雷·布拉德伯里（Ray Bradbury， 1920～2012），美國小说家、编剧。其作品多属于幻想文学、科幻小说、恐怖小说和神秘小说。他一生中每天都在写作，十分高产，共著27部小说和600多篇短篇小说，《华氏451度》（Fahrenheit 451）是他最著名的代表作。

这部小说将背景设在未来的美国，那时的消防员不再灭火，而是负责烧书。一个名叫蒙泰戈（Montag）的消防员在遇到一个古怪的女孩克拉丽丝（Clarisse）后开始反思当下，从烧书人变为偷书人最后又变为流浪的背书人。小说大篇幅采用意识流手法，反映了书被禁后，人们精神世界的荒芜以及人物内心的空洞、虚无和痛苦。书中对未来的预测令人细思恐极，因为你会发现，当下世界似乎正朝着那样的未来发展。不过，小说尽管读来十分沉重，却在最后给人以希望的曙光。作者曾说：“人们希望我预测未来；可我却想要阻止未来。”可以说，这部小说给当下的人类敲响了警钟。

下文选自小说第一章，讲述了蒙泰戈与克拉丽丝的一段交谈，从克拉丽丝的话中，我们能看到当时人们濒临崩溃的精神世界。

One two three four five six seven days. And as many times he1） came out of the house and Clarisse was there somewhere in the world. Once he saw her shaking a walnut tree， once he saw her sitting on the lawn knitting a blue sweater， three or four times he found a bouquet of late flowers on his porch2）， or a handful of chestnuts3） in a little sack4）， or some autumn leaves neatly pinned to a sheet of white paper and thumbtacked5） to his door. Every day Clarisse walked him to the corner ...

"Why is it，" he said， one time， at the subway entrance， "I feel I've known you so many years？"

"Because I like you，" she said， "and I don't want anything from you. And because we know each other."

"You make me feel very old and very much like a father."

"Now you explain，" she said， "why you haven't any daughters like me， if you love children so much？"

"I don't know."

"You're joking！"

"I mean—" He stopped and shook his head. "Well， my wife， she ... she just never wanted any children at all."

The girl stopped smiling. "I'm sorry. I really thought you were having fun at my expense6）. I'm a fool."

"No， no，" he said. "It was a good question. It's been a long time since anyone cared enough to ask. A good question."

"Let's talk about something else. Have you ever smelled old leaves？ Don't they smell like cinnamon7）？ Here. Smell."

"Why， yes， it is like cinnamon in a way."

She looked at him with her clear dark eyes. "You always seem shocked."

"It's just I haven't had time—"

"Did you look at the stretched-out billboards8） like I told you？"

"I think so. Yes." He had to laugh.

"Your laugh sounds much nicer than it did."

"Does it？"

"Much more relaxed."

He felt at ease and comfortable. "Why aren't you in school？ I see you every day wandering around."

"Oh， they don't miss me，" she said. "I'm anti-social， they say. I don't mix. It's so strange. I'm very social indeed. It all depends on what you mean by social， doesn't it？ Social to me means talking about things like this." She rattled9） some chestnuts that had fallen off the tree in the front yard. "Or talking about how strange the world is. Being with people is nice. But I don't think it's social to get a bunch of people together and then not let them talk， do you？ An hour of TV class， an hour of basketball or baseball or running， another hour of transcription10） history or painting pictures， and more sports， but do you know， we never ask questions， or at least most don't； they just run the answers at you， bing， bing， bing， and us sitting there for four more hours of film-teacher. That's not social to me at all. They run us so ragged11） by the end of the day we can't do anything but go to bed or head for a Fun Park to bully people around， break windowpanes12） in the Window Smasher place or wreck13） cars in the Car Wrecker place with the big steel ball ... I guess I'm everything they say I am， all right. I haven't any friends. That's supposed to prove I'm abnormal. But everyone I know is either shouting or dancing around like wild or beating up one another. Do you notice how people hurt each other nowadays？"

"You sound so very old."

"Sometimes I'm ancient. I'm afraid of children my own age. They kill each other. Did it always used to be that way？ My uncle says no. Six of my friends have been shot in the last year alone. Ten of them died in car wrecks. I'm afraid of them and they don't like me because I'm afraid. My uncle says his grandfather remembered when children didn't kill each other. But that was a long time ago when they had things different. They believed in responsibility， my uncle says. Do you know， I'm responsible. I was spanked14） when I needed it， years ago. And I do all the shopping and house-cleaning by hand. "

"But most of all，" she said， "I like to watch people. Sometimes I ride the subway all day and look at them and listen to them. I just want to figure out who they are and what they want and where they're going. Sometimes I even go to the Fun Parks and ride in the jet cars when they race on the edge of town at midnight and the police don't care as long as they're insured. As long as everyone has ten thousand insurance， everyone's happy. Sometimes I sneak around and listen in subways. Or I listen at soda fountains15）， and do you know what？"

"What？"

"People don't talk about anything."

"Oh， they must！"

"No， not anything. They name a lot of cars or clothes or swimming-pools mostly and say how swell16）！ But they all say the same things and nobody says anything different from anyone else. And most of the time in the cafes they have the jokeboxes17） on and the same jokes most of the time， or the musical wall18） lit and all the coloured patterns running up and down， but it's only colour and all abstract. And at the museums， have you ever been？ All abstract. That's all there is now. My uncle says it was different once. A long time back sometimes pictures said things or even showed people."

一二三四五六七天。很多次他一走出家門，总能发现克拉丽丝的踪影。有一次，他看到她正在摇晃一棵胡桃树。还有一次，他看到她坐在草坪上织着一件蓝毛衣。还有三四次，他在自家门廊上发现一束晚开的花，或是一把装在小小麻布袋里的栗子，又或是发现自家门上钉着一张白纸，一些秋叶整齐地固定在白纸上。每一天，克拉丽丝都会陪他一起走到街角……

“为什么，”一次他在地铁口问道，“我觉得自己已经认识你好多年了？