4 The Eloi

CHAPTER 4 The Eloi The man and I looked at each other. He laughed and smiled, and I saw that he was not afraid. He turned to two others behind him. They spoke in a strange but pleasant-sounding language that I did not understand. Others arrived until there were ten of them standing around me. They seemed to be asking

第四章爱洛伊我和那人面面相觑。 他又笑又笑，我看出他并不害怕。 他转向身后的另外两个人。 他们用一种奇怪但听起来很愉快的语言说话，我听不懂。 其他人也来了，直到有十个人站在我周围。 他们似乎在问

me questions. But I didn't say anything. They spoke in such a whisper and acted like such shy little animals, I thought my voice would scare them. The first man stepped forward and touched my hand. Soon they were all gently stroking me. It was as if they wanted to make sure I was real. They crowded around me, but I wasn't afraid. They were like curious children. A small group of them were standing near the Time Machine. They hardly noticed it. But to be safe, I reached into the machine, unscrewed the lever, and put it safely in my pocket. Without the lever, it wouldn't be going anywhere. I took a closer look at the faces of these people of the future. Their mouths were small, and they had thin, red lips. Their little chins were pointed. They had small ears, and their eyes were large. Finally I spoke. In a soft voice, I tried to tell them about myself. I pointed to the machine. I tried to explain, by pointing to the sun, that I was

我的问题。但我什么也没说。 他们说话的声音那么低，表现得像个害羞的小动物，我想我的声音会吓到他们。 第一个人走上前来，摸了摸我的手。 很快，他们都温柔地抚摸着我。 就好像他们想确认我是真实存在的。 他们围着我，但我并不害怕。 他们就像好奇的孩子。 他们中的一小群人站在时间机器附近。 他们几乎没有注意到。但为了安全起见，我把手伸进机器，拧开控制杆，把它安全地放进口袋里。 没有杠杆，它哪儿也去不了。 我仔细看了看这些未来之人的脸。 他们的嘴很小，嘴唇又薄又红。 他们的小下巴是尖尖的。 他们的耳朵很小，眼睛很大。 我终于开口了。我试图用柔和的声音向他们介绍我自己。 我指着那台机器。我试图用手指着太阳来解释，我是

from another time. One of them pointed to the sun, too. Then she made a sound like thunder. I was confused. Was she asking if I had come from the sun in a thunderstorm? I began to think that these creatures were not as advanced as humans of our time. This surprised me. I always imagined that people would become smarter with time. After all, just think how far we have come since we lived in caves. I would have guessed that people from the year eight hundred and two thousand would be far ahead of us in science and art—in every way. But instead, these people thought I had come from the sun. I was filled with disappointment. I felt as if I had built the greatest invention ever, only to discover a disappointing future. One of the people came toward me, laughing. She handed me a necklace made of beautiful flowers, and I put it around my neck. I had never seen this type of blossom before. Everyone smiled and clapped their hands. Then they all

来自另一个时代。其中一个也指向太阳。 然后她发出了雷鸣般的声音。 我很困惑。她是在问我是不是从雷雨天气的太阳下来的吗？ 我开始认为这些生物并不像我们这个时代的人类那么先进。 这让我很吃惊。我总是想象人们会随着时间变得更聪明。 毕竟，想想自从我们住在洞穴里以来，我们已经走了多远。 我猜想，从公元82000年开始的人在科学和艺术各方面都远远领先于我们。 但相反，这些人认为我来自太阳。 我充满了失望。 我觉得我好像创造了有史以来最伟大的发明，却发现了一个令人失望的未来。 其中一个人笑着向我走来。 她递给我一条用美丽的花朵做成的项链，我把它戴在脖子上。 我以前从未见过这种花。 每个人都微笑着鼓掌。 然后他们都

darted into the bushes to gather more flowers. They threw the flowers at me until there was a pile of colorful petals at my feet. Next, they took my hands and led me past the great statue to a large, white building. It had a huge doorway made of carved stone. There were cracks in the doorway and walls that made the building look very old. More people greeted me inside. They danced around me in their bright, colorful robes and

冲进灌木丛去采更多的花。 他们把花扔向我，直到在我的脚边有一堆五颜六色的花瓣。 接着，他们牵着我的手，带我经过那座伟大的雕像，来到一座巨大的白色建筑前。 它有一个巨大的石雕门。 门道和墙壁上有裂缝，使这座建筑看起来很旧。 里面迎接我的人更多了。 他们穿着鲜艳的长袍在我周围跳舞

filled the air with laughter that sounded like singing. I felt out of place in my dark, dirty clothes. We went into a large room with windows of colored glass. The floor was made of white metal, and it was worn where people had walked for so many years. There were tables made of shiny stone. Great piles of fruit sat on the tables. Some of the fruit looked familiar, but some looked very odd. We sat down on cushions around the tables and began to eat the fruit. I was hungry, so I was glad we were eating. There were about a hundred people in the room. They all watched as I ate my meal. The room was beautiful, but it looked old. It looked as if no one had taken care of it. Many of the windows were broken, and the curtains were covered with dust. The corners of some of the tables were broken. After I had eaten, I attempted to learn the

空气中充满了像歌声一样的笑声。 我穿着又黑又脏的衣服，感到很不自在。 我们走进一间大房间，窗户是彩色玻璃做的。 地板是白色的金属做的，在人们走过这么多年的地方已经磨损了。 桌子是用闪闪发光的石头做成的。 桌上放着一堆堆水果。 有些水果看起来很眼熟，但有些却很奇怪。 我们坐在桌子周围的靠垫上，开始吃水果。 我很饿，所以我很高兴我们吃了东西。 房间里大约有一百人。 他们都看着我吃饭。 房间很漂亮，但看起来很旧。 看起来好像没有人照管过它。 许多窗户都破了，窗帘上满是灰尘。 有些桌子的角坏了。 吃过饭后，我试着学习

language of the people of the future. I held up a piece of fruit and tried to get them to tell me its name. They didn't seem to understand and gave me an odd look or laughed. Finally one of them understood what I was trying to do. He said a word and then pointed to the fruit. I tried repeating it, which made them laugh even more. But I kept at it, and soon I could say the names of some of the fruit, along with a handful of other objects. I even discovered that they called themselves Eloi. Next, I tried to get them to tell me their word for eat, but they didn't understand. They soon became bored and wandered off. In fact, after a while, they went back to their tables and ignored me as if I were just another Eloi. So I decided I would go outside and take another look at this world of the future.

语言是未来人民的语言。 我举起一块水果，试图让他们告诉我它的名字。 他们似乎不明白，用奇怪的眼神看着我，或者笑了。 终于有一个人明白了我的意图。 他说了一句话，然后指着水果。 我试着重复，这让他们笑得更厉害了。 但我一直在做，很快我就能说出一些水果的名字，以及其他一些东西的名字。 我甚至发现他们自称埃洛伊人。 接下来，我试着让他们告诉我吃的单词，但他们不明白。 他们很快就厌倦了，走了。 事实上，过了一段时间，他们回到自己的桌子上，无视我，好像我只是另一个埃洛伊人。 所以我决定走出去，再看看这个未来的世界。