"The Zampta," he said, "has called upon me, evidently on your account, and probably with some message from his Suzerain. You need not be afraid," he added. "At worst they would only refuse you protection, and I could secure you from danger under my own roof, and in the last extremity2 effect your retreat and return to your own planet; supposing for a moment," he added, smiling, "that you are a real being and come from a real world."
The Regent of that dominion3, the only Martialist outside my host's family with whom I had yet been able to converse5, awaited us in the hall or entrance chamber6. I bowed low to him, and then remained standing7. My host, also saluting8 his visitor, at once took his seat. The Regent, returning the salute9 and seating himself, proceeded to address us; very little ceremony on either side being observed between this autocratic deputy of an absolute Sovereign and his subjects.
"Esmo dent1 Ecasfen" said the Regent, "will you point out the person you declare yourself to have rescued from assault and received into your house on the 431st day of this year?"
"That is the person, Regent," said my host, pointing to me.
The visitor then asked my name, which I gave, and addressing me thereby10, he continued—
"The Campta has requested me to ascertain11 the truth regarding your alleged12 size, so far exceeding anything hitherto known among us. You will permit me, therefore, to measure your height and girth."
I bowed, and he proceeded to ascertain that I was about a foot taller and some ten inches larger round the waist than himself. Of these facts he took note, and then proceeded—
"The signs you made to those who first encountered you were understood to mean that you descended13 from the sky, in a vessel15 which is now left on the summit of yonder mountain, Asnyca."
"I did not descend14 from the sky," I replied, "for the sky is, as we both know, no actual vault16 or boundary of the atmospheric17 depths. I ascended18 from a world nearer to the Sun, and after travelling for forty days through space, landed upon this planet in the vessel you mention."
"I am directed," he answered, "to see this vessel, to inspect your machinery19 and instruments, and to report thereon to the Suzerain. You will doubtless be ready to accompany me thither20 to-morrow two hours after sunrise. You may be accompanied, if you please, by your host or any members of his family; I shall be attended by one or more of my officers. In the meantime I am to inform you that, until my report has been received and considered, you are under the protection of the law, and need not apprehend21 any molestation22 of the kind you incurred23 at first. You will not, however, repeat to any one but myself the explanation you have offered of your appearance—which, I understand, has been given in fuller detail to Esmo—until the decision of the Campta shall have been communicated to you."
I simply bowed my assent24; and after this brief but sufficient fulfilment of the purpose for which he had called, the Regent took his leave.
"What," I asked, when we re-entered my chamber, "is the meaning of the title by which the Regent addressed you?"
"In speaking to officials," he replied, "of rank so high as his, it is customary to address them simply by their titles, unless more than one of the same rank be present, in which case we call them, as we do inferior officials, by their name with the title appended. For instance, in the Court of the Sovereign our Regent would be called Endo Zampta. Men of a certain age and social position, but having no office, are addressed by their name and that of their residence; and, asfe meaning a town or dwelling25, usage gives me the name of Esmo, in or of the town of Eca.
"I am sorry," he went on, "that neither my son nor myself can accompany you to-morrow. All the elder members of my family are engaged to attend at some distance hence before the hour at which you can return. But I should not like you to be alone with strangers; and, independently of this consideration, I should perhaps have asked of you a somewhat unusual favour. My daughter Eveena, who, like most of our women" (he laid a special emphasis on the pronoun) "has received a better education than is now given in the public academies, has been from the first greatly interested in your narrative26 and in all you have told us of the world from which you come. She is anxious to see your vessel, and I had hoped to take her when I meant to visit it in your company. But after to-morrow I cannot tell when you may be summoned to visit the Campta, or whether after that visit you are likely to return hither. I will ask you, therefore, if you do not object to what I confess is an unusual proceeding27, to take Eveena under your charge to-morrow."
"Is it," I inquired, "permissible28 for a young lady to accompany a stranger on such an excursion?"
"It is very unusual," returned my host; "but you must observe that here family ties are, as a rule, unknown. It cannot be usual for a maiden29 to be attended by father or brother, since she knows neither. It is only by a husband that a girl can, as a rule, be attended abroad. Our usages render such attendance exceedingly close, and, on the other hand, forbid strangers to interrupt or take notice thereof. In Eveena's presence the Regent will find it difficult to draw you into conversation which might be inconvenient30 or dangerous; and especially cannot attempt to gratify, by questioning you, any curiosity as to myself or my family."
"But," I said, "from what you say, it seems that the Regent and any one who might accompany him would draw inferences which might not be agreeable to you or to the young lady."
"I hardly understand you," he replied. "The only conjecture31 they could make, which they will certainly make, is that you are, or are about to be, married to her; and as they will never see her again, and, if they did, could not recognise her—as they will not to-morrow know anything save that she belongs to my household, and certainly will not speak to her—I do not see how their inference can affect her. When I part with her, it will be to some one of my own customs and opinions; and to us this close confinement32 of girls appears to transcend33 reasonable restraint, as it contradicts the theoretical freedom and equality granted by law to the sex, but utterly34 withheld35 by the social usages which have grown out of that law."
"I can only thank you for giving me a companion more agreeable than the official who is to report upon my reality," I said.
"I do not desire," he continued, "to bind36 you to any reserve in replying to questions, beyond what I am sure you will do without a pledge—namely, to avoid betraying more than you can help of that which is not known outside my own household. But on this subject I may be able to speak more fully37 after to-morrow. Now, if you will come into the peristyle, we shall be in time for the evening meal."
Eveena's curiosity had in nowise overcome her silent shyness. She might possibly have completed her tenth year, which epoch38 in the life of Mars is about equivalent to the seventeenth birthday of a damsel nurtured39 in North-Western Europe. I hardly think that I had addressed her directly half-a-dozen times, or had received from her a dozen words in return. I had been attracted, nevertheless, not only by her grace and beauty, but by the peculiar40 sweetness of her voice and the gentleness of her manner and bearing when engaged in pacifying42 dispute or difficulty among the children, and particularly in dealing43 with the half-deformed44 spoilt infant of which I have spoken. This evening that little brat45 was more than usually exasperating46, and having exhausted47 the patience or repelled48 the company of all the rest, found itself alone, and set up a fretful, continuous scream, disagreeable even to me, and torturing to Martial4 ears, which, adapted to hear in that thin air, are painfully alive to strident, harsh, or even loud sounds. Instantly obeying a sign from her mother, Eveena rose in the middle of a conversation to which she had listened with evident interest, and devoted49 herself for half-an-hour to please and pacify41 this uncomfortable child. The character and appearance of this infant, so utterly unlike all its companions, had already excited my curiosity, but I had found no opportunity of asking a question without risking an impertinence. On this occasion, however, I ventured to make some remark on the extreme gentleness and forbearance with which not only Eveena but the children treated their peevish50 and exacting51 brother.
"He is no brother of theirs," said Zulve, the mistress of the house. "You would hardly find in any family like ours a child with so irritable52 a temper or a disposition53 so selfish, and nowhere a creature so hardly treated by Nature in body as well as mind."
"Indeed," I said, hardly understanding her answer.
"No," said my host. "It is the rule to deprive of life, promptly54 and painlessly, children to whom, from physical deformity or defect, life is thought unlikely to be pleasant, and whose descendants might be a burden to the public and a cause of physical deterioration55 to the race. It is, however, one of the exceptional tenets to which I have been obliged to allude56, that man should not seek to be wiser than Nature; and that life should neither be cut short, except as a punishment for great crimes, nor prolonged artificially contrary to the manifest intention, or, as our philosophers would say, the common course of Nature. Those who think with me, therefore, always endeavour, when we hear in time of their approaching fate, to preserve children so doomed57. Precautions against undue58 haste or readiness to destroy lives that might, after all, grow up to health and vigour59 are provided by law. No single physician or physiologist60 can sign a death-warrant; and I, though no longer a physician by craft, am among the arbiters61, one or more of whom must be called in to approve or suspend the decision. On these occasions I have rescued from extinction62 several children of whose unfitness to live, according to the standard of the State Nurseries, there was no question, and placed them in families, mostly childless, that were willing to receive them. Of this one it was our turn to take charge; and certainly his chance is better for being brought up among other children, and under the influence of their gentler dispositions63 and less exacting temperaments64."
"And is such ill-temper and selfishness," I asked, "generally found among the deformed?"
"I don't think," replied Esmo, "that this child is much worse than most of my neighbours' children, except that physical discomfort65 makes him fretful. What you call selfishness in him is only the natural inheritance derived66 from an ancestry67 who for some hundred generations have certainly never cared for anything or any one but themselves. I thought I had explained to you by what train of circumstances and of reasoning family affection, such as it is reputed to have been thousands of years ago, has become extinct in this planet; and, family affection extinguished, all weaker sentiments of regard for others were very quickly withered68 up."
"You told me something of the kind," I said; "but the idea of a life so utterly swallowed up in self that no one even thinks it necessary to affect regard for and interest in others, was to me so unintelligible69 and inconceivable that I did not realise the full meaning of your account. Nor even now do I understand how a society formed of such members can be held together. On Earth we should expect them either to tear one another to pieces, or to relapse into isolation70 and barbarism lower than that of the lowest tribe which preserves social instincts and social organisation71. A society composed of men resembling that child, but with the intelligence, force, and consistent purpose of manhood, would, I should have thought, be little better than a congregation of beasts of prey72."
"We have such beasts," said Esmo, "in the wild lands, and they are certainly unsociable and solitary73. But men, at least civilised men, are governed not only by instinct but by interest, and the interest of each individual in the preservation74 of social co-operation and social order is very evident and very powerful. Experience and school discipline cure children of the habit of indulging mere75 temper and spite before they come to be men, and they are taught by practice as well as by precept76 the absolute necessity of co-operation. Egotism, therefore, has no tendency to dissolve society as a mere organisation, though it has utterly destroyed society as a source of pleasure."
"Does your law," I asked, "confine the principle of euthanasia to infants, or do you put out of the world adults whose life is supposed, for one reason or another, to be useless and joyless?"
"Only," he answered, "in the case of the insane. When the doctors are satisfied that a lunatic cannot be cured, an inquest is held; and if the medical verdict be approved, he is quietly and painlessly dismissed from existence. Logically, of course, the same principle should be applied78 to all incurable79 disease; and I suspect—indeed I know—that it is applied when the household have become weary, and the patient is utterly unable to protect himself or appeal to the law. But the general application of the principle has been successfully resisted, on the ground that the terror it would cause, the constant anxiety and alarm in which men would live if the right of judging when life had become worthless to them were left to others, would far outweigh80 any benefit which might be derived from the legalised extinction of existences which had become a prolonged misery81; and such cases, as I have told you, are very rare among us. A case of hopeless bodily suffering, not terminating very speedily in death, does not occur thrice a year among the whole population of the planet, except through accident. We have means of curing at the outset almost all of those diseases which the observance for hundreds of generations of sound physical conditions of life has not extirpated82; and in the worst instances our an?sthetics seldom fail to extinguish the sense of pain without impairing83 intellect. Of course, any one who is tired of his life is at liberty to put an end to it, and any one else may assist him. But, though the clinging to existence is perhaps the most irrational84 of all those purely85 animal instincts on emancipation86 from which we pride ourselves, it is the strongest and the most lasting87. The life of most of my countrymen would be to me intolerable weariness, if only from the utter want, after wealth is attained88, of all warmer and less isolated89 interest than some one pet scientific pursuit can afford; and yet more from the total absence of affection, family duties, and the various mental occupations which interest in others affords. But though the question whether life is worth living has long ago been settled among us in the negative, suicide, the logical outcome of that conviction, is the rarest of all the methods by which life is terminated."
"Which seems to show that even in Mars logic77 does not always dominate life and prevail over instinct. But what is the most usual cause of death, where neither disease nor senility are other than rare exceptions?"
"Efflux of time," Esmo replied with an ironical90 smile. "That is the chief fatal disease recognised by our physicians."
"And what is its nature?"
"Ah, that neither I nor any other physician can tell you. Life 'goes out,' like a lamp when the materials supplying the electric current are exhausted; and yet here all the waste of which physic can take cognisance is fully repaired, and the circuit is not broken."
"What are the symptoms, then?"
"They are all reducible to one—exhaustion of the will, the prime element of personality. The patient ceases to care. It is too much trouble to work; then too much trouble to read; then too much trouble to exert even those all but mechanical powers of thought which are necessary to any kind of social intercourse—to give an order, to answer a question, to recognise a name or a face: then even the passions die out, till the patient cannot be provoked to rate a stupid amba or a negligent91 wife; finally, there is not energy to dress or undress, to rise up or sit down. Then the patient is allowed to die: if kept alive perforce, he would finally lack the energy to eat or even to breathe. And yet, all this time, the man is alive, the self is there; and I have prolonged life, or rather renewed it, for a time, by some chance stimulus92 that has reached the inner sight through the thickening veil, and shocked the essential man into willing and thinking once more as he thought and willed when he was younger than his grandchildren are now…. It is well that some of us who know best how long the flesh may be kept in life, are, in right of that very knowledge, proof against the wish to keep the life in the flesh for ever."
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
dent
|
|
| n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
extremity
|
|
| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
dominion
|
|
| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
martial
|
|
| adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
converse
|
|
| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
chamber
|
|
| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
saluting
|
|
| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的现在分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
salute
|
|
| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
thereby
|
|
| adv.因此，从而 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
ascertain
|
|
| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
alleged
|
|
| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
descended
|
|
| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
descend
|
|
| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
vessel
|
|
| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
vault
|
|
| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
atmospheric
|
|
| adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
ascended
|
|
| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
machinery
|
|
| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
thither
|
|
| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
apprehend
|
|
| vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
molestation
|
|
| n.骚扰，干扰，调戏；折磨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
incurred
|
|
| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
assent
|
|
| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
dwelling
|
|
| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
narrative
|
|
| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
proceeding
|
|
| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
permissible
|
|
| adj.可允许的，许可的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
maiden
|
|
| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
inconvenient
|
|
| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
conjecture
|
|
| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
confinement
|
|
| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
transcend
|
|
| vt.超出，超越(理性等)的范围 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
withheld
|
|
| withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
bind
|
|
| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
epoch
|
|
| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
nurtured
|
|
| 养育( nurture的过去式和过去分词 )； 培育； 滋长； 助长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
pacify
|
|
| vt.使(某人)平静(或息怒)；抚慰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
pacifying
|
|
| 使（某人）安静( pacify的现在分词 )； 息怒； 抚慰； 在（有战争的地区、国家等）实现和平 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
dealing
|
|
| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
deformed
|
|
| adj.畸形的；变形的；丑的，破相了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
brat
|
|
| n.孩子；顽童 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
exasperating
|
|
| adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
exhausted
|
|
| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
repelled
|
|
| v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
devoted
|
|
| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
peevish
|
|
| adj.易怒的，坏脾气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
exacting
|
|
| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
irritable
|
|
| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
disposition
|
|
| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
deterioration
|
|
| n.退化；恶化；变坏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
allude
|
|
| v.提及，暗指 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
doomed
|
|
| 命定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
undue
|
|
| adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
vigour
|
|
| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
physiologist
|
|
| n.生理学家 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
arbiters
|
|
| 仲裁人，裁决者( arbiter的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
extinction
|
|
| n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
dispositions
|
|
| 安排( disposition的名词复数 )； 倾向； （财产、金钱的）处置； 气质 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
temperaments
|
|
| 性格( temperament的名词复数 )； （人或动物的）气质； 易冲动； （性情）暴躁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
discomfort
|
|
| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
derived
|
|
| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
ancestry
|
|
| n.祖先，家世 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
withered
|
|
| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
unintelligible
|
|
| adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
isolation
|
|
| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
organisation
|
|
| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
prey
|
|
| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
solitary
|
|
| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
preservation
|
|
| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
precept
|
|
| n.戒律；格言 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
logic
|
|
| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
applied
|
|
| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
incurable
|
|
| adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
outweigh
|
|
| vt.比...更重，...更重要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
misery
|
|
| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
extirpated
|
|
| v.消灭，灭绝( extirpate的过去式和过去分词 )；根除 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
impairing
|
|
| v.损害，削弱( impair的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
irrational
|
|
| adj.无理性的，失去理性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
purely
|
|
| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
emancipation
|
|
| n.（从束缚、支配下）解放 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
lasting
|
|
| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
attained
|
|
| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
isolated
|
|
| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
ironical
|
|
| adj.讽刺的，冷嘲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
negligent
|
|
| adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
stimulus
|
|
| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |