Chapter 9

Hari Seldon sat at Yugo Amaryl's bedside-patiently, sadly. Yugo was utterly¹ spent. He was beyond medical help, even if he would have consented to avail himself of such help, which he refused.
    He was only fifty-five. Seldon was himself sixty-six and yet he was in fine shape, except for the twinge of sciatica-or whatever it was-that occasionally lamed² him.
    Amaryl's eyes opened. "You're still here, Hari?"
    Seldon nodded. "I won't leave you."
    "Till I die?"
    "Yes." Then, in an outburst of grief, he said, "Why have you done this, Yugo? If you had lived sensibly, you could have had twenty to thirty more years of life."
    Amaryl smiled faintly. "Live sensibly? You mean, take time off? Go to resorts? Amuse myself with trifles?"
    "Yes. Yes."
    "And I would either have longed to return to my work or I would have learned to like wasting my time and, in the additional twenty to thirty years you speak of, I would have accomplished³ no more. Look at you."
    "What about me?"
    "For ten years you were First Minister under Cleon. How much science did you do then?"
    "I spent about a quarter of my time on psychohistory," said Seldon gently.
    "You exaggerate. If it hadn't been for me, plugging away, psychohistorical advance would have screeched⁴ to a halt."
    Seldon nodded. "You are right, Yugo. For that I am grateful."
    "And before and since, when you spend at least half your time on administrative⁵ duties, who does--did-the real work? Eh?"
    "You, Yugo."
    "Absolutely." His eyes closed again.
    Seldon said, "Yet you always wanted to take over those administrative duties if you survived me."
    "No! I wanted to head the Project to keep it moving in the direction it had to move in, but I would have delegated all administration."
    Amaryl's breathing was growing stertorous⁶, but then he stirred and his eyes opened, staring directly at Hari. He said, "What will happen to psychohistory when I'm gone? Have you thought of that?"
    "Yes, I have. And I want to speak to you about it. It may please you. Yugo, I believe that psychohistory is being revolutionized."
    Amaryl frowned slightly. "In what way? I don't like the sound of that."
    "Listen. It was your idea. Years ago, you told me that two Foundations should be established. Separate-isolated and safe-and arranged so that they would serve as nuclei⁷ for an eventual⁸ Second Galactic Empire. Do you remember? That was your idea."
    "The psychohistoric equations-"
    "I know. They suggested it. I'm busy working on it now, Yugo. I've managed to wangle an office in the Galactic Library-"
    "The Galactic Library." Amaryl's frown deepened. "I don't like diem. A bunch of self-satisfied idiots."
    "The Chief Librarian, Las Zenow, is not so bad, Yugo."
    "Did you ever meet a Librarian named Mummery, Gennaro Mummery?"
    "No, but I've heard of him."
    "A miserable⁹ human being. We had an argument once when he claimed I had misplaced something or other. I had done no such thing and I grew very annoyed, Hari. All of a sudden I was back in Dahl. One thing about the Dahlite culture, Hari, it is a cesspool of invective¹⁰. I used some of it on him and I told him he was interfering¹¹ with psychohistory and he would go down in history as a villain¹². I didn't just say `villain,' either." Amaryl chuckled¹³ faintly. "I left him speechless."
    Suddenly Seldon could see where Mummery's animosity toward outsiders and, most probably, psychohistory must come from-at least, in part-but he said nothing.
    "The point is, Yugo, you wanted two Foundations, so that if one failed, the other would continue. But we've gone beyond that."
    "In what way?"
    "Do you remember that Wanda was able to read your mind two years ago and see that something was wrong with a portion of the equations in the Prime Radiant?"
    "Yes, of course."
    "Well, we will find others like Wanda. We will have one Foundation that will consist largely of physical scientists, who will preserve the knowledge of humanity and serve as the nucleus¹⁴ for the Second Empire. And there will be a Second Foundation of psychohistorians only-mentalists, mind-touching psychohistorians-who will be able to work on psychohistory in a multiminded way, advancing it far more quickly than individual thinkers ever could. They will serve as a group who will introduce fine adjustments as time goes on, you see. Ever in the background, watching. They will be the Empire's guardians¹⁵."
    "Wonderful!" said Amaryl weakly. "Wonderful! You see how I've chosen the right time to die? There's nothing left for me to do."
    "Don't say that, Yugo."
    "Don't make such a fuss over it, Hari. I'm too tired to do anything. Thank you-thank you-for telling me"-his voice was weakening-攁bout the revolution. It makes me-happy-----------"
    And those were Yugo Amaryl's last words.
    Seldon bent¹⁶ over the bed. Tears stung his eyes and rolled down his cheeks.
    Another old friend gone. Demerzel, Cleon, Dors, now Yugo .     leaving him emptier and lonelier as he grew old.
    And the revolution that had allowed Amaryl to die happy might never come to pass. Could he manage to make use of the Galactic Library? Could he find more people like Wanda? Most of all, how long would it take?
    Seldon was sixty-six. If only he could have started this revolution at thirty-two when he first came to Trantor .     
    Now it might be too late.
   

1 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

2 lamed   

希伯莱语第十二个字母

参考例句：

• He was lamed in the earthquake when he was a little boy. 他还是小孩子时在地震中就变跛了。
• The school was lamed by losses of staff. 学校因教职人员流失而开不了课。

3 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

4 screeched   

v.发出尖叫声( screech的过去式和过去分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫

参考例句：

• She screeched her disapproval. 她尖叫着不同意。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The car screeched to a stop. 汽车嚓的一声停住了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 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。

6 stertorous   

adj.打鼾的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Tremaine grew more and more worried at his pallid face and stertorous breathing.屈里曼太太看他那苍白的脸色和急促的喘气，倒越来越担心。
• Her breathing became loud and stertorous.她的呼吸变成很响的呼噜声。

7 nuclei   

n.核

参考例句：

• To free electrons, something has to make them whirl fast enough to break away from their nuclei. 为了释放电子，必须使电子高速旋转而足以摆脱原子核的束缚。
• Energy is released by the fission of atomic nuclei. 能量是由原子核分裂释放出来的。

8 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。

9 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

10 invective   

n.痛骂，恶意抨击

参考例句：

• He retorted the invective on her.他用恶言讽刺还击她。
• His command of irony and invective was said to be very classic and lethal.据说他嬉笑怒骂的本领是极其杰出的，令人无法招架的。

11 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。

12 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

13 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。

14 nucleus   

n.核，核心，原子核

参考例句：

• These young people formed the nucleus of the club.这些年轻人成了俱乐部的核心。
• These councils would form the nucleus of a future regime.这些委员会将成为一个未来政权的核心。

15 guardians   

监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者

参考例句：

• Farmers should be guardians of the countryside. 农民应是乡村的保卫者。
• The police are guardians of law and order. 警察是法律和秩序的护卫者。

16 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。