Chapter 4

Eto Demerzel emerged and glanced at the Emperor with a hint of proper deference¹. He said, "Sire, you have almost lost your temper."
Cleon looked up and, with an obvious effort, managed to smile. "Well, so I did. The man was very disappointing."
"And yet he promised no more than he offered."
"He offered nothing."
"And promised nothing, Sire."
"It was disappointing."
Demerzel said, "More than disappointing, perhaps. The man is a loose cannon², Sire."
"A loose what, Demerzel? You are always so full of strange expressions. What is a cannon?"
Demerzel said gravely, "It is simply an expression I heard in my youth, Sire. The Empire is full of strange expressions and some are unknown on Trantor, as those of Trantor are sometimes unknown elsewhere."
"Do you come to teach me the Empire is large? What do you mean by saying that the man is a loose cannon?"
"Only that he can do much harm without necessarily intending it. He does not know his own strength. Or importance."
"You deduce that, do you, Demerzel?"
"Yes, Sire. He is a provincial³. He does not know Trantor or its ways. He has never been on our planet before and he cannot behave like a man of breeding, like a courtier. Yet he stood up to--"
"And why not? I gave him permission to speak. I left off ceremony. I treated him as an equal."
"Not entirely⁴, Sire. You dont have it within you to treat others as equals. You have the habit of command. And even if you tried to put a person at his ease, there would be few who could manage it. Most would be speechless or, worse, subservient⁵ and sycophantic⁶. This man stood up to you."
"Well, you may admire that, Demerzel, but I didnt like him." Cleon looked thoughtfully discontented. "Did you notice that he made no effort to explain his mathematics to me? It was as though he knew I would not understand a word of it."
"Nor would you have, Sire. You are not a mathematician⁸, nor a scientist of any kind, nor an artist. There are many fields of knowledge in which others know more than you. It is their task to use their knowledge to serve you. You are the Emperor, which is worth all their specializations put together."
"Is it? I would not mind being made to feel ignorant by an old man who had accumulated knowledge over many years. But this man, Seldon, is just my age. How does he know so much?"
"He has not had to learn the habit of command, the art of reaching a decision that will affect the lives of others."
"Sometimes, Demerzel, I wonder if you are laughing at me."
"Sire?" said Demerzel reproachfully.
"But never mind. Back to that loose cannon of yours. Why should you consider him dangerous? He seems a naive⁹ provincial to me."
"He is. But he has this mathematical development of his."
"He says it is useless."
"You thought it might be useful. I thought so, after you had explained it to me. Others might. The mathematician may come to think so himself, now that his mind has been focused on it. And who knows, he may yet work out some way of making use of it. If he does, then to foretell¹⁰ the future, however mistily¹¹, is to be in a position of great power. Even if he does not wish power for himself, a kind of self-denial that always seems to me to be unlikely, he might be used by others."
"I tried to use him. He would not."
"He had not given it thought. Perhaps now he will. And if he was not interested in being used by you, might he not be persuaded by--let us say--the Mayor of Wye?"
"Why should he be willing to help Wye and not us?"
"As he explained, it is hard to predict the emotions and behavior of individuals."
Cleon scowled¹² and sat in thought. "Do you really think he might develop this psychohistory of his to the point where it is truly useful? He is so certain he cannot."
"He may, with time, decide he was wrong in denying the possibility."
Cleon said, "Then I suppose I ought to have kept him."
Demerzel said, "No, Sire. Your instinct was correct when you let him go. Imprisonment¹³, however disguised, would cause resentment¹⁴ and despair, which would not help him either to develop his ideas further or make him eager to help us. Better to let him go as you have done, but to keep him forever on an invisible leash¹⁵. In this way, we can see that he is not used by an enemy of yourself, Sire, and we can see that when the time comes and he has fully⁷ developed his science, we can pull on our leash and bring him in. Then we could be ... more persuasive¹⁶."
"But what if he it picked up by an enemy of mine or, better, of the Empire, for I am the Empire after all, or if, of his own accord, he wishes to serve an enemy--I dont consider that out of the question, you see."
"Nor should you. I will see to it that this doesnt happen, but if, against all striving, it does happen, it would be better if no one has him than if the wrong person does."
Cleon looked uneasy. "Ill leave that all in your hands, Demerzel, but I hope were not too hasty. He could be, after all, nothing but the purveyor¹⁷ of a theoretical science that does not and cannot work."
"Quite possibly, Sire, but it would be safer to assume the man is--or might be--important. We lose only a little time and nothing more if we find that we have concerned ourselves with a nonentity¹⁸. We may lose a Galaxy¹⁹ if we find we have ignored someone of great importance."
"Very well, then," said Cleon, "but I trust I wont²⁰ have to know the details--if they prove unpleasant."
Demerzel said, "Let us hope that will not be the case."

1 deference   

n.尊重，顺从；敬意

参考例句：

• Do you treat your parents and teachers with deference?你对父母师长尊敬吗？
• The major defect of their work was deference to authority.他们的主要缺陷是趋从权威。

2 cannon   

n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮

参考例句：

• The soldiers fired the cannon.士兵们开炮。
• The cannon thundered in the hills.大炮在山间轰鸣。

3 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

4 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

5 subservient   

adj.卑屈的，阿谀的

参考例句：

• He was subservient and servile.他低声下气、卑躬屈膝。
• It was horrible to have to be affable and subservient.不得不强作欢颜卖弄风骚，真是太可怕了。

6 sycophantic   

adj.阿谀奉承的

参考例句：

• Qinhui was a notorious sycophantic official in the Song dynasty,and was spurned by later generations.秦桧是宋代著名的佞臣，受尽后人的唾骂。
• We heard the sound of sycophantic laughter.我们听到了谄媚的笑声。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 mathematician   

n.数学家

参考例句：

• The man with his back to the camera is a mathematician.背对着照相机的人是位数学家。
• The mathematician analyzed his figures again.这位数学家再次分析研究了他的这些数字。

9 naive   

adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的

参考例句：

• It's naive of you to believe he'll do what he says.相信他会言行一致，你未免太单纯了。
• Don't be naive.The matter is not so simple.你别傻乎乎的。事情没有那么简单。

10 foretell   

v.预言，预告，预示

参考例句：

• Willow trees breaking out into buds foretell the coming of spring.柳枝绽青报春来。
• The outcome of the war is hard to foretell.战争胜负难以预卜。

11 mistily   

adv.有雾地，朦胧地，不清楚地

参考例句：

• My wife is patting Run'er inside the house, murmuring lullaby mistily. 妻在屋里拍着闰儿，迷迷糊糊地哼着眠歌。 来自互联网
• Bits of tulle and fuzzy yarn hang mistily from the rafters. 房间的椽条上缠着薄纱和毛茸茸的纱线。 来自互联网

12 scowled   

怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He scowled his displeasure. 他满脸嗔色。
• The teacher scowled at his noisy class. 老师对他那喧闹的课堂板着脸。

13 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

14 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

15 leash   

n.牵狗的皮带，束缚；v.用皮带系住

参考例句：

• I reached for the leash,but the dog got in between.我伸手去拿系狗绳，但被狗挡住了路。
• The dog strains at the leash,eager to be off.狗拼命地扯拉皮带，想挣脱开去。

16 persuasive   

adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的

参考例句：

• His arguments in favour of a new school are very persuasive.他赞成办一座新学校的理由很有说服力。
• The evidence was not really persuasive enough.证据并不是太有说服力。

17 purveyor   

n.承办商，伙食承办商

参考例句：

• Silence, purveyor of gossip, do not spread that report. 快别那样说，新闻记者阁下，别散布那个消息。 来自互联网
• Teaching purpose: To comprehensively understand the role function and consciousness composition of a news purveyor. 教学目的：全面深入的理解新闻传播者的角色功能和意识构成。 来自互联网

18 nonentity   

n.无足轻重的人

参考例句：

• She was written off then as a political nonentity.她当时被认定是成不了气候的政坛小人物。
• How could such a nonentity become chairman of the company? 这样的庸才怎么能当公司的董事长？

19 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。

20 wont   

adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯

参考例句：

• He was wont to say that children are lazy.他常常说小孩子们懒惰。
• It is his wont to get up early.早起是他的习惯。