by Ray Bradbury烏蕪 譯

2026年8月：細(xì)雨將至

August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains

by Ray Bradbury烏蕪 譯

雷·布拉德伯里(Ray Bradbury，1920—2012)，世界公認(rèn)的科幻大師，曾獲世界奇幻文學(xué)協(xié)會(huì)終生成就獎(jiǎng)、美國科幻小說作家協(xié)會(huì)大師獎(jiǎng)等眾多獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)。布拉德伯里一生創(chuàng)作了數(shù)百篇短篇小說，出版近五十本書，還寫了大量的詩歌、隨筆、歌劇、戲劇、影視劇本。

《2026年8月：細(xì)雨將至》是布拉德伯里的經(jīng)典短篇科幻故事集《火星紀(jì)事》（The Martian Chronicles）的其中一篇，講述了在2026年8月的一天，一座自動(dòng)化房子從井然有序走向滅亡的故事。房子里空無一人，房子卻如常發(fā)出指令，按照固定程序?yàn)樵缫巡粡?fù)存在的主人服務(wù)，而房子最后也消亡在一場(chǎng)大火中。通過故事的各種細(xì)節(jié)描寫，讀者會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)一個(gè)可怕的事實(shí)：人類已經(jīng)在一場(chǎng)核戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中滅亡了。該故事寫于1950年，當(dāng)時(shí)二戰(zhàn)才結(jié)束不久，美國在日本投放的兩顆原子彈的威力給世人留下了可怕的印象。作者通過這個(gè)故事告誡人類要警惕核戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)，并諷刺了人類對(duì)于科技的過度依賴。本期節(jié)選了該故事的前半部分，讓我們一起來細(xì)細(xì)品讀。

In the living room the voice-clock sang, Tick-tock, seven o’clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o’clock! as if it were afraid that nobody would. The morning house lay empty. The clock ticked on, repeating and repeating its sounds into the emptiness. Seven-nine, breakfast time, seven-nine!

In the kitchen the breakfast stove gave a hissing sigh and1)ejected from its warm interior eight pieces of perfectly browned toast, eight eggs sunnyside up, sixteen slices of bacon, two coffees, and two cool glasses of milk.

“Today is August 4, 2026,” said a second voice from the kitchen ceiling, “in the city of Allendale, California.”It repeated the date three times for memory’s sake. “Today is Mr. Featherstone’s birthday. Today is the anniversary of Tilita’s marriage. Insurance is payable, as are the water, gas, and light bills.”

客廳里，人聲鬧鐘高聲響起，滴答，七點(diǎn)了，該起床了，該起床了，七點(diǎn)了！仿佛害怕沒人會(huì)起床似的。早上，房子里空無一人。鬧鐘繼續(xù)滴答滴答地行走，在空蕩蕩的房間里一遍遍回響著。七點(diǎn)九分了，早餐時(shí)間到了，七點(diǎn)九分了！

廚房里，早餐機(jī)響起了嘶的一聲，接著，熱烘烘的機(jī)器里便彈出八塊火候正好的棕色面包，八個(gè)單煎一面的荷包蛋，16片培根，兩杯咖啡和兩杯常溫牛奶。

“今天是2026年8月4日，”廚房的天花板上傳來第二個(gè)聲音，“加利福尼亞州艾倫代爾市?！睘榱俗屓擞涀?，這個(gè)聲音把日期重復(fù)了三遍?！敖裉焓琴M(fèi)瑟斯通先生的生日。今天是提莉塔的結(jié)婚周年紀(jì)念日。今天該交保險(xiǎn)費(fèi)了，還有水費(fèi)、煤氣費(fèi)和電費(fèi)?！?/p>

1) eject [?'d?ekt] v. 彈射出

2) relay ['ri?le?] n. 繼電器，對(duì)細(xì)小的電流或者電壓起反應(yīng)，在電路中起動(dòng)開關(guān)或其他裝置的裝置

3) tread [tred] n. 行走，踏步

4) chime [t?a?m] v. 鳴， 敲出和諧的聲音

5) shrivel ['?r?vl] v. （使）起皺紋，（使）枯萎

6) scrape [skre?p] n. 刮，擦

7) warren ['w?r?n] n. 擁擠的地方

8) dart [dɑ?t] v. 突然快速地移動(dòng)

9) acrawl [?'kr??l] adj. 爬行的，擁擠的

10) thud [θ?d] v. 發(fā)出砰聲

11) knead [ni?d] v. 揉，捏

12) nap [n?p] n. 絨毛

13) burrow ['b?r??] n. 洞穴

Somewhere in the walls,2)relays clicked, memory tapes glided under electric eyes.

Eight-one, tick-tock, eight-one o’clock, off to school, off to work, run, run, eight-one! But no doors slammed, no carpets took the soft3)tread of rubber heels. It was raining outside. The weather box on the front door sang quietly:“Rain, rain, go away; rubbers, raincoats for today…”And the rain tapped on the empty house, echoing. Outside, the garage4)chimed and lifted its door to reveal the waiting car. After a long while the door swung down again.

At eight-thirty the eggs were5)shriveled and the toast was like stone. An aluminum wedge6)scraped them into the sink, where hot water whirled them down a metal throat which digested and fushed them away to the distant sea. The dirty dishes were dropped into a hot washer and emerged twinkling dry.

Nine-ffteen, sang the clock, time to clean.

Out of7)warrens in the wall, tiny robot mice8)darted. The rooms were9)acrawl with the small cleaning animals, all rubber and metal. They10)thudded against chairs, whirling their mustached runners,11)kneading the rug12)nap, sucking gently at hidden dust. Then, like mysterious invaders, they popped into their13)burrows. Their pink electric eyes faded. The house was clean.

在墻上的某個(gè)地方，繼電器啟動(dòng)了，記憶磁帶在電子眼的監(jiān)控下開始滑動(dòng)。

八點(diǎn)一分了，滴答，八點(diǎn)一分了，上學(xué)了，上班了，趕快，趕快，八點(diǎn)一分了！但屋里沒有聽到關(guān)門聲，也沒有聽到橡膠鞋在地毯上走動(dòng)的聲音?，F(xiàn)在外面在下雨。門前的天氣預(yù)報(bào)機(jī)靜靜地唱著：“雨啊，雨啊，快走吧；今天別忘了帶橡膠鞋和雨衣……”雨滴打在空房子上，發(fā)出回聲。外面，車庫轟然開啟，露出了在等待的車輛。等了好一會(huì)兒，車庫的門再次緩緩落下。

八點(diǎn)三十分，煎蛋干癟了，面包變得像石頭一樣硬。一塊楔型鋁刮把它們刮入水槽，接著它們被熱水沖入金屬管道內(nèi)，被消化，被沖向遙遠(yuǎn)的大海。臟盤子被放到熱乎乎的洗碗機(jī)內(nèi)，出來后變得潔亮如新，沒有水跡。

九點(diǎn)十五分，鬧鐘響起，該打掃房間了。

許多小機(jī)器鼠從墻上的小洞里竄出來。房間里爬滿了這種負(fù)責(zé)打掃的小動(dòng)物，都是橡膠和金屬制的。它們砰砰地敲擊椅子，轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)機(jī)械觸須，把地毯脫落的絨毛揉捏成團(tuán)，輕輕吸去藏在縫中的灰塵。然后，如神秘的入侵者一般，它們跳回了自己的洞里。它們那閃著粉光的電子眼也暗了下來。房子被打掃得干干凈凈。

Ten o’clock. The sun came out from behind the rain. The house stood alone in a city of rubble and ashes. This was the one house left standing. All night the ruined city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles.

Ten-fifteen. The garden14)sprinklers whirled up in golden founts, filling the soft morning air with scatterings of brightness. The water15)pelted windowpanes, running down the16)charred west side where the house had been burned evenly free of its white paint. The entire west face of the house was black, save for fve places. Here the17)silhouette in paint of a man mowing a lawn. Here, as in a photograph, a woman bent to pick flowers. Still farther over, their images burned in wood in one titanic instant, a small boy, hands fung into the air; higher up, the image of a thrown ball, and opposite him a girl, hands raised to catch a ball which never came down. The five spots of paint—the man, the woman, the children, the ball—remained. The rest was a thin charcoaled layer.

The gentle sprinkler rain filled the garden with falling light.

Until this day however, how well the house had kept its peace. How carefully it had inquired, “Who goes there? What’s the password?” and, getting no answer from lonely foxes and whining cats, it had shut up its windows and drawn18)shades in an old maidenly preoccupation with self-protection which bordered on a mechanical19)paranoia.

It quivered at each sound, the house did. If a sparrow brushed a window, the shade snapped up. The bird, startled, few off! No, not even a bird must touch the house!

The house was an20)altar with ten thousand attendants, big, small, servicing, attending, in choirs. But the gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly.

14) sprinkler ['spr??kl?] n. 灑水車，灑水裝置

15) pelt [pelt] v. 重?fù)?，用力?/p>

16) char [t?ɑ?] v. 燒焦

17) silhouette [,s?lu?'et] n. 側(cè)面影象，剪影，輪廓

18) shade [?e?d] n. 簾，罩

19) paranoia [,p?r?'n???] n. 妄想狂，偏執(zhí)狂

20) altar ['??lt?] n. 祭壇，圣壇

21) sore [s?] n. 傷口

22) incinerator [?n's?n?re?t?] n. 焚化裝置，焚化爐

23) Baal ['be??l] n. 巴爾神，古代閃米特人所信奉的當(dāng)?shù)氐呢S饒之神和自然之神，希伯來人認(rèn)為是邪神

十點(diǎn)。雨中，太陽出來了。這所房子獨(dú)自佇立在這座已成廢墟的荒城中。這是唯一僅存的房子。整夜，這座荒城發(fā)出一道放射性亮光，數(shù)英里內(nèi)的地方都可看到。

十點(diǎn)十五分。灑水器在金色的儲(chǔ)水缸里緩緩旋起，為清晨柔和的空氣注入亮白的水花。水流打向窗戶的玻璃，沿著房子的西墻流下，那里的白漆都已被大火燒毀了。除了五個(gè)地方，房子西墻的其他地方都是一片焦黑。這里，有一個(gè)正在修剪草坪的男人的黑色剪影。這里，像是在一張照片里，一個(gè)女人正彎腰摘花。遠(yuǎn)一點(diǎn)的地方，一個(gè)小男孩雙手伸向空中；高一點(diǎn)的地方，有一個(gè)被扔出的球，男孩對(duì)面是一個(gè)女孩，她正抬起雙手準(zhǔn)備去接那顆永遠(yuǎn)也不會(huì)落下的球，他們的剪影在那巨大威力襲來的一瞬被燒蝕在木墻上了。那五處地方的油漆——男人、女人、孩子、球的影像所在之處——還沒掉落。墻上的其他地方都已經(jīng)成了一層厚厚的黑炭。

灑水器噴灑出的細(xì)細(xì)水花閃著磷光淅瀝而下，溢滿了整個(gè)花園。

然而，直至今日，這座房子依然安然無恙。它總會(huì)對(duì)來訪者細(xì)細(xì)詢問：“誰在門外？密碼是什么？”孤單的狐貍與嘶叫的貓沒有給出答案，房子就關(guān)上窗戶，拉上窗簾，像個(gè)得了機(jī)器妄想癥的老處女一樣，把自己保護(hù)得滴水不漏。

任何動(dòng)靜都能讓這座房子顫抖。如果麻雀停在窗戶旁，窗簾就會(huì)馬上拉起。鳥兒就被嚇走了！就連一只鳥都無法接近這座房子！

這座房子宛如一個(gè)神壇，里面有成千上萬個(gè)大大小小的侍者在為神服務(wù)，唱奏圣歌。然而神已經(jīng)離去，但宗教儀式卻依然如常地進(jìn)行著，即使這毫無意義。

小鏈接

廣島墻上的影子

Shadows in Hiroshima

在原子彈爆炸后，廣島的一些地方留下了永不褪去的人影，據(jù)說是因?yàn)楦吣芎溯椛淞顗ι砣诨?，留下燒灼過的痕跡；而擋在墻身前的人體會(huì)吸收掉一部分輻射能量，所以穿過人體的輻射能量會(huì)相對(duì)減弱，在墻上形成較輕的灼燒痕跡，故留下人影。而在本篇故事中，房子西墻上留下的五個(gè)影子正是由這個(gè)現(xiàn)象造成的，從這里也可以推斷出，故事里的人們經(jīng)歷了一場(chǎng)核爆炸。

Twelve noon.

A dog whined, shivering, on the front porch. The front door recognized the dog voice and opened. The dog, once huge and fleshy, but now gone to bone and covered with21)sores, moved in and through the house, tracking mud. Behind it whirred angry mice, angry at having to pick up mud, angry at inconvenience.

For not a leaf fragment blew under the door but what the wall panels flipped open and the copper scrap rats flashed swiftly out. The offending dust, hair, or paper, seized in miniature steel jaws, was raced back into the burrows. There, down tubes which fed into the cellar, it was dropped into the sighing vent of an22)incinerator which sat like evil23)Baal in a dark corner. The dog ran upstairs, hysterically yelping to each door, at last realizing, as the house realized, that only silence was there.

It sniffed the air and scratched the kitchen door. Behind the door, the stove was making pancakes which flled the house with a rich baked odor and the scent of maple syrup.

The dog frothed at the mouth, lying at the door, sniffing, its eyes turned to fire. It ran wildly in circles, biting at its tail, spun in a frenzy, and died. It lay in the parlor for an hour.

Two o’clock, sang a voice.

Delicately sensing decay at last, the regiments of mice hummed out as softly as blown gray leaves in an electrical wind.

中午十二點(diǎn)。

一只狗在門前的走廊處哀嚎，顫抖。大門認(rèn)出了狗的聲音，給它開了門。曾經(jīng)高大強(qiáng)壯的狗現(xiàn)在變得瘦骨嶙峋，傷痕累累。它走了進(jìn)來，留下泥腳印。它身后是生氣的機(jī)器鼠，它們?cè)谖宋说卮驋咧瑸榱瞬坏貌皇捌鹉嗤炼鷼?，為了麻煩而生氣?/p>

就連一片殘葉都沒有留在門口的機(jī)會(huì)，因?yàn)閴ι系那栋鍟?huì)馬上打開，那些銅屑般的小鼠便呼嘯而出，用它們那小小的鋼鉗夾起那些礙眼的灰塵、毛發(fā)或紙屑，并迅速銜回洞中。這些垃圾會(huì)經(jīng)由一些管道進(jìn)入地下室，落到燃燒的焚化爐里，焚化爐像邪惡的巴爾神，躲在陰暗的角落里。狗上了樓，朝著每道門狂吠，最后，和房子一樣，意識(shí)到這里只剩下沉寂。

它聞了聞空氣中的味道，便徑直跑去刨廚房的門。門后，爐子上正烤著薄餅，整個(gè)房子滿溢著烘烤和楓糖的香氣。

這只狗口吐白沫，躺在門邊，嗅著空氣中的味道。它雙眼冒火，瘋狂地繞圈跑，咬自己的尾巴。它不停地繞圈，直到死去。它的尸體就在門廊那里躺了一個(gè)小時(shí)。

兩點(diǎn)鐘，一個(gè)聲音響起。

終于察覺到了腐爛的氣息，成群的老鼠輕輕地溜出來，如同被電風(fēng)卷起的枯葉般輕盈。

Two-ffteen.

The dog was gone.

In the cellar, the incinerator glowed suddenly and a whirl of sparks leaped up the chimney.

Two thirty-fve.

Bridge tables sprouted from24)patio walls. Playing cards futtered onto pads in a shower of pips. Martinis manifested on an oaken bench with egg-salad sandwiches. Music played. But the tables were silent and the cards untouched.

At four-fve the tables folded like great butterfies back through the paneled walls.

Four-thirty. The nursery walls glowed. Animals took shape: yellow giraffes, blue lions, pink antelopes, lilac panthers25)cavorting in crystal substance. The walls were glass. They looked upon every color and fantasy. Hidden flms docked through well-oiled26)sprockets, and the walls lived. The nursery foor was woven to resemble a crisp, cereal meadow. Over this ran aluminum roaches and iron crickets, and in the hot still air butterflies of delicate red tissue wavered among the sharp aroma of animal27)spoors! There was the sound like a great matted yellow hive of bees within a dark28)bellows, the lazy bumble of a purring lion. And there was the patter of okapi feet and the murmur of a fresh jungle rain, like hoofs, falling upon the summer-starched grass. Now the walls dissolved into a distance of parched weed, mile on mile, and warm endless sky. The animals drew away into thorn29)brakes and water holes.

It was the children’s hour.

兩點(diǎn)十五分。

那只狗不見了。

地下室內(nèi)，焚化爐里的火猛然變大，一道火光從煙囪中冒出。

兩點(diǎn)三十五分。

橋牌桌從院子的墻上伸出來。牌一下子就自動(dòng)洗好了，疊在墊子上。馬提尼酒和雞蛋沙拉三明治出現(xiàn)在櫟木椅上。音樂響起，但桌子上沒有任何動(dòng)靜，洗好的牌也沒有人碰過。

四點(diǎn)零五分，桌子折疊好，像只巨大的蝴蝶一樣飛回墻里。

四點(diǎn)三十分。兒童房的墻亮了起來，顯現(xiàn)出許多發(fā)光的動(dòng)物：黃色的長(zhǎng)頸鹿、藍(lán)色的獅子、粉色的羚羊、淡紫色的豹都在水晶狀的物質(zhì)上蹦蹦跳跳的。墻面是玻璃質(zhì)的，所以透出的顏色五彩斑斕、如夢(mèng)如幻。潤(rùn)滑良好的齒輪帶動(dòng)隱藏的膠片，墻上便出現(xiàn)了影像。兒童房的地板做得像一片蔥郁青翠的草地，上面跳著一些鋁制的蟑螂和鐵制的蟋蟀，而在炎熱靜止的空氣中，精美的紅色紙蝴蝶則在動(dòng)物散發(fā)出的撲鼻香氣中翩翩飛舞！一個(gè)聲音響起，像是大黃蜂窩被放進(jìn)了黑暗的風(fēng)箱所發(fā)出的聲音，是懶洋洋的獅子所發(fā)出的咕嚕聲。還有歐卡皮鹿的踏步聲，以及叢林細(xì)雨飄落在夏日?qǐng)?jiān)挺的草兒上的聲音，猶如馬蹄輕踏。現(xiàn)在，墻變成了延綿千里的炙熱草地以及無邊無際的溫暖天空。動(dòng)物們躲進(jìn)了荊棘叢生的灌木叢和小水坑里。

現(xiàn)在是兒童時(shí)間。

Five o’clock. The bath flled with clear hot water.

Six, seven, eight o’clock. The dinner dishes manipulated like magic tricks, and in the study a click. In the metal stand outside the hearth where a fire now blazed up warmly, a cigar popped out, half an inch of soft gray ash on it, smoking, waiting.

Nine o’clock. The beds warmed their hidden circuits, for nights were cool here.

Nine-fve. A voice spoke from the study ceiling:

“Mrs. McClellan, which poem would you like this evening?”

The house was silent.

The voice said at last, “Since you express no preference, I shall select a poem at random.”

Quiet music rose to back the voice. “Sara Teasdale. As I recall, your favorite…

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,

And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,

And wild plum trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fre,

Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one

Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,

if mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn

Would scarcely know that we were gone.”

The fire burned on the stone hearth and the cigar fell away into a mound of quiet ash on its tray. The empty chairs faced each other between the silent walls, and the music played.

At ten o’clock the house began to die.

五點(diǎn)。浴缸里裝滿了干凈的熱水。

六點(diǎn)，七點(diǎn)，八點(diǎn)。晚餐像變魔術(shù)般出現(xiàn)了，書房里傳出“咔噠”一聲，一個(gè)金屬架內(nèi)彈出一根雪茄。金屬架旁邊是一個(gè)壁爐，現(xiàn)在爐內(nèi)的火燒得很旺，很暖。半英寸雪茄變成了灰燼，繼續(xù)燃燒著，等待著。

九點(diǎn)。床上隱藏的電路開始發(fā)熱，因?yàn)橥砩线@里會(huì)有點(diǎn)涼。

九點(diǎn)五分。書房的天花板上傳來一個(gè)聲音：

“麥克萊倫夫人，今晚您想聽哪首詩？”

房子里鴉雀無聲。

最后，這個(gè)聲音說：“既然你沒有表示，那我就隨便選一首了。”

輕柔的背景音樂響起，應(yīng)和著這個(gè)聲音?！拔矣浀媚阕钕矚g的是莎拉·蒂斯黛爾……

細(xì)雨將至，泥土氣息漸濃，

燕子在空中盤旋，高聲啼鳴；

夜晚，池塘里的青蛙呱呱鳴唱，

野外的李樹白花嬌顫；

知更鳥將會(huì)披著火紅的羽裳，

停立在低矮的柵欄上婉轉(zhuǎn)低鳴；

沒有生靈會(huì)知道曾發(fā)生過這場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)，也沒有生靈

會(huì)關(guān)心它何時(shí)消停。

誰都不會(huì)在意，鳥兒不會(huì)在意，樹木亦然，

即使人類已全部覆滅；

而當(dāng)春姑娘在黎明時(shí)分蘇醒時(shí)

她不會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，我們?nèi)祟愐呀?jīng)消失于世?！?/p>

火焰在壁爐里燃燒著，雪茄已經(jīng)化為一堆灰燼，靜靜地躺在煙灰缸里?？帐幨幍囊巫颖舜讼鄬?duì)，四周是無聲的墻壁，音樂繼續(xù)在播放。

晚上十點(diǎn)，房子開始走向毀滅。

24) patio ['pɑ?t???] n. 天井, 院子

25) cavort [k?'v??t] v. 跳躍，嬉鬧

26) sprocket ['spr?k?t] n. （放映機(jī)的）鏈齒; 輸片齒輪（影片）

27) spoor [sp??] n. （野獸的）足跡，臭跡

28) bellows ['bel??z] n. 風(fēng)箱

29) brake [bre?k] n. 灌木叢