經典科幻文學:《基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第20章5

Arthur advanced with Ford’s towel, moving the way the hunter-matadors did, with a kind of elegant strut that did not come at all naturally to him. But now he knew what to do and that it was right. He brandished and flicked the towel a few times, to be ready for the moment, and then he watched.

阿瑟拿着福特的毛巾往前走，試着像獵人鬥牛士那樣昂首挺胸地邁起風度翩翩的步子，這動作放在他身上一點也不自然。但現在他已經知道該怎麼做，而且知道自己做得沒錯。他揮舞抖動幾下毛巾，爲待會兒的行動做好準備，然後他睜大眼睛。

Some distance away he spotted the Beast he wanted. Head down, it was galloping towards him, right on the very edge of the herd. Old Thrashbarg twitched the bird, the Beast looked up, tossed its head, and then, just as its head was coming down again, Arthur flourished the towel in the Beast’s line of sight. It tossed its head again in bemusement, and its eyes followed the movement of the towel.

在稍遠的地方他發現了自己想要的那一頭。它就在獸羣最邊上，正埋着腦袋直奔他這兒來。老刷希巴晃了晃噼卡鳥，它往上看了一眼，猛地一揚腦袋，然後，就在它正要再次埋頭的時候，阿瑟在它視線之內抖了抖毛巾。它又揚起腦袋，看來有些迷惑，它的眼睛追隨起了毛巾的動作。

He had got the Beast’s attention.

他吸引了這頭絕對正常獸的注意。

From that moment on, it seemed the most natural thing to coax and draw the animal towards him. Its head was up, cocked slightly to one side. It was slowing to a canter and then a trot. A few seconds later the huge thing was standing there amongst them, snorting, panting, sweating, and sniffing excitedly at the pikka bird, which appeared not to have noticed its arrival at all. With strange sort of sweeping movements of his arms Old Thrashbarg kept the pikka bird in front of the Beast, but always out of its reach and always downwards. With strange sort of sweeping movements of the towel, Arthur kept drawing the Beast’s attention this way and that – always downwards.

從那一刻起，一切都好像再自然不過。阿瑟耐心地把它哄到自己這邊；它昂着頭，腦袋微微偏向一邊，然後放慢了速度，先是小跑，又變成快步走。幾秒鐘之後，這個大傢伙來到了他們中間，噴着響鼻，氣喘吁吁，大汗淋漓，興奮不已地嗅着那隻噼卡鳥，而對方則壓根沒有注意到它湊過來。老刷希巴的胳膊怪異地揮動，讓噼卡鳥保持在它身前，但永遠不讓它夠到，而且永遠往下方移動。阿瑟的毛巾也怪模怪樣地揮動，把它的注意力引向這邊或者那邊——當然也是一路向下。

‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite so stupid in my life,’ muttered Ford to himself.

“恐怕我這輩子還沒見過這麼傻的事。”福特低聲自言自語。

At last, the Beast dropped, bemused but docile, to its knees.

最後大傢伙跪下來，迷迷糊糊的，但異常溫順。

‘Go!’ whispered Old Thrashbarg urgently, to Ford. ‘Go! Go now!’

“去！”老刷希巴悄聲告訴福特，聲音裏透着緊迫，“去！現在！”

Ford leapt up on to the great creature’s back, scrabbling amongst its thick knotty fur for purchase, grasping great handfuls of the stuff to hold him steady once he was in position.

福特跳到大傢伙的後背上，在它濃密糾結的毛裏摸索着尋找支撐，坐好之後他抓起一大把毛幫自己穩住。