经典科幻文学:《生命 宇宙及一切》第7章2
日期:2014-11-05 11:21

(单词翻译:单击)

英文原版

And so it was only with the advent of pocket computers that the startling truth became finally apparent, and it was this:
Numbers written on restaurant bills within the confines of restaurants do not follow the same mathematical laws as numbers written on any other pieces of paper in any other parts of the Universe.
This single fact took the scientific world by storm. It completely revolutionized it. So many mathematical conferences got held in such good restaurants that many of the finest minds of a generation died of obesity and heart failure and the science of maths was put back by years.
Slowly, however, the implications of the idea began to be understood. To begin with it had been too stark, too crazy, too much what the man in the street would have said:
Oh yes, I could have told you that, about. Then some phrases like “Interactive Subjectivity Frameworks” were invented, and everybody was able to relax and get on with it.
The small groups of monks who had taken up hanging around the major research institutes singing strange chants to the effect that the Universe was only a figment of its own imagination were eventually given a street theatre grant and went away.
直到便携式电脑的问世,这个惊人的真理才最终被揭露出来,即:
餐厅帐单上的数字所遵循的数学法则,与宇宙中任何地方任何纸张上所写的数字都不同。
这一事实,在科学界掀起了一场风暴。它彻底引起了一场革命。在好多高级的饭馆举行了好多次数学研讨会,甚至于,当其中好多当代最最聪明的人死于肥胖和心脏病时,数学学科的发展一下子倒退了好几年。
尽管如此,渐渐地,这一理论开始被人们接受了。最初,这样说的确很惊人、很疯狂、很过分,特别是如果有人在大街上说着:
“哦,是的,我早该告诉你的……”云云。后来,人们发明了"交互主观体系“这样的说法,于是大家都习惯于此,也就放松下来了。
曾经有一拨僧侣,老在大型研究所附近晃悠,唱着一些奇怪的圣歌,大意是说、宇宙不过是其自身想象的产物罢了。最后他们获得了一个街头表演许可证,然后就离开了。

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
  • figmentn. 虚构的东西
  • obesityn. 肥胖,肥大
  • universen. 宇宙,万物,世界
  • grantn. 授予物,补助金; 同意,给予 n. 财产转让 vt
  • startlingadj. 惊人的 动词startle的现在分词
  • eventuallyadv. 终于,最后
  • starkadj. 僵硬的,完全的,严酷的,荒凉的,光秃秃的 ad
  • apparentadj. 明显的,表面上的
  • subjectivityn. 主观性,主观主义