第四章（第4/11页）

"It's an amusing idea, Charlie," said Dukes, "that sex is just another form of talk, where you act the words instead of saying them. I suppose it's quite true. I suppose we might exchange as many sensations and emotions with women as we do ideas about the weather, and so on. Sex might be a sort of normal physical conversation between a man and a woman. You don't talk to a woman unless you have ideas in common: that is you don't talk with any interest. And in the same way, unless you had some emotion or sympathy in common with a woman you wouldn't sleep with her. But if you had...” "If you have the proper sort of emotion or sympathy with a woman, you ought to sleep with her," said May. "It's the only decent thing, to go to bed with her. Just as, when you are interested talking to someone, the only decent thing is to have the talk out. You don't prudishly put your tongue between your teeth and bite it. You just say out your say. And the same the other way.” "No," said Hammond. "It's wrong. You, for example, May, you squander half your force with women. You'll never really do what you should do, with a fine mind such as yours. Too much of it goes the other way.” "Maybe it does...and too little of you goes that way, Hammond, my boy, married or not. You can keep the purity and integrity of your mind, but it's going damned dry. Your pure mind is going as dry as fiddlesticks, from what I see of it. You're simply talking it down.” Tommy Dukes burst into a laugh.

“你的想法可真有趣，查理，”杜克斯说，“性爱只是另一种交流方式，用实际行动把言语表达出来，而不是用嘴巴说出来。依我看，这种观点再正确不过。我们或许可以像交换对天气以及其他问题的看法一样，同异性分享彼此的感觉和情绪。性爱是男女之间习以为常的身体对话方式。如果你与某位异性看法相悖，就不会同她交谈，也就是说沟通要以兴趣为根本的出发点。同样的道理，如果在情感维度缺少共鸣，你也不会产生与异性双宿双栖的欲望。但如果你确实……”“如果确实与某位异性情感相通，一拍即合，就应该跟她共度春宵，”梅说，“和她颠鸾倒凤是唯一该做的事情。就像你跟某人聊得热火朝天，唯一该做的事就是畅所欲言。而不会故作扭捏，闭口不言。只会痛痛快快地将心里的话说出来。两者有异曲同工之处。”“错，”哈蒙德矢口否认，“大错特错。就拿你来说吧，梅，你把半数的精力挥霍在女人身上。虽然才华横溢，但却从未得到淋漓尽致的发挥。在左道旁门上花的心思太多。”“此话或许有理……但哈蒙德，我的朋友，不管婚配与否，你却在男女之事上不够用心。你能够保持心灵的纯洁和正直没错，但它却会逐渐干涸。在我看来，你那颗纯净的心就会枯干得像根小提琴弓。你的高谈阔论恰恰是对自我心灵的贬低。”汤米·杜克斯勃然大笑。

"Go it, you two minds!" he said. "Look at me...I don't do any high and pure mental work, nothing but jot down a few ideas. And yet I neither marry nor run after women. I think Charlie's quite right; if he wants to run after the women, he's quite free not to run too often. But I wouldn't prohibit him from running. As for Hammond, he's got a property instinct, so naturally the straight road and the narrow gate are right for him. You'll see he'll be an English Man of Letters before he's done A.B.C. from top to toe. Then there's me. I'm nothing. Just a squib. And what about you, Clifford? Do you think sex is a dynamo to help a man on to success in the world?” Clifford rarely talked much at these times. He never held forth; his ideas were really not vital enough for it, he was too confused and emotional. Now he blushed and looked uncomfortable.

“别争了，两位大思想家！”他说，“看看我……我从不从事高尚纯洁的思想事业，只是草草记下几个想法。我没结婚，也不去追求女人。我完全认同查理的观点，要是他想追求异性，大可以放手去做，而只需注意适可而止。但我不会阻止他这么做。至于哈蒙德，由于强烈的占有欲作祟，因此对他而言，安分守己和防患未然也是正确的选择。等着瞧吧，有朝一日，他会跻身英国大文豪的行列，从头到脚散发着书卷的气息。而我呢，简直无足轻重。只是喜欢信口胡言而已。你呢，克利福德？性爱是男人功成名就的助推器，对此你怎么看？”每逢这种场合，克利福德都绝少开口说话。从不会滔滔不绝地发表意见，他的观点也的确摆不上台面，往往连他自己都捋不清头绪，又太过感情用事。现在，他的脸涨得通红，表情很是尴尬。