經典科幻文學:《生命 宇宙及一切》尾章4

Ford Prefect, said Ford Prefect with a shrug.
Prak jiggled his head.
And I, said Zaphod, when he judged that the silence was once again deep enough to allow an announcement of such gravity to be tossed in lightly, am Zaphod Beeblebrox.
Prak jiggled his head.
Who’s this guy? said Prak jiggling his shoulder at Arthur, who was standing silent for a moment, lost in disappointed thoughts.
Me? said Arthur. Oh, my name’s Arthur Dent.
Prak’s eyes popped out of his head.
No kidding? he yelped. You are Arthur Dent? The Arthur Dent?
He staggered backwards, clutching his stomach and convulsed with fresh paroxysms of laughter.
Hey, just think of meeting you! he gasped. Boy, he shouted, you are the most… wow, you just leave the frogs standing! he howled and screamed with laughter. He fell over backwards on to the bench. He hollered and yelled in hysterics. He cried with laughter, he kicked his legs in the air, he beat his chest. Gradually he subsided, panting. He looked at them. He looked at Arthur. He fell back again howling with laughter. Eventually he fell asleep.
Arthur stood there with his lips twitching whilst the others carried Prak comatose on to the ship.
Before we picked up Prak, said Arthur, I was going to leave. I still want to, and I think I should do so as soon as possible.
The others nodded in silence, a silence which was only slightly undermined by the heavily muffled and distant sound of hysterical laughter which came drifting from Prak’s cabin at the farthest end of the ship.
We have questioned him, continued Arthur, or at least, you have questioned him I, as you know, can’t go near him on everything, and he doesn’t really seem to have anything to contribute. Just the occasional snippet, and things I don’t want to hear about frogs.
The others tried not to smirk.

“福特·長官。”福特聳了下肩膀。
普啦刻抖着腦袋。
“而我，”贊福德開口道。等了一會，等到他覺得足夠久、足夠宣佈一個重大消息時，他才輕描淡寫地說：“是贊福德·畢博布魯克斯。”
普啦刻抖着腦袋。
“這傢伙呢？”普啦刻朝阿瑟抖着肩膀。後者正在發呆，一臉的失落。
“我？”阿瑟說，“哦，我叫阿瑟·鄧特。”
普啦刻驚得眼珠都快掉出來了。
“開玩笑？！”他大叫道，“你是阿瑟·鄧特？就是那個阿瑟·鄧特？”
他踉蹌着後退幾步，捂住了肚子，爆發出又一陣狂笑。
“嘿！我正想見你呢！”他一邊喘氣一邊說，“夥計，”他叫道，“你是最……噢，你可是連青蛙也望塵莫及啊！”他仰天長笑。他笑倒在了椅子上。他歇斯底里地笑着嚷着。他大笑不止，他雙腿亂蹬，他捶着胸口。漸漸地，他平靜下來，氣喘吁吁。他看着他們，看着阿瑟。他往後一倒，又大笑起來。最後，他睡着了。
阿瑟站在那兒，嘴脣囁嚅了幾下。其他人則把昏睡的普啦刻擡回了飛船。
“來找普啦刻之前，”阿瑟說，“我說我要離開。現在也這麼想。而且走得越快越好”
其他人無言地點點頭。一片沉默。然而，飛船最遠的船艙傳來的、普啦刻的一陣隱約而歇斯底里的笑聲，終於打破了沉默。
“我們已經問過他了，”阿瑟接着說，“至少，你們問過他了。我，你們知道——不能靠近他，所以什麼也幹不了。而且，他似乎也說不出什麼有用的話來。除了那些我沒興趣的關於青蛙的片斷。”
其他人強忍着笑。