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包君满意

——机器人的故事

     拉里·贝尔蒙特在一家生产机器人的公司里工作。最近，该公司要对一个家用机器人进行试验。这项试验将由拉里的夫人克莱尔来尝试。

     克莱尔并不想把机器人留在家里，特别是在她丈夫离家三周的这个期间。但是克莱尔被拉里说服了。他说，机器人不会伤害她，也不会让别人伤害她。这样会是一个意外的收获。然而她初次见到机器人时就感到有点吃惊。机器人名叫托尼，看上去更像一个人，而不像台机器。他虽然面部表情毫无变化，但是个子高大、相貌英俊，头发平整，声音低沉浑厚。

    第二天早晨，托尼带着围裙，给她端来了早餐，然后问她是否需要帮忙穿衣打扮。她感到有点不好意思，很快就打发他走了。机器人如此通人性，这使她觉得心烦和害怕。

    有一天，克莱尔说起，她觉得自己并不聪明。托尼则说，克莱尔一定是很不高兴，才说出这样的话来。克莱尔觉得，机器人会向她表示同情，这有点荒唐可笑。但是她开始信任他了。她告诉托尼她太胖了，这使她很不开心。还有对于像拉里这样很想提高社会地位的人来说，她的家也不够高雅。她跟格拉迪斯·克拉芬不一样，格拉迪斯是远近闻名的有钱有势的女人。

     托尼为让克莱尔高兴，答应帮助她，使她变得漂亮，使她的家变得高雅大方。于是克莱尔从图书馆借来一堆书给托尼阅读，或者说给他浏览一下。她惊奇地看着他的手翻动着书页，竟忍不住伸出手来摸他的手指。他的手指甲和他那柔软温暖的皮肤使她大为惊异。她在想，这是多么可笑啊，他只不过是一台机器啊！

     托尼给克莱尔换了个发型，又改变了化妆风格。因为不允许托尼陪克莱尔去商店，所以托尼就给她写了一份购物清单。克莱尔进城去买了窗帘、坐垫。地毯和床上用品。然后她去了一家珠宝店去买项链。柜台售货员对她很粗鲁，她就打电话给托尼，让售货员给托尼讲话。售货员马上就改变了态度。克莱尔对托尼表示感谢，并说他是个“可爱的人”。她刚一转过身去，就看到格拉迪斯·克拉芬站在那儿。克莱尔想，被格拉迪斯发现了，这多么那为情啊！从格拉迪斯脸上那种有趣而又惊奇的神情来看，克莱尔知道，格拉迪斯认为她有风流韵事了。毕竟格拉迪斯知道她的丈夫是拉里，而不是托尼。

      克莱尔回到家里，坐在扶手椅里气得直哭。格莱迪斯的一举一动都是克莱尔想模仿的。托尼告诉克莱尔说，你可以和格拉迪斯一样，还建议克莱尔邀请格拉迪斯和她的朋友到家里来玩，时间就定在托尼离去和拉里回家之前的那个晚上。托尼想在此之前将房子改装得焕然一新。

      托尼有条不紊地搞着装修。克莱尔有一次想来帮忙，但是她太笨手笨脚了，竟从梯子上掉了下来。尽管托尼当时在隔壁房间里，他还是及时赶过来将她接住了。他把她紧紧地搂在怀里，她感觉到了他的身上有股暖气。她尖叫了起来，把他推开，跑回她的房里，那天她就再也没有出来过。

      聚会的那天晚上来到了。时钟敲响八点，客人马上就要到了。克莱尔叫托尼到另一个房间去。就在那一瞬间，托尼弯曲胳膊搂着她，弯下身躯，把脸贴近她的脸。她大叫一声“托尼”，然后听到托尼一本正经地说，明天他不想离开她，而且他并不满足于仅仅使她开心。就在这时，前门的门铃响了。托尼放开了她，消失得无影无踪了。也就在这时候，克莱尔才意识到托尼早就把前面窗户的窗帘拉开了。她的客人把这一切看得一清二楚。

      克莱尔和她的房子、美食给女士们留下了深刻的印象。就在她们离开之前，克莱尔听到格莱迪斯跟另外一个女人小声地说，她从来没有见过像托尼这么英俊的男人。受到这些女人的妒忌，这该是多么甜美的胜利！克莱尔也许并没有她们那样漂亮，但是她们中没有任何人拥有这样英俊的情人。

      这时候，她记起了—托尼只不过是一台机器。她高声嚷道：“让我独自呆一会儿！”就跑上床，哭了一个通宵。第二天早晨开来一辆汽车，把托尼接走了。

     公司对托尼同克莱尔相处三个星期的实验报告非常满意。托尼保护了一个人免受伤害，他使克莱尔没有因为她的失败感而伤害自己。那天晚上，他拉开了窗帘，让其他女人看到了他和克莱尔在一起，他明白这样做对克莱尔的婚姻并不造成危害。但是，尽管托尼很聪明，他还得做一番改建——总不能让女人和机器相爱吧。

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Satisfaction Guaranteed

        Larry Belmont worked for a company that made robots. Recently it had begun experimenting with a household robot. It was going to be tested out by Larry’s wife, Claire.

       Claire didn’t want the robot in her house, especially as her husband would be absent for three weeks, but Larry persuaded her that the robot wouldn’t harm her or allow her to be harmed. It would be a bonus. However, when she first saw the robot, she felt alarmed. His name was Tony and he seemed more like a human than a machine. He was tall and handsome with smooth hair and a deep voice although his facial expression never changed.

        On the second morning Tony, wearing an apron, brought her breakfast and then asked her whether she needed help dressing. She felt embarrassed and quickly told him to go. It was disturbing and frightening that he looked so human.

One day, Claire mentioned that she didn’t think she was clever. Tony said that she must feel very unhappy to say that. Claire thought that it was ridiculous to be offered sympathy by a robot. But she began to trust him. She told him how she was overweight and this made her feel unhappy. Also she felt her home wasn’t elegant enough for someone like Larry who wanted to improve his social position. She wasn’t like Gladys Claffern, one of the richest and most powerful women around.

       As a favour Tony promised to help Claire make herself smarter and her home more elegant. So Claire borrowed a pile of books from the library for him to read, or rather, scan. She looked at his fingers with wonder as they turned each page and suddenly reached for his hand. She was amazed by his fingernails and the softness and warmth of his skin. How absurd, she thought. He was just a machine.

       Tony gave Claire a new haircut changed the makeup she wore. As he was not allowed to accompany her to the shops, he wrote out a list of items for her. Claire went into the city and bought curtains, cushions, a carpet and bedding. Then she went into a jewellery shop to buy a necklace. When the clerk at the counter was rude to her, she rung Tony up and told the clerk to speak to him. The clerk immediately changed his attitude. Claire thanked Tony , telling him that he was a “dear”. As she turned around, there stood Gladys Claffern. How awful to be discovered by her, Claire thought. By the amused and surprised look on her face, Claire knew that Gladys thought she was having an affair. After all, she knew Claire’s husband’s name was Larry, not Tony.

       When Claire got home, she wept with anger in her armchair. Gladys was everything Claire wanted to be. “You can be like her,” Tony told her and suggested that she invite Gladys and her friends to the house the night before he was to leave and Larry was to return. By that time, Tony expected the house to be completely transformed.

        Tony worked steadily on the improvements. Claire tried to help once but was too clumsy. She fell off a ladder and even though Tony was in the next room, he managed to catch her in time. He held her firmly in his arms and she felt the warmth of his body. She screamed, pushed him away and ran to her room for the rest of the day.

        The night of the party arrived. The clock struck eight. The guests would be arriving soon and Claire told Tony to go into another room. At that moment, Tony folded his arms around her, bending his face close to hers. She cried out “Tony” and then heard him declare that he didn’t want to leave her the next day and that he felt more than just the desire to please her. Then the front door bell rang. Tony freed her and disappeared from sight. It was then that Claire realized that Tony had opened the curtains of the front window. Her guests had seen everything.

         The women were impressed by Claire, the house and the delicious cuisine. Just before they left, Claire heard Gladys whispering to another woman that she had never seen anyone so handsome as Tony. What a sweet victory to be envied by those women! She might not be as beautiful as them, but none of them had such a handsome lover.

       Then she remembered — Tony was just a machine. She shouted “Leave me alone” and ran to her bed. She cried all night. The next morning a car drove up and took Tony away.

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       The company was very pleased with Tony’s report on his three weeks with Claire. Tony had protected a human being from harm. He had prevented Claire from harming herself through her own sense of failure. He had opened the curtains that night so that the other women would see him and Claire, knowing that there was no risk to Claire’s marriage. But even though Tony had been so clever, he would have to be rebuilt—you cannot have women falling in love with machines.