經典科幻文學:《 基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第2章11

‘Yes,’ said Tricia, suspiciously. She just stopped herself asking, ‘How did you know?’ but Gail answered anyway.

“好的。”崔茜卡有些疑心，她差點問，“你怎麼知道？”雖然話沒出口，但蓋爾還是回答了。

‘I asked the barman,’ she said, with a kindly smile.

“我問了調酒師來着。”她臉上露出一個溫和的笑容。

The barman had her vodka ready for her and slid it charmingly across the glossy mahogany.

調酒師已經幫她準備好了伏特加，杯子從光潔的桃花心木檯面上滑到她跟前，相當瀟灑。

‘Thank you,’ said Tricia, stirring it sharply.

“謝謝。”崔茜卡使勁攪了幾下。

She didn’t know quite what to make out of all this sudden niceness and was determined not to be wrong-footed by it. People in New York were not nice to each other without reason.

她不太清楚該怎麼理解對方突如其來的友善親切，但下定決心絕不被它迷惑。紐約人才不會無緣無故地給你好臉色看呢。

‘Ms. Andrews,’ she said, firmly, ‘I’m sorry that you’re not happy. I know you probably feel I was a bit rough with you this morning, but astrology is, after all, just popular entertainment, which is fine. It’s part of showbiz and it’s a part that you have done well out of and good luck to you. It’s fun. It’s not a science though, and it shouldn’t be mistaken for one. I think that’s something we both managed to demonstrate very successfully together this morning, while at the same time generating some popular entertainment, which is what we both do for a living. I’m sorry if you have a problem with that.’

“安德魯斯女士，”她堅定地說，“如果你覺得不快樂，我很遺憾。我知道你大概認爲我今天早上對你有些太粗魯，可占星術，你看，畢竟只是項大衆娛樂，這挺好。它跟電視一樣是作秀，而且你做得很不錯，我也祝你好運。占星術其實蠻有意思的，可它不是科學，也不該被誤以爲是科學。我想這一點咱們今早已經很成功地演示過了，還順帶產生了些可供大衆娛樂的節目。大家不都是吃這碗飯的麼？你對此有意見我只能說很遺憾。”

‘I’m perfectly happy,’ said Gail Andrews.

“我很快樂。”蓋爾?安德魯斯說。

‘Oh,’ said Tricia, not quite certain what to make of this. ‘It said in your message that you were not happy.’

“哦。”崔茜卡不太確定這話什麼意思，“你的留言上說你不快樂。”

‘No,’ said Gail Andrews. ‘I said in my message that I thought you were not happy, and I was just wondering why.’

“不是。”蓋爾?安德魯斯道，“我在留言上說的是我覺得你不快樂，我只是好奇這是爲什麼。”

Tricia felt as if she had been kicked in the back of the head. She blinked.

崔茜卡覺得自己好像被人一腳踢中了後腦勺。她眨眨眼。

‘What?’ she said quietly.

“什麼？”她輕聲問。

‘To do with the stars. You seemed very angry and unhappy about something to do with stars and planets when we were having our discussion, and it’s been bothering me, which is why I came to see if you were all right.’

“星星。我們討論的時候，恆星行星什麼的似乎讓你非常憤怒和不快，我一直放心不下，所以纔來看看你怎麼樣了。”

Tricia stared at her. ‘Ms. Andrews—’ she started, and then realised that the way she had said it sounded exactly angry and unhappy and rather undermined the protest she had been trying to make.

崔茜卡瞪大眼睛，“安德魯斯女士。”她剛一開口就意識到，自己的口氣正好是又憤怒又不快，肯定會嚴重削弱抗議的效果。

‘Please call me Gail, if that’s OK.’

“請叫我蓋爾，如果你不介意的話。”

Tricia just looked bewildered.

崔茜卡一臉迷惑。