They looked at her for a while, their large eyes moving up and down her very slowly.

他们盯着她看了一会儿，大眼睛慢吞吞地从头看到脚。

'You look smaller in real life,' one said at last.

“现实生活中的你看起来似乎要小些。”其中一个终于说。

'What?' said Tricia.

“什么？”崔茜卡问。

'Yes.'

“是的。”

'I… I don't understand,' said Tricia. She hadn't expected any of this, of course, but even for something she hadn't expected to begin with it wasn't going the way she expected. At last she said, 'Are you… are you from… Zaphod?'

“我……我不明白。”当然了，眼下的一切完全出乎她的预料，但即便是作为一种完全出乎预料的情况，它也没有按照她所没有预料到的那个方向发展。最后她问：“你们是不是……是不是……从赞福德那儿来的？”

This question seemed to cause a little consternation among the three figures. They conferred with each other in some skittering language of their own and then turned back to her.

她的问题似乎在这三位中引起了一丝恐慌。他们用自己轻快滑稽的语言交流半晌，然后转身重新面对她。

'We don't think so. Not as far as we know,' said one.

“我们认为不是。据我们所知不是。”其中一个说。

'Where is Zaphod?' said another, looking up into the night sky. 'I… I don't know,' said Tricia, helplessly.

“赞福德在哪儿？”另一个望着夜空问。“我……我不知道。”崔茜卡无助地说。

'Is it far from here? Which direction? We don't know.'

“离这儿远吗？在哪个方向？我们不知道。”

Tricia realised with a sinking heart that they had no idea who she was talking about. Or even what she was talking about. And she had no idea what they were talking about. She put her hopes tightly away again and snapped her brain back into gear. There was no point in being disappointed. She had to wake up to the fact that she had here the journalistic scoop of the century. What should she do? Go back into the house for a video camera? Wouldn't they just be gone when she got back? She was thoroughly confused as to strategy. Keep 'em talking, she thought. Figure it out later.

崔茜卡的心沉了下去，她意识到对方根本不明白自己说的是谁，或者甚至她是什么意思。而她也不明白他们在说些什么。她再一次坚定地把希望推开，脑袋重新开始运转。没什么可失望的。她必须清醒过来，眼前正摆着本世纪的独家头条，她该怎么办？回屋去拿摄像机吗？等她回来的时候他们会不会已经走了？对于此刻到底应该采用何种战略战术，崔茜卡满脑子稀里糊涂。还是让他们接着说，她暗想。待会儿再想办法。

'You've been monitoring… me?'

“你们一直在监控……我？”

'All of you. Everything on your planet. TV. Radio. Telecommunications. Computers. Video circuitry. Warehouses.'

“你们大家。你们星球上的一切。电视，收音机，无线电，电脑，视频信号，商店。”

'What?'

“什么？”

'Car parks. Everything. We monitor everything.'

“停车场。一切。我们监控一切。”

Tricia stared at them.

崔茜卡瞪着他们。