Luo Ji felt the weight of the slanted cliff face pressing down on him, and for a moment he was paralyzed. The hall was totally silent, until a voice behind him said softly, “Dr. Luo, if you please.” He stood up stiffly and walked with mechanical steps to the rostrum. On the short journey, it was like he had returned to a child’s sense of helplessness and wanted someone to hold his hand and guide him forward. But no one extended a hand. He ascended the platform and stood next to Hines, then turned to face the assembly and the hundreds of pairs of eyes focused on him, eyes that represented six billion people from more than two hundred countries on Earth.

羅輯感到主席臺(tái)上傾斜的懸崖向他壓下來，一時(shí)僵在那里，會(huì)場(chǎng)里鴉雀無聲，直到他后面低低地響起一個(gè)聲音：“羅輯博士，請(qǐng)?！彼拍救坏卣酒饋恚~著機(jī)械的步子向主席臺(tái)走去。在這段短短的路上，羅輯仿佛回到了童年，充滿了一個(gè)孩子的無助感，渴望能拉著誰的手向前走，但沒有人向他伸出手來。他走上主席臺(tái)，站在希恩斯的旁邊，轉(zhuǎn)身面向會(huì)場(chǎng)，面對(duì)著幾百雙聚集在他身上的目光，投來這目光的那些人代表著地球上二百多個(gè)國(guó)家的六十億人。

As for what went on during the rest of the session, Luo Ji had absolutely no idea. All he knew was that after standing there for a while, he was led off to a seat in the middle of the first row alongside the other three Wallfacers. In a haze, he had missed the historic moment of the announcement of the launch of the Wallfacer Project.

以后的會(huì)議都有些什么內(nèi)容，羅輯全然不知，他只知道自己站了一會(huì)兒后就被人領(lǐng)著走下了主席臺(tái)，同另外三位面壁者一起坐在了第一排的中央，他在迷茫中錯(cuò)過了宣布面壁計(jì)劃啟動(dòng)的歷史性時(shí)刻。

Some time later, when the session seemed to have ended and people, including the three Wallfacers sitting to Luo Ji’s left, had begun to disperse, a man, perhaps Kent, whispered something into his ear before leaving. Then the hall was empty except for the secretary general, still standing on the rostrum, her petite figure in far-off opposition to his against the sloping cliff.

不知過了多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間，會(huì)議似乎結(jié)束了，人們開始起身散去，坐在羅輯左邊的三位面壁者也離開了，一個(gè)人，好像是坎特，在他耳邊輕聲說了句什么，然后也離去了。會(huì)場(chǎng)空了，只有秘書長(zhǎng)仍站在主席臺(tái)上，她那嬌小的身影在將傾的懸崖下與他遙遙相對(duì)。

“Dr. Luo, I imagine you have some questions.” Say’s gentle feminine voice echoed in the empty hall like a spirit descending from the heavens.

“羅輯博士，我想您有問題要問?！彼_伊那輕柔的女聲在空曠的會(huì)場(chǎng)里回蕩，像來自天空般空靈。

“Has there been some mistake?” Luo Ji said. His voice, sounding similarly ethereal, didn’t feel like his own.

“是不是弄錯(cuò)了？”羅輯說，聲音同樣空靈，感覺不是他自己發(fā)出的。

From the rostrum, Say gave a laugh that clearly meant, Do you really think that’s possible?

薩伊在主席臺(tái)上遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)地笑笑，意思很明白：您認(rèn)為這可能嗎？

“Why me?” he asked.

“為什么是我？”羅輯又問。

“You need to find your own answer to that,” she said.

“這需要您自己找出答案?！彼_伊回答。

“I’m just an ordinary man.”

“我只是個(gè)普通人?！?/p>

“In the face of this crisis, we are all ordinary people. But we all have our own responsibilities.”

“在這場(chǎng)危機(jī)面前，我們都是普通人，但都有自己的責(zé)任。”

“No one solicited my opinion in advance. I was totally in the dark about this.”

“沒有人預(yù)先征求過我的意見，我對(duì)這事一無所知?！?/p>

Say laughed again. “Doesn’t your name mean ‘logic’ in Chinese?”

薩伊又笑了笑，“您的名字叫LOGIC？”

“That’s right.”

“是的?！?/p>

“Then you should be able to work out that it would have been impossible to solicit the opinions of the people undertaking this mission before it was handed to them.”

“那您就應(yīng)該能想到，這種使命在被交付前，是不可能向要承擔(dān)它的人征求意見的?！?/p>

“I refuse,” he said firmly, without even thinking over what Say had just said.

“我拒絕。”羅輯斷然地說，并沒有細(xì)想薩伊上面那句話。

“You may.”

“可以?！?/p>

The swiftness of this reply, right on the heels of his refusal, left him at a loss for a moment. After a few seconds of silence, he said, “I reject the position of Wallfacer, I reject all the powers granted it, and I will not undertake any responsibility you force upon me.”

這回答來得如此快，幾乎與羅輯的話無縫連接，一時(shí)間反倒令他不知所措起來。他發(fā)呆了幾秒鐘后說：“我放棄面壁者的身份，放棄被授予的所有權(quán)力，也不承擔(dān)你們強(qiáng)加給我的任何責(zé)任?！?/p>

“You may.”

“可以?！?/p>

The simple, immediate reply to his statement, light as a dragonfly touching on the water, shut down his brain’s ability to think and made his mind a total blank.

簡(jiǎn)潔的回答仍然緊接著羅輯的話，像蜻蜓點(diǎn)水般輕盈迅捷，令羅輯剛剛能夠思考的大腦又陷入一片空白。

“So am I free to leave?” was all he could ask.

“那我可以走了嗎？”羅輯只能問出這幾個(gè)字。

“You may, Dr. Luo. You are free to do anything.”

“可以，羅輯博士，您可以做任何事情。”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

slant：

v.傾斜;(使)歪斜;有傾向性地陳述;有偏向地報(bào)道

n.傾斜;斜面;斜線;歪斜;(有傾向性的)觀點(diǎn);態(tài)度

adj.歪斜的

{slanted的類似詞 sloping}

paralyze：

v.麻痹;使癱瘓或麻痹;使不能正?；顒?dòng);使驚愕;（因恐怖等）使（人）嚇得發(fā)呆

stiffly：

adv.生硬地;僵硬地;冷冷地;一動(dòng)也不動(dòng);不靈

mechanical：

adj.機(jī)動(dòng)的，機(jī)械的

n.機(jī)器部件

{ journey or trip？

trip較journey常用，用于較廣的語境。

trip通常為往返旅行，journey通常為單程旅行。

trip的行程常較journey短，盡管不一定如此

即使距離遠(yuǎn)，trip所花時(shí)間常常不長(zhǎng)。

如果旅程長(zhǎng)且艱難較常用journey。

}

這里采用樹狀結(jié)構(gòu)來分析長(zhǎng)句子

He ascended the platform and stood next to Hines, then turned to face the assembly and the hundreds of pairs of eyes focused on him, eyes that represented six billion people from more than two hundred countries on Earth.

【結(jié)構(gòu)可能有誤，需要修改，做個(gè)標(biāo)記】

haze： n.薄霧;(尤指熱天引起的)霾;(煙塵等的)煙霧;迷蒙;迷糊

historic or historical

historic通常用以表示具有重要?dú)v史意義

historical通常涉及歷史、史學(xué)、過去的事實(shí)

disperse：

v.分散;驅(qū)散;疏散;散布;(使)散開;傳播

adj.分散的;彌散的

petite： adj.纖弱的;嬌小的

descend： v.下來;下去;下降;下斜;下傾;降臨;來臨

ethereal： adj.空靈的;縹緲的;輕飄的;優(yōu)雅的;超凡的

solicit： v.懇求;征求;索求，請(qǐng)求…給予(援助、錢或信息);籌集

swiftness： n.迅捷;快速性;敏捷性;迅速性

(close/right) on the heels of 緊跟;緊接著;緊隨其后;緊跟著

dragonfly： n.蜻蜓