經典科幻文學:《基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第20章4

‘O Sandwich Maker from Bob!’ he pronounced. He paused, furrowed his brow, and sighed as he closed his eyes in pious contemplation. ‘Life,’ he said, ‘will be a very great deal less weird without you!’

“哦，從鮑伯處下界的三明治大師啊！”他清清楚楚地念道。然後他停下來，使勁皺起眉頭，接着長嘆一聲，閉上眼睛，虔誠地冥想起來，“沒有了你，”最後他說，“生活將少了多少古怪啊！”

Arthur was stunned.

阿瑟驚呆了。

‘Do you know,’ he said, ‘I think that’s the nicest thing anybody’s ever said to me?’

“你知道嗎，”他說“我認爲這是人家對我說過的最動聽的一句話？”

‘Can we get on, please?’ said Ford.

“我們可以繼續了嗎，拜託？”福特說。

Something was already happening. The presence of the pikka bird at the end of Thrashbarg’s outstretched arm was sending tremors of interest through the thundering herd. The odd head flicked momentarily in their direction. Arthur began to remember some of the Perfectly Normal Beast hunts he had witnessed. He recalled that as well as the hunter-matadors brandishing their capes there were always others standing behind them holding pikka birds. He had always assumed that, like him, they had just come along to watch.

有些事情已經發生了。刷希巴胳膊盡頭的噼卡鳥在轟隆隆的獸羣裏引發了陣陣戰慄。時不時會有幾個腦袋往他們這邊扭過來看上一眼，阿瑟這纔回憶起自己從前見過的狩獵場景。他想起來了，除了揮舞斗篷的獵人鬥牛士之外，每次都還有其他人拿着噼卡鳥站在後面。過去他總以爲大家都跟他一樣是來湊熱鬧的。

Old Thrashbarg moved forward, a little closer to the rolling herd. Some of the Beasts were now tossing their heads back with interest at the sight of the pikka bird.

老刷希巴往前走上幾步，稍稍靠近飛奔的獸羣，現在已經有些大傢伙開始回頭，很感興趣地看看噼卡鳥。

Old Thrashbarg’s outstretched arms were trembling.

老刷希巴伸長的胳膊在發抖。

Only the pikka bird itself seemed to show no interest in what was going on. A few anonymous molecules of air nowhere in particular engaged all of its perky attention.

只有噼卡鳥自己似乎對這一切毫不關心，只管把全部注意力都集中在空氣裏幾顆不知所謂的分子上。

‘Now!’ exclaimed Old Thrashbarg at last. ‘Now you may work them with the towel!’

“現在！”老刷希巴吼道，“現在你們可以用毛巾把它們引過來了。”