(1969) andBreakfast of
Champions(1973) blendsatire,gallows humorandscience fiction. As a
citizen he was a lifelong supporter of theAmerican Civil
Liberties Unionand a critical liberal intellectual.[3]He was known for hishumanistbeliefs and was honorary president of theAmerican Humanist
Association.[4] 库尔特·冯内古特(又譯馮內果,冯尼格)(Kurt
Vonnegut,Jr.,1922年11月11日-2007年4月11日),美国作家,黑色幽默文学代表人物之一。 这是库特‧冯内果(Kurt Vonnegut Jr.)出版於1961年的著名短篇故事,以负面乌托邦的极端主题来讽刺平等主义。 Harrison BergeronBy Kurt Vonnegut,
Jr. THE YEAR WAS 2081, and
everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and
the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than
anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody
was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this
equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th
Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasingvigilance of agents of the United States
Handicapper General. Some things about living still
weren't quite right, though. April for instance, still
drove people crazy by not being springtime. And it was
in that clammy month that the H-G men took George and
Hazel Bergeron's fourteen-year-old son, Harrison,
away. It was tragic, all
right, but George and Hazel couldn't think about it very hard.
Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she
couldn't think about anything except in short bursts. And George,
while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental
handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all
times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every
twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp
noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of
their brains. George and Hazel were watching
television. There were tears on Hazel's cheeks, but she'd forgotten
for the moment what they were about. On the television screen were
ballerinas. A buzzer sounded in George's
head. His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar
alarm. 'That was a real pretty dance,
that dance they just did,' said Hazel. 'Huh' said George. 'That dance-it was nice,' said
Hazel. 'Yup,' said George. He tried to
think a little about the ballerinas. They weren't really very
good-no better than anybody else would have been, anyway. They were
burdened with sash weights and bags of birdshot, and their faces
were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or
a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in. George
was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers
shouldn't be handicapped. But he didn't get very far with it before
another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced. So did two out
of the eight ballerinas. Hazel saw him wince. Having no
mental handicap herself, she had to ask George what the latest
sound had been. 'Sounded like somebody hitting
a milk bottle with a ball peen hammer,' said George. 'I'd think it would be real
interesting, hearing all the different sounds,' said Hazel a little
envious. 'All the things they think up.' 'Um,' said George. 'Only, if I was Handicapper
General, you know what I would do?' said Hazel. Hazel, as a matter
of fact, bore a strong resemblance to the Handicapper General, a
woman named Diana Moon Glampers. 'If I was Diana Moon
Glampers,' said Hazel, 'I'd have chimes on Sunday-just
chimes. Kind of in honor of religion.' ---------------------------------------------------------4.27.2012完---------------------------------------------------------------- 'I could think, if it was just
chimes,' said George. 'Well-maybe make 'em real
loud,' said Hazel. 'I think I'd make a good Handicapper
General.' 'Good as anybody else,' said
George. 'Who knows better than I do
what normal is?' said Hazel. 'Right,' said George. He began
to think glimmeringly about his abnormal son who was
now in jail, about Harrison, but a twenty-one-gun salute in his
head stopped that. 'Boy!' said Hazel, 'that was a
doozy, wasn't it?' It was such a doozy that George
was white and trembling, and tears stood on the rims of his red
eyes. Two of of the eight ballerinas had collapsed to the studio
floor, were holding their temples.