經典科幻文學:《 基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第11章4

He had long ago realised that a lot of things that he had thought of as natural, like buying people presents at Christmas, stopping at red lights or falling at a rate of 32 feet/second/second, were just the habits of his own world and didn’t necessarily work the same way anywhere else; but not to wish – that really couldn’t be natural, could it? That would be like not breathing.

他早就意識到，許許多多他過去以爲很自然的事，比如在聖誕節給人買禮物，見紅燈停下，或者以每秒32英尺的速度做自由落體運動之類，這些都只是他自己世界裏的習慣，在宇宙的其他地方不一定管用；可沒有願望——這總不可能是什麼自然而然的事了吧，恩？這就好像不呼吸一樣。

Breathing was another thing that the BArtledanians didn’t do, despite all the oxygen in the atmosphere. They just stood there. Occasionally they ran around and played netball and stuff (without ever wishing to win though, of course – they would just play, and whoever won, won), but they never actually breathed. It was, for some reason, unnecessary. Arthur quickly learned that playing netball with them was just too spooky. Though they looked like humans, and even moved and sounded like humans, they didn’t breathe and they didn’t wish for things.

呼吸是巴忒勒丹人所不必乾的另外一件事情，雖然大氣裏滿滿當當到處是氧氣。他們就那麼站着，偶爾會到處跑跑，玩盤網子球之類（當然玩的時候並沒有希望自己一定要獲勝——他們就那麼玩，最後贏的人就是贏了），可他們從不真正呼吸。也不知道爲什麼，反正呼吸就是沒有必要。阿瑟很快就發現，跟他們玩網子球感覺簡直太詭異了。儘管他們看起來像地球人，甚至動作聲音也像地球人，可他們既不呼吸也沒有任何願望。

Breathing and wishing for things, on the other hand, was just about all that Arthur seemed to do all day. Sometimes he would wish for things so much that his breathing would get quite agitated, and he would have to go and lie down for a bit. On his own. In his small room. So far from the world which had given birth to him that his brain could not even process the sort of numbers involved without just going limp.

反過來，呼吸和希望，這兩樣似乎就是阿瑟生活的全部內容。有時候他的希望強烈，以至於呼吸都會被攪得很激動，讓他只好去躺一會。自己躺着。在他的小房間裏。離生他養他的星球那麼遙遠。每次想處理其中涉及的數學問題，他的腦袋都難免亂成一團。

He preferred not to think about it. He preferred just to sit and read – or at least he would prefer it if there was anything worth reading. But nobody in Bartledanian stories ever wanted anything. Not even a glass of water. Certainly, they would fetch one if they were thirsty, but if there wasn’t one available, they would think no more about it. He had just read an entire book in which the main character had, over the course of a week, done some work in his garden, played a great deal of netball, helped mend a road, fathered a child on his wife and then unexpectedly died of thirst just before the last chapter. In exasperation Arthur had combed his way back through the book and in the end had found a passing reference to some problem with the plumbing in Chapter 2. And that was it. So the guy dies. It just happens.

他寧願不去想它。他寧願坐着讀書——只要他能找到任何值得一讀的東西。可在巴忒勒丹人的故事裏，從來找不到任何人想要的任何東西——連一杯水他們都不要。當然了，如果他們口渴，他們就會喝水，可如果當時沒水可喝，他們也就不去想這事兒了。阿瑟剛讀了一本書，主人公在一個星期裏擺弄院子裏地花花草草，打了好多回網子球，幫人家整修了一條路，讓他老婆懷了個孩子，然後，就在最後一章前面一點點，出人意料地脫水死了。阿瑟惱羞成怒，硬是往前地毯式地搜索了一遍，結果還真的在第二章發現作者曾經隨口提到水池出了什麼問題。就這樣了。那傢伙就這麼掛了。事情就這麼發生了。