經典科幻文學:《基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第18章1
18
第十八章
Arthur leapt to his feet with a start of fear. It would be hard to say which he was more frightened of: that he might have hurt the person he had inadvertently sat on or that the person he had inadvertently sat on would hurt him back.
阿瑟驚恐萬狀地一躍而起。很難說他更害怕什麼；或許是怕傷到了被自己漫不經心墊在屁股底下的那個人，也可能是怕那個被自己漫不經心墊在屁股底下的人會來個反戈一擊。
There seemed, on inspection, to be little immediate cause for alarm on the second count. Whoever it was he had sat on was unconscious. That would probably go a great deal of the way towards explaining what he was doing lying there. He seemed to be breathing OK, though. Arthur felt his pulse. That was OK as well.
不過，稍微檢查之後，他發現對這兩種可能性暫時不必太擔心。不管他坐的是誰，這人都已經失去了知覺。這大概很好地解釋了他爲什麼會躺在這地方。他的呼吸看起來還算穩定。阿瑟摸了摸他的脈搏。也還行。
He was lying on his side, half curled up. It was so long ago and far away when Arthur had last done First Aid that he really couldn’t remember what it was he was supposed to do. The first thing he was supposed to do, he remembered, was to have a First Aid kit about his person. Damn.
那人蜷縮着身子側躺在地上。阿瑟的上一次急救發生在很久之前，很遠之外，他實在不記得自己現在該怎麼做。然後他想起來，要做的第一件事就是得找到一個急救包。該死。
Should he roll him on to his back or not? Suppose he had any broken bones? Suppose he swallowed his tongue? Suppose he sued him? Who, apart from anything else, was he?
他該不該讓對方躺平？如果有骨頭斷了怎麼辦？如果他把舌頭嚥下去了呢？如果他起訴他呢？除了這一切之外，他到底是誰？
At that moment the unconscious man groaned loudly and rolled himself over.
就在這時，那個昏迷的男人大聲呻吟着翻了個身。
Arthur wondered if he should –
阿瑟不知道自己是不是該——
He looked at him.
他看看他。
He looked at him again.
他又看看他。
He looked at him again, just to make absolutely sure.
他再看看他，以排除任何誤會的可能。
Despite the fact that he had been thinking he was feeling about as low as he possibly could, he experienced a terrible sinking feeling.
儘管他以爲自己的心情已經跌到了谷底，現在卻再次體會到了一種越來越低的感覺。
The figure groaned again and slowly opened his eyes. It took him a while to focus, then he blinked and stiffened.
那人又呻吟了一聲，然後慢慢睜開眼睛。他花了些時間才聚焦完畢，然後他眨眨眼僵住了。
