‘O Sandwich Maker from Bob!’ he pronounced. He paused, furrowed his brow, and sighed as he closed his eyes in pious contemplation. ‘Life,’ he said, ‘will be a very great deal less weird without you!’

“哦，从鲍伯处下界的三明治大师啊！”他清清楚楚地念道。然后他停下来，使劲皱起眉头，接着长叹一声，闭上眼睛，虔诚地冥想起来，“没有了你，”最后他说，“生活将少了多少古怪啊！”

Arthur was stunned.

阿瑟惊呆了。

‘Do you know,’ he said, ‘I think that’s the nicest thing anybody’s ever said to me?’

“你知道吗，”他说“我认为这是人家对我说过的最动听的一句话？”

‘Can we get on, please?’ said Ford.

“我们可以继续了吗，拜托？”福特说。

Something was already happening. The presence of the pikka bird at the end of Thrashbarg’s outstretched arm was sending tremors of interest through the thundering herd. The odd head flicked momentarily in their direction. Arthur began to remember some of the Perfectly Normal Beast hunts he had witnessed. He recalled that as well as the hunter-matadors brandishing their capes there were always others standing behind them holding pikka birds. He had always assumed that, like him, they had just come along to watch.

有些事情已经发生了。刷希巴胳膊尽头的噼卡鸟在轰隆隆的兽群里引发了阵阵战栗。时不时会有几个脑袋往他们这边扭过来看上一眼，阿瑟这才回忆起自己从前见过的狩猎场景。他想起来了，除了挥舞斗篷的猎人斗牛士之外，每次都还有其他人拿着噼卡鸟站在后面。过去他总以为大家都跟他一样是来凑热闹的。

Old Thrashbarg moved forward, a little closer to the rolling herd. Some of the Beasts were now tossing their heads back with interest at the sight of the pikka bird.

老刷希巴往前走上几步，稍稍靠近飞奔的兽群，现在已经有些大家伙开始回头，很感兴趣地看看噼卡鸟。

Old Thrashbarg’s outstretched arms were trembling.

老刷希巴伸长的胳膊在发抖。

Only the pikka bird itself seemed to show no interest in what was going on. A few anonymous molecules of air nowhere in particular engaged all of its perky attention.

只有噼卡鸟自己似乎对这一切毫不关心，只管把全部注意力都集中在空气里几颗不知所谓的分子上。

‘Now!’ exclaimed Old Thrashbarg at last. ‘Now you may work them with the towel!’

“现在！”老刷希巴吼道，“现在你们可以用毛巾把它们引过来了。”