经典科幻文学:《基本上无害 Mostly Harmless》 第15章8

In fact he had gone some of the way back to it the very next day, while he was still numb and spinning with shock. He had a broken leg, a couple of broken ribs, some bad burns and was not really thinking coherently but had insisted that the villagers take him, which, uneasily, they had. He had not managed to get right to the actual spot where the ground had bubbled and melted, however, and had at last hobbled away from the horror for ever.

事实上就在第二天，当他还没从震惊中恢复，满脑子依然天旋地转的时候，他就吵着要回去。他断了一条腿和两根肋骨，身上还有些严重的烧伤，思维根本就不连贯，可他坚持要村民带他过去，他们虽然不情愿但也答应了。不过他最终也没坚持到前一天大地冒泡融化的地方，并且从此以后也一直回避那里。

Soon, word had got around that the whole area was haunted and no one had ventured back there ever since. The land was full of beautiful, verdant and delightful valleys – no point in going to a highly worrying one. Let the past hold on to itself and let the Present move forward into the future.

很快就有消息说那整个地区都有幽灵出没，于是其他人也不敢再过去。这里到处是美丽宜人的青翠山谷，没必要非往让人心惊胆战的那一个跑。过去就让它自生自灭好了，现在应该继续往前走，变成未来。

Random cradled the watch in her hands, slowly turning it to let the long light of the evening sun shine warmly in the scratches and scuffs of the thick glass. It fascinated her watching the spidery little second hand ticking its way round. Every time it completed a full circle, the longer of the two main hands had moved on exactly to the next of the sixty small divisions round the dial. And when the long hand had made its own full circle the smaller hand had moved on to the next of the main digits.

兰登两手捧着手表缓缓转身，让傍晚暖和的阳光斜射在厚玻璃上，照亮了表壳的划痕和磨损。她看着细长的秒针一圈圈地走，看得入了迷。每次它走完一圈，两根大指针中比较长的一根就会移到下一个六十分之一格上。等它完成了自己的一圈以后，比较短的那根就会走到下一个主要的刻度上。

‘You’ve been watching it for over an hour,’ said Arthur quietly.

“你已经看了一个多小时了。”阿瑟轻声说。

‘I know,’ she said. ‘An hour is when the big hand has gone all the way round, yes?’

“我知道。”她说，“一个小时就是这根大的走完一圈，对吧？”

‘That’s right.’

“没错。”

‘Then I’ve been watching it for an hour and seventeen minutes.’

“那么我就看了一个钟头十七分钟。”

She smiled with a deep and mysterious pleasure and moved very slightly so that she was resting just a little against his arm. Arthur felt a small sigh escape from him that had been pent up inside his chest for weeks. He wanted to put his arm around his daughter’s shoulders, but felt it was too early yet and that she would shy away from him. But something was working. Something was easing inside her. The watch meant something to her that nothing in her life had so far managed to do. Arthur was not sure that he had really understood what it was yet, but he was profoundly pleased and relieved that something had reached her.

她带着深切的满足感神秘地微微一笑，她稍微动了动，轻轻靠上阿瑟的胳膊，只有一点点。阿瑟感到几个星期以来积郁在胸口的叹气终于飞走了。他想伸出胳膊搂住女儿的肩膀，但又觉得时候还没到，她会畏缩躲闪的。但有些事情确实变了。她的心里有了些松动。这只手表对她来说似乎有种特殊的意义，超过迄今为止她生命中的一切，阿瑟不大确定自己是不是真的了解，但看见有东西能打动兰登，他也觉得满心的高兴和欣慰。