經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第29章1

Chapter 29
On a small obscure world somewhere in the middle of nowhere in particular – nowhere, that is, that could ever be found, since it is protected by a vast field of unprobability to which only six men in this galaxy have a key – it was raining.
It was bucketing down, and had been for hours. It beat the top of the sea into a mist, it pounded the trees, it churned and slopped a stretch of scrubby land near the sea into a mudbath.
The rain pelted and danced on the corrugated iron roof of the small shack that stood in the middle of this patch of scrubby land. It obliterated the small rough pathway that led from the shack down to the seashore and smashed apart the neat piles of interesting shells which had been placed there.
The noise of the rain on the roof of the shack was deafening within, but went largely unnoticed by its occupant, whose attention was otherwise engaged.
He was a tall shambling man with rough straw-coloured hair that was damp from the leaking roof. His clothes were shabby, his back was hunched, and his eyes, though open, seemed closed.
In his shack was an old beaten-up armchair, an old scratched table, an old mattress, some cushions and a stove that was small but warm.
There was also an old and slightly weatherbeaten cat, and this was currently the focus of the man’s attention. He bent his shambling form over it.
“Pussy, pussy, pussy,” he said, “coochicoochicoochicoo… pussy want his fish? Nice piece of fish… pussy want it?”

第二十九章
一個狹小而幽暗的世界，位於銀河的極偏僻處——也就是說，那裏幾乎永遠不會被人發現，崮爲它被一個阿大的無概率場所保護若，整個銀河系內只有六個人有那裏的鑰匙。那裏正下着大雨。
大雨傾盆，持續了好幾個小時。它落在海面上，激起了層薄霧；它擊打着樹木；它把海邊的一片覆蓋着灌木的土地攪拌成了泥漿。
雨點打在起皺的鐵皮屋頂上，在上面狂舞。這是這片覆蓋着灌木的十地巾央的一問小履。雨水淹沒了從小屋通向海岸的崎嶇小徑，把放在那裏的一堆整齊美麗的貝殼衝了個七零八落，
雨點打在小屋頂，從屋裏聽，耶種聲音簡直震耳欲聾，但屋裏的人卻幾乎沒有注意到，他的注意力集中在別的地方。
這是一個舉止晃晃悠悠的高個子男人，凌亂的淡黃色頭髮已始被屋頂漏下來的雨水打溼了。他身上的衣服很破，他的背是駝的，他的眼睛雖然睜着，看上去卻跟閉若沒有什麼區別。
他的屋裏，一把弄壞了的……扶手椅、一張被刮花的……桌子、一張舊牀警、幾塊坐墊，還有一個很小卻很暖和的爐子。
這隻貓象飽經風霜的老獅，它正是這個人面前注意力集中的焦點，他朝着它彎下晃晃悠悠的身子。
“貓咪，貓咪，貓咪，”他喊道，“咕唧咕唧咕唧咕貓咪想要他的包嗎？好好吃的魚。貓咪想要嗎，”