經典科幻文學:《銀河系漫遊指南》第1章Part 4

In fact what he was really looking out for when he stared distractedly into the night sky was any kind of flying saucer at all. The reason he said green was that green was the traditional space livery of the Betelgeuse trading scouts.

Ford Prefect was desperate that any flying saucer at all would arrive soon because fifteen years was a long time to get stranded anywhere, particularly somewhere as mindboggingly dull as the Earth.

Ford wished that a flying saucer would arrive soon because he knew how to flag flying saucers down and get lifts from them. He knew how to see the Marvels of the Universe for less than thirty Altairan dollars a day.

In fact, Ford Prefect was a roving researcher for that wholly remarkable book The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Human beings are great adaptors, and by lunchtime life in the environs of Arthur's house had settled into a steady routine. It was Arthur's accepted role to lie squelching in the mud making occasional demands to see his lawyer, his mother or a good book; it was Mr Prosser's accepted role to tackle Arthur with the occasional new ploy such as the For the Public Good talk, the March of Progress talk, the They Knocked My House Down Once You Know, Never Looked Back talk and various other cajoleries and threats; and it was the bulldozer drivers' accepted role to sit around drinking coffee and experimenting with union regulations to see how they could turn the situation to their financial advantage.

The Earth moved slowly in its diurnal course.

The sun was beginning to dry out the mud Arthur lay in.

A shadow moved across him again.

"Hello Arthur," said the shadow.

Arthur looked up and squinting into the sun was startled to see Ford Prefect standing above him.

"Ford! Hello, how are you?"

"Fine," said Ford, "look, are you busy?"

"Am I busy?" exclaimed Arthur. "Well, I've just got all these bulldozers and things to lie in front of because they'll knock my house down if I don't, but other than that ... well, no not especially, why?"

They don't have sarcasm on Betelgeuse, and Ford Prefect often failed to notice it unless he was concentrating. He said, "Good, is there anywhere we can talk?"

"What?" said Arthur Dent.

實際上，當他心神不寧地盯着天空時，確實是在尋找任何類型的飛碟。而他回答綠色的原因是由於綠色是參宿四貿易巡視員的傳統制服顏色。

福特·普里弗克特對於馬上會有任何飛碟到來已經絕望了，因爲15年足以使一個人困在任何地方，尤其又是地球這種枯燥得令人難以置信的星球。

福特希望一架飛碟會很快到來，因爲他知道如何通過旗語讓飛碟降落，從裏面伸出梯子來接他走。他知道如何花一天不到30牽牛星元的價錢看到宇宙中的種種奇蹟。

實際上，福特·普里弗克特是一個星際漫遊者，專門研究那本絕對非凡的書，《銀河系漫遊指南》。

人類真是優秀的適應者，到午飯的時候，阿瑟房前的糾紛已經進入了一種穩定的常態。阿瑟已經接受了這樣的角色：躺在泥漿裏，提一些臨時性的要求，像是見見自己的律師和母親，或者看一本好書什麼的：而普洛塞先生也已經接受了這樣的角色：用一些臨時性的新策略來應付阿瑟，像給他講公衆利益，講工程的進度，講自己的房子也曾經被拆除，自己連回頭看一眼都沒有過，以及各種各樣其他的甜言蜜語和惡語威脅：推土機司機的角色則是；坐在一邊，喝着咖啡，靜靜地旁觀兩人如何把局勢導向符合自己利益的一方。

地球照常按自己每日的規律慢慢地轉動着。

太陽已經開始要把阿瑟躺着的泥漿曬乾了。

一團陰影又一次掩蓋了阿瑟。

“你好嗎，阿瑟。”陰影說道。

阿瑟向上看去，吃驚地發現福特·普里弗克特正站在他上方。

“福特！嘿，你好嗎？”

“還行。”福特說，“喂，你很忙嗎？”

“我能不忙嗎？”阿瑟嚷了起來，“我一個人在這裏阻擋這些該死的推土機，要不然他們會推倒我的房子。不過話說回來……噢，不，也不算太忙。怎麼，有事兒嗎？”

他們倆在一起時阿瑟從來沒有嘲笑過參宿四（除非集中精力，福特·普里弗克特總是注意不到這一點）。他說：“那好，這兒有什麼地方可以談話嗎？”

“什麼？”阿瑟·鄧特一時沒反應過來。