经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第17章1
日期:2014-05-29 11:08

(单词翻译:单击)

英文原版

The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy notes that Disaster Area, a plutonium rock band from the Gagrakacka Mind Zones, are generally held to be not only the loudest rock band in the Galaxy, but in fact the loudest noise of any kind at all. Regular concert goers judge that the best sound balance is usually to be heard from within large concrete bunkers some thirty-seven miles from the stage, whilst the musicians themselves play their instruments by remote control from within a heavily insulated spaceship which stays in orbit around the planet – or more frequently around a completely different planet.
Their songs are on the whole very simple and mostly follow the familiar theme of boy-being meets girl-being beneath a silvery moon, which then explodes for no adequately explored reason.
Many worlds have now banned their act altogether, sometimes for artistic reasons, but most commonly because the band’s public address system contravenes local strategic arms limitations treaties.
This has not, however, stopped their earnings from pushing back the boundaries of pure hypermathematics, and their chief research accountant has recently been appointed Professor of Neomathematics at the University of Maximegalon, in recognition of both his General and his Special Theories of Disaster Area Tax Returns, in which he proves that the whole fabric of the space-time continuum is not merely curved, it is in fact totally bent.
Ford staggered back to the table where Zaphod, Arthur and Trillian were sitting waiting for the fun to begin.
“Gotta have some food,” said Ford.
“Hi, Ford,” said Zaphod, “you speak to the big noise boy?”
Ford waggled his head noncommittally.
“Hotblack? I sort of spoke to him, yeah.”
“What’d he say?”
“Well, not a lot really. He’s… er…”
“Yeah?”
“He’s spending a year dead for tax reasons. I’ve got to sit down.”
He sat down.
The waiter approached.
“Would you like to see the menu?” he said, “or would you like to meet the Dish of the Day?”
“Huh?” said Ford.
“Huh?” said Arthur.
“Huh?” said Trillian.
“That’s cool,” said Zaphod, “we’ll meet the meat.”
《银河系漫游指南》中注明,“灾难地带”足一支来自伽古掎卡卡思维区的钚播滚乐队,它不仅被认为是银河系中最吵闹的摇滚乐队,实际上,它根本就是所有噪音中最吵闹的。常去听他们演唱会的歌迷们判断,最佳音效平衡点通常是在距离舞台十七英里之外的巨型混凝土碉壤内,而乐手们自己则留在这颗行星轨道上的一艘完全隔音的太空船里,通过遥控来演奏他们的乐器。更经常的做法是,乐手们留在另一颗行星的轨道上。
他们的所有曲目都非常简单,大多描写这样一个主题:在一轮银色的月亮之下,男孩遇上了女孩,然后,月亮就在没有任何充分理由的情况下爆炸了。
许多世界已经完全禁止了他们的演出,有时是因为艺术上的原因,但大多数时候是因为这支乐队的公井扩音系统违反了本地区的《限制战略性武器条约》,
然而,这并没有阻止他们大赚特赚,他们的方法是回推“纯超数学”的边界,他们的首席研究会计师最近刚被任命为马克希姆佳伦大学的“新数学”教授,这表明,他关于灾难地带返税的普遍性及特殊性理论获得了承认,在这一理论中,他证明了时空连续体的整个构造不仅是弯曲的,而且完全是弯曲的
福特摇摇晃晃地回到赞福德、阿瑟和崔莉恩坐的桌子边,他们在郡儿等待着好戏开场。
“来点儿吃的吧。”福特说。
“嗨!福特,”赞福德说,“你和那个制造巨大噪音的小于谈过了吗?”
福特不置可否地晃着脑袋。
“霍特布莱克?在某种意义上我和他谈过了,是的。”
“他说什么?”
“哦,其实不太多。他……嗯……”
“什么?”
“因为税的原因,他正在度过一年的死亡期。我得坐下来。”
他坐了下来。
侍者走上前来。
“您需要看看菜单吗?”他说,“或者您来份今天的例餐?”
“啊!”福特说。
”啊!”阿瑟说。
“啊!”崔莉恩说。
“太好了,”赞福德说,“给我们来肉。”

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。

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重点单词
  • bentbend的过去式和过去分词 adj. 下定决心的,弯曲的
  • artisticadj. 艺术的
  • disastern. 灾难
  • strategicadj. 战略的,重要的,基本的
  • accountantn. 会计人员
  • spokev. 说,说话,演说
  • themen. 题目,主题
  • concertn. 音乐会,一致,和谐 vt. 制定计划,通过协商达成
  • fabricn. 织物,结构,构造 vt. 构筑
  • galaxyn. 银河,一群显赫之人