The bell rang, and the Savage, who was impatiently hoping that Helmholtz would come that afternoon,

铃声响了，野蛮人跳了起来，向门边走去——他已经等得不耐烦。赫姆霍尔兹原说那天下午来的,

for having at last made up his mind to talk to Helmholtz about Lenina, he could not bear to postpone his confidences a moment longer,

他终于决心跟他谈谈列宁娜的事了，早已迫不及待要想倾吐心里的话了。

jumped up and ran to the door."I had a premonition it was you, Helmholtz," he shouted as he opened.

“我早预感到是你来了，赫姆霍尔兹。”他一边开门一边叫道。

On the threshold, in a white acetate-satin sailor suit,and with a round white cap rakishly tilted over her left ear, stood Lenina.

站在门口的却是列宁娜，一身白色黏胶绸水手装，左耳边俏皮地斜扣了一顶白色圆帽。

"Oh!" said the Savage, as though some one had struck him a heavy blow.

“啊！”野蛮人叫了出来，仿佛有人狠狠给了他一拳。

Half a gramme had been enough to make Lenina forget her fears and her embarrassments.

半克唆麻已足以让列宁娜忘了害怕和羞涩。

"Hullo, John," she said, smiling, and walked past him into the room.

“晦，约翰。”她微笑着说着擦过他身边，进了房间。

Automatically he closed the door and followed her. Lenina sat down. There was a long silence.

野蛮人机械地关上门，跟在她身后。列宁娜坐了下来。长时间的沉默。

"You don't seem very glad to see me, John," she said at last.

“你见了我好像不太高兴似的，约翰？”她终于说道。

"Not glad?" The Savage looked at her reproachfully;

“不高兴？”野蛮人不以为然地望着她，

then suddenly fell on his knees before her and, taking Lenina's hand, reverently kissed it.

突然在她面前跪了下来，抓住她的手，衷心崇拜地吻着。

"Not glad? Oh, if you only knew," he whispered and, venturing to raise his eyes to her face,

“不高兴？啊，但愿你能明白我的心。”他低声说，鼓足了勇气抬起头望着她的脸。

"Admired Lenina,"he went on, "indeed the top of admiration, worth what's dearest in the world."

“我崇拜的列宁娜，”他说了下去，“你是我最崇拜的人，抵得世上最珍贵的东西。”

She smiled at him with a luscious tenderness. "Oh, you so perfect" (she was leaning towards him with parted lips),

她带着艳丽的温柔对他微笑了。“啊，你是那么十全十美。”他说。（她微微张开嘴唇，向他靠了过去。）

"so perfect and so peerless are created" (nearer and nearer) "of every creature's best." Still nearer.

“你无生就那么没法挑剔、举世无双。”他说。（嘴唇越来越向他靠近了。）“是世间一切生灵的魁首。”嘴唇更靠近了。

The Savage suddenly scrambled to his feet. "That's why," he said speaking with averted face,

野蛮人突然跳了起来。“因此我打算，”他把脸转开了，

I wanted to do something first ... I mean, to show I was worthy of you. Not that I could ever really be that.

要先完成一件事……来证明我配得上你——并不是说我真有资格，

But at any rate to show I wasn't absolutely un-worthy. I wanted to do something.

只是想表明我并非绝对配不上你。我要想先办一件事。