Yet as Vashti saw the vast flank of the ship, stained with exposure to the outer air, her horror of direct experience returned.

不过，当瓦西蒂看到飞艇的宽大翅膀由于暴露在外界空气中而受到污染的时候，她对直接经验的恐惧又来了。

It was not quite like the air-ship in the cinematophote.

飞艇倒不是十分像在影片里那样，

For one thing it smelt – not strongly or unpleasantly, but it did smell, and with her eyes shut she should have known that a new thing was close to her.

而是有一种气味——不太强烈或难闻，可是确实闻得到。她闭着眼睛，也会知道有一种新东西距离她很近。

Then she had to walk to it from the lift, had to submit to glances form the other passengers.

于是她不得不屈尊走过去，不得不忍受其他旅客们瞥视的目光。

The man in front dropped his Book – no great matter, but it disquieted them all.

前面那个男人掉了他的那本大书——这不是什么大事，可是闹得大家都不安起来。

In the rooms, if the Book was dropped, the floor raised it mechanically, but the gangway to the air-ship was not so prepared, and the sacred volume lay motionless.

在房间里，如果大书掉下来，地板就会自动地把它托起，但是飞艇的走道并没有这样的装备，于是这卷圣书便一动不动地摆在那里。

They stopped – the thing was unforeseen – and the man, instead of picking up his property, felt the muscles of his arm to see how they had failed him.

他们都楞住了——这种事是以前没有见过的。那个人并没有拾起他的宝贵财产，却摸了摸他胳膊上的肌肉，要看一看那肌肉怎么会使他没有把它拿好。

Then some one actually said with direct utterance: "We shall be late" – and they trooped on board, Vashti treading on the pages as she did so.

这时有人直接议论说：“我们要迟了。”——接着他们拥挤在飞艇里。瓦西蒂走过去的时候，踩在那书页上。

Inside, her anxiety increased.

在内心中，她愈来愈焦虑了。

The arrangements were old-fashioned and rough. There was even a female attendant, to whom she would have to announce her wants during the voyage.

一切安排都是旧式的、简陋的，甚至还有一个女服务员，瓦西蒂在旅程中得向她说出自己的需要。

Of course a revolving platform ran the length of the boat, but she was expected to walk from it to her cabin.

当然，有一个转动的阳台转过飞艇的整个长度，可是她得从踏台步行到她的房舱啊。

Some cabins were better than others, and she did not get the best.

有些房舱要比其他房舱好一些，不过她没有分到那最好的。

She thought the attendant had been unfair, and spasms of rage shook her.

她认为那个服务员不公平，阵阵的怒火弄得她混身乱颤。

The glass valves had closed, she could not go back.

玻璃活门已经关闭，她无法走回去了。

She saw, at the end of the vestibule, the lift in which she had ascended going quietly up and down, empty.

她看到在通道的尽头，她乘着它上来的那个电梯正静静地升降着，里面空空的。

Beneath those corridors of shining tiles were rooms, tier below tier, reaching far into the earth, and in each room there sat a human being, eating, or sleeping, or producing ideas.

在那瓦片闪闪发光的走廊下面是些房间，层层排列，远远伸到地下，每间房里坐着一个人，在吃或在睡，或在创造思想意念。

And buried deep in the hive was her own room. Vashti was afraid.

那埋藏在蜂窝深处的是她自己的房间。瓦西蒂害怕起来。

"O Machine!" she murmured, and caressed her Book, and was comforted.

“哦，大机器啊！哦，大机器啊！”她喃喃地说，随即摩挲着她的那本大书，她感到宽慰了。

Then the sides of the vestibule seemed to melt together, as do the passages that we see in dreams, the lift vanished,

这时通道的两侧仿佛就要融汇到一起，就像我们在梦中看到两条通路要融汇到一起一样。升降机消失了。

the Book that had been dropped slid to the left and vanished, polished tiles rushed by like a stream of water,

刚刚掉落的那本大书滑到左边不见了，那些闪闪发光的瓦片像一条河水从旁边湍急冲去。

there was a slight jar, and the air-ship, issuing from its tunnel, soared above the waters of a tropical ocean.

那里有一个不大的开口，接着飞艇从隧道飞了出去，翱翔在热带汪洋水面的上空。