經典科幻文學:《銀河系漫遊指南》第30章2

"In this replacement Earth we're building they've given me Africa to do and of course I'm doing it with all fjords again because I happen to like them, and I'm old fashioned enough to think that they give a lovely baroque feel to a continent. And they tell me it's not equatorial enough. Equatorial!" He gave a hollow laugh. "What does it matter? Science has achieved some wonderful things of course, but I'd far rather be happy than right any day."
"And are you?" "No. That's where it all falls down of course.""Pity," said Arthur with sympathy. "It sounded like quite a good lifestyle otherwise." Somewhere on the wall a small white light flashed.
"Come," said Slartibartfast, "you are to meet the mice. Your arrival on the planet has caused considerable excitement. It has already been hailed, so I gather, as the third most improbable event in the history of the Universe." "What were the first two?" "Oh, probably just coincidences," said Slartibartfast carelessly. He opened the door and stood waiting for Arthur to follow.
Arthur glanced around him once more, and then down at himself, at the sweaty dishevelled clothes he had been lying in the mud in on Thursday morning.
"I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle," he muttered to himself.
"I beg your pardon?" said the old man mildly.
"Oh nothing," said Arthur, "only joking."

“在我們正在建造的這顆替代品地球上，他們把非洲分給我做。我當然把它全部做成了海灣，誰讓我碰巧喜歡它們呢。我是老派的審美觀，覺得它們給這塊大陸增加了一種雖然怪誕但是挺可愛的感覺。他們告訴我，它還不夠接近赤道。接近赤道！”他發出一陣空洞的笑聲，“這有什麼關係？當然，科學能夠做成一些美妙的事，但我始終認爲，有比正確更令人愉快的事。”
“那你照自己的感覺做了嗎？”“沒有。在這個問題上當然還是得妥協的。”“真是遺憾。”阿瑟同情的說，“否則的話，聽起來倒真是一種挺不錯的生活方式。”這時，牆上的一盞小白燈亮了起來。
“來吧，”司拉提巴特法斯特說，“你將會和老鼠見面。你們的到來在這顆行星上引起了巨大的轟動。據我所知，這一事件已經被驚呼爲宇宙有史以來排在第三位的非概率事件。”“前兩件是什麼呢？”“哦，那也許只是巧合而已。”司拉提巴特法斯特漫不經心的回答說。他推開門，站在那兒等着阿瑟跟過來。
阿瑟再次上下打量了他一番，然後又看了看自己，看了看自己身上這件一股汗味兒皺巴巴的衣服，還有星期四早上他躺在泥漿裏留下的痕跡。
“看來我的生活方式碰到了相當大的困難。”他喃喃自語道。
“對不起，你說什麼？”老人溫和的問。
“噢，沒什麼，”阿瑟說，“一句玩笑而已。”