"My dear Clifford, think of the way we talk each other over, all of us. I'm rather worse than anybody else, myself. Because I infinitely prefer the spontaneous spite to the concocted sugaries; now they ARE poison; when I begin saying what a fine fellow Clifford is, etc., etc., then poor Clifford is to be pitied. For God's sake, all of you, say spiteful things about me, then I shall know I mean something to you. Don't say sugaries, or I'm done.” "Oh, but I do think we honestly like one another," said Hammond.
“亲爱的克利福德，想想我们互相议论的样子吧，我们所有人。我本人就是其中最为恶劣的一个。因为我宁愿被咬牙切齿地痛恨，也不愿接受惺惺作态的奉承，因为那些跟毒药无异。若我开始对克利福德大肆吹捧，说你如何出色，如何优秀，那么克利福德这家伙就实在可怜。看在上帝的份上，拜托各位，请尽量说我的坏话吧，最起码这样还说明你们把我放在眼里。收起那些甜言蜜语，不然我就完了。”“哦，可是我真的认为咱们之间是真诚地互相喜欢的。”哈蒙德说。
"I tell you we must...we say such spiteful things to one another, about one another, behind our backs! I'm the worst.” "And I do think you confuse the mental life with the critical activity. I agree with you, Socrates gave the critical activity a grand start, but he did more than that," said Charlie May, rather magisterially. The cronies had such a curious pomposity under their assumed modesty. It was all so EX CATHEDRA , and it all pretended to be so humble.
“我可以肯定地告诉你……我们背地里都没少说彼此的坏话！而我更是其中最坏的一个。”“我想你准是把精神生活和现实的批评混为一谈了。你说的没错，苏格拉底确实开创了批评之风，但他的功绩绝非仅此一桩。”查理·梅一本正经地说。这帮好友们个个自命不凡，表面上却装出温恭自谦的样子。虽然自认为是绝对权威，但仍勉为其难，假作谦谦君子。
Dukes refused to be drawn about Socrates.
杜克斯就此打住，再也不提苏格拉底半字。
"That's quite true, criticism and knowledge are not the same thing," said Hammond.
“说得没错，批评和知识根本不是一码事。”哈蒙德说。
"They aren't, of course," chimed in Berry, a brown, shy young man, who had called to see Dukes, and was staying the night.
“当然是两回事。”贝里附和道。这位有着褐色头发的腼腆青年专程来找杜克斯，夜间便留宿拉格比。
They all looked at him as if the ass had spoken.
所有人都将目光转移到他身上，好像听见驴子开口说话了。
"I wasn't talking about knowledge… I was talking about the mental life," laughed Dukes. "Real knowledge comes out of the whole corpus of the consciousness; out of your belly and your penis as much as out of your brain and mind. The mind can only analyse and rationalize. Set the mind and the reason to cock it over the rest, and all they can do is to criticize, and make a deadness. I say ALL they can do. It is vastly important. My God, the world needs criticizing today...criticizing to death. Therefore let's live the mental life, and glory in our spite, and strip the rotten old show. But, mind you, it's like this: while you live your life, you are in some way an Organic whole with all life. But once you start the mental life you pluck the apple. You've severed the connexion between, the apple and the tree: the organic connexion. And if you've got nothing in your life but the mental life, then you yourself are a plucked apple...you've fallen off the tree. And then it is a logical necessity to be spiteful, just as it's a natural necessity for a plucked apple to go bad.” Clifford made big eyes: it was all stuff to him. Connie secretly laughed to herself.
“我说的不是知识……而是精神生活。”杜克斯笑道。“真正的知识来源自意识的整个躯体，不但来自头脑和心灵，而且来自腹部甚至生殖器。借助思维，我们仅能分析和推理。如果让思维和理性占据上风，那么所能做的就只剩下批评，扼杀一切。除此之外，没有其他事可做。批评的作用举足轻重。天呐，当今世界简直太需要批评了……一针见血的批评。那么，就让我们活在自己的精神世界中吧，以被仇视为荣，戳穿那陈腐的老把戏。但是，需要提醒各位的是：当你置身于现实生活，只不过是和其他生命共同组成一个有机的整体。然而一旦开启精神生活，就好比将苹果从树上摘下来。切断了苹果与树之间的联系，那种有机的联系。如果除了精神生活，你一无所有，那么你就成了一颗被摘下来的苹果……已然从树上坠落。这样一来，仇视一切就成为合乎情理的需要，就像被摘下来的苹果必然会慢慢腐烂一样。”克利福德瞪大了眼睛：这席话对于他来说简直毫无意义。康妮不禁暗自发笑。
"Well then we're all plucked apples," said Hammond, rather acidly and petulantly.
“那么，大家都变成摘下来的苹果了。”哈蒙德的语气中包含着嘲讽和愠怒。
"So let's make cider of ourselves," said Charlie.
“倒是可以用自己来酿苹果酒。”查理说。
"But what do you think of Bolshevism?" put in the brown Berry, as if everything had led up to it.
“可你们对布尔什维主义有什么高见呢？”棕发的贝里再度插话道，好像之前所说的一切都是为此做的铺垫。
"Bravo!" roared Charlie. "What do you think of?" "Come on! Let's make hay of Bolshevism!
“妙啊！”查理叫道，“你们对布尔什维主义有什么看法？”“来吧！让布尔什维主义见鬼去吧！”杜克斯说。
"I'm afraid Bolshevism is a large question," said Hammond, shaking his head seriously.
“恐怕这个问题有些复杂。”哈蒙德神情严肃地摇摇头。
"Bolshevism, it seems to me," said Charlie, "is just a superlative hatred of the thing they call the bourgeois; and what the bourgeois is, isn't quite defined. It is Capitalism, among other things. Feelings and emotions are also so decidedly bourgeois that you have to invent a man without them.
“对我而言，”查理说，“布尔什维克对他们所谓的资产阶级恨之入骨，至于资产阶级到底作何解释，并没有确切的定义。首先，它必须是资本主义的。既然感情和理智都被界定为资产阶级的范畴，因此布尔什维克就肯定是不具备这二者的群体。
"Then the individual, especially the personal man, is bourgeois: so he must be suppressed. You must submerge yourselves in the greater thing, the Soviet-social thing. Even an organism is bourgeois: so the ideal must be mechanical. The only thing that is a unit, non-organic, composed of many different, yet equally essential parts, is the machine. Each man a machine-part, and the driving power of the machine, hate...hate of the bourgeois. That, to me, is Bolshevism.” "Absolutely!" said Tommy. "But also, it seems to me a perfect description of the whole of the industrial ideal. It's the factory-owner's ideal in a nut-shell; except that he would deny that the driving power was hate. Hate it is, all the same; hate of life itself. Just look at these Midlands, if it isn't plainly written up...but it's all part of the life of the mind, it's a logical development.” "I deny that Bolshevism is logical, it rejects the major part of the premisses," said Hammond.
那么，单独的个体，尤其是具有自我意识的个体，自然属于资产阶级，因此必然受到镇压。要做的是忘记小我，投身到更伟大的事物——苏维埃社会中去。甚至连有机体都是资产阶级的，因此最理想的状态必须是机械的。唯一合理的就是无机的单位，由许多不同的、但却同等重要的部件所组成，这便是机器。每个人都是这台机器的零件，而其驱动力则是仇恨……对资产阶级的满腔仇恨。在我看来，这就是所谓布尔什维主义。”“说得太对了！”汤米赞叹道。“不过，对我而言，这同样是对整个工业化理想的绝好诠释。简单来说，这就是工厂主的理想，当然他们会否认驱动力源自仇恨。但仇恨却依然存在，那是生命本身的仇恨。不妨审视一下英国中部的这些地区，仇恨不是昭然在目吗……不过，它同样属于精神生活的领域，是合乎情理的产物。”“我不接受布尔什维主义合乎逻辑的论调，它否定了绝大部分的前提。”哈蒙德反驳道。
"My dear man, it allows the material premiss; so does the pure mind...exclusively." "At least Bolshevism has got down to rock bottom," said Charlie.
“亲爱的朋友，它并不反对物质的前提，纯粹的精神同样如此……甚至只接受物质的前提。”“至少布尔什维主义已经是强弩之末了。”查理说。
"Rock bottom! The bottom that has no bottom! The Bolshevists will have the finest army in the world in a very short time, with the finest mechanical equipment.
“强弩之末！没有底限的末端！布尔什维克们很快就将拥有世界最顶尖的军队，并配备最精良的武器。”
"But this thing can't go on...this hate business. There must be a reaction..." said Hammond.
“但这种仇恨的状态无法长久维持下去。暴动注定难以避免……”哈蒙德说。
"Well, we've been waiting for years...we wait longer. Hate's a growing thing like anything else. It's the inevitable outcome of forcing ideas on to life, of forcing one's deepest instincts; our deepest feelings we force according to certain ideas. We drive ourselves with a formula, like a machine. The logical mind pretends to rule the roost, and the roost turns into pure hate. We're all Bolshevists, only we are hypocrites. The Russians are Bolshevists without hypocrisy.” "But there are many other ways," said Hammond, "than the Soviet way. The Bolshevists aren't really intelligent.” "Of course not. But sometimes it's intelligent to be half-witted: if you want to make your end. Personally, I consider Bolshevism half-witted; but so do I consider our social life in the west half-witted. So I even consider our far-famed mental life half-witted. We're all as cold as cretins, we're all as passionless as idiots. We're all of us Bolshevists, only we give it another name. We think we're gods...men like gods! It's just the same as Bolshevism. One has to be human, and have a heart and a penis if one is going to escape being either a god or a Bolshevist...for they are the same thing: they're both too good to be true.” Out of the disapproving silence came Berry's anxious question: "You do believe in love then, Tommy, don't you?” "You lovely lad!" said Tommy. "No, my cherub, nine times out of ten, no! Love's another of those half-witted performances today. Fellows with swaying waists fucking little jazz girls with small boy buttocks, like two collar studs! Do you mean that sort of love? Or the joint-property, make—a—success—of—it, My—husband—my—wife sort of love? No, my fine fellow, I don't believe in it at all!” "But you do believe in something?" "Me? Oh, intellectually I believe in having a good heart, a chirpy penis, a lively intelligence, and the courage to say 'shit!' in front of a lady.”
“没错，多年来，我们一直等待着这一天的到来……我们还要继续等下去。仇恨跟其他事物无异，总会不断地滋长。这是将思想观念、将最强烈的冲动强加于生活所产生的必然结果，我们强迫自己最深切的情感去迎合某种思想意识。用既定的模式来推动自己，就像运转一台机器。精于逻辑思维的人们以为可以主宰一切，但一切只转化成为彻底的仇恨。我们都是布尔什维克，只不过不愿露出本来面目而已。俄国佬才是露出本来面目的布尔什维克。”“可我们还有很多其他的道路可走，”哈蒙德说，“不见得非要选择苏维埃制度。布尔什维克们可是群愚钝的家伙。”“他们的确并不明智。不过，若想达到最终目的，假作愚钝往往是最明智的选择。就个人而言，我认为布尔什维主义确实愚蠢至极，但我们西方世界的社会生活何尝不是如此呢？我甚至觉得我们一贯标榜的精神生活同样荒唐透顶。我们都像痴呆那般冷淡漠然，像傻瓜一样缺少激情。我们都是布尔什维克，唯一的差异是叫法不同。我们拿自己当神看待……近似神的人类！这样的想法与布尔什维主义如出一辙。如果既不想当神，也不愿做布尔什维克，那么你就必须成为如假包换的人，拥有心脏与阳具……因为前两者确实难分伯仲，都太过完美，显得不够真实。”其他人虽然心存异议，但都默不作声，只有贝里急不可耐地提出疑问：“你真的相信爱情么，汤米？”“可爱的小家伙！”汤米说。“不，我的小天使，十次里有九次我会给出否定的答案。如今，爱情是另一出愚蠢的闹剧。细腰摇摆如杨柳的浪荡子，跟屁股扁平如领扣的爵士女郎肆意交欢。你说的就是这种爱情么？或者是那种财产共有、共图成功的夫妻之情呢？不，我的好朋友，我压根就不相信什么爱情！”“可你总得相信点什么吧？”“我？噢，理智的说，我相信拥有强健的心脏，生气勃勃的阴茎，无穷的智慧，以及敢在贵妇面前骂娘的勇气。”
"Well, you've got them all," said Berry.
“原来如此，这些优点你完全具备。”贝里说。
Tommy Dukes roared with laughter. "You angel boy! If only I had! If only I had! No; my heart's as numb as a potato, my penis droops and never lifts its head up, I dare rather cut him clean off than say "shit!" in front of my mother or my aunt...they are real ladies, mind you; and I'm not really intelligent, I'm only a "mental-lifer”.
汤米·杜克斯哈哈大笑。“你这个可爱的孩子！要是真有就好了！要是真有就好了！你错了，我的心脏麻木得像颗土豆，我的阴茎总是耷拉着脑袋，我宁可把自己阉了，也不敢在我的母亲和姑妈面前骂娘……她们可是地道的贵妇，请注意；我也根本算不上睿智，充其量是个沉迷于精神世界的可怜鬼而已。”
It would be wonderful to be intelligent: then one would be alive in all the parts mentioned and unmentionable. The penis rouses his head and says: How do you do?—to any really intelligent person. Renoir said he painted his pictures with his penis...he did too, lovely pictures! I wish I did something with mine. God! When one can only talk! Another torture added to Hades! And Socrates started it.” "There are nice women in the world," said Connie, lifting her head up and speaking at last.
拥有智慧是多么美妙的事情，它会让身体所有的部位都活跃起来，无论是刚刚提到过的，还是不便提及的。阳具会高昂起头颅，跟所有冰雪聪明的女子问好。雷诺阿说他用阳具作画……他的确这么做的，创造出的作品也的确让人爱不释手！我也希望自己的阳具也能派上点什么用场。神啊！只能逞逞嘴上能耐！冥府里又添一种酷刑！而这一切的罪魁祸首就是苏格拉底。”“世上也不乏蕙质兰心的女子。”康妮终于打破沉默，抬起头来说。
The men resented it...she should have pretended to hear nothing. They hated her admitting she had attended so closely to such talk.
男人们颇感不悦……她分明应该装作什么都没听到才对。他们不愿接受女流之辈如此关切地参与到这种谈话中来。
"My God! IF THEY BE NOT NICE TO ME WHAT CARE I HOW NICE THEY BE?" "No, it's hopeless! I just simply can't vibrate in unison with a woman. There's no woman I can really want when I'm faced with her, and I'm not going to start forcing myself to it… My God, no! I'll remain as I am, and lead the mental life. It's the only honest thing I can do. I can be quite happy talking to women; but it's all pure, hopelessly pure. Hopelessly pure! What do you say, Hildebrand, my chicken?” "It's much less complicated if one stays pure," said Berry.
“我的上帝！若她们对我虚情假意，我又何必在乎她们是否温婉贤淑？”“不，毫无希望可言！我根本无法跟女子心意相通。任何女子都无法让我有半点心动，而心为形役又非我所愿……上帝啊，不要如此折磨我！我将依然如故，享受自己的精神生活。这是我唯一能做的诚心事。能和女人们交谈，我就深感满足，但那却是最最纯洁的行为，心中没有半点邪念。没有丝毫非份之想。你说呢，希尔德布兰德，我亲爱的小伙子？”“如果人人都能洁身自好，生活就不会如此杂乱无章。”贝里说。
"Yes, life is all too simple!"
“没错，生活实在太过简单！”