“This is a good sow,” said Henry Wimbush. “She had a litter of fourteen.
“Fourteen?” Mary echoed incredulously. She turned astonished blue eyes towards Mr. Wimbush, then let them fall onto the seething2 mass of elan vital that fermented3 in the sty.
An immense sow reposed4 on her side in the middle of the pen. Her round, black belly5, fringed with a double line of dugs, presented itself to the assault of an army of small, brownish-black swine. With a frantic6 greed they tugged7 at their mother’s flank. The old sow stirred sometimes uneasily or uttered a little grunt8 of pain. One small pig, the runt, the weakling of the litter, had been unable to secure a place at the banquet. Squealing9 shrilly10, he ran backwards11 and forwards, trying to push in among his stronger brothers or even to climb over their tight little black backs towards the maternal12 reservoir.
“There ARE fourteen,” said Mary. “You’re quite right. I counted. It’s extraordinary.”
“The sow next door,” Mr. Wimbush went on, “has done very badly. She only had five in her litter. I shall give her another chance. If she does no better next time, I shall fat her up and kill her. There’s the boar,” he pointed13 towards a farther sty. “Fine old beast, isn’t he? But he’s getting past his prime. He’ll have to go too.”
“How cruel!” Anne exclaimed.
“But how practical, how eminently14 realistic!” said Mr. Scogan. “In this farm we have a model of sound paternal15 government. Make them breed, make them work, and when they’re past working or breeding or begetting16, slaughter17 them.”
“Farming seems to be mostly indecency and cruelty,” said Anne.
With the ferrule of his walking-stick Denis began to scratch the boar’s long bristly back. The animal moved a little so as to bring himself within easier range of the instrument that evoked18 in him such delicious sensations; then he stood stock still, softly grunting19 his contentment. The mud of years flaked20 off his sides in a grey powdery scurf.
“What a pleasure it is,” said Denis, “to do somebody a kindness. I believe I enjoy scratching this pig quite as much as he enjoys being scratched. If only one could always be kind with so little expense or trouble...”
A gate slammed; there was a sound of heavy footsteps.
“Morning, Rowley!” said Henry Wimbush.
“Morning, sir,” old Rowley answered. He was the most venerable of the labourers on the farm—a tall, solid man, still unbent, with grey side-whiskers and a steep, dignified21 profile. Grave, weighty in his manner, splendidly respectable, Rowley had the air of a great English statesman of the mid-nineteenth century. He halted on the outskirts22 of the group, and for a moment they all looked at the pigs in a silence that was only broken by the sound of grunting or the squelch23 of a sharp hoof24 in the mire25. Rowley turned at last, slowly and ponderously26 and nobly, as he did everything, and addressed himself to Henry Wimbush.
“Look at them, sir,” he said, with a motion of his hand towards the wallowing swine. “Rightly is they called pigs.”
“Rightly indeed,” Mr. Wimbush agreed.
“I am abashed27 by that man,” said Mr. Scogan, as old Rowley plodded28 off slowly and with dignity. “What wisdom, what judgment29, what a sense of values! ‘Rightly are they called swine.’ Yes. And I wish I could, with as much justice, say, ‘Rightly are we called men.’”
They walked on towards the cowsheds and the stables of the cart-horses. Five white geese, taking the air this fine morning, even as they were doing, met them in the way. They hesitated, cackled; then, converting their lifted necks into rigid30, horizontal snakes, they rushed off in disorder31, hissing32 horribly as they went. Red calves33 paddled in the dung and mud of a spacious34 yard. In another enclosure stood the bull, massive as a locomotive. He was a very calm bull, and his face wore an expression of melancholy35 stupidity. He gazed with reddish-brown eyes at his visitors, chewed thoughtfully at the tangible36 memories of an earlier meal, swallowed and regurgitated, chewed again. His tail lashed37 savagely38 from side to side; it seemed to have nothing to do with his impassive bulk. Between his short horns was a triangle of red curls, short and dense39.
“Splendid animal,” said Henry Wimbush. “Pedigree stock. But he’s getting a little old, like the boar.”
“Fat him up and slaughter him,” Mr. Scogan pronounced, with a delicate old-maidish precision of utterance40.
“Couldn’t you give the animals a little holiday from producing children?” asked Anne. “I’m so sorry for the poor things.”
Mr. Wimbush shook his head. “Personally,” he said, “I rather like seeing fourteen pigs grow where only one grew before. The spectacle of so much crude life is refreshing41.”
“I’m glad to hear you say so,” Gombauld broke in warmly. “Lots of life: that’s what we want. I like pullulation; everything ought to increase and multiply as hard as it can.”
Gombauld grew lyrical. Everybody ought to have children—Anne ought to have them, Mary ought to have them—dozens and dozens. He emphasised his point by thumping42 with his walking-stick on the bull’s leather flanks. Mr. Scogan ought to pass on his intelligence to little Scogans, and Denis to little Denises. The bull turned his head to see what was happening, regarded the drumming stick for several seconds, then turned back again satisfied, it seemed, that nothing was happening. Sterility43 was odious44, unnatural45, a sin against life. Life, life, and still more life. The ribs46 of the placid47 bull resounded48.
Standing with his back against the farmyard pump, a little apart, Denis examined the group. Gombauld, passionate49 and vivacious50, was its centre. The others stood round, listening—Henry Wimbush, calm and polite beneath his grey bowler51; Mary, with parted lips and eyes that shone with the indignation of a convinced birth-controller. Anne looked on through half-shut eyes, smiling; and beside her stood Mr. Scogan, bolt upright in an attitude of metallic52 rigidity53 that contrasted strangely with that fluid grace of hers which even in stillness suggested a soft movement.
Gombauld ceased talking, and Mary, flushed and outraged54, opened her mouth to refute him. But she was too slow. Before she could utter a word Mr. Scogan’s fluty voice had pronounced the opening phrases of a discourse55. There was no hope of getting so much as a word in edgeways; Mary had perforce to resign herself.
“Even your eloquence56, my dear Gombauld,” he was saying—“even your eloquence must prove inadequate57 to reconvert the world to a belief in the delights of mere58 multiplication59. With the gramophone, the cinema, and the automatic pistol, the goddess of Applied60 Science has presented the world with another gift, more precious even than these—the means of dissociating love from propagation. Eros, for those who wish it, is now an entirely61 free god; his deplorable associations with Lucina may be broken at will. In the course of the next few centuries, who knows? the world may see a more complete severance62. I look forward to it optimistically. Where the great Erasmus Darwin and Miss Anna Seward, Swan of Lichfield, experimented—and, for all their scientific ardour, failed—our descendants will experiment and succeed. An impersonal63 generation will take the place of Nature’s hideous64 system. In vast state incubators, rows upon rows of gravid bottles will supply the world with the population it requires. The family system will disappear; society, sapped at its very base, will have to find new foundations; and Eros, beautifully and irresponsibly free, will flit like a gay butterfly from flower to flower through a sunlit world.”
“It sounds lovely,” said Anne.
“The distant future always does.”
Mary’s china blue eyes, more serious and more astonished than ever, were fixed65 on Mr. Scogan. “Bottles?” she said. “Do you really think so? Bottles...”
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1
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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seething
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| 沸腾的，火热的 | |
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fermented
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| v.（使）发酵( ferment的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）激动；骚动；骚扰 | |
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reposed
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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tugged
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| v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
grunt
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| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
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squealing
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| v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的现在分词 ) | |
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10
shrilly
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| 尖声的； 光亮的，耀眼的 | |
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backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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begetting
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| v.为…之生父( beget的现在分词 )；产生，引起 | |
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17
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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evoked
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| [医]诱发的 | |
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grunting
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| 咕哝的，呼噜的 | |
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flaked
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| 精疲力竭的，失去知觉的，睡去的 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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squelch
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| v.压制，镇压；发吧唧声 | |
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hoof
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| n.(马，牛等的)蹄 | |
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mire
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| n.泥沼，泥泞；v.使...陷于泥泞，使...陷入困境 | |
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ponderously
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abashed
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| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
plodded
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| v.沉重缓慢地走（路）( plod的过去式和过去分词 )；努力从事；沉闷地苦干；缓慢进行（尤指艰难枯燥的工作） | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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30
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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32
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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33
calves
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| n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解 | |
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spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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36
tangible
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| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
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37
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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38
savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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39
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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40
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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41
refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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42
thumping
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| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
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43
sterility
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| n.不生育，不结果，贫瘠，消毒，无菌 | |
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44
odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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45
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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46
ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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47
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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48
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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49
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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50
vivacious
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| adj.活泼的，快活的 | |
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51
bowler
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| n.打保龄球的人，（板球的）投（球）手 | |
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52
metallic
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| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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53
rigidity
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| adj.钢性，坚硬 | |
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54
outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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55
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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56
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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57
inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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58
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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59
multiplication
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| n.增加，增多，倍增；增殖，繁殖；乘法 | |
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60
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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61
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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62
severance
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| n.离职金；切断 | |
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63
impersonal
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| adj.无个人感情的，与个人无关的，非人称的 | |
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64
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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65
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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