Chapter 7

The Vault¹ was furnished with considerably² more than six chairs, as though alarger company had been expected. Hardin noted³ that thoughtfully and seatedhimself wearily  in a  comer just as  far from the other  five as possible.
The Board  members did not seem  to object to that  arrangement. They spokeamong themselves  in whispers, which fell  off into sibilant monosyllables,and  then into  nothing at  all. Of  them all,  only Jord Fara  seemed evenreasonably calm.  He had produced a  watch and was staring  at it somberly.
Hardin glanced at his  own watch and then at the glass cubicle⁴ ?absolutelyempty ? that dominated half the  room. It was the  only unusual feature ofthe  room, for  aside from that  there was  no indication that  somewhere acomputer was splitting off instants of time toward that precise moment whena muon stream would flow, a connection be made and?
The lights went dim!
They didn't  go out,  but merely yellowed  and sank with  a suddenness thatmade Hardin jump. He  had lifted his eyes to the ceiling lights in startledfashion,  and when  he brought them  down the  glass cubicle was  no longerempty.
A figure occupied it ?a figure in a wheel chair!
It said nothing for  a few moments, but it closed the book upon its lap andfingered  it idly.  And  then it  smiled, and  the  face seemed  all alive.
It said, "I am Hari Seldon." The voice was old and soft.
Hardin almost  rose to acknowledge the  introduction and stopped himself inthe act.
The voice  continued conversationally⁵: "As  you see, I am  confined to thischair and  cannot rise to greet you. Your  grandparents left for Terminus afew  months  back in  my  time  and since  then  I have  suffered a  ratherinconvenient paralysis⁶.  I can't  see you, you  know, so I  can't greet youproperly. I don't even  know how many of you there are, so all this must beconducted informally.  If any of you are standing,  please sit down; and ifyou care to smoke, I wouldn't mind." There was a light chuckle⁷. "Why shouldI? I'm not really here."Hardin fumbled⁸ for a  cigar almost automatically, but thought better of it.
Hari Seldon put away  his book ?as if laying it upon  a desk at his side ?
and when his fingers let go, it disappeared.
He said:  "It is  fifty years now  since this Foundation  was established ?
fifty years  in which the members  of the Foundation have  been ignorant ofwhat  it  was they  were  working toward.  It  was necessary  that they  beignorant, but now the necessity is gone.
"The Encyclopedia⁹  Foundation, to  begin with, is  a fraud, and  always hasbeen!"There  was a  sound  of a  scramble¹⁰ behind  Hardin and  one or  two muffledexclamations, but he did not turn around.
Hari Seldon was, of  course, undisturbed. He went on: "It is a fraud in thesense that neither I  nor my colleagues care at all whether a single volumeof the Encyclopedia is  ever published. It has served its purpose, since byit we  extracted an imperial charter  from the Emperor, by  it we attractedthe hundred thousand humans  necessary for our scheme, and by it we managedto keep  them preoccupied¹¹ while events shaped  themselves, until it was toolate for any of them to draw back.
"In the fifty years that you have worked on this fraudulent project ?thereis no  use in  softening¹² phrases ?your  retreat has been cut  off, and youhave now no choice  but to proceed on the infinitely¹³ more important projectthat was, and is, our real plan.
"To that end we have placed you on such a planet and at such a time that infifty  years you  were maneuvered  to the  point where  you no  longer havefreedom of  action. From now on, and into the  centuries, the path you musttake is  inevitable¹⁴. You will be faced with a series  of crises, as you arenow  faced with the  first, and in  each case  your freedom of  action willbecome similarly  circumscribed¹⁵ so that  you will be forced  along one, andonly one, path.
"It is  that path which our  psychology¹⁶ has worked out  ?and for a reason.
"For  centuries Galactic  civilization has  stagnated¹⁷ and  declined, thoughonly a few ever  realized that. But now, at last, the Periphery¹⁸ is breakingaway and  the political unity¹⁹ of the Empire  is shattered. Somewhere in thefifty years  just past is where the historians of  the future will place anarbitrary  line and  say:  'This marks  the Fall  of the  Galactic Empire.'
"And they  will be right, though scarcely any  will recognize that Fall foradditional centuries.
"And after  the Fall  will come inevitable  barbarism, a period  which, ourpsychohistory  tells us,  should,  under ordinary  circumstances, last  forthirty  thousand years. We  cannot stop the  Fall. We  do not wish  to; forImperial culture  has lost whatever virility²⁰ and worth  it once had. But wecan shorten  the period  of Barbarism that  must follow ?down  to a singlethousand of years.
"The ins and outs  of that shortening, we cannot tell you; just as we couldnot tell  you the truth about  the Foundation fifty years  ago. Were you todiscover those ins and outs, our plan might fail; as it would have, had youpenetrated the  fraud of the Encyclopedia  earlier; for then, by knowledge,your  freedom of  action  would be  expanded and  the number  of additionalvariables introduced would become greater than our psychology could handle.
"But you won't, for there are no psychologists on Terminus, and never were,but for Alurin ?and he was one of us.
"But  this I  can tell you:  Terminus and  its companion Foundation  at theother  end of the  Galaxy²¹ are the  seeds of  the Renascence and  the futurefounders of  the Second Galactic Empire. And it  is the present crisis thatis starting Terminus off to that climax²².
"This, by  the way, is  a rather straightforward²³ crisis,  much simpler thanmany of those that are ahead. To reduce it to its fundamentals, it is this:
You are  a planet suddenly cut off from  the still-civilized centers of theGalaxy, and threatened by your stronger neighbors. You are a small world ofscientists surrounded  by vast and rapidly  expanding reaches of barbarism.
You are  an island  of nuclear power  in a growing ocean  of more primitiveenergy;  but are  helpless despite  that, because  of your lack  of metals.
"You see,  then, that you are  faced by hard necessity,  and that action isforced on  you. The nature of  that action ?that  is, the solution to yourdilemma ?is, of course, obvious!"The  image of  Hari Seldon  reached into  open air  and the book  once moreappeared in his hand. He opened it and said:
"But  whatever devious  course  your future  history may  take,  impress italways upon your descendants that the path has been marked out, and that atits end is new and greater Empire!"And  as his eyes  bent²⁴ to his  book, he  flicked²⁵ into nothingness,  and thelights brightened once more.
Hardin looked up to see Pirenne facing him, eyes tragic²⁶ and lips trembling.
The chairman's  voice was firm but toneless. "You  were right, it seems. Ifyou will see  us tonight at six, the Board will consult  with you as to thenext move."They shook his hand, each one, and left, and Hardin smiled to himself. Theywere fundamentally sound at  that; for they were scientists enough to admitthat they were wrong ?but for them, it was too late.
He looked  at his watch. By  this time, it was all  over. Lee's men were incontrol and the Board was giving orders no longer.
The Anacreonians were landing their first spaceships tomorrow, but that wasall  right, too.  In six  months, they  would  be giving orders  no longer.
In fact,  as Hari Seldon had  said, and as Salvor  Hardin had guessed sincethe day  that Anselm haut Rodric had first  revealed to him Anacreon's lackof  nuclear  power  ? the  solution  to  this first  crisis  was  obvious.
Obvious as all hell!

1 vault   

n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室

参考例句：

• The vault of this cathedral is very high.这座天主教堂的拱顶非常高。
• The old patrician was buried in the family vault.这位老贵族埋在家族的墓地里。

2 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

4 cubicle   

n.大房间中隔出的小室

参考例句：

• She studies in a cubicle in the school library.她在学校图书馆的小自习室里学习。
• A technical sergeant hunches in a cubicle.一位技术军士在一间小屋里弯腰坐着。

5 conversationally   

adv.会话地

参考例句：

• I am at an unfavourable position in being conversationally unacquainted with English. 我由于不熟悉英语会话而处于不利地位。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The findings suggest that happy lives are social and conversationally deep, rather than solitary and superficial. 结论显示，快乐的生活具有社会层面的意义并与日常交谈有关，而并不仅仅是个体差异和表面现象。 来自互联网

6 paralysis   

n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症)

参考例句：

• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。
• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。

7 chuckle   

vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑

参考例句：

• He shook his head with a soft chuckle.他轻轻地笑着摇了摇头。
• I couldn't suppress a soft chuckle at the thought of it.想到这个，我忍不住轻轻地笑起来。

8 fumbled   

（笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下

参考例句：

• She fumbled in her pocket for a handkerchief. 她在她口袋里胡乱摸找手帕。
• He fumbled about in his pockets for the ticket. 他（瞎）摸着衣兜找票。

9 encyclopedia   

n.百科全书

参考例句：

• The encyclopedia fell to the floor with a thud.那本百科全书砰的一声掉到地上。
• Geoff is a walking encyclopedia.He knows about everything.杰夫是个活百科全书，他什么都懂。

10 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

11 preoccupied   

adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式)

参考例句：

• He was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice anything wrong. 他只顾想着心事，没注意到有什么不对。
• The question of going to the Mount Tai preoccupied his mind. 去游泰山的问题盘踞在他心头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 softening   

变软，软化

参考例句：

• Her eyes, softening, caressed his face. 她的眼光变得很温柔了。它们不住地爱抚他的脸。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• He might think my brain was softening or something of the kind. 他也许会觉得我婆婆妈妈的，已经成了个软心肠的人了。

13 infinitely   

adv.无限地，无穷地

参考例句：

• There is an infinitely bright future ahead of us.我们有无限光明的前途。
• The universe is infinitely large.宇宙是无限大的。

14 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

15 circumscribed   

adj.[医]局限的：受限制或限于有限空间的v.在…周围划线( circumscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；划定…范围；限制；限定

参考例句：

• The power of the monarchy was circumscribed by the new law. 君主统治的权力受到了新法律的制约。
• His activities have been severely circumscribed since his illness. 自生病以来他的行动一直受到严格的限制。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

17 stagnated   

v.停滞，不流动，不发展( stagnate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The balloting had stagnated, he couldn't win. 投票工作陷于停顿，他不能得胜。 来自辞典例句
• His mind has stagnated since his retirement. 他退休后头脑迟钝了。 来自辞典例句

18 periphery   

n.(圆体的)外面；周围

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe.从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。
• The periphery of the retina is very sensitive to motion.视网膜的外围对运动非常敏感。

19 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

20 virility   

n.雄劲，丈夫气

参考例句：

• He wanted his sons to become strong,virile,and athletic like himself.他希望他的儿子们能长得像他一样强壮、阳刚而又健美。
• He is a tall,virile man with rugged good looks.他是个身材高大、体魄健壮、相貌粗犷英俊的男子。

21 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

22 climax   

n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点

参考例句：

• The fifth scene was the climax of the play.第五场是全剧的高潮。
• His quarrel with his father brought matters to a climax.他与他父亲的争吵使得事态发展到了顶点。

23 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

24 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

25 flicked   

（尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等）

参考例句：

• She flicked the dust off her collar. 她轻轻弹掉了衣领上的灰尘。
• I idly picked up a magazine and flicked through it. 我漫不经心地拿起一本杂志翻看着。

26 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。