经典科幻文学:《基本上无害 Mostly Harmless》 第16章1

16

第十六章

Arthur wasn’t quite certain which he noticed as being missing first. When he noticed that the one wasn’t there his mind instantly leapt to the other and he knew immediately that they were both gone and that something insanely bad and difficult to deal with would happen as a result.

阿瑟不大确定首先引起自己注意的是哪一个。当他发现其中一个失踪，脑子立刻就跳到了另一个上，然后他立刻就知道两样都没了，还有就是最后一定会发生些坏得发疯，没法应付的事情。

Random was not there. And neither was the parcel.

兰登不在茅屋里，包裹也不在。

He had left it up on a shelf all day, in plain view. It was an exercise in trust.

这一整天他都把它留在架子上，半点没有掩饰。这是一种信任练习。

He knew that one of the things he was supposed to do as a parent was to show trust in his child, to build a sense of trust and confidence into the bedrock of relationship between them. He had had a nasty feeling that that might be an idiotic thing to do, but he did it anyway, and sure enough it had turned out to be an idiotic thing to do. You live and learn. At any rate, you live.

他知道，作为家长，他的职责之一就是信任他的孩子，为他俩的关系打下一种相互信赖的根基。他在这么干之前就有种凶险的预感，怕自己要干的是件大蠢事，但他还是这么干了。结果自不必说，他发现这果真是件大傻事。你总是一边生活一边学习，反正你至少在生活。

You also panic.

而且你还要惊慌失措。

Arthur ran out of the hut. It was the middle of the evening. The light was getting dim and a storm was brewing. He could not see her anywhere, nor any sign of her. He asked. No one had seen her. He asked again. No one else had seen her. They were going home for the night. A little wind was whipping round the edge of the village, picking things up and tossing them around in a dangerously casual manner.

阿瑟跑出茅屋，现在正是半夜，光线越来越暗淡，一场暴风雨正在酝酿。他哪儿都找不到她，连个影子也没有。他到处打听。没人见过她。他再打听。别的人也没见过她。大家都准备回家睡觉。村边刮着一点微风，把东西吹上天抛来抛去，态度随便得可怕。

He found Old Thrashbarg and asked him. Thrashbarg looked at him stonily, and then pointed in the one direction that Arthur had dreaded, and had therefore instinctively known was the way she would have gone.

他找到老刷希巴跟他打听。刷希巴面无表情地看着他，然后指了一个方向。那正是阿瑟所害怕的地方，其实他早就凭直觉猜到她是去了那边。

So now he knew the worst.

所以现在他知道了最坏的情况。

She had gone where she thought he would not follow her.

她去了那儿，因为她以为阿瑟不会上那儿去找她。

He looked up at the sky, which was sullen, streaked and livid, and reflected that it was the sort of sky that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse wouldn’t feel like a bunch of complete idiots riding out of.

他看看天，青黑色的天空显得阴沉而暴躁，如果《启示录》里那四个骑士要选个时机从天上骑马跑出来，大概只有这类天气才不会让他们觉得自己好像一伙彻头彻尾的大白痴。

With a heavy sense of the utmost foreboding he set off on the track that led to the forest in the next valley. The first heavy blobs of rain began to hit the ground as Arthur tried to drag himself to some sort of run.

阿瑟带着最最沉重和不详的预感踏上了通往下一个山谷的小路。他努力想拖着自己的身体跑起来，沉甸甸的大雨点开始砸到地面上。