经典科幻文学:《 基本上无害 Mostly Harmless》 第9章10

‘Damn,’ he said. ‘Excuse me!’ he called out to the old man again, who was now straight in front of him and forty feet away. ‘Got lost. Be with you in a minute.’ Down he went again, getting very hot and bothered.

“见鬼。”他说，“抱歉！”他对老头喊道。对方如今在他正前方大约四十尺远的地方。“迷路了。马上就来。”他又爬下去，搞的自己又累又烦。

When he arrived, panting and sweating, at the top of the pole that he knew for certain was the right one he realised that the man was, somehow or other, mucking him about.

这次他记准了目标，然后汗流浃背，气喘吁吁地爬上去，眼前却还是空空如也。这时候他意识到，虽然不知道为什么，但那人是在耍自己玩儿。

‘What do you want?’ shouted the old man crossly at him. He was now sitting on top of the pole that Arthur recognised was the one that he had been on himself when eating his sandwich.

“你想干嘛？”老头好不耐烦地冲他嚷。阿瑟认出了他现在坐的那根杆子——就是自己先前吃三明治的那一根。

‘How did you get over there?’ called Arthur in bewilderment.

“你怎么过去的？”阿瑟满脸困惑。

‘You think I’m going to tell you just like that what it took me forty springs, summers and autumns of sitting on top of a pole to work out?’

“你以为我会随随便便告诉你？我可是在杆子上坐了四十个春天，夏天和秋天才想出来的！”

‘What about winter?’

“那冬天呢？”

‘What about winter?’

“冬天怎么了？”

‘Don’t you sit on the pole in the winter?’

“冬天你不坐在杆子上吗？”

‘Just because I sit up a pole for most of my life,’ said the man, ‘doesn’t mean I’m an idiot. I go south in the winter. Got a beach house. Sit on the chimney stack.’

“就算我在杆子上坐了大半辈子，”那人说，“这也不代表我是个傻子。冬天去南方。海边的小屋。坐在高烟囱上。”

‘Do you have any advice for a traveller?’

“你能给旅行的人提些建议吗？”

‘Yes. Get a beach house.’

“当然，买栋海滨小屋。”

‘I see.’

“哦。”