羊毛战记 Part 2 Proper Gauge 17

　　17,　　The generator ¹ room was unusually crowded and eerily ² silent. Mechanics in worn overalls ³ stood threedeep behind the railing and watched the first-shift crew work. Juliette was only dimly aware of them;she was more keenly aware of the silence.,　　She leaned over a device of her own making, a tall platform welded to the metal floor and arrayedwith mirrors and tiny slits ⁴ that bounced light across the room. This light shined on mirrors attached tothe generator and its large dynamo, helping ⁵ her get them in perfect alignment ⁶. It was the shaftbetween the two of them that she cared about, that long steel rod the size of a man’s waist where thepower of combusting fuel was transformed into the spark of electricity. She was hoping to have themachines on either end of this rod aligned ⁷ to within a thousandth of an inch. But everything theywere doing was without precedent ⁸. The procedures had been hurriedly planned in all-night sessionswhile the backup generator was put online. Now she could only concentrate, could only hope theeighteen-hour shifts had been good for something and trust in plans made back when she’d had somedecent rest and could think soundly.,　　While she guided the final placement, the chamber ⁹ around her stood deathly quiet. She gave asign, and Marck and his team tightened ¹⁰ several of the massive bolts on the new rubber floor mounts.,　　They were four days into the power holiday. The generator needed to be up and running by morningand at full power that next evening. With so much done to it—the new gaskets and seals, thepolishing of cylinder ¹¹ shafts ¹² that had required young shadows to crawl down into the heart of the beast—Juliette was worried about it even starting up. The generator had never been fully ¹³ powered downduring her lifetime. Old Knox could remember it shutting itself down in an emergency once, backwhen he was a mere ¹⁴ shadow, but for everyone else the rumble ¹⁵ had been as constant and close as theirown heartbeats. Juliette felt inordinate ¹⁶ pressure for everything to work. She was the one who hadcome up with the idea to do a refit. She calmed herself with reassurances ¹⁷ that it was the right thing todo and that the worst that could happen now was that the holiday would be extended until they sortedout all the kinks. That was much better than a catastrophic failure years from now.,　　Marck signaled that the bolts were secure, the lock nuts tightened down. Juliette jumped off herhomemade platform and strolled over to the generator to join him. It was difficult to walk casuallywith so many eyes on her. She couldn’t believe this rowdy crew, this extended and dysfunctionalfamily of hers, could be so perfectly ¹⁸ silent. It was like they were all holding their breath, wondering ifthe crushing schedule of the last few days was going to be for naught ¹⁹.,　　He nodded, wiping his hands on a filthy ²⁰ rag that always seemed to be draped over his shoulder.,　　Juliette checked her watch. The sight of its second hand ticking around in its constant path comfortedher. Whenever she had doubts about something working, she looked at her wrist. Not to see the time,but to see a thing she had fixed ²¹. A repair so intricate and impossible—one that had taken years ofcleaning and setting parts almost too small to see—that it made her current task, whatever it was, feelsmall by comparison.,　　“We on schedule?
” Marck asked, grinning.,　　“We’re doing fine.” She nodded to the control room. Whispers began to stir through the crowd asthey realized the restart was imminent ²². Dozens of them pulled sound protection from their necks andsettled the muffs over their ears. Juliette and Marck joined Shirly in the control room.,　　“How’s it going? ” Juliette asked the second-shift foreman, a young woman, small and spirited.,This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。,It was nearly mid-night and eerily dark all around her. 夜深了，到处是一片黑黝黝的怪影 。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译