Sunset (Ⅱ) 落日(二)

H. G. 威尔斯(H. G. Wells)

The alternations of night and day grew slower and slower, and so did the passage of the sun across the sky, until they seemed to stretch through centuries. At last a steady twilight brooded over the earth, a twilight only broken now and then when a comet glared across the darkling sky. The band of light that had indicated the sun had long since disappeared; for the sun had ceased to set — it simply rose and fell in the west, and grew ever broader and more red. All trace of the moon had vanished. The circling of the stars, growing slower and slower, had given place to creeping points of light. At last...the sun, red and very large, halted motionless upon the horizon, a vast dome glowing with a dull heat, and now and then suffering a momentary extinction.At one time it had for a little while glowed more brilliantly again, but it speedily reverted to its sullen red heat.

- alternation [ˌɔːltɜːˈneɪʃn] n. 交替，轮回

brood over 笼罩

- comet [ˈkɒmɪt] n. 彗星

- momentary [ˈməʊməntərɪ] a. 短暂的

日夜交替过程越来越慢，太阳在空中的移动也同样缓慢，到最后，交替过程好像要好多世纪才能完成。地球上空终于形成沉沉的暮色，只有当彗星闪亮着划过渐暗的天空时，暮色才临时失去完整性。太阳自身的光谱早就消失，因为太阳已不再往下落——只是在西方跳上跳下，变得越来越大，越来越红。此时月亮踪影全无，天上运行的星星也慢下来，一个个让位于正在爬出来的夕阳亮光。最后，又红又大的太阳，一动不动停在地平线上方，成为一个散发着闷热的巨大穹盖，时隐时现。有一阵子，太阳还再度焕发出更灿烂的光芒，可是又很快恢复到原先暗红色的热光。

H. G. 威尔斯(1866—1946)，英国作家，出生于肯特郡。除了在杂志上发表的许多文章外，他一生写了约一百本书，主要是科幻小说。作品有《时间机器》(The Time Machine ，1895)，《隐身人》(The Invisible ，1897)，《星球战争》(The War of the Worlds ，1898)，《空中战争》(The War in the Air ，1908)等。他写现实的小说多含幽默讽刺，如《爱情和鲁维轩先生》(Love and Mr Lewisham ，1900)，《安·维罗尼卡》(Ann Veronica ，1909)，《托诺·邦盖》(Tonoo Bungay ，1909)等。另有两部颇有影响的历史著作：《世界史纲》(The Outline of History ，1920)和《世界简史》(A Short History of the World ，1922)。

威尔斯的作品深受读者喜爱，他的科幻小说被视为预言性的作品，其中很多概念在后来成为现实。他的作品也经常探讨社会问题和人类进步的可能性，反映了他对科学和技术发展的兴趣。