經典科幻文學:《基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第18章8

‘… but I mean it! What is the point? We assume that every time we do anything we know what the consequences will be, i.e., more or less what we intend them to be. This is not only not always correct. It is wildly, crazily, stupidly cross-eyed-blithering-insectly wrong!’

“……可我是認真的！有什麼意義呢？每次幹什麼事情的時候我們總以為自己知道結果是什麼，也就是説，或多或少跟我們希望的一樣。這種想法不僅僅不是每回都正確，它簡直瘋狂的，愚蠢的，跟對眼胡扯的蟲子一樣的大錯特錯！”

‘Which is exactly my point.’

“正好是我的觀點。”

‘Thank you,’ said Arthur, sitting down again. ‘What?’

“謝謝。”阿瑟重新坐下，“什麼？”

‘Temporal reverse engineering.’

“短期反向操控。”

Arthur put his head in his hands and shook it gently from side to side.

阿瑟把腦袋埋進兩隻手裏，輕輕地從一邊搖到另一邊。

‘Is there any humane way,’ he moaned, ‘in which I can prevent you from telling me what temporary reverse bloody-whatsiting is?’

“有沒有任何人類能力範圍以內的方法，”他呻吟道，“可以讓我阻止你告訴我那個短期反向什麼什麼是什麼鬼東西？”

‘No,’ said Ford, ‘because your daughter is caught up in the middle of it and it is deadly, deadly serious.’

“沒有。”福特説，“因為你女兒已經陷進去了，而這事情嚴重得要命，非常要命。”

Thunder rolled in the pause.

雷聲填滿了中間的沉默。

‘All right,’ said Arthur. ‘Tell me.’

“好吧，”阿瑟説，“告訴我。”

‘I leaped out of a high-rise office window.’

“我從一棟特高的大樓的窗户跳了下去。”

This cheered Arthur up.

這話讓阿瑟高興起來。

‘Oh!’ he said. ‘Why don’t you do it again?’

“哦！”阿瑟説，“你幹嘛不再跳一回？”

‘I did.’

“我跳過了。”

‘Hmmm,’ said Arthur, disappointed. ‘Obviously no good came of it.’

“呃。”阿瑟好不失望，“顯然沒派上什麼用場。”

‘The first time I managed to save myself by the most astonishing and – I say this in all modesty – fabulous piece of ingenious quick-thinking, agility, fancy footwork and self-sacrifice.’

“第一次脱線我用上了最最令人吃驚而且——我説這話可是毫不誇張，非常謙虛的——最最難以置信的創造力，機智，行動，還有無上的腳法外加自我犧牲精神。”