经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第33章5
日期:2014-09-16 09:24

(单词翻译:单击)

英文原版

“Yes, by introducing some random element that can be shaped by that pattern.”
“Like how?”
“Like by pulling Scrabble letters out of a bag blindfolded.”
Ford leapt to his feet.
“Brilliant!” he said. He tugged his towel out of his satchel and with a few deft knots transformed it into a bag.
“Totally mad,” he said, “utter nonsense. But we’ll do it because it’s brilliant nonsense. Come on, come on.”
The sun passed respectfully behind a cloud. A few small sad raindrops fell.
They piled together all the remaining letters and dropped them into the bag. They shook them up.
“Right,” said Ford, “close your eyes. Pull them out. Come on come on, come on.”
Arthur closed his eyes and plunged his hand into the towelful of stones. He jiggled them about, pulled out four and handed them to Ford. Ford laid them along the ground in the order he got them.
“W,” said Ford, “H, A, T… What!”
He blinked.
“I think it’s working!” he said.
Arthur pushed three more at him.
“D, O, Y… Doy. Oh perhaps it isn’t working,” said Ford.
“Here’s the next three.”
“O, U, G… Doyoug… It’s not making sense I’m afraid.”
Arthur pulled another two from the bag. Ford put them in place.
“E, T, doyouget… Do you get!” shouted Ford, “it is working! This is amazing, it really is working!”
“More here.” Arthur was throwing them out feverishly as fast as he could go.
“I, F,” said Ford, “Y, O, U,… M, U, L, T, I, P, L, Y,… What do you get if you multiply,… S, I, X,… six, B, Y, by, six by… what do you get if you multiply six by… N, I, N, E,… six by nine…” He paused. “Come on, where’s the next one?”
“Er, that’s the lot,” said Arthur, “that’s all there were.”
He sat back, nonplussed.
He rooted around again in the knotted up towel but there were no more letters.
“You mean that’s it?” said Ford.
“That’s it.”
“Six by nine. Forty-two.”
“That’s it. That’s all there is.”
“是的,通过引人由潜意识控制的一些随机因采。”
“怎么做?”
“比如说,从一个不透明的袋子里往外取拼字游戏字母:”
福特跳了起来。
”聪明!”他说。他把他的毛巾从背包里扯出来,扎了几个结,变成了一个袋子,
“这是发疯,”他说,“绝对是胡闹。但我们还是要这么做,因为这是聪明的胡闹。来吧,来吧。”
太阳谦卑地从云层后面穿过。忧伤的小雨滴落了下来。
他们把剩下的字母集中起来,倒进袋子,然后摇匀:
“好了,”福特说,“闭上眼睛,把它们取出来。快,快,快。”
阿瑟闭上眼睛,把手伸进装满石块的毛巾里。他和了和,然后取出四个,交给福特。福特按照交到他手上的先后顺序把它们在地上排开。
“w,”福特念道,“H,A,T…whm,什么!”
他眨了眨眼。
“我想这招行得通!”他说。
阿瑟又取出3个交给他。
“D,O,Y…D0y0。噢,也许还是行不通。”福特说。
“这是下面三个。”
“O,u,G…D0y叫g恐怕没有任何意义。”
阿瑟叉从袋子里取出了两个。福特把它们摆好。
“E,T,doyDugn…doyouget,你得到!”幅特叫道,“行得通!太令人惊讶了,这招真的行得通!”
“还有呢!”阿瑟兴奋地以最快建度取出字母。
“I,F,”福特说,“Y,O,u,M,u,L,T,I,P,L,Y你得到什么,如果你乘以…s,I,x6B,Y…你得到什么,如果你乘以6,用s,E,v,E,N7乘以6”他停了下来,“再来,接下来是什么字母?”
“嗯,就这些了,”阿瑟说,“里面就这些。”
他坐下来,感到困惑不解。
他又摸了一遍扎起来的毛巾,里面确实再也没有字母了。
“怀是说就这些了‘”福特问。
“就这些了。”
“7乘以6。42。”
“就是这个。里面就这些。”

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
  • randomadj. 随机的,随意的,任意的 adv. 随机地 n.
  • elementn. 元素,成分,组成部分,(复数)恶劣天气
  • fell动词fall的过去式 n. 兽皮 vt. 砍伐,击倒 a
  • patternn. 图案,式样,典范,模式,型 v. 以图案装饰,仿造
  • utteradj. 全然的,绝对,完全 v. 发出,作声,发表
  • multiplyvt. 乘,增加 vi. 扩大,繁衍,做乘法 adv.
  • brilliantadj. 卓越的,光辉的,灿烂的 n. 宝石
  • deftadj. 敏捷熟练的,灵巧的