15 Into the Future Again

CHAPTER 15 Into the Future Again Once again, I felt the strange sensation of hurtling into the future. I became dizzy, and my stomach was queasy. I had the feeling that I was falling. It was even worse this time, because I was sitting sideways in the seat. I hung on as the machine swayed and shook. Still, I was glad to be free from the clutches of the Morlocks. I

第十五章再次进入未来再一次，我有一种冲向未来的奇怪感觉。 我感到头晕，胃也不舒服。 我有一种坠落的感觉。 这次更糟，因为我侧着身子坐在座位上。 机器摇晃时，我紧紧抓住不放。 不过，我还是很高兴能从莫洛克人的魔掌中解脱出来。 我

had left them behind—not by running away from them, but by fleeing through time. After a few minutes, I looked at the dials in front of me. The hand that showed the passing of thousands of days was sweeping around like the second hand of a watch. I was racing through time faster than ever. I was speeding ahead so rapidly that the blinking of day and night turned into an even, gray light. But then, I was puzzled to see the flashing of day and night again. The sun should have been moving across the sky too fast for me to see it. But for some reason, I could see it moving from horizon to horizon. As I watched, it seemed to slow down. Then the sky grew dark, and the sun disappeared altogether. Moments later, it rose again. I was surprised to see this. The dials did not show that I was slowing It was as if a single day had become thousands of years long. Finally, the sky turned the color of twilight.

我把他们抛在了身后——不是逃离他们，而是穿越时间。 几分钟后，我看了看眼前的表盘。 那只显示着千千万万个日子流逝的指针像手表的秒针一样转动着。 我比以往任何时候都更快地穿越时间。 我开得太快了，白天和黑夜的闪烁变成了均匀的灰光。 但后来，我又困惑地看到了白天和黑夜的闪烁。 太阳在天空中移动得太快了，我看不见。 但不知道为什么，我能看到它从一个地平线移动到另一个地平线。 在我的注视下，它似乎慢了下来。 接着，天空变暗了，太阳完全消失了。 片刻之后，它又升起来了。 看到这个我很惊讶。 表盘没有显示我在慢下来，仿佛一天的时间已经变长了几千年。 最后，天空变成了暮色的颜色。

Even though I was still traveling swiftly into the future, there was no more night and day. The sun sat motionless near the western horizon without rising or setting. It had also grown larger and redder. The moon had disappeared, and the stars shone, even though the sun had not set. Then I realized what was happening. Today, the earth spins around on its axis once every day, so we see the sun and moon move through our sky once every twenty-four hours. But far in the future, the spinning of the earth has slowed and days have become longer. I had reached a point in time when the turning of the planet had slowed to a complete stop. The earth did not spin, and the sun didn't rise or set. I pulled back on the lever very carefully. The hands on the dials slowed until only one was turning—the dial showing the passing of single days. Slowly, the dim outline of a beach grew visible. I pulled the lever back all the way to its starting point and came to a halt.

尽管我仍在快速地向未来旅行，但已经没有黑夜和白昼了。 太阳一动不动地停在西方的地平线上，没有升起也没有落下。 它也变得更大更红了。 虽然太阳还没有落下，但月亮已经不见了，星星在闪烁。 然后我意识到发生了什么。 今天，地球每天绕地轴自转一周，所以我们看到太阳和月亮每24小时在我们的天空中运行一次。 但在遥远的未来，地球的自转速度变慢了，白天也变长了。 我已经到达了一个时间点，那时地球的转动已经完全停止了。 地球没有旋转，太阳也没有升起或落下。 我非常小心地拉回杠杆。 表盘上的指针变慢，直到只有一个指针在转动——表盘显示单个日子的流逝。 慢慢地，一片海滩模糊的轮廓清晰可见。 我把操纵杆拉回到起点，停了下来。

I sat in the Time Machine and gazed out at the new world. To the east, the stars shone in a sky of inky blackness. Overhead, there were no stars and the heavens were a deep red. To the west, the sky was a brilliant scarlet, lit by the sun sitting on the horizon. The ground around the Time Machine was covered with rocks that glowed red in the light. The only plant life was the green moss that covered the rocks. Farther from the machine was a beach that sloped down to the sea. There wasn't a breath of wind, and there were no waves on the surface of the water. The only motion was the slow rise and fall of a gentle swell. A thick crust of salt ringed the water's edge. I felt light-headed and noticed that I was having trouble breathing. I could tell that the air had grown thinner. It was like trying to breathe at the top of a tall mountain. I looked up the beach and saw what looked

我坐在时光机里，凝视着外面的新世界。 在东方，星星在漆黑的天空中闪烁。 头顶上没有星星，天空一片深红色。 西边的天空被地平线上的太阳照得通红。 时间机器周围的地面覆盖着岩石，在阳光下发出红光。 唯一的植物是覆盖在岩石上的绿色苔藓。 离机器更远的地方是一片向大海倾斜的海滩。 没有一丝风，水面上也没有波浪。 唯一的运动是一个缓慢的起伏的海浪。 一层厚厚的盐层环绕着水边。 我感到头晕，并注意到我呼吸困难。 我能感觉到空气变得稀薄了。 就像在一座高山的山顶上呼吸一样。 我抬头看了看海滩，看到了什么

like a huge white butterfly. It darted about through the air and disappeared over a small hill. Then I noticed something moving on the ground nearby. At first, I thought one of the large, flat rocks was moving. Then I saw that it was a giant crab, slowly crawling toward me. Its shell was as wide as a table, and it had many legs. As I watched, it unfolded two big claws from under its body and waved them in the air. The thing raised its long antennae and whipped them about. Its eyes were small black balls sitting on top of stems that stuck up from the shell. The crab's broad back was rough, like the surface of a rock, and was spotted with green moss. Its mouth was an opening near the front edge of the body. There were small pincers on either side of the mouth. The crab probably used those pincers to feed itself. As I stared at the strange creature crawling toward me, I felt a tickling on my cheek. It felt like a fly, and I brushed it away with my hand.

像一只巨大的白蝴蝶。 它在空中飞来飞去，消失在一座小山上。 然后我注意到附近的地上有什么东西在动。 起初，我以为有一块又大又平的岩石在移动。 然后我看到那是一只巨大的螃蟹，慢慢地向我爬来。 它的壳和桌子一样宽，有很多条腿。 在我的注视下，它从身体下面伸出两只大爪子，在空中挥舞着。 那东西抬起长长的触角，甩来甩去。 它的眼睛是黑色的小球，长在从壳上伸出来的茎上。 螃蟹宽阔的背部很粗糙，像一块岩石的表面，上面长满了绿色的苔藓。 它的嘴是靠近身体前端的一个开口。 嘴巴两侧各有小钳子。 螃蟹可能是用这些螯来喂养自己的。 当我盯着这个向我爬来的奇怪生物时，我感到脸颊发痒。 感觉就像一只苍蝇，我用手把它赶走了。

But then I felt another tickle on my ear. I waved at it with my hand and caught something that felt like a piece of string. The string quickly pulled itself from between my fingers. I turned and saw that it was the antenna of another giant crab, climbing up on the outside of the Time Machine. Its eyes wriggled in front of my face, and its mouth pincers moved hungrily. It reached toward me with one of its large, grasping claws. I quickly grabbed the lever and sped a month into the future. Because the crab had been on the outside of the machine, it did not travel through time with me. When I came to a stop, it was gone. But dozens of other crabs crawled along the shoreline in the dim light. As I sat looking at the bleak and barren world of the distant future, I felt a great sense of sadness. The red sky, the dead sea, the giant crabs, and the thin air—everything made me feel hopeless and alone. After a few minutes, I pushed the lever and

但接着我又觉得耳朵上痒痒的。 我用手朝它挥了挥手，抓住了一根感觉像绳子的东西。 绳子很快就从我指间抽出来了。 我转过身，看到那是另一只大螃蟹的天线，正爬上时间机器的外面。 它的眼睛在我面前扭动着，它的嘴钳饥饿地蠕动着。 它伸出一只大爪子向我伸出来。 我迅速抓住操纵杆，加速到一个月后的未来。 因为螃蟹一直在机器的外面，所以它没有和我一起穿越时间。 当我停下来时，它已经不见了。 但还有几十只螃蟹在昏暗的灯光下沿着海岸线爬行。 当我坐在那里，看着遥远未来的荒凉和贫瘠的世界时，我感到一种巨大的悲伤。 红色的天空、死海、巨大的螃蟹和稀薄的空气——这一切都让我感到绝望和孤独。 几分钟后，我按下控制杆，然后