评论
打印
I tried to pull my senses together. I realized that if I was to find out about this new and undreamed-of future, I must go at it systematically.
我努力想使自己的头脑冷静下来。我现在意识到，如果我要想弄清楚这个做梦都没有想到过的新的未来，我就要系统地来了解。
"I see," I said after a pause, "that momentous things have happened since my time. I wish you would explain to me bit by bit. First, what do you mean by saying that there is no work?"
“我懂了，”我停了停，说，“自从我那个年代到现在，已经发生了巨大的变化。我希望您能 一点一点地给我解释。首先，您说工作已经不存在了，是什么意思？ ”
"Why," answered my strange acquaintance, "it died out of itself. Machinery killed it. If I remember rightly, you had a certain amount of machinery even in your time."
“很简单，”我那新交的怪朋友回答说，“它自己就消失了。是机器把它给消灭了。假如我没有记错的话，在您那个时代就有一些机器了，是吧？”
I nodded assent.
我点了点头。
"But you found it did you no good. The better your machines, the harder you worked. The more things you had, the more things you wanted. You were all caught in the cogs of your own machines."
“但是你们发现那些机器对你们没什么好处。机器越好，你们干活就干得越辛苦。你们生产的东西越丰富，你们要的东西也就越多。你们都像被卡在那些机器的齿轮之间，动弹不得。”
"That is quite true," I said.
“您说得一点也不错，”我说。
"Well, then, there came the Era of the Great Conquest of Nature, the final victory of Man and Machinery."
“后来，就到了‘征服自然的伟大时代’，人和机器取得了最终的胜利。”
"They did conquer it?" I asked quickly, with a thrill of the old hope in my veins again.
“这么说，他们真的把自然征服了？”我马上问他，当年的希望，重新使我血脉偾张起来。
"Conquered it," he said, "beat it out! Things came one by one. In a hundred years it was all done. In fact, just as soon as mankind turned its energy to decreasing its needs instead of increasing its desires, the whole thing was easy. Chemical Food came first. Heavens! The simplicity of it. Agriculture went overboard. Eating and all that goes with it, domestic labor, housework—all ended. Nowadays one takes a concentrated pill every year or so, that's all.
“征服了，”他说，“把它彻底打败了！之后，很多东西就一一出现了。100年之内，一切都解决了。实际上，当人类把他们的精力从扩大欲望转向减少需要，一切就立刻变得十分容易了。先是化学食品。我的天！这简直简单得不能再简单了。这一来，农业就没用了。吃饭，以及与此有关的工作、家务劳动，一切的一切，都没有了。现在，每个人只要一年左右服一粒浓缩药丸，就全妥了。”
