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第十八章

Arthur leapt to his feet with a start of fear. It would be hard to say which he was more frightened of: that he might have hurt the person he had inadvertently sat on or that the person he had inadvertently sat on would hurt him back.

阿瑟惊恐万状地一跃而起。很难说他更害怕什么；或许是怕伤到了被自己漫不经心垫在屁股底下的那个人，也可能是怕那个被自己漫不经心垫在屁股底下的人会来个反戈一击。

There seemed, on inspection, to be little immediate cause for alarm on the second count. Whoever it was he had sat on was unconscious. That would probably go a great deal of the way towards explaining what he was doing lying there. He seemed to be breathing OK, though. Arthur felt his pulse. That was OK as well.

不过，稍微检查之后，他发现对这两种可能性暂时不必太担心。不管他坐的是谁，这人都已经失去了知觉。这大概很好地解释了他为什么会躺在这地方。他的呼吸看起来还算稳定。阿瑟摸了摸他的脉搏。也还行。

He was lying on his side, half curled up. It was so long ago and far away when Arthur had last done First Aid that he really couldn’t remember what it was he was supposed to do. The first thing he was supposed to do, he remembered, was to have a First Aid kit about his person. Damn.

那人蜷缩着身子侧躺在地上。阿瑟的上一次急救发生在很久之前，很远之外，他实在不记得自己现在该怎么做。然后他想起来，要做的第一件事就是得找到一个急救包。该死。

Should he roll him on to his back or not? Suppose he had any broken bones? Suppose he swallowed his tongue? Suppose he sued him? Who, apart from anything else, was he?

他该不该让对方躺平？如果有骨头断了怎么办？如果他把舌头咽下去了呢？如果他起诉他呢？除了这一切之外，他到底是谁？

At that moment the unconscious man groaned loudly and rolled himself over.

就在这时，那个昏迷的男人大声呻吟着翻了个身。

Arthur wondered if he should –

阿瑟不知道自己是不是该——

He looked at him.

他看看他。

He looked at him again.

他又看看他。

He looked at him again, just to make absolutely sure.

他再看看他，以排除任何误会的可能。

Despite the fact that he had been thinking he was feeling about as low as he possibly could, he experienced a terrible sinking feeling.

尽管他以为自己的心情已经跌到了谷底，现在却再次体会到了一种越来越低的感觉。

The figure groaned again and slowly opened his eyes. It took him a while to focus, then he blinked and stiffened.

那人又呻吟了一声，然后慢慢睁开眼睛。他花了些时间才聚焦完毕，然后他眨眨眼僵住了。