Chapter 20

Hari Seldon sat back in his chair in the alcove¹ that had been assigned to him through Dors Venabilis intervention². He was dissatisfied. As a matter of fact, although that was the expression he used in his mind, he knew that it was a gross underestimation of his feelings. He was not simply dissatisfied, he was furious--all the more so because he wasnt sure what it was he was furious about. Was it about the histories? The writers and compilers of histories? The worlds and people that made the histories? Whatever the target of his fury, it didnt really matter. What counted was that his notes were useless, his new knowledge was useless, everything was useless. He had been at the University now for almost six weeks. He had managed to find a computer outlet³ at the very start and with it had begun work--without instruction, but using the instincts he had developed over a number of years of mathematical labors⁴. It had been slow and halting, but there was a certain pleasure in gradually determining the routes by which he could get his questions answered.
Then came the week of instruction with Dors, which had taught him several dozen shortcuts⁵ and had brought with it two sets of embarrassments⁶. The first set included the sidelong glances he received from the undergraduates, who seemed contemptuously aware of his greater age and who were disposed to frown a bit at Dorss constant use of the honorific "Doctor" in addressing him. "I dont want them to think," she said, "that youre some backward perpetual student taking remedial history."
"But surely youve established the point. Surely, a mere⁷ Seldon is sufficient now."
"No," Dors said and smiled suddenly. "Besides, I like to call you Dr. Seldon. I like the way you look uncomfortable each time."
"You have a peculiar⁸ sense of sadistic⁹ humor."
"Would you deprive me?"
For some reason, that made him laugh. Surely, the natural reaction would have been to deny sadism. Somehow he found it pleasant that she accepted the ball of conversation and fired it back. The thought led to a natural question. "Do you play tennis here at the University?"
"We have courts, but I dont play."
"Good. Ill teach you. And when I do, Ill call you Professor Venabili."
"Thats what you call me in class anyway."
"Youll be surprised how ridiculous it will sound on the tennis court."
"I may get to like it."
"In that case, I will try to find what else you might get to like."
"I see you have a peculiar sense of salacious humor."
She had put that ball in that spot deliberately¹⁰ and he said, "Would you deprive me?"
She smiled and later did surprisingly well on the tennis court.
"Are you sure you never played tennis?" he said, puffing¹¹, after one session.
"Positive," she said.
The other set of embarrassments was more private. He learned the necessary techniques of historical research and then burned--in private--at his earlier attempts to make use of the computers memory. It was simply an entirely¹² different mind-set from that used in mathematics. It was equally logical, he supposed, since it could be used, consistently and without error, to move in whatever direction he wanted to, but it was a substantially different brand of logic¹³ from that to which he was accustomed.
But with or without instructions, whether he stumbled or moved in swiftly, he simply didnt get any results.
His annoyance¹⁴ made itself felt on the tennis court. Dors quickly reached the stage where it was no longer necessary to lob easy balls at her to give her time to judge direction and distance. That made it easy to forget that she was just a beginner and he expressed his anger in his swing, firing the ball back at her as though it were a laser beam made solid.
She came trotting¹⁵ up to the net and said, "I can understand your wanting to kill me, since it must annoy you to watch me miss the shots so often. How is it, though, that you managed to miss my head by about three centimeters that time? I mean, you didnt even nick me. Cant¹⁶ you do better than that?"
Seldon, horrified¹⁷, tried to explain, but only managed to sound incoherent.
She said, "Look. Im not going to face any other returns of yours today, so why dont we shower and then get together for some tea and whatever and you can tell me just what you were trying to kill. If it wasnt my poor head and if you dont get the real victim off your chest, youll be entirely too dangerous on the other side of the net for me to want to serve as a target."
Over tea he said, "Dors, Ive scanned history after history; just scanned, browsed¹⁸. I havent had time for deep study yet. Even so, its become obvious. All the book-films concentrate on the same few events."
"Crucial ones. History-making ones."
"Thats just an excuse. Theyre copying each other. There are twenty-five million worlds out there and theres significant mention of perhaps twenty-five."
Dors said, "Youre reading general Galactic histories only. Look up the special histories of some of the minor¹⁹ worlds. On every world, however small, the children are taught local histories before they ever find out theres a great big Galaxy²⁰ outside. Dont you yourself know more about Helicon, right now, than you know about the rise of Trantor oooof the Great Interstellar War?"
"That sort of knowledge is limited too," said Seldon gloomily. "I know Heliconian geography and the stories of its settlement and of the malfeasance and misfeasance of the planet Jennisek--thats our traditional enemy, though our teachers carefully told us that we ought to say traditional rival. But I never learned anything about the contributions of Helicon to general Galactic history."
"Maybe there werent any."
"Dont be silly. Of course there were. There may not have been great, huge space battles involving Helicon or crucial rebellions or peace treaties. There may not have been some Imperial competitor making his base on Helicon. But there must have been subtle influences. Surely, nothing can happen anywhere without affecting everywhere else. Yet theres nothing I can find to help me. See here, Dors. In mathematics, all can be found in the computer; everything we know or have found out in twenty thousand years. In history, thats not so. Historians pick and choose and every one of them picks and chooses the same thing."
"But, Hari," said Dors, "mathematics is an ooderly thing of human invention. One thing follows from another. There are definitions and axioms, all of which are known. It is ... it is ... all one piece. History is different. It is the unconscious working out of the deeds and thoughts of quadrillions of human beings. Historians must pick and choose."
"Exactly," said Seldon, "but I must know all of history if I am to work out the laws of psychohistory."
"In that case, you wont²¹ ever formulate²² the laws of psychohistory."
That was yesterday. Now Seldon sat in his chair in his alcove, having spent another day of utter failure, and he could hear Dorss voice saying, "In that case, you wont ever formulate the laws of psychohistory." It was what he had thought to begin with and if it hadnt been for Hummins conviction to the contrary and his odd ability to fire Seldon with his own blaze of conviction, Seldon would have continued to think so. And yet neither could he quite let go. Might there not be some way out?
He couldnt think of any.
Upperside
TRANTOR-- ... It is almost never pictured as a world seen from space. It has long since captured the general mind of humanity as a world of the interior and the image is that of the human hive that existed under the domes²³. Yet there was an exterior²⁴ as well and there are holographs that still remain that were taken from space and show varying degrees of [devil] (see Figures 14 and 15). Note that the surface of the domes, the interface²⁵ of the vast city and the overlying atmosphere, a surface referred to in its time as "Upperside," is ...
ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA

1 alcove   

n.凹室

参考例句：

• The bookcase fits neatly into the alcove.书架正好放得进壁凹。
• In the alcoves on either side of the fire were bookshelves.火炉两边的凹室里是书架。

2 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

3 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

4 labors   

v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转

参考例句：

• He was tiresome in contending for the value of his own labors. 他老为他自己劳动的价值而争强斗胜，令人生厌。 来自辞典例句
• Farm labors used to hire themselves out for the summer. 农业劳动者夏季常去当雇工。 来自辞典例句

5 shortcuts   

n.捷径( shortcut的名词复数 )；近路；快捷办法；被切短的东西（尤指烟草）

参考例句：

• In other words, experts want shortcuts to everything. 换句话说，专家需要所有的快捷方式。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Offer shortcuts from the Help menu. 在帮助菜单中提供快捷方式。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

6 embarrassments   

n.尴尬( embarrassment的名词复数 )；难堪；局促不安；令人难堪或耻辱的事

参考例句：

• But there have been many embarrassments along the way. 但是一路走来已经是窘境不断。 来自互联网
• The embarrassments don't stop there. 让人难受的事情还没完。 来自互联网

7 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

8 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

9 sadistic   

adj.虐待狂的

参考例句：

• There was a sadistic streak in him.他有虐待狂的倾向。
• The prisoners rioted against mistreatment by sadistic guards.囚犯因不堪忍受狱警施虐而发动了暴乱。

10 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

11 puffing   

v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• He was puffing hard when he jumped on to the bus. 他跳上公共汽车时喘息不已。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My father sat puffing contentedly on his pipe. 父亲坐着心满意足地抽着烟斗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 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。

13 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

14 annoyance   

n.恼怒，生气，烦恼

参考例句：

• Why do you always take your annoyance out on me?为什么你不高兴时总是对我出气？
• I felt annoyance at being teased.我恼恨别人取笑我。

15 trotting   

小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走

参考例句：

• The riders came trotting down the lane. 这骑手骑着马在小路上慢跑。
• Alan took the reins and the small horse started trotting. 艾伦抓住缰绳，小马开始慢跑起来。

16 cant   

n.斜穿，黑话，猛扔

参考例句：

• The ship took on a dangerous cant to port.船只出现向左舷危险倾斜。
• He knows thieves'cant.他懂盗贼的黑话。

17 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

18 browsed   

v.吃草( browse的过去式和过去分词 )；随意翻阅；（在商店里）随便看看；（在计算机上）浏览信息

参考例句：

• I browsed through some magazines while I waited. 我边等边浏览几本杂志。 来自辞典例句
• I browsed through the book, looking at page after page. 我翻开了一下全书，一页又一页。 来自互联网

19 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

20 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。

21 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。

22 formulate   

v.用公式表示；规划；设计；系统地阐述

参考例句：

• He took care to formulate his reply very clearly.他字斟句酌，清楚地做了回答。
• I was impressed by the way he could formulate his ideas.他陈述观点的方式让我印象深刻。

23 domes   

n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 )；像圆屋顶一样的东西；圆顶体育场

参考例句：

• The domes are circular or ovoid in cross-section. 穹丘的横断面为圆形或卵圆形。 来自辞典例句
• Parks. The facilities highlighted in text include sport complexes and fabric domes. 本书重点讲的设施包括运动场所和顶棚式结构。 来自互联网

24 exterior   

adj.外部的，外在的；表面的

参考例句：

• The seed has a hard exterior covering.这种子外壳很硬。
• We are painting the exterior wall of the house.我们正在给房子的外墙涂漆。

25 interface   

n.接合部位，分界面；v.(使)互相联系

参考例句：

• My computer has a network interface,which allows me to get to other computers.我的计算机有网络接口可以与其它计算机连在一起。
• This program has perspicuous interface and extensive application. 该程序界面明了，适用范围广。