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"Norma, we will," he said.
“诺玛，我们会有的，”他说。
"When?"
“什么时候？”
"Are you" —he seemed to draw back slightly— "are you really saying—"
“你是——”他似乎微微向后退了一下——“难道你是说——”
"I'm saying that they're probably doing it for some research project!" she cut him off. "That they want to know what average people would do under such a circumstance! That they're just saying someone would die, in order to study reactions, see if there'd be guilt, anxiety, whatever! You don't really think they'd kill someone, do you?!''
“我是说他们可能只是为了完成某个研究项目！”她打断了他的话，“也就是普通人在这样的情况下会采取什么样的行动。他们说有人会因此而死是想研究一下人们的反应，看是否会出现罪恶感和焦虑感什么的！你不会真的认为他们会杀人吧，对吗？！”
Arthur didn't answer. She saw his hands trembling. After a while, he got up and left.
阿瑟没有回答。她看到他的手在发抖。过了一会儿，他站起来走了。
When he'd gone to work, Norma remained at the table, staring into her coffee. I'm going to be late, she thought. She shrugged. What difference did it make?
阿瑟上班走了以后，诺玛仍然坐在桌旁，两眼盯着咖啡。我要迟到了，她想。然后耸了耸肩，迟不迟到又有什么关系呢？
While she was stacking dishes, she turned abruptly, dried her hands, and took the package from the cabinet. Opening it, she set the button unit on the table. She stared at it for a long time before taking the key from its envelope and removing the glass dome. She stared at the button.
她在收拾盘子时，突然转过身，擦干手，从橱柜里拿出那个包裹。打开后，她把按钮装置放在桌子上。在她从信封里拿出钥匙前，她盯着装置看了好久，然后打开了玻璃罩。她盯着按钮。
How ridiculous, she thought! All this furor over a meaningless button.
多么荒唐可笑，她想，竟为这毫无意义的按钮发这么大脾气。
Reaching out, she pressed it down. For us, she thought angrily.
她伸出手，按下按钮。为了我们俩，她生气地想。
She shuddered. Was it happening? A chill of horror swept across her.
她颤抖起来，真的会像说的那样吗？一阵冷飕飕的恐惧感袭向她。
In a moment, it had passed. She made a contemptuous noise. Ridiculous, she thought, to get so worked up over nothing.
过了一会儿，恐惧感消失。她轻蔑地哼了一声。真是荒唐，她想，无缘无故地搞得心神不宁。
She threw the button unit into the wastebasket and hurried to dress for work.
她把按钮装置扔进废纸篓里，匆匆穿好衣服上班去了。
She had just turned over the supper steaks when the telephone rang. She picked up the receiver. "Hello?"
她刚刚把晚饭要吃的牛排翻过来，电话铃响了，她拿起话筒：“喂？”
