【国外英文文学】The Amazing Mrs. Mimms.doc

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1、【国外英文文学】The Amazing Mrs. MimmsThere was a muffled rushing noise and the faintly acrid smell of ionelectrodes as the Time Translator deposited Mrs. Mimms back into theyear 1958. Being used to such journeys, she looked calmly about withquick gray eyes, making little flicking gestures with her hands as

2、 ifbrushing the stray minutes and seconds from her plain brown coat.The scene of Mrs. Mimms arrival in the past was the rear of a largesupermarket, more specifically between two packing cases which hadonce contained breakfast foods. The excursion through time hadevidently been a smooth one for the s

3、mile had not once left Mrs.Mimms rotund countenance during the intervening centuries.Two heavy black suitcases appeared to be the ladys only luggageaccompanying her from the future. These she picked up with a sharpgasp and made her way to the front of the shopping center around whichslick new apartm

4、ent buildings formed a horseshoe.Mrs. Mimms was, as usual, on another assignment for Destinyworkers,Inc.It was early evening at the Greenlawn Apartments, a time supposedlyof contentment, yet Mrs. Mimms was quick to sense the disturbingvibrations in the warm air. She pressed through the crowds enteri

5、ngand leaving the supermarket. A faint mustache of perspiration formedon her upper lip. No one offered to help her with the bags. With aprofessional eye Mrs. Mimms noted the drawn mouths, the tenseexpressions typical of the Time Zone and shook her head. Central asusual had not been wrong; the Briefi

6、ng Officer himself had cautionedher on what poor shape the Zonal area was in.Jostling Mrs. Mimms on all sides were mostly young men and womenaccompanied by energetic, wriggling children of varying ages. Itsaddened Mrs. Mimms to see the premature lines forming in the youthfulmothers foreheads, and th

7、e gray settling too quickly into the menshair. Mrs. Mimms, who considered herself not quite in the twilight ofmiddle age, was just 107 that month.Outbursts of juvenile and adult temper grated harshly in theDestinyworkers ears. She witnessed a resounding slap and a childscry of pain. A young mother w

8、as shouting angrily: Couldnt _you_ havekept an eye on her? Do I have to watch her every minute?Mrs. Mimms hurried swiftly on for there was much she had to do. Thenshe stopped abruptly before a small delicatessen. She entered and gavethe clerk her order:One package of Orange Pekoe Tea, if you please.

9、 Tea _leaves_, notbags.There were definite advantages, thought Mrs. Mimms, in being assignedto any century preceding the Twenty-Third. Due to the increasing useof synthetic products in Mrs. Mimms home-century the tea plant, amongother vegetation, had been allowed to become extinct. Ever since Mrs.Mi

10、mms solo assignment to Eighteenth Century England, she had grownexceedingly fond of the beverage.Ten minutes later Mrs. Mimms, one of Destinyworkers best CertifiedPriority Operators, reached the Renting Office of the GreenlawnApartments. I do hope the Superintendent is still on duty, pantedMrs. Mimm

11、s, setting her bags down very carefully. If the ResearchDepartment is correct-and it usually is-his hours are from 9 to6:30.It was one minute past 6:30 when Mrs. Mimms knocked.Yeah? boomed a disgruntled voice. Come on in. It aint locked.Good evening, said Mrs. Mimms to a young man in work clothes se

12、atedbehind a paper-strewn desk. I hope its not too late for you to showme an apartment tonight. It neednt be large. Two or three rooms willdo nicely. However, I have one stipulation.We aim to please at Greenlawn, Maam-within reason-you understand.I understand, replied the Destinyworker. It is merely

13、 that theapartment should, as far as possible, be located in the central partof the building and on a middle floor-not too high or too low.No problem there, said the super, consulting a board from which hunga number of keys. Most of em want just the opposite-cornerapartments, views, top floor, South

14、ern exposure. Heres one. Partlyfurnished. Young couple left for Europe. They want to sublet for therest of the lease.I hope the rent is reasonable.It was. Mrs. Mimms received the news with apparent relief. Due to thehigh cost of Time Translation and maintenance of workers in otherZones, Destinyworke

15、rs, Inc., a non-profit organization, had to keepits overhead at a minimum.This will do very nicely, Mrs. Mimms announced after inspecting theapartment. I should like to move in at once. The superintendent thenbrought up his new tenants suitcases, commented upon their weight,obtained Mrs. Mimms signa

16、ture on the preliminary lease and left.Even for younger Destinyworkers, time travel at best was an exhaustingbusiness. The bags _had_ been heavy, and Zonal Speech Compliance wasalways a strain at the outset of an assignment. Mrs. Mimms neededrefreshment. Finding a battered pot and a broken cup aband

17、oned by theformer tenants, she heated water on the range and made herself somehot tea. Sipping it slowly Mrs. Mimms felt the strength returning toher tired system.Having eaten an early dinner in the future Mrs. Mimms was not hungry.The tea would be sufficient until tomorrow. She washed the cupcarefu

18、lly, put away the pot and then unlocked one of her blacksuitcases. From it she extracted a small white card on which there wassome printing and a phone number at the bottom. Mrs. Mimms checked thephone number with the telephone in her new apartment; they were thesame. Research was almost _never_ wro

19、ng. Mrs. Mimms then took the carddown to the main floor and attached it to a bulletin board with fourthumbtacks. The message read: _Mrs. Althea Mimms_Professional Companion & Babysitter Rates ReasonableBack in her apartment, the time traveler opened the other suitcase. Itcontained a batch of weird-l

20、ooking apparatus which faintly resembled atelevision set, although there were twice the number of dials andknobs. To the uninitiated eye the legends under them would have beenperplexing-Month Selector, Reverse Day Fast-Forward,Weekometer, Minute-Second Divider. To Mrs. Mimms however theinstrument wa

21、s simply standard equipment for all assignments. Sheplaced it carefully on the desk in her living room and, one by one,drew out the five sensitive antennae from their sockets. Mrs. Mimmsdid not need to use the electrical outlet under the desk for new d-cion batteries had been installed whose combine

22、d guaranteed life wasfive years.It had grown somewhat late at Greenlawn-the hands of Mrs. Mimmswatch were nearing eleven-yet this did not deter her from flickingthe power on. She dialed to a position a few hours before on that sameevening and waited for the equipment to warm up. A roar of angrystati

23、c and strident voices suddenly filled the room until Mrs. Mimmsquickly cut the volume. The outburst was definitely an indication thather work was cut out for her. Eyeing the red pilot indicator acrosswhich a ribbon of names was flashing she slowly twirled the MasterSelector. Images flickered and dis

24、appeared on the screen; thensuddenly Mrs. Mimms leaned forward anxiously. A living room much likeher own came into view and in it a man and a woman faced each othermenacingly. The pilot was flashing the name Randolph, Apt. 14-B.Reducing the volume slightly, Mrs. Mimms listened:You dont care, Bill Ra

25、ndolph. If you cared we could be out somewhereright now. My God, its Saturday night. Ill bet the Bairds andSimmons are at a show right now. But not us. Oh, no. Honestly, I dontthink youd stir out of that chair if it werent for your meals andthe office.Youre a great one to talk, snapped the young man

26、. Every time wedecide to line something up you get finicky about a sitter. How manytimes have we sat for Ruth Whatshername? And were up at Ellen Foxs acouple of nights, too. Then our kid comes down with a cold orsomething and theyre not good enough. No wonder we never get out.Can I help it if Kenny

27、takes after _your_ side of the family? You andyour mother are always coming down with something. Hes _sensitive_. Iwont have some other woman taking care of my child when he needs myattention. And I _wont_ have these teenage girls for Kenneth withtheir boyfriends lolling all over the sofa. I wouldnt

28、 have an easyminute while we were away. Anyway, when we _do_ get out I dont noticeyou bending over backwards to get tickets for anything decent. Itsalways something _you_ want to see. Those silly Marilyn Monroe movies,for instance.Whats wrong with Marilyn Monroe? I wouldnt _mind_ being nagged by_her

29、_.I see, choked the young woman, biting her lip. Thank you very much.Of course its perfectly _OK_ when something is wrong with every othermeal I cook. Its _fine_ when Your Majesty doesnt like the dress Ivegot on or the way I have my hair.Mrs. Randolphs rising voice elicited a childs cry from the rea

30、r ofthe apartment. Both parents stiffened.Go ahead, say it, say it was _me_ who woke him up this time, bleatedRandolph. He quickly snapped a newspaper up between himself and hiswife.Mrs. Mimms cut the picture and erased the name from the pilotindicator. The case was a typical one, routine in fact; y

31、et it was thefirst one of the assignment and Mrs. Mimms was moved to expedite it.She picked up the telephone and placed a call to nearby New York City.The party answered promptly.Althea! How nice. I didnt know you were in the Twentieth again. Whatcan I do for you?You can arrange some entertainment f

32、or me, George. Something good.For two.Mrs. Mimms held the phone for a minute. Presently the conversationresumed as the voice of George Kahn, Resident Destinyworker, came overthe wire.Sorry to be so long, Althea, it took some managing. Ive got you twoin the orchestra for My Fair Lady on the 28th. Tha

33、ts the best ofthe current crop. Nice little thing, itll be running for another fouryears of course. Ought to catch it yourself some night.Id love to, George, but I shant have time. Not the way thisassignments developing. You know what to do with the tickets.Mrs. Mimms replaced the telephone in its c

34、radle and turned again tothe Master Selector. Among the kaleidoscope of voices and figures notall were scenes of frustration and discontent. Yet enough of them wereso that Mrs. Mimms was seriously disturbed. Then again, the apparatushad its indiscriminate faults: at one scene Mrs. Mimms blushed deep

35、lyand flicked the dial to another setting. Suddenly she was surprised tohear a familiar voice. The pilot monitor showed that it was theapartment of the building superintendent.It aint right. You know it aint right, the super was saying. Hewas sunk deep into an overstuffed chair and there was a can o

36、f beer athis elbow. No wonder the kidsre getting lousy report cards. Theminute they get home from school they park in front of the TV. By thetime theyre ready for supper theyre so excited watching Indians andcowboys and Foreign Legion stuff they cant eat. Afterwards they aretoo knocked out to do the

37、ir homework.Dont I know it, said his wife. But you cant forbid them becauseall the other kids are allowed to watch the same things. Adele Jonesdown the hall says she has the same trouble. They tried taking BriansTV away and the kid put up such a fuss they gave it back just to getsome peace.The super

38、 took a swallow of beer and tapped one of the report cards indisgust.Look at that. Charlotte gets a D in Reading. Goddam it, shes asmart enough kid. I cant remember whens the last time I saw _either_of them bring a book back from the library. Hell, theyre too busyworrying about how Sergeant Prestons

39、 going to come out.Youd think theyd have more educational stuff on TV.I may be only a superintendent, growled the super, but, by God,those kids are going to college. Theyre gonna have opportunities Inever had. Sometimes I got a good mind to kick a hole right throughthat 21 screen.Aw, Chuck, honey, t

40、ake it easy. Youre the best super this buildingever had. I got me a real sweet guy, even if he isnt no collegegraduate.I aint no Biff Baker or Captain Video, either. Maybe if I was thekids could watch me and we could dump the TV set.Mrs. Mimms dimmed the screen and recorded the problem briefly in an

41、otebook marked ACTIVE. This too was a common enough complaint of theTime Zone. Mrs. Mimms rummaged about in one of the suitcases until sheproduced a brightly colored box. Inside the box were a number ofobjects resembling radio condensers with small metal clamps at eitherend. Mrs. Mimms removed one a

42、nd read the label: FILTER XC8794,Reading. _Caution: for best results attach to TV aerial. Lasts 2 weeksonly. Destroy label before using._I _do_ hope the superintendents set doesnt have rabbits ears,said Mrs. Mimms, dialing the supers apartment again to check.Hooking these up to a regular aerial is s

43、o much easier. Thesuperintendents set luckily had an outside antenna and bymanipulating certain dials, the Destinyworker traced it out and up tothe roof. Pressing a button marked TRACER LIGHT, she left the set inoperation and made her way up to the top floor of the apartment house.Taking the fire ex

44、it to the roof, Mrs. Mimms found herself among aforest of TV aerials. However there was a small circle of light castabout one of them and she went to it and attached the filter.Returning to her apartment, Mrs. Mimms went immediately to bed. Shewould have liked a last cup of tea before retiring, but

45、she was tootired to fix it.The telephone woke the time traveler at half past ten the nextmorning. She answered it sleepily. It was a young mother, Mrs. Mimmsfirst customer. Could Mrs. Mimms _possibly_ come that night? The voicesounded desperate, then relieved when Mrs. Mimms answered Yes, shewould b

46、e there.Remembering that she had had nothing to eat since her own century,Mrs. Mimms hurried below to the delicatessen and purchased some Danishpastry. She looked forward to a cup of strong tea. As she waited forthe water to boil, she switched on the apparatus and dialed once ortwice across the band

47、. At that hour most of the apartments weresilent. Wives were attending to cleaning or washing and the childrenhad been sent out to play. Leaving the apparatus for a minute, Mrs.Mimms made her tea. When she returned there was a burst of static onthe loudspeaker, then a loud childish voice and images took shape onthe screen.Im captain of this spaceship, Ronnie Smith, insisted the taller ofthe two youngsters.