(单词翻译:单击)
名著阅读
Chapter 24
Silently the aircar coasted through the cold darkness, a single soft glow of light that was utterly alone in the deep Magrathean night. It sped swiftly. Arthur's companion seemed sunk in his own thoughts, and when Arthur tried on a couple of occasions to engage him in conversation again he would simply reply by asking if he was comfortable enough, and then left it at that.
Arthur tried to gauge the speed at which they were travelling, but the blackness outside was absolute and he was denied any reference points. The sense of motion was so soft and slight he could almost believe they were hardly moving at all.
Then a tiny glow of light appeared in the far distance and within seconds had grown so much in size that Arthur realized it was travelling towards them at a colossal speed, and he tried to make out what sort of craft it might be. He peered at it, but was unable to discern any clear shape, and suddenly gasped in alarm as the aircraft dipped sharply and headed downwards in what seemed certain to be a collision course. Their relative velocity seemed unbelievable, and Arthur had hardly time to draw breath before it was all over. The next thing he was aware of was an insane silver blur that seemed to surround him. He twisted his head sharply round and saw a small black point dwindling rapidly in the distance behind them, and it took him several seconds to realize what had happened.
They had plunged into a tunnel in the ground. The colossal speed had been their own relative to the glow of light which was a stationary hole in the ground, the mouth of the tunnel. The insane blur of silver was the circular wall of the tunnel down which they were shooting, apparently at several hundred miles an hour.
He closed his eyes in terror.
After a length of time which he made no attempt to judge, he sensed a slight subsidence in their speed and some while later became aware that they were gradually gliding to a gentle halt.
He opened his eyes again. They were still in the silver tunnel, threading and weaving their way through what appeared to be a crisscross warren of converging tunnels. When they finally stopped it was in a small chamber of curved steel. Several tunnels also had their terminus here, and at the farther end of the chamber Arthur could see a large circle of dim irritating light. It was irritating because it played tricks with the eyes, it was impossible to focus on it properly or tell how near or far it was. Arthur guessed (quite wrongly) that it might be ultra violet.
"Earthman," he said, "we are now deep in the heart of Magrathea."
"How did you know I was an Earthman?" demanded Arthur.
"These things will become clear to you," said the old man gently, "at least," he added with slight doubt in his voice, "clearer than they are at the moment."
He continued: "I should warn you that the chamber we are about to pass into does not literally exist within our planet. It is a little too ... large. We are about to pass through a gateway into a vast tract of hyperspace. It may disturb you."
Arthur made nervous noises.
第二十四章
空中飞车悄无声息地穿行在寒冷的黑暗中，在曼格拉斯的沉沉夜幕里划出孤零零的一道微光。阿瑟的同伴似乎深深陷入了自己的思绪中。阿瑟好几次试图挑起交谈，他只是简单地用询问阿瑟是否舒服来敷衍几句，然后便重新恢复沉默。
阿瑟试图估测他们前进的速度，但是车窗外的黑暗足如此彻底，他根本看不见任何可资参照的东西。飞车开动起来的感觉柔和而轻巧，几乎使他以为他们根本就没有移动。
后来，一个小小的亮点出现在远处，短短几秒钟之内就变大了不少，阿瑟这才意识到这个光源正在以极高的速度朝他们驶来，于是他很想搞清楚这是一架什么样的飞行器。他凝视了半天，但看不出任何清晰轮廓。突然，他猛地倒抽一口气，因为他们乘坐的空中飞车猛然向下一沉，车头朝着地面冲去，感觉就像飞车即将坠毁一样。他们的相对速率大得让人不可思议，阿瑟几乎还没来得及吐出这口气，一切就结束了。他觉察到的下一件事是四周一片模模糊糊的银色。他使劲晃了晃脑袋，然后才发现一个黑点正在他们身后迅速缩小。几秒钟后，他终于意识到发生了什么。
他们已经一头扎进了地下的一条隧道中。那种极高的速度就是他们自己的，是相对于地面一个固定洞口的高速度。刚才的光点便是这个涧口，隧道的入口。那一片模糊的银色则是隧道四周的墙面。很显然，他们是以好几百英里的时速直接冲进了这条隧道。
他吓得闭上了眼睛。
过了很长一段时间，他也没法去判断，他终于感觉到飞车的速度稍微降低了一点儿，又过了一会儿，他们开始缓慢地滑行，即将平稳地停下来。
他睁开眼睛。他们仍然是在银色隧道中，正在穿越一个看上去由聚拢来的许多条隧道组成的交叉路口。他们最终停在一个由弯曲的钢铁构成的小房间中。另外还有几条隧道也通向这里。在这个房间的远端，阿瑟看到一个巨大的光环，微弱但令人恼火。说它令人恼火，是因为它对阿瑟的眼睛玩了一个小把戏，使视线不能准确地聚焦在它上面，也判断不出它究竟是近还是远。阿瑟猜测（其实大错而特错了）这也许是紫外线光。
“地球人，”老人说，“我们现在已经深入到了曼格拉斯的心脏地带。”
“你怎么知道我是地球人呢？”阿瑟好奇地问。
“这些事情你慢慢就会清楚的。”老人轻轻地说，“至少，”他的声音里带着一丝怀疑，“比他们这会儿更清楚。”
他继续道：“我有必要提醒你，我们接下来将会进入的房间其实并非真的存在于我们的星球上。它有点儿太……大了。我们将穿过一扇门，进入一片巨大的超空间领域。也许你会有点不安。”
阿瑟紧张地哼哼了几声。
背景阅读
作者简介：
道格拉斯·亚当斯（Douglas Noël Adams，1952年3月11日－2001年5月11日）是一位英国广播剧作家、和音乐家，尤其以《银河系漫游指南》系列作品出名。亚当斯自称为“极端无神论者”。在去世以前，他是一位非常受欢迎的演讲者，尤其是在科技和环保等题材方面。他在49岁时的早逝在科幻和奇幻社群中引起了极大的哀悼。
本书简介：
地球被毁灭了，因为要在它所在的地方修建一条超空间快速通道。主人公阿瑟·邓特活下来了，因为他有一位名叫福特·长官的朋友。这位朋友表面上是个找不着工作的演员，其实是个外星人，是名著《银河系漫游指南》派赴地球的研究员。两人开始了一场穿越银河的冒险，能够帮助他们的只有《银河系漫游指南》一书中所包括的无限智慧。
豆瓣书评：
《银河系漫游指南》的小说很好看，比电影好看10倍。
它是一个叫道格拉斯·亚当斯的人写的，他当过阿拉伯王公的保镖，准备着一旦有人举着鸡蛋或者炸弹尖叫着跑过来，就立刻鼠窜，他客串过PINKFLOYD的吉他手，因为跟乐队成员是好朋友，他还做过鸡场清洁工，一个扫鸡粪的。。。
我惟一可以与他相媲美的经历是，我小时候在农场放过猪。我的姥爷是大队的饲养员，麾下五百多号猪，甚是了得。年少有为的我帮他拿着一条长鞭子，把猪全都赶回圈里，一头都不能少。谁想这段经历奠定了我一生的命运，我后来当上了主编（猪编）。王小波也放过猪，他写了《一只特立独行的猪》，我的境界没那么高，我从农场所惟一获取的知识是——尽管猪粪很臭，但猪肉却是好香的。
遗憾的是，道格拉斯·亚当斯于2001年死掉了，才49岁。为什么这些聪明而有趣的人总是活不长久？我知道王小波的时候，他也刚刚死掉。我一直不喜欢巴金，或许是因为他活得太久了，越来越干燥，越来越无趣。。。。
我联系到了出版社，可以搞到《银河系漫游指南》和它的续篇《宇宙尽头的餐馆》。一般的书店找不到这两本书。资料上说，《银河系漫游指南》写了5本，卖了1400万册，是“科幻圣经”，有大批忠实的粉丝。粉丝们对电影不大满意，因为电影很多有趣的东西没传达。但是，我认为电影已经做得很好了，起码，它让我知道了亚当斯。我认为，亚当斯比卢卡斯牛逼100倍。虽然，他赚的钱比卢卡斯少100倍，或者1000倍。我也一直不喜欢卢卡斯的《星球大战》，它太幼稚了。。。。。
这个世界的“快乐与财富关系之定律”是：如果你只让一小撮聪明人或者自以为聪明的人感到快乐，你肯定会早死，并且几乎赚不到什么钱，像亚当斯；如果你让每一个傻瓜和小孩子都乐不可支，你肯定会名利双收，长命百岁，像卢卡斯。
在书的扉页上，有道格拉斯亚当斯的照片。十足一个加肥版的罗伯特德尼罗——只是少了点阴鸷，多了些顽皮。
我爱他，而我并非同性恋。通常，我爱一个女人的身体，爱一个男人的头脑。直到现在，我还没遇到一个有女人身体和男人头脑的女人，却遇到了一大堆有男人身体和女人头脑的男人。 (From:加肥猫)
