"Well, the Book"s wrong, for I have been out on my feet."

“哦，大书是错误的，因为我已经用双脚走出去过。”

For Kuno was possessed of a certain physical strength.

这是因为基诺具有相当的体力。

By these days it was a demerit to be muscular.

到这个时代，肌肉发达乃是个缺陷。

Each infant was examined at birth, and all who promised undue strength were destroyed.

每个婴儿一出生就要受到检查，所有那些体力可能特殊的都被消灭掉。

Humanitarians may protest, but it would have been no true kindness to let an athlete live;

人道主义者们可以抗议，不过并没有让一个身强力壮的人存活下去的真诚善意；

he would never have been happy in that state of life to which the Machine had called him;

他处在大机器叫他处的那种生活状态里，是永远也不会幸福的。

he would have yearned for trees to climb, rivers to bathe in, meadows and hills against which he might measure his body.

他会渴望有些树木给他爬一爬；有些河流给他在里面洗个澡；有些草场，还有些他可以用来估量一下身体的小山。

Man must be adapted to his surroundings, must he not?

人必须永远适应他的环境，难过不是吗？

In the dawn of the world our weakly must be exposed on Mount Taygetus,

在世界的黎明时代，我们的强者必定暴露在泰格特斯山上；

in its twilight our strong will suffer euthanasia, that the Machine may progress,

在它的黄昏时期，我们的强者会遭到无痛死亡，这样大机器就可以永远前进，

that the Machine may progress, that the Machine may progress eternally.

大机器就可以永远前进，大机器就可以永远前进。

"You know that we have lost the sense of space."

“您知道，我们已经丧失了空间感。”

We say "space is annihilated", but we have annihilated not space, but the sense thereof.

我们现在说：“空间是被歼灭了”，不过我们歼灭的并不是空间，而是对它的感识。

We have lost a part of ourselves. I determined to recover it,

我们已经丧失了我们自己的某种官能。我决心要恢复它，

and I began by walking up and down the platform of the railway outside my room.

于是我开始采用在我房间外边的铁路月台上踱来踱去的办法。

Up and down, until I was tired, and so did recapture the meaning of "Near" and "Far".

我踱来踱去，直到疲倦为止，这样，我就重新获得了“近”和“远”的意义。

"Near" is a place to which I can get quickly on my feet,

“近”就是用我的双脚可以很快走到的地方，

not a place to which the train or the air-ship will take me quickly.

并不是火车或飞艇载着我们很快可达到的地方。

"Far" is a place to which I cannot get quickly on my feet;

“远”就是我不能用我的双脚很快走到的地方；

the vomitory is "far", though I could be there in thirty-eight seconds by summoning the train.

那个出口是“远”的，尽管我叫来火车时在38秒内就可以到达那里。

Man is the measure. That was my first lesson. Man"s feet are the measure for distance,

人就是衡量的尺度。那就是我所上的第一课。人的两脚是衡量距离的尺度，

his hands are the measure for ownership, his body is the measure for all that is lovable and desirable and strong.

两手是衡量所有权的尺度，身体是衡量一切可爱的、称心如意的和强而有力的东西的尺度。

Then I went further: it was then that I called to you for the first time, and you would not come.

随后我更进一步：就是那时我第一次打电话结您，可是您不肯来。

"This city, as you know, is built deep beneath the surface of the earth, with only the vomitories protruding.

“这个城，正像您所知道的那样，是建在地球表面下的深处的，只有些出口突了出来。

Having paced the platform outside my own room, I took the lift to the next platform and paced that also,

经过一阵在房间外面的月台上踱来踱去以后，我乘着升降机到了另一个月台，也在那里踱来踱去，

and so with each in turn, until I came to the topmost, above which begins the earth.

就这样顺序在每个月台上这样做，直到我到了最高的那个月台，在那个月台上方，就是地面了。

All the platforms were exactly alike, and all that I gained by visiting them was to develop my sense of space and my muscles.

所有这些月台都是线毫不差地一式一样，通过走过这些月台，我所获得的一切就是发展了我的空间感和我的肌肉。

I think I should have been content with this – it is not a little thing,

我想我应当对这一点成到满意——这可不是一件小事

– but as I walked and brooded, it occurred to me that our cities had been built in the days when men still breathed the outer air,

——不过在我走着和深思的时候，我偶然想列，我们的这些城市原是在人们还呼吸着外界空气的那些岁月里修建的，

and that there had been ventilation shafts for the workmen.

而且还有供工人用的空气调节筒。

I could think of nothing but these ventilation shafts.

我只能想到这些空气调节筒，却想不出什么别的东西。

Had they been destroyed by all the food-tubes and medicine-tubes and music- tubes that the Machine has evolved lately?

它们是不是由于大机器近来改进的一切食品管筒、医药管筒和音乐管筒而毁掉了呢？

Or did traces of them remain? One thing was certain.

是不是它们的遗迹还保留着？有一件事是肯定的。

If I came upon them anywhere, it would be in the railway-tunnels of the topmost storey.

如果我会在什么地方碰到这些遗迹的话，那就必然是在铁路隧道的最高层。

Everywhere else, all space was accounted for.

在其他各处，整个空间都被占满了。

"I am telling my story quickly, but don"t think that I was not a coward or that your answers never depressed me.

“我现在把我的事情讲得很快，但您不要认为我过去就不是个懦夫，也不要认为您的回答从来没有使我感到意气消沉。

It is not the proper thing, it is not mechanical, it is not decent to walk along a railway-tunnel.

这可不是一件普普通通的事，它是不合大机器的规定的。沿着铁路隧道走是不正派的事。

I did not fear that I might tread upon a live rail and be killed.

我倒不怕我可能踩在一条活轨上就此丧命。

I feared something far more intangible-doing what was not contemplated by the Machine.

我怕的是那远为更捉摸不定的什么事——在做着大机器所不考虑做的事。

Then I said to myself, "Man is the measure", and I went, and after many visits I found an opening.

于是我对自己说：“人是尺度”，于是我照常走去，经过多次探视，我找到了一个出口。