（外文电子版资料）Kurt Vonnegut - Harrison Bergeron.pdf

HARRISON BERGERON by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. This excellent short story was originally published in Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine in 1961. It was reprinted in Welcome To The Monkey House THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They werent 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 unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General. Some things about living still werent 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 Bergerons fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away. It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldnt think about it very hard. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldnt 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 Hazels cheeks, but shed forgotten for the moment what they were about. On the television screen were ballerinas. A buzzer sounded in Georges 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 werent really very good-no better than anybody else would have been, anyway. They were