Chapter 8

There was  absolute silence  in Wienis' chambers  when the image  of PrinceLefkin appeared at the televisor. There had been one startled gasp¹ from theregent at  the haggard  face and shredded  uniform of his son,  and then hecollapsed  into a  chair,  face contorted  with surprise  and apprehension².
Hardin  listened stolidly,  hands  clasped lightly  in his  lap,  while thejust-crowned King  Lepold sat  shriveled in the most  shadowy comer, bitingspasmodically  at his goldbraided  sleeve. Even  the soldiers had  lost theemotionless stare that is  the prerogative³ of the military, and, from wherethey lined  up against the door, nuclear  blasts ready, peered furtively⁴ atthe figure upon the televisor.
Lefkin spoke,  reluctantly, with a tired voice  that paused at intervals⁵ asthough he were being prompted-and not gently:
"The  Anacreonian navy  ...  aware of  the nature  of  its mission  ... andrefusing  to be  a party ...  to abominable  sacrilage ... is  returning toAnacreon ...  with the following ultimatum  issued ... to those blasphemingsinners ... who would  dare to use profane⁶ force ... against the Foundation... source  of all blessings⁷ ... and against  the Galactic Spirit. Cease atonce all  war against ...  the true faith .  . . and guarantee  in a mannersuiting us of the navy ... as represented by our ... priest-attendant, TheoAporat  ... that  such war  will never  in the  future ... be  resumed, andthat"? here a  long  pause, and  then continuing  ?and that  the one-timeprince  regent,   Wienis  ...  be  imprisoned   ...  and  tried  before  anecclesiastical court ... for  his crimes. Otherwise the royal navy ... uponreturning to Anacreon ...  will blast the palace to the ground ... and takewhatever other measures ... arenecessary ... to destroy  the nest of sinners ... and the den⁸ of destroyers... of men's souls that now prevail."The   voice  ended   with   half  a   sob  and   the  screen   went  blank.
Hardin's fingers  passed rapidly  over the nucleo-bulb and  its light fadeduntil in the dimness,  the hitherto regent, the king, and the soldiers werehazy-edged shadows;  and for the first  time it could be  seen that an auraencompassed Hardin.
It was  not the  blazing light that  was the prerogative of  kings, but oneless spectacular,  less impressive, and  yet one more effective  in its ownway, and more useful.
Hardin's voice  was softly ironic⁹ as  he addressed the same  Wienis who hadone hour  earlier declared him a prisoner of war  and Terminus on the pointof  destruction, and  who  now was  a  huddled¹⁰ shadow,  broken and  silent.
"There is an old  fable," said Hardin, "as old perhaps as humanity, for theoldest  records containing  it  are merely  copies of  other  records stillolder, that might interest you. It runs as follows:
"A horse having a  wolf as a powerful and dangerous enemy lived in constantfear of his life.  Being driven to desperation, it occured to him to seek astrong  ally.  Whereupon he  approached  a  man, and  offered an  alliance,pointing  out that  the  wolf was  likewise an  enemy of  the man.  The manaccepted the partnership¹¹ at  once and offered to kill the wolf immediately,if his  new partner would only  co-operate by placing his  greater speed atthe man's  disposal. The  horse was willing,  and allowed the  man to placebridle  and saddle  upon him. The  man mounted,  hunted down the  wolf, andkilled him.
"The horse,  joyful¹² and relieved, thanked the man,  and said: 'Now that ourenemy  is dead,  remove  your bridle  and saddle  and restore  my freedom.'
"Whereupon  the man laughed  loudly and  replied, 'Never!' and  applied¹³ thespurs with a will."Silence still. The shadow that was Wienis did not stir.
Hardin continued quietly, "You see the analogy, I hope. In their anxiety tocement  forever domination  over their  own people,  the kings of  the FourKingdoms accepted  the religion of science that  made them divine; and thatsame religion  of science  was their bridle  and saddle, for  it placed thelife blood  of nuclear power in  the hands of the  priesthoodwho took theirorders from  us, be  it noted¹⁴, and not  from you. You killed  the wolf, butcould not get rid of the m?
Wienis  sprang to  his  feet and  in the  shadows,  his eyes  were maddenedhollows. His voice was  thick, incoherent. "And yet I'll get you. You won'tescape.  You'll rot.  Let them  blow us  up. Let  them blow  everything up.
You'll rot! I'll get you!
"Soldiers!" he  thundered, hysterically¹⁵.  "Shoot me down  that devil. Blasthim! Blast him!"Hardin turned about in his chair to face the soldiers and smiled. One aimedhis  nuclear blast  and then  lowered it.  The others never  budged¹⁶. SalvorHardin,  mayor  of  Terminus,  surrounded by  that  soft  aura, smiling  soconfidently,  and before  whom all  the power  of Anacreon had  crumbled¹⁷ topowder was  too much for them,  despite the orders of  the shrieking¹⁸ maniacjust beyond.
Wienis shouted  incoherently and staggered to  the nearest soldier. Wildly,he wrested  the nuclear blast from  the man's hand-aimed it  at Hardin, whodidn't stir, shoved the lever and held it contacted.
The pale  continous beam impinged upon  the force-field that surrounded themayor  of  Terminus and  was  sucked harmlessly  to neutralization¹⁹.  Wienispressed harder and laughed tearingly.
Hardin  still smiled  and his  force-field aura  scarcely brightened  as itabsorbed the  energies of the nuclear blast.  From his comer Lepold coveredhis eyes and moaned.
And, with  a yell of despair,  Wienis changed his aim  and shot again ?andtoppled   to   the   floor   with   his  head   blown   into   nothingness.
Hardin winced  at the sight and muttered, "A man  of 'direct action' to theend. The last refuge!"

1 gasp   

n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说

参考例句：

• She gave a gasp of surprise.她吃惊得大口喘气。
• The enemy are at their last gasp.敌人在做垂死的挣扎。

2 apprehension   

n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑

参考例句：

• There were still areas of doubt and her apprehension grew.有些地方仍然存疑，于是她越来越担心。
• She is a girl of weak apprehension.她是一个理解力很差的女孩。

3 prerogative   

n.特权

参考例句：

• It is within his prerogative to do so.他是有权这样做的。
• Making such decisions is not the sole prerogative of managers.作这类决定并不是管理者的专有特权。

4 furtively   

adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地

参考例句：

• At this some of the others furtively exchanged significant glances. 听他这样说，有几个人心照不宣地彼此对望了一眼。
• Remembering my presence, he furtively dropped it under his chair. 后来想起我在，他便偷偷地把书丢在椅子下。

5 intervals   

n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息

参考例句：

• The forecast said there would be sunny intervals and showers. 预报间晴，有阵雨。
• Meetings take place at fortnightly intervals. 每两周开一次会。

6 profane   

adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污

参考例句：

• He doesn't dare to profane the name of God.他不敢亵渎上帝之名。
• His profane language annoyed us.他亵渎的言语激怒了我们。

7 blessings   

n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福

参考例句：

• Afflictions are sometimes blessings in disguise. 塞翁失马，焉知非福。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We don't rely on blessings from Heaven. 我们不靠老天保佑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 den   

n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室

参考例句：

• There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
• The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。

9 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。

10 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

11 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

12 joyful   

adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的

参考例句：

• She was joyful of her good result of the scientific experiments.她为自己的科学实验取得好成果而高兴。
• They were singing and dancing to celebrate this joyful occasion.他们唱着、跳着庆祝这令人欢乐的时刻。

13 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

14 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。

15 hysterically   

ad. 歇斯底里地

参考例句：

• The children giggled hysterically. 孩子们歇斯底里地傻笑。
• She sobbed hysterically, and her thin body was shaken. 她歇斯底里地抽泣着，她瘦弱的身体哭得直颤抖。

16 budged   

v.（使）稍微移动( budge的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）改变主意，（使）让步

参考例句：

• Old Bosc had never budged an inch--he was totally indifferent. 老包斯克一直连动也没有动，他全然无所谓。 来自辞典例句
• Nobody budged you an inch. 别人一丁点儿都算计不了你。 来自辞典例句

17 crumbled   

（把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏

参考例句：

• He crumbled the bread in his fingers. 他用手指把面包捻碎。
• Our hopes crumbled when the business went bankrupt. 商行破产了，我们的希望也破灭了。

18 shrieking   

v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The boxers were goaded on by the shrieking crowd. 拳击运动员听见观众的喊叫就来劲儿了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They were all shrieking with laughter. 他们都发出了尖锐的笑声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 neutralization   

n.中立化，中立状态，中和

参考例句：

• Neutralization is the interaction of a base and an acid. 中和作用是碱和酸的相互作用。 来自辞典例句
• The neutralization equivalent of the polymer is 750(theoretical-681). 聚和物的中和当量为750（理论上为681）。 来自辞典例句