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赫伯特·威尔斯: 现代科幻小说之父(6)

来源:可可英语 编辑:Kelly   可可英语APP下载 |  可可官方微信:ikekenet

Just as baby Anthony cried his way into life, Great Britain was declaring war on Germany.

就在小安东尼呱呱坠地的时候,英国对德国宣战。

World War One was breaking out a conflict that would see many of Wells's most deadly anticipations leap from the page into reality.

第一次世界大战爆发了一场冲突,这使得威尔斯的许多最致命的预期从书中跃入现实。

The writer was not a pacifist.

这位作家不是一个和平主义者。

He wrote a series of passionate articles blaming squarely the central empires for plunging the world into deadly chaos.

他写了一系列充满激情的文章,直指中央帝国将世界拖入致命的混乱。

Only their defeat could put an end to widespread militarism and restore lasting peace on earth.

只有他们的失败才能结束普遍的军国主义,恢复地球上的持久和平。

These articles were later collected in the volume The War that will end the War, in 1914, a book which popularized the phrase, "The war to end all wars" coined by Wells, but later attributed to U.S president Woodrow Wilson.

这些文章后来被收录在1914年出版的《结束战争的战争》一书中,这本书使威尔斯创造的“结束所有战争的战争”这句话广为流传,但后来被认为是美国总统伍德罗·威尔逊的名言。

Wells was too old to join the fight of course but he did serve the war effort.

威尔斯年纪太大,当然不能参战,但他确实为战争效力。

In 1918, he was recruited by the ministry of propaganda where his duty was to draft the war aims of the Triple Entente.

1918年,他被宣传部招募,负责起草《三国协约》的战争目标。

As a supporter of a unified world government to ensure peace, Wells included among these aims the setting up of the League of Nations.

作为一个统一的世界政府以确保和平的支持者,威尔斯的目标包括建立国际联盟。

In the interwar years, this organization proved largely ineffective and its chief proponent became one of its worst critics, not an uncommon pattern in Wells's life.

在两次世界大战之间的年代,这个组织被证明是无效的,它的主要支持者成为它最糟糕的批评者之一,这在威尔斯的生活中并不罕见。

For example, in September and October of 1920, the writer traveled to Moscow to meet Lenin and Trotsky.

例如,1920年9月和10月,作者前往莫斯科会见列宁和托洛茨基。

While initially impressed by the pragmatic energetic action of the Bolsheviks, he later described Russia as a country nearing a state of total collapse.

虽然最初他对布尔什维克的务实而充满活力的行动印象深刻,但后来他把俄罗斯描述为一个接近全面崩溃的国家。

In the same year, Wells published another non-fiction work, The Outline of History, his aim was to describe the whole of human history and how humanity had evolved since its inception.

同年,威尔斯又出版了另一部非小说作品《世界史纲》,他的目标是描述整个人类历史以及人类自诞生以来的发展历程。

The underlying subtext was that the key to peace progress and security were neither nationalism nor revolution but rather education.

潜在的潜台词是,和平进步和安全的关键既不是民族主义,也不是革命,而是教育。

The Outline of History proved incredibly popular bringing Wells new fame and plenty of face time with world leaders throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

事实证明,《世界史纲》这本书非常受欢迎,为威尔斯带来了新的名声,并在20世纪20年代和30年代与世界各国领导人见面的机会也很多。

For example, in 1934 ,he met with Franklin D Roosevelt and later got to interview Joseph Stalin for the magazine, the new statesman.

例如,1934年,他会见了富兰克林·罗斯福,后来又为杂志采访了新政治家约瑟夫·斯大林。

The writer was not impressed by the soviet leader's mental acumen, writing that he "has little of the quick uptake of President Roosevelt and none of the subtlety and tenacity of Lenin."

作者并没有被这位苏联领导人的头脑敏锐所打动,他写道,他“既没有罗斯福总统那样的快速理解能力,也没有列宁那样的敏锐和坚韧”。

"His was not a free impulsive brain or a scientifically organized brain".

“他的大脑既不是自由冲动的大脑,也不是科学组织的大脑”。

"It was a trained Leninist-Marxist brain."

“这是一个训练有素的列宁主义者和马克思主义者的大脑。”

The two disagreed on the present and future of capitalism.

两人对资本主义的现在和未来意见不一。

According to Wells, it was a doomed system which needed to be reformed peacefully to achieve economic justice for all classes.

根据威尔斯的说法,这是一个注定失败的制度,需要和平改革,以实现所有阶级的经济正义。

While Stalin believed that capitalism was still too strong and needed to be violently torn down.

而斯大林认为资本主义仍然过于强大,需要用暴力推翻。

Despite their differences, Wells left the interview with an overall positive impression of the Georgian dictator.

尽管他们之间存在分歧,但在采访结束时,韦尔斯对格鲁吉亚独裁者的印象总体上是正面的。

"I've never met a man more fair,candid and honest"

“我从未见过比他更公平、更坦率、更诚实的人”

Whilst dabbling in the world's current affairs, Bertie did not neglect his more private affairs.

在涉足世界时事的同时,伯蒂并没有忽视他更私人的事情。

It parted ways with Rebecca West in 1923 and his long-suffering wife Jane died of cancer in 1927.

他于1923年与丽贝卡·韦斯特分手,他饱受折磨的妻子简于1927年死于癌症。

But the sprightly 61 year old still yearned for love and quickly started a new relationship with 22 year old Dutch socialist Odette Keun.

但是这位61岁的活泼的老人仍然渴望爱情,并很快与22岁的荷兰社会主义者奥黛特·昆开始了一段新的恋情。

When the affair ended a few years later, Bertie rekindled his acquaintance with an old flame Russian baroness Mora Budberg.

几年后,当恋情结束时,伯蒂与旧情人俄罗斯男爵夫人莫拉·巴德伯格重修旧好。

Mora was an interesting character who had been involved in a failed plot to overthrow Lenin and may have also been an informant for the Bolshevik Secret police,the checker.

莫拉是一个有趣的人物,他参与了一场失败的推翻列宁的阴谋,也可能是布尔什维克秘密警察的线人,也就是检验员。

The two had met in 1920 ,during Wells's visit to Moscow, Mora at the time was the mistress of political activist Maxim Gorky.

两人在1920年威尔斯访问莫斯科时相识,当时莫拉是政治活动家马克西姆·高尔基的情妇。

But Bertie did not seem to mind while they spent a torrid night of love together.

但伯蒂似乎并不介意他们一起度过了一个热恋之夜。

Mora reached London in 1933 and the two became a permanent item.

莫拉在1933年到达伦敦,两人成为了永久的项目。

Wells proposed to Budberg several times unsuccessfully.

威尔斯多次向巴德伯格求婚,但都没有成功。

Nonetheless the Baroness remained by his side until his final days.

尽管如此,男爵夫人一直陪伴在他身边,直到他生命的最后几天。

In that same year, the author published his next great piece of speculative fiction The Shape of Things to Come.

同年,作者出版了他的下一部伟大的思辨小说《未来互联网纾》。

The book depicts a future Second World war kicked off by a Nazi invasion of Poland.

这本书描述了纳粹入侵波兰引发的未来的第二次世界大战。

The planet descends into chaos barbarity and further wars until humanity is rescued by an organization of air pilots.

地球陷入混乱,野蛮和进一步的战争,直到人类被一个飞行员组织拯救。

They establish a worldwide government the benevolent dictatorship of the air which promotes science wipes out religion and initiates the path to a Utopian society.

他们建立了一个世界范围的政府仁慈的空中专政,促进科学,消灭宗教,开辟了通向乌托邦社会的道路。

Wells even adapted the novel into the script of the movie Things to Come directed by William Cameron Menzies in 1936.

威尔斯甚至在1936年将这部小说改编成电影《未来的事》的剧本,该片由威廉·卡梅隆·门西斯执导。

Only three years later, truth proved again to be almost on par with fiction when World War II broke out.

仅仅三年后,当第二次世界大战爆发时,真相再次被证明几乎与虚构一样。

The aging Wells was distraught and dismayed by the nation's will to tear each other apart.

日渐衰老的威尔斯对国家分裂的意愿感到心神不宁和沮丧。

Understandably his outlook on the future of mankind was bleak.

可以理解,他对人类前途的看法是暗淡的。

This would be reflected in his last published work Mind at the End of its Tether of 1945.

这一点在他1945年出版的最后一部作品《心智枯竭》中有所反映。

The short book predicts the inevitable end of humanity doomed to extinction due to its inability to control its own destructive progress.

这本短篇小说预言了人类由于无法控制自身的破坏性发展而注定灭绝的必然结局。

Nonetheless the author still maintained a glimmer of hope which he poured into a grand project. The drafting of an international charter of human rights.

尽管如此,作者仍然怀有一线希望,他把希望倾注到一项宏伟的工程中去。 起草国际人权宪章。

His persistent effort to attract attention on the issue, eventually led to the universal declaration of human rights adopted by the united nations in 1948.

他坚持不懈地努力吸引人们对这一问题的关注,最终促成了1948年联合国通过《世界人权宣言》。

Unfortunately, it'd never reap the deserved acclaim for his project.

不幸的是,他的成就永远得不到应有的赞誉。

On the 13th of August, 1946, one month before his 80th birthday, Herbert George Wells died in his sleep.

1946年8月13日,离他80岁生日还有一个月,赫伯特·乔治·威尔斯在睡梦中去世。

He had wished for his epitaph to be "I told you so, your damned fools",but no words were engraved on his headstone. In fact, he did not get one.

他希望自己的墓志铭是“我早告诉过你了,你这该死的傻瓜”,但他的墓碑上却没有刻上一句话。 事实上,他没有得到一句话。

H.G Wells was cremated and his ashes scattered from an airplane.

威尔斯被火化,他的骨灰从飞机上撒下。

A fitting end.

完美的句点。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
doomed [dumd]

想一想再看

adj. 命中注定的 动词doom的过去式和过去分词

 
fiction ['fikʃən]

想一想再看

n. 虚构,杜撰,小说

联想记忆
bleak [bli:k]

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adj. 萧瑟的,严寒的,阴郁的

联想记忆
describe [dis'kraib]

想一想再看

vt. 描述,画(尤指几何图形),说成

联想记忆
popular ['pɔpjulə]

想一想再看

adj. 流行的,大众的,通俗的,受欢迎的

联想记忆
outline ['əutlain]

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n. 轮廓,大纲
vt. 概述,画出轮廓

联想记忆
pacifist ['pæsifist]

想一想再看

n. 和平主义者 adj. 非战主义的

 
underlying [.ʌndə'laiiŋ]

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adj. 在下面的,基本的,隐含的

联想记忆
current ['kʌrənt]

想一想再看

n. (水、气、电)流,趋势
adj. 流通的

联想记忆
engraved

想一想再看

adj. 被牢记的;被深深印入的 v. 雕刻(engra

 

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