经典科幻文学:《 基本上无害 Mostly Harmless》 第6章7

‘InfiniDim Enterprises. We have bought out the Guide.’

“无限帅公司。《指南》被我们收购了。”

‘InfiniDim?’

“无限衰？”

‘We spent millions on that name, Prefect. Start liking it or start packing.’

“这名字花了我们几百万，福特。要么爱上它，要么收拾东西滚蛋。”

Ford shrugged. He had nothing to pack.

福特耸耸肩。他根本没东西收拾。

‘The Galaxy is changing,’ said Harl. ‘We’ve got to change with it. Go with the market. The market is moving up. New aspirations. New technology. The future is…’

“银河系在变化，”哈尔说，“我们必须跟它一起变。紧跟市场的步伐。市场在前进。新需求，新技术，未来……”

‘Don’t tell me about the future,’ said Ford. ‘I’ve been all over the future. Spend half my time there. It’s the same as anywhere else. Anywhen else. Whatever. Just the same old stuff in faster cars and smellier air.’

“别跟我说什么未来。”福特说，“未来我都走遍了，一半的时间都花在那儿，跟其他地方一摸一样，其他时间，我是说。管他呢，反正就是那些个东西，除了车子快些，空气难闻些。”

‘That’s one future,’ said Harl. ‘That’s your future, if you accept it. You’ve got to learn to think multi-dimensionally. There are limitless futures stretching out in every direction from this moment – and from this moment and from this. Billions of them, bifurcating every instant! Every possible position of every possible electron balloons out into billions of probabilities! Billions and billions of shining, gleaming futures! You know what that means?’

“那是一种未来，”哈尔说，“你的未来，如果你接受的话，你得以多元的视角看问题，每一个方向上都有无限的未来在伸展，就从这一秒开始……还有这一秒和这一秒。上亿个，每一刻都在分叉！每一粒可能的电子的每一个可能的位置形成无数的可能性！无数无数个亮闪闪，金灿灿的未来。你知道这意味着什么吗？”

‘You’re dribbling down your chin.’

“你的口水留下来了。”

‘Billions and billions of markets!’

“无数无数个市场。”

‘I see,’ said Ford. ‘So you sell billions and billions of Guides.’

“明白了。”福特说，“这么一来你们就可以卖掉无数无数本《指南》，对不？”

‘No,’ said Harl, reaching for his handkerchief and not finding one. ‘Excuse me,’ he said, ‘but this gets me so excited.’ Ford handed him his towel.

“不。”哈尔伸手拿那手绢，结果没找到，“抱歉，可说起这个我实在太激动了。”福特把自己的毛巾递给他。

‘The reason we don’t sell billions and billions of Guides,’ continued Harl, after wiping his mouth, ‘is the expense. What we do is we sell one Guide billions and billions of times. We exploit the multidimensional nature of the Universe to cut down on manufacturing costs. And we don’t sell to penniless hitch hikers. What a stupid notion that was! Find the one section of the market that, more or less by definition, doesn’t have any money, and try and sell to it. No. We sell to the affluent business traveller and his vacationing wife in a billion, billion different futures. This is the most radical, dynamic and thrusting business venture in the entire multidimensional infinity of space/time/probability ever.’

“我们之所以不会卖出无数无数本《指南》，”哈尔擦过嘴以后继续讲，“就在于费用。我们要做的是把一本《指南》卖上无数无数遍。我们发掘宇宙的多元性好消减成本。而且我们也不卖给那些一文不名搭便车的。多么愚蠢的想法！从定义上讲，兜里绝对没钱的市场总共也就这么一个，却专门瞄准它想把东西卖给它，不，我们要卖给富裕的商务旅馆和他老婆，卖给无数无数个未来里的他们。这是整个无限多元的空间/时间/概率里最激进，最富于激情，最强有力的商业投机运动。”

‘And you want me to be its restaurant critic,’ said Ford.

“而你想让我做它的美食评论。”福特说。

‘We would value your input.’

“我们会对你的稿件进行审核。”