Chapter 24

Dors Venabili disapproved¹, as she said to Hari Seldon "You've spent four days at the Galactic Library. Completely out of touch and again you managed to go without me."
    Husband and wife stared at each other's image on their holoscreens. Hari had just returned from a research trip to the Galactic Library in Imperial Sector². He was calling Dors from his Project office to let her know he'd returned to Streeling. Even in anger, thought Hari, Dors is beautiful. He wished he could reach out and touch her cheek.
    "Dors," he began, a placating³ note in his voice, "I did not go alone. I had a number of people with me and the Galactic Library, of all places, is safe for scholars, even in these turbulent times. I am going to have to be at the Library more and more often, I think, as time goes on."
    "And you're going to continue to do it without telling me?"
    "Dors, I can't live according to these death-filled views of yours. Nor Rio I want you running after me and upsetting the librarians. They're not the junta⁴. I need them and I don't want to make them angry. But I do think that I-we-should take an apartment nearby."
    Dors looked grim, shook her head, and changed the subject. "Do you know that I had two talks with Yugo recently?"
    "Good. I'm glad you did. He needs contact with the outside world."
    "Yes, he does, because something's wrong with him. He's not the 1'ugo we've had with us all these years. He's become vague, distant, and -oddly enough-passionate on only one point, as nearly as I can tell-his determination to succeed you on your retirement⁵."
    "That would be natural-if he survives me."
    "Don't you expect him to survive you?"
    "Well, he's eleven years younger than I am, but the vicissitudes⁶ of circumstance-"
    "What you really mean is that you recognize that Yugo is in a bad way. He looks and acts older than you do, for all his younger age, and that seems to be a rather recent development. Is he ill?"
    "Physically⁷? I don't think so. He has his periodic examinations. I'll admit, though, that he seems drained. I've tried to persuade him to take a vacation for a few months-a whole year's sabbatical, if he wishes. I've suggested that he leave Trantor altogether, just so that he is as far away from the Project as possible for a while. There would be no problem in financing his stay on Getorin-which is a pleasant resort world not too many light-years away."
    Dors shook her head impatiently. "And, of course, he won't. I suggested a vacation to him and he acted as though he didn't know the meaning of the word. He absolutely refused."
    "So what can we do?" said Seldon.
    Dors said, "We can think a little. Yugo worked for a quarter of a century on the Project and seemed to maintain his strength without any trouble at all and now suddenly he has weakened. It can't be age. He's not yet fifty."
    "Are you suggesting something?"
    "Yes. How long have you and Yugo been using this Electro-Clarifier thing on your Prime Radiants?"
    "About two years-maybe a little more."
    "I presume that the Electro-Clarifier is used by anyone who uses the Prime Radiant."
    "That's right."
    "Which means Yugo and you, mostly?"
    "Yes."
    "And Yugo more than you?"
    "Yes. Yugo concentrates fiercely on the Prime Radiant and its equations. 1, unfortunately, have to spend much of my time on administrative⁸ duties."
    "And what effect does the Electro-Clarifier have on the human body?"
    Seldon looked surprised. "Nothing of any significance that I am aware of."
    "In that case, explain something to me, Hari. The Electro-Clarifier has been in operation for over two years and in that time you've grown measurably more tired, crotchety, and a little-out of touch. Why is that?"
    "I'm getting older, Dors."
    "Nonsense. Whoever told you that sixty is crystallized senility? You're using your age as a crutch⁹ and a defense¹⁰ and I want you to stop it. Yugo, though he's younger, has been exposed to the Electro-Clarifier more than you have and, as a result, he is more tired, more crotchety, and, in my opinion, a great deal less in touch than you are. And he is rather childishly intense about the succession. Don't you see anything significant in this?"
    "Age and overwork. That's significant."
    "No, it's the Electro-Clarifier. It's having a long-term effect on the two of you."
    After a pause, Seldon said, "I can't disprove that, Dors, but I don't see how it's possible. The Electro-Clarifier is a device that produces an unusual electronic field, but it is still only a field of the type to which human beings are constantly exposed. It can't do any unusual harm. -In any case, we can't give up its use. There's no way of continuing the progress of the Project without it."
    "Now, Hari, I must ask something of you and you must cooperate with me on this. Go nowhere outside the Project without telling me and do nothing out of the ordinary without telling me. Do you understand?"
    "Dors, how can I agree to this? You're trying to put me into a straitjacket."
    "It's just for a while. A few days. A week."
    "What's going to happen in a few days or a week?"
    Dors said, "Trust me. I will clear up everything."
   

1 disapproved   

v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My parents disapproved of my marriage. 我父母不赞成我的婚事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She disapproved of her son's indiscriminate television viewing. 她不赞成儿子不加选择地收看电视。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

3 placating   

v.安抚，抚慰，使平静( placate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She pulled her face into a placating and childlike expression. 于是她装出一副稚气的想要和解的样子来。 来自飘（部分）
• Uncle Peter's voice came as from a far distance, plaintive, placating. 彼得大叔这时说话了，他的声音犹如自一个遥远的地方起来，既带有哀愁又给人以安慰。 来自飘（部分）

4 junta   

n.团体；政务审议会

参考例句：

• The junta reacted violently to the perceived threat to its authority.军政府感到自身权力受威胁而进行了激烈反击。
• A military junta took control of the country.一个军政权控制了国家。

5 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

6 vicissitudes   

n.变迁，世事变化；变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 )；盛衰兴废

参考例句：

• He experienced several great social vicissitudes in his life. 他一生中经历了几次大的社会变迁。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected. 饱经沧桑，不易沮丧。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

8 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

9 crutch   

n.T字形拐杖；支持，依靠，精神支柱

参考例句：

• Her religion was a crutch to her when John died.约翰死后，她在精神上依靠宗教信仰支撑住自己。
• He uses his wife as a kind of crutch because of his lack of confidence.他缺乏自信心，总把妻子当作主心骨。

10 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。