牛津書蟲系列 化學秘密 5 The new experiment

5 The new experiment

5 新實驗

A few days later，John asked Mary to look at another experiment.He took her into a long，quiet room at the back of the factory.The room was full of the noises of small animals.

幾天以后，約翰讓瑪麗去觀看另一個實驗。他將她帶進工廠后面一個僻靜的長屋子里。屋子里充滿小動物的叫聲。

'I've been testing the waste products，'he said.'Here，look at this.'He gave her a sheet of paper.'Some of these rats have had the waste products in their food and drinking water.There's no real problem yet. One or two have become ill，but not many.There's nothing very serious.'

“我一直在測試這些廢料，”他說，“看這東西。”他遞給她一張紙。“這其中一些老鼠已經食用了攙有廢料的食物和飲用水。還沒有出現(xiàn)真正的問題。有一兩只已經病了，但不多。情況不是很嚴重。”

Mary read the results carefully.She didn't like this kind of experiment，but she knew it was necessary. And John was right;no rats had died，and not very many were ill.

瑪麗仔細地讀著實驗結果。她不喜歡這種實驗，但是她知道這有必要。而且約翰是對的。還沒有老鼠死亡，生病的也不多。

'So what do you want to show me?'she asked.

“那么你想證明什么?”她問。

'This，'he said.He opened a box by the window.'These ten rats have had the waste products in their drinking water for two weeks now. I gave them a lot—five parts per million.They're going to have babies today.If the babies are OK， we've got nothing to worry about.'

“這一點，”他說。他打開靠近窗戶的一個箱子。“這10只老鼠喝了攙有廢料的水到現(xiàn)在已經有兩個星期了。我給了它們許多——一百萬分之五。它們今天要下小崽兒了。如果它們的小崽兒沒問題，我們就不用擔心了。”

'Oh，John，'she said.'What an awful thing to do!'

“哦，約翰，”她說，“做這樣的事真可怕。”

'I know，I know，'he said. But he wasn't listening.'Look，'he said excitedly.'Some of them have been born al-ready!'

“我知道，我知道，”他說。但他并沒有在聽。“看呀，”他興奮地說，“有些已經生下了。”

He lifted some of the baby rats out of the box and looked at them through a magnifying glass.

他從箱子里提出幾只鼠崽兒，用放大鏡觀看它們。

'Oh dear，'he said at last， sadly.Perhaps there is a prob-lem.Look!'

“哦，我的天啊，”他最后懊喪地說，“也許有問題。你瞧!”

Mary looked through the magnifying glass.She began to feel ill.There was a long silence.

瑪麗透過放大鏡觀看。她開始感到不好受。沉默了很長一段。

'There certainly is a problem!'mary's voice sounded loud and high in the quiet room.She stared at the small animals under the magnifying glass.'Baby rats with no eyes，no ears，six leqs!Oh John!John!What have you done?'

“絕對有問題。”瑪麗的聲音在寂靜的屋子里顯得又響又亮。她盯著放大鏡下面的小動物。鼠崽兒沒有眼睛，沒有耳朵，6條腿!“哎!約翰呀約翰!你都干了些什么?”

He looked at her strangely.'It's awful，isn't it?But I had to know. And remember， Mary—their mothers have had five parts per million of these chemicals in their drinking water for two weeks.That's a lot—much，much more than we're putting in the river.'

他奇怪地望著她。“很糟糕，是吧?但我必須知道。要記住，瑪麗——它們的母親是喝了兩個星期的摻有百萬分之五的這些化學物質的水。那是很大量的，遠遠超過我們放入河中的。”

Mary looked away from the rats.She remembered the beau-tiful afternoon that they had spent with John's children，sail-ing on the clear blue water.'John，these waste products are dangerous!'she said.'We've got to stop putting them in the river!'

瑪麗的視線離開老鼠。她想起了和約翰的孩子們共度的美好下午，航行在清澈碧藍的河水里。“約翰，這些廢料有危險!”她說。“我們必須停止向河中傾倒。”

'Of course，of course.'John put his hand on her arm， to comfort her.But it was the same hand—the hand that had held the rats.'Of course we'll stop it，if we need to，Mary.The company can build machines to clean the waste products.I'll start my report for David Wilson next week.'

“當然，當然。”約翰將手放在她的臂上，安慰著她。然而就是這同一只手曾拿過老鼠。“如果需要，我們當然會停止這樣做，瑪麗。公司會制造出機器去清理廢料。下星期我給大衛(wèi)·威爾遜起草一個報告。”

'But…'she turned round to face him.His hand fell from her arm.'Don't you think we should stop making the paint now，John?Perhaps it'll take years to build those machines，and we're putting the chemicals into the river right now!'

“但是……”她轉過身面對著他。他的手從她的臂上落下來。“約翰，你不認為我們應該現(xiàn)在就停止制造這種油漆嗎?也許要花幾年時間去制造那些機器，而我們現(xiàn)在正在往河里傾倒化學物品!”

A shadow crossed his face.His eyes looked at hers，then away， out of the window.

一個陰影從他臉上掠過。他雙眼注視著她的雙眼，然后移開，向窗外望去。

'I… don't think we need to do that now，Mary. We're putting very little into the river at the moment.And the com-pany will build those machines，won't they?'

“我……不認為我們現(xiàn)在就需要這樣做，瑪麗。目前我們只是放入河里一點點。再說公司會制造出那些機器的，對嗎?”

She remembered her long years of work，the hundreds of unsuccessful experiments.She touched his hand，and smiled.'I hope so，John，'she said.'I really hope so.'

她回憶起多年的工作，上百次失敗的實驗。她觸摸著他的手笑了。她說，“我希望如此。我真的希望如此。”

She turned，and went quickly out of the room.

她轉身飛快地走出屋子。