經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第16章3
“At the End of the Universe you have to use the past tense a lot,” said Zaphod, “’cos everything’s been done you know. Hi, guys,” he called out to a nearby party of giant iguana lifeforms, “How did you do?”
“Is that Zaphod Beeblebrox?” asked one iguana of another iguana.
“I think so,” replied the second iguana.
“Well doesn’t that just take the biscuit,” said the first iguana.
“Funny old thing, life,” said the second iguana.
“It’s what you make of it,” said the first and they lapsed back into silence. They were waiting for the greatest show in the Universe.
“Hey, Zaphod,” said Ford, grabbing for his arm and, on account of the third Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, missing. He pointed a swaying finger.
“There’s an old mate of mine,” he said, “Hotblack Desiato! See the man at the platinum table with the platinum suit on?”
Zaphod tried to follow Ford’s finger with his eyes but it made him feel dizzy. Finally he saw.
“Oh yeah,” he said, then recognition came a moment later. “Hey,” he said, “did that guy ever make it megabig! Wow, bigger than the biggest thing ever. Other than me.”
“Who’s he supposed to be?” asked Trillian.
“Hotblack Desiato?” said Zaphod in astonishment, “you don’t know? You never heard of Disaster Area?”
“No,” said Trillian, who hadn’t.
“The biggest,” said Ford, “loudest…”
“Richest…” suggested Zaphod.
“… rock band in the history of…” he searched for the word.
“… history itself,” said Zaphod.
“No,” said Trillian.
“在宇宙盡頭，你必須大量使用過去時態。”贊福德說，“你知道，因爲每件事都已經過去了。嗨，夥計們，”他衝旁邊的一夥活像巨型鬣蜥的生物打了個招呼，“過去近來過得怎麼樣？”
“這傢伙是贊福德·畢博布魯克斯嗎，”一隻鬣蜥問另外一隻。
“我想是吧。”第二隻鬣蜥回答說。
“那麼，值得爲這個吃塊餅乾。”第一隻鬣蜥說。
“生活，真夠怪的。”第二隻鬣蜥說。
“怪也是你自己過出來的。”第一隻說，然後他們便又恢復了沉默。他們在等待着宇宙中最壯觀的表演。
“嘿，贊福德。”福特說，一邊來抓他的胳膊。由於泛銀河系含漱爆破藥的作用，他有點兒迷糊了。他晃動着伸出一根手指：“那邊有我的一個老相識，”他說，“霍特布萊克·迪西亞託！看見那邊白金桌子旁那個穿鉑灰色套裝的人了嗎？”
贊福德試圖讓自己的限腈跟隨福特的指頭，但這樣做的結果卻讓他覺得頭暈目眩。不過他最終還是看見了。
“噢，是的。”他說，又過丁一會兒，他才反應過來。
“嘿，”他說，“是那個超級大牌的傢伙哇，比有史以來最大牌的人還要大牌，當然，除丁我以外。”
“這傢伙是誰？”崔莉恩問。
“霍特布萊克·迪西亞託？”贊福德驚訝地反問道，“你不知道嗎？難道你從來沒有聽說過‘災難地帶’？”
“沒有。”崔莉恩說，她從來沒聽說過。
“最大牌的，”福特說，“雖吵鬧的……”
“最賺錢的。”贊福德提醒說。
“……搖滾樂隊，在音樂歷史上……”他停下來尋找合適的詞。
“在所史上。”贊福德糾正他。
“沒聽說過。”崔莉恩說。
