經典科幻文學:《基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第21章7

The leader lounged against a brown corduroy bean bag and squirted breath-freshener into his mouth.

首領懶洋洋地靠在一張棕色燈芯絨靠墊上，往自己嘴裏噴了些口氣清新劑。

Tricia began to feel very scared, suddenly. She was further from Earth than any human being, to her knowledge, had ever been, and she was with an alien creature, who was lounging against a brown corduroy bean bag and squirting breath-freshener into his mouth.

崔茜卡突然害怕起來。據她所知，她離地球比自古以來的任何一個人都要遠，而且還跟一個懶洋洋地靠在一張燈芯絨靠墊上，往自己嘴裏噴口氣清新劑的外星人呆在一起。

She didn’t want to make any false moves. She didn’t want to alarm him. But there were things she had to know.

她不想說錯一個字，她不想嚇着他，可有些事情她必須知道。

‘How did you… where did you get… this?’ she asked, gesturing around the room, nervously.

“你們怎麼……從哪兒……弄到這些的？”她緊張兮兮地指了指滿屋的陳設。

‘The decor?’ asked the Leader. ‘Do you like it? It is very sophisticated. We are a sophisticated people, we Grebulons. We buy sophisticated consumer durables… by Mail order.’

“裝飾品？”首領問，“你喜歡嗎？它們非常深奧。我們是個深奧的種族，我們格里布隆人。我們購買深奧的耐用消費品……郵購。”

Tricia had nodded tremendously slowly at this point.

崔茜卡用出奇緩慢的速度點頭。

‘Mail order…’ she had said.

“郵購……”她說。

The Leader chuckled. It was one of those dark chocolate reassuring silky chuckles.

首領咯咯笑了。是那種黑巧克力一樣柔滑的笑聲，非常讓人安心。

‘I think you think they ship it here. No! Ha Ha! We have arranged a special box number in New Hampshire. We make regular pick-up visits. Ha Ha!’ He lounged back in a relaxed fashion on his bean bag, reached for a reheated french fry and nibbled the end of it, an amused smile playing across his lips.

“你認爲他們會把貨送到這兒來？不！哈哈！我們在新罕布什爾州安排了一個特別的郵政信箱。我們定期去取貨。哈哈！”他挺放鬆地靠回自己的靠墊，伸手拿了根熱過的薯條，輕輕咬着一頭，嘴上劃過一個開心的微笑。

Tricia could feel her brain beginning to bubble very slightly. She kept the video camera going.

崔茜卡能感覺到自己的腦袋冒起了一點點泡泡。她繼續往下拍。

‘How do you, well, er, how do you pay for these wonderful… things?’

“你們怎麼，恩，呃，那什麼買這些奇妙的……東西呢？”

The Leader chuckled again.

首領又咯咯笑起來。