經典科幻文學:《基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第15章8

In fact he had gone some of the way back to it the very next day, while he was still numb and spinning with shock. He had a broken leg, a couple of broken ribs, some bad burns and was not really thinking coherently but had insisted that the villagers take him, which, uneasily, they had. He had not managed to get right to the actual spot where the ground had bubbled and melted, however, and had at last hobbled away from the horror for ever.

事實上就在第二天，當他還沒從震驚中恢復，滿腦子依然天旋地轉的時候，他就吵着要回去。他斷了一條腿和兩根肋骨，身上還有些嚴重的燒傷，思維根本就不連貫，可他堅持要村民帶他過去，他們雖然不情願但也答應了。不過他最終也沒堅持到前一天大地冒泡融化的地方，並且從此以後也一直迴避那裏。

Soon, word had got around that the whole area was haunted and no one had ventured back there ever since. The land was full of beautiful, verdant and delightful valleys – no point in going to a highly worrying one. Let the past hold on to itself and let the Present move forward into the future.

很快就有消息說那整個地區都有幽靈出沒，於是其他人也不敢再過去。這裏到處是美麗宜人的青翠山谷，沒必要非往讓人心驚膽戰的那一個跑。過去就讓它自生自滅好了，現在應該繼續往前走，變成未來。

Random cradled the watch in her hands, slowly turning it to let the long light of the evening sun shine warmly in the scratches and scuffs of the thick glass. It fascinated her watching the spidery little second hand ticking its way round. Every time it completed a full circle, the longer of the two main hands had moved on exactly to the next of the sixty small divisions round the dial. And when the long hand had made its own full circle the smaller hand had moved on to the next of the main digits.

蘭登兩手捧着手錶緩緩轉身，讓傍晚暖和的陽光斜射在厚玻璃上，照亮了錶殼的劃痕和磨損。她看着細長的秒針一圈圈地走，看得入了迷。每次它走完一圈，兩根大指針中比較長的一根就會移到下一個六十分之一格上。等它完成了自己的一圈以後，比較短的那根就會走到下一個主要的刻度上。

‘You’ve been watching it for over an hour,’ said Arthur quietly.

“你已經看了一個多小時了。”阿瑟輕聲說。

‘I know,’ she said. ‘An hour is when the big hand has gone all the way round, yes?’

“我知道。”她說，“一個小時就是這根大的走完一圈，對吧？”

‘That’s right.’

“沒錯。”

‘Then I’ve been watching it for an hour and seventeen minutes.’

“那麼我就看了一個鐘頭十七分鐘。”

She smiled with a deep and mysterious pleasure and moved very slightly so that she was resting just a little against his arm. Arthur felt a small sigh escape from him that had been pent up inside his chest for weeks. He wanted to put his arm around his daughter’s shoulders, but felt it was too early yet and that she would shy away from him. But something was working. Something was easing inside her. The watch meant something to her that nothing in her life had so far managed to do. Arthur was not sure that he had really understood what it was yet, but he was profoundly pleased and relieved that something had reached her.

她帶着深切的滿足感神祕地微微一笑，她稍微動了動，輕輕靠上阿瑟的胳膊，只有一點點。阿瑟感到幾個星期以來積鬱在胸口的嘆氣終於飛走了。他想伸出胳膊摟住女兒的肩膀，但又覺得時候還沒到，她會畏縮躲閃的。但有些事情確實變了。她的心裏有了些鬆動。這隻手錶對她來說似乎有種特殊的意義，超過迄今爲止她生命中的一切，阿瑟不大確定自己是不是真的瞭解，但看見有東西能打動蘭登，他也覺得滿心的高興和欣慰。