經典科幻文學:《銀河系漫遊指南》第27章1

Chapter 27
Slartibartfast's study was a total mess, like the results of an explosion in a public library. The old man frowned as they stepped in.
"Terribly unfortunate," he said, "a diode blew in one of the life-support computers. When we tried to revive our cleaning staff we discovered they'd been dead for nearly thirty thousand years. Who's going to clear away the bodies, that's what I want to know. Look why don't you sit yourself down over there and let me plug you in?"
He gestured Arthur towards a chair which looked as if it had been made out of the rib cage of a stegosaurus.
"It was made out of the rib cage of a stegosaurus," explained the old man as he pottered about fishing bits of wire out from under tottering piles of paper and drawing instruments. "Here," he said, "hold these," and passed a couple of stripped wire end to Arthur.
The instant he took hold of them a bird flew straight through him.
He was suspended in mid-air and totally invisible to himself. Beneath him was a pretty treelined city square, and all around it as far as the eye could see were white concrete buildings of airy spacious design but somewhat the worse for wear — many were cracked and stained with rain. Today however the sun was shining, a fresh breeze danced lightly through the trees, and the odd sensation that all the buildings were quietly humming was probably caused by the fact that the square and all the streets around it were thronged with cheerful excited people. Somewhere a band was playing, brightly coloured Flags were fluttering in the breeze and the spirit of carnival was in the air.
Arthur felt extraordinarily lonely stuck up in the air above it all without so much as a body to his name, but before he had time to reflect on this a voice rang out across the square and called for everyone's attention.
A man standing on a brightly dressed dais before the building which clearly dominated the square was addressing the crowd over a Tannoy.
"O people waiting in the Shadow of Deep Thought!" he cried out. "Honoured Descendants of Vroomfondel and Majikthise, the Greatest and Most Truly Interesting Pundits the Universe has ever known ... The Time of Waiting is over!"
Wild cheers broke out amongst the crowd. Flags, streamers and wolf whistles sailed through the air. The narrower streets looked rather like centipedes rolled over on their backs and frantically waving their legs in the air.

第二十七章
司拉提巴特法斯特的書房一片混亂，就像一個發生了一場爆炸的公共圖書館。進門後，老人皺起眉頭。
“真是太不幸了，”他說，“一臺生命支持電腦裏的一個二極管爆了。當我們試圖喚醒我們的清掃系統時，才發現它們已經死掉差不多快3萬年了。誰來清理這些垃圾呢，真是頭疼呀。唔，你爲什麼不到那邊坐下來，讓我替你接上儀器好嗎？”
他做了個手勢，讓阿瑟坐到一張看上去像是由一頭劍龍的胸腔製成的椅子上。
“這是用一頭劍龍的胸腔做的。”老人解釋道，一邊磨磨蹭蹭地從搖搖晃晃的紙堆下面扯出電線，接上儀器。“這兒，”他說，“拿着這些。”他把幾根剝掉了外皮的電線端頭遞給阿瑟。
阿瑟接過電線的那一瞬間，一隻鳥筆直地從他面前掠過。
他懸在半空中，自己完全看不見自己。在他身下是一個綠樹成行的美麗的城市廣場，廣場四周目力所及之處全都是白色的混凝土建築，設計風格輕快通透，只是裝飾稍微差了些一許多建築已被雨淋得痕跡斑駁。這是陽光明媚的一天，清新的微風在林間吹拂，廣場和周圍的街道上聚集着歡樂興奮的人羣，很容易使人產生一種奇怪的感覺，似乎所有建築也都跟着輕聲地哼哼着。某個地方，一支樂隊正在表演，色彩鮮豔的旗幟在風中招展，空氣中瀰漫着狂歡節的氣息。
在空中，阿瑟甚至沒有一具有形的軀體，於是他感到極端孤獨，但沒等他有足夠的時間考慮這個問題，一個聲音已經響徹整個廣場，讓所有人注意。
一個男人站在裝點得五彩繽紛的高臺上，這個高臺就在顯然是這個廣場的主體建築物前面，他正通過擴音器向人羣發表演講。
“等待在深思的陰影之下的人們！”他喊道，“光榮的盧姆方德爾和曼吉克塞斯——宇宙中有史以來最偉大、最風趣的博學者一一的子孫們，漫長的等待終於結束了！”
人羣中爆發出熱烈的歡呼聲。旗幟、橫幅以及口哨聲飄蕩在空中。狹窄一些的街道看上去很像轉過身背部着地的蜈蚣，在空中瘋狂地揮舞着它們的腿。