beauty or knowledge when the anthrax bombs are popping all around you? That was when science first began to be controlled-after the Nine Years' War. People were ready to have even their appetites controlled then. Anything for a quiet life. We've gone on controlling ever since. It hasn't been very good for truth, of course. But it's been very good for happiness. One can't have something for nothing. Happiness has got to be paid for. You're paying for it, Mr. Watson-paying because you happen to be too much interested in beauty. I was too much interested in truth; I paid too."
"But you didn't go to an island," said the Savage, breaking a long silence.
The Controller smiled. "That's how I paid. By choosing to serve happiness. Other people's-not mine. It's lucky," he added, after a pause, "that there are such a lot of islands in the world. I don't know what we should do without them. Put you all in the lethal 83 chamber 84, I suppose. By the way, Mr. Watson, would you like a tropical climate? The Marquesas, for example; or Samoa? Or something rather more bracing 85?"
Helmholtz rose from his pneumatic chair. "I should like a thoroughly 86 bad climate," he answered. "I believe one would write better if the climate were bad. If there were a lot of wind and storms, for example ..."
The Controller nodded his approbation 87. "I like your spirit, Mr. Watson. I like it very much indeed. As much as I officially disapprove 88 of it." He smiled. "What about the Falkland Islands?"
"Yes, I think that will do," Helmholtz answered. "And now, if you don't mind, I'll go and see how poor Bernard's getting on."
v.引,领,陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 )
- The secretary ushered me into his office. 秘书把我领进他的办公室。
- A round of parties ushered in the New Year. 一系列的晚会迎来了新年。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.浅滩,水浅可涉处;v.涉水,涉过
- They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上,所以我们只能涉水过河。
- If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪,必须极度小心。
adj.精美而昂贵的;豪华的
- This is a luxurious car complete with air conditioning and telephone.这是一辆附有空调设备和电话的豪华轿车。
- The rich man lives in luxurious surroundings.这位富人生活在奢侈的环境中。
adj.易传染的,有魅力的,迷人的,接住
- There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
- Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。
n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒
- His silence marked his wrath. 他的沉默表明了他的愤怒。
- The wrath of the people is now aroused. 人们被激怒了。
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人
- The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
- He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。
adj.求知欲强的,好奇的,好寻根究底的
- Children are usually inquisitive.小孩通常很好问。
- A pat answer is not going to satisfy an inquisitive audience.陈腔烂调的答案不能满足好奇的听众。
好奇,求知欲
- It especially excited their inquisitiveness. 这尤其引起了他们的好奇心。
- This attitude combines a lack of class consciousness, a somewhat jaunty optimism and an inquisitiveness. 这种态度包括等级观念不强,得意洋洋的乐观劲儿和刨根问底的好奇心。
v.猛刮;怒冲冲的说;n.吓唬,怒号;狂风声
- We could hear the bluster of the wind and rain.我们能听到狂风暴雨的吹打声。
- He was inclined to bluster at first,but he soon dropped.起初他老爱吵闹一阵,可是不久就不做声了。
不高兴地,绷着脸,忧郁地
- 'so what?" Tom said sullenly. “那又怎么样呢?”汤姆绷着脸说。
- Emptiness after the paper, I sIt'sullenly in front of the stove. 报看完,想不出能找点什么事做,只好一人坐在火炉旁生气。
adj.使消除疑虑的;使放心的v.再保证,恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词)
- The captain's confidence during the storm reassured the passengers. 在风暴中船长的信念使旅客们恢复了信心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
- The doctor reassured the old lady. 医生叫那位老妇人放心。 来自《简明英汉词典》
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
- This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
- There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
adv.正直地
- He hated her straightforwardly, making no effort to conceal it. 他十分坦率地恨她,从不设法加以掩饰。 来自辞典例句
- Mardi, which followed hard on its heels, was another matter. Mardi begins straightforwardly. 紧跟着出版的《玛地》,却是另一回事。《玛地》开始时平铺直叙。 来自辞典例句
a.(表现出)恐惧的
- The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
- We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。
adj.极可怜的,卑屈的
- This policy has turned out to be an abject failure.这一政策最后以惨败而告终。
- He had been obliged to offer an abject apology to Mr.Alleyne for his impertinence.他不得不低声下气,为他的无礼举动向艾莱恩先生请罪。
n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除
- You will not escape with impunity.你不可能逃脱惩罚。
- The impunity what compulsory insurance sets does not include escapement.交强险规定的免责范围不包括逃逸。
n.痛苦,苦恼,苦难;悲惨的境遇,贫苦
- Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
- He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式)
- Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀,什么也没说。
- She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩,装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
v.做鬼脸,面部歪扭
- The boy stole a look at his father with grimace.那男孩扮着鬼脸偷看了他父亲一眼。
- Thomas made a grimace after he had tasted the wine.托马斯尝了那葡萄酒后做了个鬼脸。
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨
- He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
- The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。
n.理解,领悟;逮捕,拘捕;忧虑
- There were still areas of doubt and her apprehension grew.有些地方仍然存疑,于是她越来越担心。
- She is a girl of weak apprehension.她是一个理解力很差的女孩。
希腊字母表中第四个字母( delta的名词复数 ); (河口的)三角洲
- Tidal channels, deltas, and washover fans are characteristically associated with offshore bars. 潮汐水道、三角洲和冲刷扇典型地与滨外砂洲伴生在一起。
- I know many of the early civilizations prospered on deltas. 我知道很多古老的文明都是在三角洲上蓬勃发展起来的。
ad.固执地,顽固地
- He obstinately asserted that he had done the right thing. 他硬说他做得对。
- Unemployment figures are remaining obstinately high. 失业数字仍然顽固地居高不下。
n.气味,香味,香水,线索,嗅觉;v.嗅,发觉
- The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
- The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的
- Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
- A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。
adj.白痴的
- It is idiotic to go shopping with no money.去买东西而不带钱是很蠢的。
- The child's idiotic deeds caused his family much trouble.那小孩愚蠢的行为给家庭带来许多麻烦。
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地
- It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
- The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。
n.别出心裁;善于发明创造
- The boy showed ingenuity in making toys.那个小男孩做玩具很有创造力。
- I admire your ingenuity and perseverance.我钦佩你的别出心裁和毅力。
adj.满意的,安心的,知足的
- He won't be contented until he's upset everyone in the office.不把办公室里的每个人弄得心烦意乱他就不会满足。
- The people are making a good living and are contented,each in his station.人民安居乐业。
n.魔力,魅力;vt.迷住
- Foreign travel has lost its glamour for her.到国外旅行对她已失去吸引力了。
- The moonlight cast a glamour over the scene.月光给景色增添了魅力。
n.调子;和谐,协调;v.调音,调节,调整
- He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子,并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
- The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。
- The picturesqueness of the engineer's life was always attractive to Presley. 这司机的丰富多彩的生活,始终叫普瑞斯莱醉心。
- Philip liked the daring picturesqueness of the Americans'costume. 菲利浦喜欢美国人装束的那种粗犷的美。
v.推翻,打倒,颠覆;n.推翻,瓦解,颠覆
- After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后,这个国家处于混乱中。
- The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。
密集( swarm的现在分词 ); 云集; 成群地移动; 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去
- The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。
- The beach is swarming with bathers. 海滩满是海水浴的人。
v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 );发抖;(机器、车辆等)突然震动;颤动
- He slammed on the brakes and the car shuddered to a halt. 他猛踩刹车,车颤抖着停住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- I shuddered at the sight of the dead body. 我一看见那尸体就战栗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.(使)稳定, (使)稳固( stabilize的名词复数 )v.(使)稳定, (使)稳固( stabilize的第三人称单数 )
- The broadbased attachment of the mesenteric root stabilizes the small bowel. 肠系膜根部基底宽阔的附着面使小肠得以稳定。 来自辞典例句
- The available supply of industrial product and produce stabilizes growth. 工业品与农产品的有效供给稳定增长。 来自互联网
adj.非常诱人的,无法拒绝的,无法抗拒的
- The wheel of history rolls forward with an irresistible force.历史车轮滚滚向前,势不可挡。
- She saw an irresistible skirt in the store window.她看见商店的橱窗里有一条叫人着迷的裙子。
n.演讲术;词藻华丽的言辞
- I admire the oratory of some politicians.我佩服某些政治家的辩才。
- He dazzled the crowd with his oratory.他的雄辩口才使听众赞叹不已。
adj.合成的,人工的;综合的;n.人工制品
- We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
- It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。
adj.不稳定的,易变的
- This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实,装不了这么多书。
- The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的
- It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他,这是可耻的。
- Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。
n.荒谬,愚蠢;谬论
- The proposal borders upon the absurdity.这提议近乎荒谬。
- The absurdity of the situation made everyone laugh.情况的荒谬可笑使每个人都笑了。
n.滗析(手续)v.将(酒等)自瓶中倒入另一容器( decant的现在分词 )
- It was exhausting work moving the heavy buckets, decanting the liquids. 搬动沉重的桶,滗出液体,这些都是使人精疲力竭的工作。 来自辞典例句
- To purify, separate, or remove(ore, for example) by washing, decanting, and settling. 淘洗,淘选,淘析用清洗、倾析和沉淀的方法来提纯、分离或清除(例如,矿石) 来自互联网
adj.胚胎的
- It is still in an embryonic stage.它还处于萌芽阶段。
- The plan,as yet,only exists in embryonic form.这个计划迄今为止还只是在酝酿之中。
adv.冥想地
- The old man looked meditatively at the darts board. 老头儿沉思不语,看着那投镖板。 来自英汉文学
- "Well,'said the foreman, scratching his ear meditatively, "we do need a stitcher. “这--"工头沉思地搔了搔耳朵。 "我们确实需要一个缝纫工。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
adv.比较...地,相对地
- The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
- The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。
adv.特定地;特殊地;明确地
- They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
- The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。
n.一批(组,群);一批生产量
- The first batch of cakes was burnt.第一炉蛋糕烤焦了。
- I have a batch of letters to answer.我有一批信要回复。
n.无,零 [=nought]
- He sets at naught every convention of society.他轻视所有的社会习俗。
- I hope that all your efforts won't go for naught.我希望你的努力不会毫无结果。
adj.详细的,详尽的,极注意细节的,完全的
- He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
- A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。
adj.有趣的;迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词);激起…的好奇心
- These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
- It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》
幸存者,残存者,生还者( survivor的名词复数 )
- The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
- survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者
adj.尖的,直截了当的
- He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
- She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
n.定量(pl.)给养,口粮;vt.定量供应
- The country cut the bread ration last year.那个国家去年削减面包配给量。
- We have to ration the water.我们必须限量用水。
adv.专门地,技术上地
- Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说,这是最先进的设备。
- The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说,西红柿是一种水果,尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地
- The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
- Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
adj.束缚的,节制的
- The evidence was so compelling that he felt constrained to accept it. 证据是那样的令人折服,他觉得不得不接受。
- I feel constrained to write and ask for your forgiveness. 我不得不写信请你原谅。
adj.无节制的;浪费的;vt.慷慨地给予,挥霍
- He despised people who were lavish with their praises.他看不起那些阿谀奉承的人。
- The sets and costumes are lavish.布景和服装极尽奢华。
vt.使身体或精神受痛苦,折磨
- I wish you wouldn't afflict me with your constant complains.我希望你不要总是抱怨而使我苦恼。
- There are many illnesses,which afflict old people.有许多疾病困扰着老年人。
n.一口,一点点
- He refused to touch a morsel of the food they had brought.他们拿来的东西他一口也不吃。
- The patient has not had a morsel of food since the morning.从早上起病人一直没有进食。
adj.谨慎的,细心的
- She started a chary descent of the stairs.她开始小心翼翼地下楼梯。
- She is chary of strangers.她见到陌生人会害羞。
adj.颠覆性的,破坏性的;n.破坏份子,危险份子
- She was seen as a potentially subversive within the party.她被看成党内潜在的颠覆分子。
- The police is investigating subversive group in the student organization.警方正调查学生组织中的搞颠覆阴谋的集团。
n.(美国西南部或墨西哥等)印第安人的村庄
- For over 2,000 years,Pueblo peoples occupied a vast region of the south-western United States.在长达2,000多年的时间里,印第安人统治着现在美国西南部的大片土地。
- The cross memorializes the Spanish victims of the 1680 revolt,when the region's Pueblo Indians rose up in violent protest against their mistreatment and burned the cit
adj.不相容的,不协调的,不相配的
- His plan is incompatible with my intent.他的计划与我的意图不相符。
- Speed and safety are not necessarily incompatible.速度和安全未必不相容。
给(狗等)戴口套( muzzle的过去式和过去分词 ); 使缄默,钳制…言论
- The newspapers were effectively muzzled by strict censorship laws. 严厉的新闻审查法有效地使那些报纸沉默了下来。
- Whenever in the street our dog is muzzled. 每当上街时,我们的狗总是戴上嘴套。
n.惊奇,惊异
- They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
- I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。
n.老生常谈,陈词滥调
- The talk is no more than a platitude. 这番话无非是老生常谈。
- His speech is full of platitude. 他的讲话充满了陈词滥调。
adv.挖苦地,讽刺地
- 'What a surprise!' Caroline murmured sarcastically.“太神奇了!”卡罗琳轻声挖苦道。
- Pierce mocked her and bowed sarcastically. 皮尔斯嘲笑她,讽刺地鞠了一躬。
n.物理学家,研究物理学的人
- He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
- The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。
adj.非法的,禁止的,不正当的
- He had an illicit association with Jane.他和简曾有过不正当关系。
- Seizures of illicit drugs have increased by 30% this year.今年违禁药品的扣押增长了30%。
哭泣,啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 ); 哭诉,呜咽地说
- She sobbed out the story of her son's death. 她哭诉着她儿子的死。
- She sobbed out the sad story of her son's death. 她哽咽着诉说她儿子死去的悲惨经过。
n. 卑鄙, 落魄
- We protest this vile abjection of youth to age. 我们反对年轻人如此卑劣地苛待老年人。
- I simply cannot put up with your abjection to his patronizing tone. 我就是受不了你对他那种高高在上的腔调还那么低三下四。
adj.卑下的,奴颜婢膝的v.卑躬屈节,奴颜婢膝( grovel的现在分词 );趴
- Can a policeman possibly enjoy grovelling in the dirty side of human behaivour? 一个警察成天和人类行为的丑恶面打交道,能感到津津有味吗? 来自互联网
<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的
- I heard a child sobbing loudly. 我听见有个孩子在呜呜地哭。
- Her eyes were red with recent sobbing. 她的眼睛因刚哭过而发红。
n.前景,前途;景色,视野
- This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
- The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。
n.平衡,均衡,相称,均势,平静
- Change in the world around us disturbs our inner equilibrium.我们周围世界的变化扰乱了我们内心的平静。
- This is best expressed in the form of an equilibrium constant.这最好用平衡常数的形式来表示。
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物
- It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
- His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。
vt.解开,松开;取消,撤销
- His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
- I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的
- His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
- We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。
ad.孜孜不倦地
- In this view they were sedulously abetted by their mother, aunts and other elderly female relatives. 在这方面,他们得到了他们的母亲,婶婶以及其它年长的女亲戚们孜孜不倦的怂恿。
- The clerk laid the two sheets of paper alongside and sedulously compared their contents. 那职员把两张纸并排放在前面,仔细比较。
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的
- It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
- He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地
- The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
- Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。
adj.致死的;毁灭性的
- A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
- She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所
- For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说,牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
- The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。
adj.令人振奋的
- The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
- The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地
- The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
- The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。
n.称赞;认可
- He tasted the wine of audience approbation.他尝到了像酒般令人陶醉的听众赞许滋味。
- The result has not met universal approbation.该结果尚未获得普遍认同。
v.不赞成,不同意,不批准
- I quite disapprove of his behaviour.我很不赞同他的行为。
- She wants to train for the theatre but her parents disapprove.她想训练自己做戏剧演员,但她的父母不赞成。