经典科幻文学:《基本上无害 Mostly Harmless》 第18章7

Ford leapt to his feet fretfully and stArted pacing backwards and forwards in the feeble, painful light of the early dawn which lay streaked against the sky as if someone had dragged a piece of liver across it.

福特心烦意乱地一跃而起，开始前前后后地在晨曦中散起步。清晨微弱的光线格外卖力，一道道铺在空中，就好像有人拖着块肝脏在上头过了一回似的。

‘You don’t understand how important this is,’ he said.

“你不明白这有多重要。”他说。

‘What? You mean my daughter out there all alone in the Galaxy? You think I don’t…’

“什么？你是说我女儿一个人待在银河系里？你以为我就不……”

‘Can we feel sorry for the Galaxy later?’ said Ford. ‘This is very, very serious indeed. The Guide has been taken over. It’s been bought out.’

“你能待会儿再为银河系难过吗？”福特说，“这事儿真的非常非常严重。《指南》被人接管了。它被人收购了。”

Arthur leapt up. ‘Oh very serious,’ he shouted. ‘Please fill me in straight away on some corporate publishing politics! I can’t tell you how much it’s been on my mind of late!’

阿瑟跳起来，“哦多么严重。”他喊道，“拜托你赶紧跟我讲讲集团出版业的政治斗争问题！我简直没法告诉你最近我为这事有多烦恼！”

‘You don’t understand! There’s a whole new Guide!’

“你不明白！他们重新弄了本《指南》！”

‘Oh!’ shouted Arthur again. ‘Oh! Oh! Oh! I’m incoherent with excitement! I can hardly wait for it to come out to find out which are the most exciting spaceports to get bored hanging about in in some globular cluster I’ve never heard of. Please, can we rush to a store that’s got it right this very instant?’

“哦！”阿瑟又吼起来，“哦！哦！哦！我都激动得不知道说什么了！我简直等不及它来告诉我，要是我去了哪个我从没听过过的球星星云，可以找到哪些激动人心的空港让我待到无聊。拜托我们可以不可以现在就冲到哪家已经在卖的商店去弄上一本？”

Ford narrowed his eyes.

福特眯起眼睛。

‘This is that thing you call sarcasm, isn’t it?’

“这就是你们叫做挖苦的那种东西，对吗？”

‘Do you know,’ bellowed Arthur, ‘I think it is? I really think it might just be a crazy little thing called sarcasm seeping in at the edges of my manner of speech! Ford, I have had a fucking bad night! Will you please try and take that into account while you consider what fascinating bits of badger-sputumly inconsequential trivia to assail me with next?’

“你知不知道，”阿瑟咆哮道，“我认为它就是。我真的认为很可能就是那个名叫挖苦的疯疯癫癫的小东西渗透进了我的语言风格里！福特，我今晚过得他妈的糟透了！所以能不能求求你，在决定接下来要用什么让人神魂颠倒无关紧要的琐事来烦我之前把这一点也考虑进去？”

‘Try to rest,’ said Ford. ‘I need to think.’

“试着休息休息。”福特说，“我需要思考。”

‘Why do you need to think? Can’t we just sit and go budum-budumbudum with our lips for a bit? Couldn’t we just dribble gently and loll a little bit to the left for a few minutes? I can’t stand it, Ford! I can’t stand all this thinking and trying to work things out any more. You may think that I am just standing here barking…’

“为什么你需要思考？难道我们就不能干脆坐下来噼里啪啦帕里啪啦地动动嘴皮子？难道我们就不能稍微流几滴口水并且往左边歪上一歪吗？我受不了了，福特！我再也受不了什么思考什么解决问题。你或许以为我只是站在这儿瞎吵吵……”

‘Hadn’t occurred to me in fact.’

“之前我还真没想到。”