🔊 I have already told you of the sickness and confusion that comes with time travelling. And this time I was not seated properly in the saddle, but sideways and in an unstable fashion. For an indefinite time I clung to the machine as it swayed and vibrated, quite unheeding how I went, and when I brought myself to look at the dials again I was amazed to find where I had arrived. One dial records days, and another thousands of days, another millions of days, and another thousands of millions. Now, instead of reversing the levers, I had pulled them over so as to go forward with them, and when I came to look at these indicators I found that the thousands hand was sweeping round as fast as the seconds hand of a watch-into futurity.

我已向你们述说过时间旅行带来的晕眩与混乱。而这一次,我并未端坐鞍上,而是侧身以不稳的姿势。机器摇摆震颤,我紧抓不放,浑然不知去向,过了不知多久才定神查看仪表,惊觉自己抵达了何方。一个仪表记录天数,另一个记录千日,又一个记录百万日,再一个记录数十亿日。这次我没有反转操纵杆,而是将它们向前推去,使机器继续前行；待我细看这些指示器时,发现千日指针正以手表秒针般的速度飞旋--奔向未来。

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indefinite /ɪnˈdefɪnət/

adj. 不确定的；模糊的；无限期的➕

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amazed /əˈmeɪzd/

adj. 惊奇的；吃惊的➕

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futurity /fjuːˈtʃʊərəti/

n. 未来；将来；后世➕

🔊 As I drove on, a peculiar change crept over the appearance of things. The palpitating greyness grew darker; then-though I was still travelling with prodigious velocity-the blinking succession of day and night, which was usually indicative of a slower pace, returned, and grew more and more marked. This puzzled me very much at first. The alternations of night and day grew slower and slower, and so did the passage of the sun across the sky, until they seemed to stretch through centuries. At last a steady twilight brooded over the earth, a twilight only broken now and then when a comet glared across the darkling sky. The band of light that had indicated the sun had long since disappeared; for the sun had ceased to set-it simply rose and fell in the west, and grew ever broader and more red. All trace of the moon had vanished. The circling of the stars, growing slower and slower, had given place to creeping points of light. At last, some time before I stopped, the sun, red and very large, halted motionless upon the horizon, a vast dome glowing with a dull heat, and now and then suffering a momentary extinction. At one time it had for a little while glowed more brilliantly again, but it speedily reverted to its sullen red heat. I perceived by this slowing down of its rising and setting that the work of the tidal drag was done. The earth had come to rest with one face to the sun, even as in our own time the moon faces the earth. Very cautiously, for I remembered my former headlong fall, I began to reverse my motion. Slower and slower went the circling hands until the thousands one seemed motionless and the daily one was no longer a mere mist upon its scale. Still slower, until the dim outlines of a desolate beach grew visible.

我继续前行,周遭事物的面貌逐渐发生奇特的变化。悸动的灰暗愈发深沉；接着--尽管我仍以惊人速度行进--昼夜交替的闪烁重现,且日益显著,这本是速度减缓的征兆。起初这令我大惑不解。日夜更替越来越慢,太阳横越天空的轨迹也愈发迟缓,仿佛延绵数个世纪。最终,一片恒久的暮色笼罩大地,唯有彗星偶尔划破昏暗天穹时,才打破这沉寂。标示太阳的光带早已消失；太阳不再落下--它只在西方升降,变得愈发庞大赤红。月亮的踪迹全然不见。星辰的环绕日益缓慢,化作蠕动的光点。终于,在我停下之前,那赤红巨硕的太阳静止在地平线上,如一顶灼热的暗红穹顶,不时短暂熄灭。它曾一度重新焕发明亮,但迅即恢复阴郁的赤热。从它升降的减缓,我意识到潮汐拖曳的作用已完成。地球已静止,一面永向太阳,正如现今月亮永向地球。我小心翼翼--想起先前那次莽撞坠落--开始逆转行进。指针的旋转渐缓,千日指针看似静止,日指针也不再是刻度上的薄雾。速度更慢,直至荒凉海滩的朦胧轮廓浮现眼前。

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peculiar /pɪˈkjuːliər/

adj. 奇怪的；特有的；独特的➕

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velocity /vəˈlɒsəti/

n. 速度；速率➕

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indicative /ɪnˈdɪkətɪv/

adj. 指示的；表示的；象征的➕

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desolate /ˈdesələt/

adj. 荒凉的；荒芜的；孤独的➕

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cautiously /ˈkɔːʃəsli/

adv. 谨慎地；小心地➕

🔊 I stopped very gently and sat upon the Time Machine, looking round. The sky was no longer blue. North-eastward it was inky black, and out of the blackness shone brightly and steadily the pale white stars. Overhead it was a deep Indian red and starless, and south-eastward it grew brighter to a glowing scarlet where, cut by the horizon, lay the huge hull of the sun, red and motionless. The rocks about me were of a harsh reddish colour, and all the trace of life that I could see at first was the intensely green vegetation that covered every projecting point on their south-eastern face. It was the same rich green that one sees on forest moss or on the lichen in caves: plants which like these grow in a perpetual twilight.

我缓缓停下,坐在时间机器上环顾四周。天空不再湛蓝。东北方墨黑如漆,漆黑中闪烁着苍白星辰,明亮而稳定。头顶是深沉的印第安红,不见星斗；东南方渐亮至炽烈的猩红,地平线处横亘着太阳庞大的舰体,赤红静止。周遭岩石呈刺目的淡红色,我最初能辨识的生命痕迹,唯有覆盖岩石东南面每个凸起处的浓绿植被。那绿意丰润如林间苔藓或洞中地衣:此类植物生长在永恒的暮色里。

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harsh /hɑːʃ/

adj. 刺耳的；粗糙的；严厉的➕

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vegetation /ˌvedʒəˈteɪʃn/

n. 植被；植物；草木➕

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perpetual /pəˈpetʃuəl/

adj. 永久的；持续的；不间断的➕

🔊 The machine was standing on a sloping beach. The sea stretched away to the south-west, to rise into a sharp bright horizon against the wan sky. There were no breakers and no waves, for not a breath of wind was stirring. Only a slight oily swell rose and fell like a gentle breathing, and showed that the eternal sea was still moving and living. And along the margin where the water sometimes broke was a thick incrustation of salt-pink under the lurid sky. There was a sense of oppression in my head, and I noticed that I was breathing very fast. The sensation reminded me of my only experience of mountaineering, and from that I judged the air to be more rarefied than it is now.

机器停在一处倾斜的海滩上。大海向西南延伸,在苍白天幕下形成一道鲜明亮丽的地平线。没有碎浪,没有波涛,因无一丝风动。唯有轻微的油滑起伏如轻柔呼吸,昭示永恒之海仍在涌动生存。水边偶有浪花之处,在阴沉天空下积着厚厚的粉盐结壳。我头脑感到压抑,察觉自己呼吸急促。这感觉令我想起唯一一次登山经历,由此判断空气比现今更为稀薄。

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eternal /ɪˈtɜːnl/

adj. 永恒的；永久的；不朽的➕

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oppression /əˈpreʃn/

n. 压迫；压制；压抑➕

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rarefied /ˈreərɪfaɪd/

adj. 稀薄的；精炼的；高雅的➕

🔊 Far away up the desolate slope I heard a harsh scream, and saw a thing like a huge white butterfly go slanting and fluttering up into the sky and, circling, disappear over some low hillocks beyond. The sound of its voice was so dismal that I shivered and seated myself more firmly upon the machine. Looking round me again, I saw that, quite near, what I had taken to be a reddish mass of rock was moving slowly towards me. Then I saw the thing was really a monstrous crab-like creature. Can you imagine a crab as large as yonder table, with its many legs moving slowly and uncertainly, its big claws swaying, its long antennæ, like carters’ whips, waving and feeling, and its stalked eyes gleaming at you on either side of its metallic front? Its back was corrugated and ornamented with ungainly bosses, and a greenish incrustation blotched it here and there. I could see the many palps of its complicated mouth flickering and feeling as it moved.

远处荒坡上传来刺耳尖啸,我看见一物如巨大白蝶斜掠振翅升空,盘旋着消失在彼处低丘后方。其声凄厉,令我颤栗,更紧坐于机器上。再次环顾,发现近处一团淡红岩块正缓缓移来。细看才知那实为一只巨蟹般的怪物。你能想象一只蟹大如远方案桌吗？多足缓慢迟疑地移动,大螯摇摆,长触角如车夫鞭般挥动探触,柄眼在金属般前额两侧闪烁盯视？其背嶙峋,饰以笨拙凸起,绿锈斑驳。移动时,复杂口器上的众多触须不停颤动探察。

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dismal /ˈdɪzml/

adj. 阴沉的；凄凉的；沮丧的➕

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monstrous /ˈmɒnstrəs/

adj. 巨大的；怪异的；可怕的➕

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corrugated /ˈkɒrəɡeɪtɪd/

adj. 起皱的；波纹状的；有瓦楞的➕

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ungainly /ʌnˈɡeɪnli/

adj. 笨拙的；难看的；不雅的➕

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flickering /ˈflɪkərɪŋ/

adj. 闪烁的；摇曳的；忽隐忽现的➕

🔊 As I stared at this sinister apparition crawling towards me, I felt a tickling on my cheek as though a fly had lighted there. I tried to brush it away with my hand, but in a moment it returned, and almost immediately came another by my ear. I struck at this, and caught something threadlike. It was drawn swiftly out of my hand. With a frightful qualm, I turned, and I saw that I had grasped the antenna of another monster crab that stood just behind me. Its evil eyes were wriggling on their stalks, its mouth was all alive with appetite, and its vast ungainly claws, smeared with an algal slime, were descending upon me. In a moment my hand was on the lever, and I had placed a month between myself and these monsters. But I was still on the same beach, and I saw them distinctly now as soon as I stopped. Dozens of them seemed to be crawling here and there, in the sombre light, among the foliated sheets of intense green.

我正盯着这凶兆般的怪物爬来,忽觉脸颊发痒,似有飞蝇停落。我挥手驱赶,但片刻它又回来,几乎同时耳畔又来一物。我击打它,抓住了线状东西。它迅即从我手中抽走。一阵恶心恐惧,我转身看见自己抓住了另一只巨蟹的触角,它就站在我身后。它邪恶的眼睛在柄上蠕动,口器贪婪开合,沾满藻泥的笨巨大螯正向我罩下。刹那间我手触操纵杆,将自己与这些怪物隔开了一个月。但我仍在这片海滩,一停下便清晰看见它们。昏暗光线下,数十只怪物在浓绿叶状植被间四处爬行。

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sinister /ˈsɪnɪstər/

adj. 不祥的；邪恶的；阴险的➕

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apparition /ˌæpəˈrɪʃn/

n. 幽灵；幻影；鬼怪➕

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qualm /kwɑːm/

n. 疑虑；不安；良心责备➕

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sombre /ˈsɒmbər/

adj. 阴沉的；暗淡的；忧郁的➕

🔊 I cannot convey the sense of abominable desolation that hung over the world. The red eastern sky, the northward blackness, the salt Dead Sea, the stony beach crawling with these foul, slow-stirring monsters, the uniform poisonous-looking green of the lichenous plants, the thin air that hurts one’s lungs: all contributed to an appalling effect. I moved on a hundred years, and there was the same red sun-a little larger, a little duller-the same dying sea, the same chill air, and the same crowd of earthy crustacea creeping in and out among the green weed and the red rocks. And in the westward sky, I saw a curved pale line like a vast new moon.

我无法言传笼罩世界的可憎荒凉。东方赤红天空、北方漆黑、盐渍死海、爬满污秽缓动怪物的石滩、地衣植物均匀的毒绿色、伤肺的稀薄空气:无不构成骇人景象。我又前行百年,仍是那轮红日--略大些,略暗些--同样的垂死之海,同样凛冽空气,同样一群土色甲壳动物在绿藻红岩间爬进爬出。西方天际,我看见一道苍白弧线,宛如巨大的新月。

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abominable /əˈbɒmɪnəbl/

adj. 可恶的；讨厌的；极坏的➕

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foul /faʊl/

adj. 污秽的；恶劣的；犯规的➕

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appalling /əˈpɔːlɪŋ/

adj. 骇人听闻的；可怕的；极糟的➕

🔊 So I travelled, stopping ever and again, in great strides of a thousand years or more, drawn on by the mystery of the earth’s fate, watching with a strange fascination the sun grow larger and duller in the westward sky, and the life of the old earth ebb away. At last, more than thirty million years hence, the huge red-hot dome of the sun had come to obscure nearly a tenth part of the darkling heavens. Then I stopped once more, for the crawling multitude of crabs had disappeared, and the red beach, save for its livid green liverworts and lichens, seemed lifeless. And now it was flecked with white. A bitter cold assailed me. Rare white flakes ever and again came eddying down. To the north-eastward, the glare of snow lay under the starlight of the sable sky, and I could see an undulating crest of hillocks pinkish white. There were fringes of ice along the sea margin, with drifting masses farther out; but the main expanse of that salt ocean, all bloody under the eternal sunset, was still unfrozen.

我就这样旅行,不时停下,以千年或更长的跨度前进,被地球命运的奥秘牵引,着迷般凝视太阳在西方天空愈大愈暗,古老地球的生命渐次衰微。终于,三千多万年后,太阳的赤热巨穹已遮蔽了近十分之一的昏暗天宇。我再次停下,因爬行的蟹群已消失,赤红海滩除却惨绿苔藓地衣,似无生机。如今它点缀着白色。酷寒袭来。稀薄雪片不时飘旋而下。东北方,黢黑天幕的星光下覆着雪光,我能看见波状丘脊泛着粉白。海边镶着冰缘,远处漂着浮冰；但那盐海主体在永恒夕照下殷红如血,仍未冻结。

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fascination /ˌfæsɪˈneɪʃn/

n. 魅力；迷恋；强烈兴趣➕

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ebb /eb/

v. 衰退；减退；退潮➕

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obscure /əbˈskjʊər/

v. 掩盖；使模糊；使难理解➕

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livid /ˈlɪvɪd/

adj. 青灰色的；愤怒的；瘀伤的➕

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undulating /ˈʌndjʊleɪtɪŋ/

adj. 波动的；起伏的；波浪形的➕

🔊 I looked about me to see if any traces of animal life remained. A certain indefinable apprehension still kept me in the saddle of the machine. But I saw nothing moving, in earth or sky or sea. The green slime on the rocks alone testified that life was not extinct. A shallow sandbank had appeared in the sea and the water had receded from the beach. I fancied I saw some black object flopping about upon this bank, but it became motionless as I looked at it, and I judged that my eye had been deceived, and that the black object was merely a rock. The stars in the sky were intensely bright and seemed to me to twinkle very little.

我环顾四周,探寻是否还有动物生命的踪迹。一种莫名的忧惧让我仍坐于机器鞍上。但陆海空皆无物移动。唯有岩石上的绿泥证明生命未绝。海中浮现一片浅沙洲,海水已从海滩退去。我仿佛看见沙洲上有黑色物体扑腾,但细看时它静止了,我断定自己看花了眼,那黑物仅是岩石。天上星辰异常明亮,在我看来几乎不闪烁。

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apprehension /ˌæprɪˈhenʃn/

n. 忧虑；担心；逮捕➕

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extinct /ɪkˈstɪŋkt/

adj. 灭绝的；熄灭的；绝种的➕

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twinkle /ˈtwɪŋkl/

v. 闪烁；闪耀；眨眼➕

🔊 Suddenly I noticed that the circular westward outline of the sun had changed; that a concavity, a bay, had appeared in the curve. I saw this grow larger. For a minute perhaps I stared aghast at this blackness that was creeping over the day, and then I realised that an eclipse was beginning. Either the moon or the planet Mercury was passing across the sun’s disk. Naturally, at first I took it to be the moon, but there is much to incline me to believe that what I really saw was the transit of an inner planet passing very near to the earth.

突然,我注意到太阳西缘的圆形轮廓变了；曲线中出现一处凹陷,一个缺口。我看见它逐渐扩大。或许有一分钟,我惊愕地盯着这侵吞白昼的黑暗,随即意识到日食开始了。不是月亮就是行星水星正掠过日面。自然,起初我以为是月亮,但许多迹象让我倾向于相信,我所见实为一颗内行星非常接近地球时的凌日现象。

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eclipse /ɪˈklɪps/

n. 日食；月食；黯然失色➕

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transit /ˈtrænzɪt/

n. 运输；通过；中转➕

🔊 The darkness grew apace; a cold wind began to blow in freshening gusts from the east, and the showering white flakes in the air increased in number. From the edge of the sea came a ripple and whisper. Beyond these lifeless sounds the world was silent. Silent? It would be hard to convey the stillness of it. All the sounds of man, the bleating of sheep, the cries of birds, the hum of insects, the stir that makes the background of our lives-all that was over. As the darkness thickened, the eddying flakes grew more abundant, dancing before my eyes; and the cold of the air more intense. At last, one by one, swiftly, one after the other, the white peaks of the distant hills vanished into blackness. The breeze rose to a moaning wind. I saw the black central shadow of the eclipse sweeping towards me. In another moment the pale stars alone were visible. All else was rayless obscurity. The sky was absolutely black.

黑暗迅速蔓延；寒风自东刮来,愈发凛冽,空中飞舞的白絮增多。海边传来涟漪低语。除此无生之音,世界一片寂静。寂静？难以描述那死寂。人类的一切声响,羊咩、鸟鸣、虫嗡,构成我们生活背景的窸窣--全都消逝了。黑暗渐浓,旋舞的雪片更密,在我眼前纷飞；空气愈加酷寒。终于,远处白色峰峦逐一迅速没入黑暗。微风增强为呜咽的风。我看见日食的中央黑影向我扫来。顷刻间,唯余苍白星辰可见。其余一切陷入无光的幽冥。天空彻底漆黑。

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apace /əˈpeɪs/

adv. 快速地；急速地➕

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abundant /əˈbʌndənt/

adj. 丰富的；充裕的；大量的➕

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obscurity /əbˈskjʊərəti/

n. 晦涩；无名；模糊➕

🔊 A horror of this great darkness came on me. The cold, that smote to my marrow, and the pain I felt in breathing, overcame me. I shivered, and a deadly nausea seized me. Then like a red-hot bow in the sky appeared the edge of the sun. I got off the machine to recover myself. I felt giddy and incapable of facing the return journey. As I stood sick and confused I saw again the moving thing upon the shoal-there was no mistake now that it was a moving thing-against the red water of the sea. It was a round thing, the size of a football perhaps, or, it may be, bigger, and tentacles trailed down from it; it seemed black against the weltering blood-red water, and it was hopping fitfully about. Then I felt I was fainting. But a terrible dread of lying helpless in that remote and awful twilight sustained me while I clambered upon the saddle.

对这巨大黑暗的恐惧攫住了我。刺骨严寒与呼吸之痛将我击垮。我颤抖,一阵致命恶心袭来。随后,太阳边缘如红热弯弓浮现天际。我下机器以恢复神志。感到眩晕,无力面对归程。我病态恍惚地站着,又看见沙洲上那移动之物--如今确定它是活物--映在殷红海水上。它呈圆形,约足球大小,或许更大,垂下触手；在翻腾的血红水面上显得漆黑,且不定时地跳跃。接着我感到自己即将昏厥。但对无助倒在那遥远可怖暮色中的极度恐惧支撑着我,爬回了鞍座。

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nausea /ˈnɔːziə/

n. 恶心；晕船；厌恶➕

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giddy /ˈɡɪdi/

adj. 头晕的；眩晕的；轻浮的➕

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tentacles /ˈtentəklz/

n. 触手；触角；触须➕

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dread /dred/

n. 恐惧；畏惧；担心➕

Chapter fourteen: The Further Vision (第十四章:更深远的景象)

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