"The tunnels, of course, were lighted.

“当然，那些隧道是照得通明的。

Everything is light, artificial light; darkness is the exception.

样样东西是亮堂堂的，人工制造的亮堂堂；黑暗是例外。

So when I saw a black gap in the tiles, I knew that it was an exception, and rejoiced.

所以，每当我看到那些瓦片中间的一条黑隙的时候，我便知道那是一个例外，于是我大为高兴起来。

I put in my arm – I could put in no more at first – and waved it round and round in ecstasy.

我把胳膊放进去——最初我一点儿也放不进去——后来在狂喜中我不停地摆动我的胳膊，

I loosened another tile, and put in my head, and shouted into the darkness:

我摇松了另一片瓦，我把头钻进去，向黑暗里喊着

"I am coming, I shall do it yet," and my voice reverberated down endless passages.

“我要来了，我现在就要来。”我的喊声回荡在没有尽头的通道里，

I seemed to hear the spirits of those dead workmen who had returned each evening to the starlightand to their wives,

我似乎听到那些已经死去的工人的幽灵，他们每天晚上回到星光下，回到他们的妻子身边，

and all the generations who had lived in the open air called back to me,

世世代代一切曾经住在露天里的那些人，都在回答我的呼声，喊着：

"You will do it yet, you are coming,""

“你现在就来，你就来吧。”

He paused, and, absurd as he was, his last words moved her.

他停顿了一下，虽然他是荒唐可笑的，他最后的话却使她深深有所触动。

For Kuno had lately asked to be a father, and his request had been refused by the Committee.

因为基诺最近曾经要求过要做父亲，他的要求被大机器拒绝了。

His was not a type that the Machine desired to hand on.

他不是属于大机器希望传代的那一型人。

"Then a train passed. It brushed by me, but I thrust my head and arms into the hole.

“后来一列火车过去了，它在我身边扫了一下，不过我把头和两只胳膊都一起钻到那个窟窿里面去了。

I had done enough for one day, so I crawled back to the platform,

我已经足干了一天，于是我爬回月台，

went down in the lift, and summoned my bed.

乘电梯下来，叫来了我的床。

Ah what dreams! And again I called you, and again you refused."

啊，多么甜美的梦啊！我又打电话给您，您又一次拒绝了。”

She shook her head and said: "Don't. Don't talk of these terrible things.

她摇摇头，随后说道：“不要说了。不要说这些怪可怕的事吧。

You make me miserable. You are throwing civilization away."

你搞得我好难过。你简直把文明都抛到远远的地方去了。”

"But I had got back the sense of space and a man cannot rest then.

“可是我已经得回了空间感，而且一个人不能总停着不动啊。

I determined to get in at the hole and climb the shaft. And so I exercised my arms.

我决定钻进那个窟窿去爬一爬那上下行的通道。我就这样锻炼了我的两只胳膊。

Day after day I went through ridiculous movements, until my flesh ached,

一天又一天地去做这些滑稽可笑的运动，直到我肌肉疼痛为止，

and I could hang by my hands and hold the pillow of my bed outstretched for many minutes.

但后来我能用两手悬吊着，能抱着床上的枕头伸展下肢达到许多分钟。

Then I summoned a respirator, and started.

然后我要了一个呼吸保护器，就起程了。

"It was easy at first. The mortar had somehow rotted, and I soon pushed some more tiles in,

“最初是容易的。那灰泥多少有点糟朽了，我没有一会儿就把更多的瓦片推了进去，

and clambered after them into the darkness, and the spirits of the dead comforted me.

经过这些地方爬进黑暗里，死者的幽灵安慰着我。

I don"t know what I mean by that. I just say what I felt.

我不知道我这样说是什么意思。我只是说我所见觉到的罢了。

I felt, for the first time, that a protest had been lodged against corruption,

我第一次感到对于腐化已经存在着一种抗议，

and that even as the dead were comforting me, so I was comforting the unborn.

再有，就连那些死者也在慰籍着那些还没有出生的人。

I felt that humanity existed, and that it existed without clothes.

当时我成到人类过去存在着，他们不穿衣服存在着。

How can I possibly explain this?

我怎么能够解释这一点呢？

It was naked, humanity seemed naked, and all these tubes and buttons and machineries neither came into the world with us,

人类是赤身裸体的，似乎是赤条条的，而且所有这些管子、电组和机器，它们既不是同我们一起来到这个世界，

nor will they follow us out, nor do they matter supremely while we are here.

也不会随着我们一起走出去，当我们在这个世界上的时候，它们也不是至高无上的。

Had I been strong, I would have torn off every garment I had, and gone out into the outer air unswaddled.

要是我强而有力的话，我会把我所有的衣服件件撕个粉碎，无拘无束地走到外界去。

But this is not for me, nor perhaps for my generation.

可是这对我说来是不行的，说不定对我这一代人说来，也是不行的。

I climbed with my respirator and my hygienic clothes and my dietetic tabloids!

我戴着我的呼吸保护器，穿着我的健身服，带着我的食品丸往上爬！

Better thus than not at all.

这样总比什么都没有要好些。

"There was a ladder, made of some primeval metal.

“那里有一个梯子，是用古代的什么金属制造的。

The light from the railway fell upon its lowest rungs,

从铁路来的光照到梯子最低的几层梯阶上，

and I saw that it led straight upwards out of the rubble at the bottom of the shaft.

于是我看到了它是从上下通道的底部那些破砖碎瓦中径直通到上方的。

Perhaps our ancestors ran up and down it a dozen times daily, in their building.

说不定我们的祖先在他们修建的时候，每天上上下下要跑上十几趟哩。

As I climbed, the rough edges cut through my gloves so that my hands bled.

在我爬着的时候，那些粗糙的边边楞楞划破了我的手套，这样我双手流着血，

The light helped me for a little, and then came darkness and, worse still, silence which pierced my ears like a sword.

那亮光帮了我一点忙，接着黑暗来临了，而更糟的是，寂静像一把利剑似的刺着我的耳朵。