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Imagine, if you can, a small room, hexagonal in shape, like the cell of a bee.
要是可能的话，你可以想像一个小小的房间，六角形的，像一只蜜蜂的巢孔。
It is lighted neither by window nor by lamp, yet it is filled with a soft radiance.
它既不是借着窗子、也不是借着灯光照明，可是房间里充满着一种柔和的光辉。
There are no apertures for ventilation, yet the air is fresh.
那里没有调节空气的设备，空气却是清新的。
There are no musical instruments, and yet, at the moment that my meditation opens, this room is throbbing with melodious sounds.
那里没有什么乐器，可是当我开始沉思时，这个房间里却抑扬着音乐的旋律。
An armchair is in the centre, by its side a reading-desk-that is all the furniture.
一把扶手椅立在房间的中央，旁边是一张书桌——那就是全部家具了。
And in the armchair there sits a swaddled lump of flesh-a woman, about five feet high, with a face as white as a fungus.
在那把扶手椅里，坐着一个用布裹着的笨重而又呆滞的人——这是一个女人，大约五英尺高，有一张像蘑菇那样白的脸。
It is to her that the little room belongs.
这个小房间就是属于她的。
An electric bell rang.
电铃响了起来。
The woman touched a switch and the music was silent.
这个女人摸了一个开关，音乐便沉寂下来。
"I suppose I must see who it is", she thought, and set her chair in motion.
我想我一定得看看到底是谁，她心里想着，并让她的扶手椅动了起来。
The chair, like the music, was worked by machinery and it rolled her to the other side of the room where the bell still rang importunately.
这把扶手椅像音乐一样，也是由机器操纵的，它把她转动到房间的另一端，在那里，电铃仍在继续不断地响着。
"Who is it?" she called.
“谁呀？”她大声喊道。
Her voice was irritable, for she had been interrupted often since the music began.
她的语调是不耐烦的，因为自从音乐开奏以来，她已经被打断好几次了。
She knew several thousand people, in certain directions human intercourse had advanced enormously.
她认识几千个人，在某几个方面，人的通讯交往已经大大进步了。
But when she listened into the receiver, her white face wrinkled into smiles, and she said: "Very well. Let us talk, I will isolate myself.
但她一听到受话器里的话音，她那张白脸便皱得满面笑容，随后说道：“好极了，让我们谈谈吧。我这就把自己隔绝起来。
I do not expect anything important will happen for the next five minutes-for I can give you fully five minutes, Kuno.
我希望在今后五分钟内不会有什么重要的事情发生——因为我可以给你整整五分钟，基诺。
Then I must deliver my lecture on "Music during the Australian Period"."
然后我必须作演讲，讲‘奥地利时期的音乐’。”
She touched the isolation knob, so that no one else could speak to her.
她转了一下隔绝旋钮，这样就没有什么别人再能够同她说话了。
Then she touched the lighting apparatus, and the little room was plunged into darkness.
随后她按了一下照明设备，这个小小房间立刻沉入一片黑暗里。
"Be quick!" She called, her irritation returning.
“快点！”她大声叫着，她那不耐烦的劲头又来了。
"Be quick, Kuno; here I am in the dark wasting my time."
“快点啊，基诺；现在我正在黑暗里浪费我的时间哩。”
But it was fully fifteen seconds before the round plate that she held in her hands began to glow.
但整整过了十五秒钟，她拿在手里的那个圆盘才开始发光。
A faint blue light shot across it, darkening to purple, and presently she could see the image of her son, who lived on the other side of the earth, and he could see her.
一道微弱的蓝光闪过圆盘，然后逐渐暗下来变成紫色，她立即能够看见她儿子的形象。他住在地球的另一面，他也能够看见她。
"Kuno, how slow you are." He smiled gravely.
“基诺，你是多么慢啊！”他带着严肃的神情微笑着。
"I really believe you enjoy dawdling."
“我简直相信你就是高兴慢慢吞吞的。”
"I have called you before, mother, but you were always busy or isolated. I have something particular to say."
“我在这以前就给您打过电话了，母亲，可是您总是在忙，要不然，就是隔绝着。我有点特别的事想说。”
"What is it, dearest boy? Be quick. Why could you not send it by pneumatic post?"
“什么事，最亲爱的孩子？快说吧。为什么你不可以通过气动邮务拍报给我呢？”
"Because I prefer saying such a thing. I want—"
“因为像这样一件事，我愿意亲口说。我想要——”
"Well?"
“怎么？”
"I want you to come and see me."
“我想要您来看看我。”
