'We can electrify that whole strip of floor,' bawled the Director in explanation. 'But that's enough,' he signalled to the nurse.

The explosions ceased, the bells stopped ringing, the shriek of the siren died down from tone to

tone into silence. The stiffly twitching bodies relaxed23, and what had become the sob and yelp24 of infant maniacs broadened out once more into a normal howl25 of ordinary terror.

'Offer them the flowers and the books again.'

The nurses obeyed; but at the approach of the roses, at the mere sight of those gaily-coloured

images of pussy and cock-a-doodle-doo and baa-baa black sheep26, the infants shrank away27 in

horror, the volume of their howling suddenly increased.

'Observe,' said the Director triumphantly, 'observe.'

Books and loud noises, flowers and electric shocks – already in the infant mind these couples

were compromisingly linked; and after two hundred repetitions of the same or a similar lesson

would bewedded28 indissolubly. What man has joined, nature is powerless to put asunder29.

'They'll grow up with what the psychologists used to call an instinctive hatred of books and

flowers. Reflexes unalterably conditioned. They'll be safe from books and botany all their lives.'

The Director turned to his nurses. 'Take them away again.'

Still yelling, the khaki babies were loaded on to their dumb-waiters and wheeled out30, leaving

behind them the smell of sour milk and a most welcome silence.

23. The stiffly …relaxed: I corpi che si agitavano e si irrigidivano, si distesero.

24. what …yelp: ciò che era stato singhiozzo e urlo.

25. had broadened …howl: si era allargato di nuovo in urla normali di terrore ordinario.

26. at the mere …sheep: alla semplice vista di quelle immagini gaiamente colorate del micio, del chicchirichì, della pecora che fa bee bee.

27. shrank away: si tirarono indietro.

28. wedded: sarebbero fuse.

29. to put asunder: separare.

30. wheeled out: portati fuori.