m3_7

"But after all," Lenina was protesting, "it's only about four months now since I've been having Henry."


"Only four months! I like that. And what's more," Fanny went on, pointing an accusing finger, "there's been nobody else except Henry all that time. Has there?"
Lenina blushed scarlet; but her eyes, the tone of her voice remained defiant.
"No, there hasn't been any one else," she answered almost trucuently.
"And I jolly well don't see why there should have been."


"Oh, she jolly well doesn't see why there should have been," Fanny repeated,
as though to an invisible listener behind Lenina's left shoulder.
Then, with a sudden change of tone, "But seriously," she said, "I really do think you ought to be careful. It's such horribly bad form to go on and on like this with one man.
At forty, or thirty-five, it wouldrl't be so bad. But at your age, Lenina!
No, it really won't do. And you know how strongly the D.H.C. objects to anything intense or long-drawn.
Four months of Henry Foster, without having another man–why, he'd be furious if he knew …"
"Think of water under pressure in a pipe." They thought of it. "I pierce it once," said the Controller. "What a jet!" He pierced it twenty times.
There were twenty piddling little fountains.
"My baby. My baby …!"
"Mother!" The madness is infectious.
"My love, my one and only, precious, precious …"
Mother, monogamy, romance. High spurts the fountain; fierce and foamy the wild jet.
The urge has but a single outlet. My love, my baby.
No wonder these poor pre-moderns were mad and wicked and miserable.
Their world didn't allow them to take things easily, didn't allow them to be sane, virtuous, happy.
What with mothers and lovers, what with the prohibitions they were not conditioned to obey, what with the temptations and the lonely remorses, what with all the diseases and the endless isolating pain, what with the uncertainties and the poverty–they were forced to feel strongly.
And feeling strongly (and strongly, what was more, in solitude, in hopelessly individual isolation), how could they be stable?
"Of course there's no need to give him up.
Have somebody else from time to time, that's all. He has other girls, doesn't he?"
Lenina admitted it.
“可是毕竟，”列宁娜在抗议，“我跟亨利一起才四个月左右。”
“才四个月！这话我可真喜欢，还有，”范尼伸出一根指责的指头，“这么长的时间你就只跟亨利一起，没有跟别的人，是吗？”
列宁娜涨得满脸通红；可是她的目光和声调仍然带着挑战，
“对，没有跟别的人，”回答几乎是粗野的，
“而我的确不明白为什么非得跟别人来往不可。”
“哦，她的确不明白为什么非跟别的人来往不可。”范尼重复着她的话，
仿佛是对列宁娜左肩后一个什么看不见的人说着。
然后她突然改变了语调，“可是说正经的，”她说，“我的确认为你得要多加小心。跟一个男人老这样混下去太不像话了。
要是你已经四十岁，哪怕是三十五岁，倒也罢了；可是在你的年龄，列宁娜！
那绝对木行！而你分明知道主任是反对感情过热和拖泥带水的。
跟亨利·福斯特一过就是四个月，没有别的人——哼，主任要是知道了是会大发雷霆的……”
“想象一下管子里承受着压力的水吧，”学生们立即想象起来。“我要是扎它一钎子，”总统说，“会喷得多厉害！”
他扎了水管二十钎子，二十道小喷泉喷了出来，像撒尿一样。
“我的宝贝。我的宝贝”……。
“妈妈！”胡闹有传染性。
“我的爱，我仅有的、唯一的宝贝，宝贵的……”
母亲，一夫一妻制，讲恋爱。喷泉喷得很高；喷泉撒着野，飘着水沫。
冲动只有一条路宣泄。我的宝贝，我的孩子！
难怪前现代期的这些可怜人会那么疯狂，那么邪恶，那么痛苦。
他们的世界就不容许他们舒坦、清醒、道德和快活地对待问题。
由于有母亲，有情人，由于他们没有被设定要服从一些禁条，由于诱惑和寂寞的悔恨，由于种种疾病和无穷的孤独所造成的痛苦，由于前途未卜和贫穷，他们不可能不产生强烈的感情。
感情既然强烈（何况是孑然一身，处于没有希望的孤独里的感情！），他们怎么可能稳定呢！
“当然没有必要放弃他。
偶然跟别人来往一下就行。他也有别的姑娘，是吗？”
列宁娜承认了。