經典科幻文學:《 基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第9章11

The man stared out over the hot, dry scrubby landscape. From here Arthur could just see the old woman, a tiny speck in the distance, dancing up and down swatting flies.

那人凝視着佈滿樹叢的炎熱大地。從這兒阿瑟剛好能看見剛纔的老婦人，雖然只是遠處的一個小點；她還在跳來跳去地拍蒼蠅。

‘You see her?’ called the old man, suddenly.

“看見她了？”老頭突然喊了一聲。

‘Yes,’ said Arthur. ‘I consulted her in fact.’

“看見了。”阿瑟回答說，“事實上我還向她諮詢過。”

‘Fat lot she knows. I got the beach house because she turned it down. What advice did she give you?’

“他懂個鬼。就是因爲她不願意掏腰包我才搞到那棟海濱小屋的。她給你什麼建議來着？”

‘Do exactly the opposite of everything she’s done.’

“做任何事都要跟她完全相反。”

‘In other words, get a beach house.’

“換句話說，買間海濱小屋。”

‘I suppose so,’ said Arthur. ‘Well, maybe I’ll get one.’

“我猜是這樣沒錯。”阿瑟說，“恩，或許我會去的。”

‘Hmmm.’

“恩。”

The horizon was swimming in a fetid heat haze.

地平線在惡臭的熱氣裏晃動着。

‘Any other advice?’ asked Arthur. ‘Other than to do with real estate?’

“還有什麼別的建議嗎？”阿瑟問，“除了跟買房置業有關的。”

‘A beach house isn’t just real estate. It’s a state of mind,’ said the man. He turned and looked at Arthur.

“海濱小屋可不是什麼房產。它是一種精神狀態。”男人轉過來看看阿瑟。

Oddly, the man’s face was now only a couple of feet away. He seemed in one way to be a perfectly normal shape, but his body was sitting cross-legged on a pole forty feet away while his face was only two feet from Arthur’s. Without moving his head, and without seeming to do anything odd at all, he stood up and stepped on to the top of another pole. Either it was just the heat, thought Arthur, or space was a different shape for him.

奇怪的是，那人的臉現在離他只有兩尺來遠了。他看起來似乎完全正常，可他的身體正盤腿坐在四十尺開外的杆子上，臉離阿瑟卻僅僅兩尺之遙。他似乎並沒有移動腦袋，也沒有做出任何奇怪的動作，就這麼站起來走到了另一根杆子上。阿瑟暗想，要麼是天氣太熱，要麼就肯定是空間在他那裏有什麼不同的形態。