经典科幻文学:《基本上无害 Mostly Harmless》 第16章4
日期:2015-12-26 00:44

(单词翻译:单击)

It was a commercial. The guy who had shot her was part of a holographic in-flight movie. She must now be very close to where the ship had crashed. Obviously some of its systems were more indestructible than others.

那是条广告,向她开枪的男人则是飞船上放的全息电影。现在她离飞船失事的地方肯定已经很近了。显然它的某些系统要比另一些更可靠。

The next half-mile of the journey was particularly troublesome. Not only did she have the cold and the rain and the night to contend with, but also the fractured and thrashing remains of the ship’s on-board entertainment system. Spaceships and jetcars and helipods crashed and exploded continuously around her, illuminating the night, villainous people in strange hats smuggled dangerous drugs through her, and the combined orchestra and chorus of the Hallapolis State Opera performed the closing March of the AnjaQantine Star Guard from Act IV of Rizgar’s Blamwellamum of Woont in a little glade somewhere off to her left.

接下来的半里路特别累人。她不仅要忍受寒冷、雨水和黑夜,飞船舰载娱乐系统的残骸时不时出来抽阵风。宇宙飞船,喷射汽车和太阳能飞艇不住地在她周围坠毁、爆炸,放出耀眼的光芒;长相丑陋,头戴怪帽子的家伙穿过她的身体走私着危险的毒品;在她左边一点的空地上,国家大剧院的管弦乐队跟合唱团正在演出,节目是利兹加作曲的《翁式的布兰威拉姆》,刚演到第四幕结束时的《安加-狂泰星际守卫进行曲》。

And then she was standing on the lip of a very nasty looking and bubbly-edged crater. There was still a faint warm glow coming from what would otherwise have looked like an enormous piece of caramelised chewing gum in the centre of the pit: the melted remains of a great spaceship.

然后,她来到了一个凹凸不平、长相十分丑恶的弹坑边缘。弹坑中间有一块东西,仿佛融化成焦糖色的口香糖,直到现在还散发着一点点微弱的温度:那是一艘大飞船溶解后的残余。

She stood looking at it for a longish while, and then at last started to walk along and around the edge of the crater. She was no longer certain what she was looking for, but kept moving anyway, keeping the horror of the pit to her left.

她站在那儿看了好一会,最后终于沿着弹坑边缘绕了过去,她已经不知道自己在找什么,但还是继续往前走,把那个恐怖的坑抛在身后。

The rain was beginning to ease off a little, but it was still extremely wet, and since she didn’t know what it was that was in the box, whether it was perhaps something delicate or damageable, she thought she ought to find somewhere reasonably dry to open it. She hoped she hadn’t already damaged it by dropping it.

雨势稍微开始减弱,但到处都还湿的要命。她并不知道盒子里装的是什么,也拿不准它是不是什么特别精密或者容易损坏的东西,所以觉得该找个稍微干燥些的地方再打开。她祈祷刚才盒子掉在地上的时候它没有被摔坏。

She played her torch around the surrounding trees, which were thin on the ground here, and mostly charred and broken. In the middle distance she thought she could see a jumbled outcrop of rock which might provide some shelter, and she started to pick her way towards it. All around she found the detritus that had been ejected from the ship as it broke up, before the final fireball.

兰登用手电筒照照周围的树。这边的树长得挺稀疏,大多数都烧焦折断了。在稍远的地方,她觉得仿佛有堆伸出来的乱石,没准能遮挡雨水,于是她小心翼翼地往那边走。放眼一看,周围尽是残骸,都是飞船化成火球之前给抛出来的。在距离弹坑边缘大约两三百码的地方,她看见了些破破烂烂的碎片,那是种蓬松的粉红色材料,浸着雨水,沾上了泥巴,无精打采地垂在破败的树木中间。她猜出这就是救了父亲性命的逃生茧。她走过去凑近了看,然后注意到地上有什么东西半掩在泥里。

She picked it up and wiped the mud off it. It was some kind of electronic device the size of a small book. Feebly glowing on its cover, in response to her touch, were some large friendly letters. They said DON’T PANIC. She knew what this was. It was her father’s copy of The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

她把它捡起来,擦掉上头的泥土。那是个书本大小的电子装置,在她的触摸下,封面上几个友好的大字发出微弱的光芒:“不要恐慌”。她知道这是什么。这是她父亲那本《银河系漫游指南》。

She felt instantly reassured by it, turned her head up to the thundery sky and let some rain wash over her face and into her mouth.

看到这东西,她立刻觉得安心多了。她朝雷声阵阵的天空扬起头,让雨水洗过她的脸,流进她嘴里。

She shook her head and hurried on towards the rocks. Clambering up and over them she almost immediately found the perfect thing. The mouth of a cave. She played her torch into its interior. It seemed to be dry and safe. Picking her way carefully, she walked in. It was quite spacious, but didn’t go that deep. Exhausted and relieved she sat on a convenient rock, put the box down in front of her and started immediately to open it.

她晃晃脑袋继续朝石头那边跑。她爬到它们顶上,几乎马上看见了一个完美的地点:一个山洞的洞口。她拿手电筒往里照照。看起来很干燥也很安全。她走了进去,非常小心谨慎。里头空间挺大,但并不太深。兰登筋疲力尽,同时又松了一口气,于是找合适的石头坐下,把盒子放在身前,立刻动手拆起来。

分享到
重点单词
  • commercialadj. 商业的 n. 商业广告
  • relievedadj. 放心的,放松的,免除的
  • operan. 歌剧 n. 挪威Opera软件公司的浏览器软件
  • meltedadj. 融化的;溶解的 v. 融化;溶解(melt的过
  • certainadj. 确定的,必然的,特定的 pron. 某几个,某
  • delicaten. 精美的东西 adj. 精美的,微妙的,美味的,纤细
  • illuminatingadj. 照亮的,启蒙的,照明的 动词illuminat
  • responsen. 回答,响应,反应,答复 n. [宗]答复语,
  • panicn. 恐慌 adj. 惊慌的 vt. 使 ... 惊慌
  • gladen. 林间空地