經典科幻文學:《 再見 多謝你們的魚》第6章3

Was this really the Earth? Was there the slightest possibility that he had made some extraordinary mistake?
The pub in front of him was unbearably familiar to him in every detail every brick, every piece of peeling paint; and inside he could sense its familiar stuffy, noisy warmth, its exposed beams, its unauthentic cast-iron light fittings, its bar sticky with beer that people he knew had put their elbows in, overlooked by cardboard cutouts of girls with packets of peanuts stapled all over their breasts. It was all the stuff of his home, his even knew this blasted dog.
Hey, Know-Nothing!
The sound of Will Smithers’ voice meant he had to decide what do to quickly. If he stood his ground he would be discovered and the whole circus would begin. To hide would only postpone the moment, and it was bitterly cold now.
The fact that it was Will made the choice easier. It wasn’t that Arthur disliked him as such Will was quite fun. It was just that he was fun in such an exhausting way because, being in advertising, he always wanted you to know how much fun he was having and where he had got his jacket from.
Mindful of this, Arthur hid behind a van.
Hey, Know-Nothing, what’s up?
The door opened and Will came out, wearing a leather flying jacket that he’d got a mate of his at the Road Research Laboratory to crash a car into specially, in order to get that battered look. Know-Nothing yelped with delight and, having got the attention it wanted, was happy to forget Arthur.
Will was with some friends, and they had a game they played with the dog.
Commies! they all shouted at the dog in chorus. Commies, commies, commies!!!
The dog went berserk with barking, prancing up and down, yapping its little heart out, beside itself in transports of ecstatic rage. They all laughed and cheered it on, then gradually dispersed to their various cars and disappeared into the night.
Well that clears one thing up, thought Arthur from behind the van, this is quite definitely the planet I remember.

這真的是地球嗎？有沒有一丁點的可能性是他犯了一些不同尋常的誤會？
他面前的酒館在每個細節上都不堪忍受地熟悉——每一塊磚；每一片剝落的畫；他可以感覺到裏面那種熟悉的乏味的吵鬧的溫暖；酒館透出的光亮；仿冒的鑄鐵燈具；滿是黏糊啤酒的吧檯，他認識的人正把胳膊肘放在上面；胸部放着好幾袋花生的紙板女郎的遠眺。這全都是他的家鄉，他的世界。他甚至記得這隻倒黴的狗。
“嘿，一無所知！”
威爾·史密斯爾的聲音傳來，意味着他必須儘快決定自己該做什麼。如果他還站在這兒，他就會被發現，然後一場鬧劇就該開始了。但躲起來只能延後這一過程，而且外面冷得要命。
事實上，威爾讓選擇變得更容易些。並不是阿瑟不喜歡他——威爾其實挺有趣的。只是他的有趣實在很累人，因爲在廣告界，他總是想讓你知道他現在過的多有趣以及他的夾克從哪兒來的。
爲了避開這些，阿瑟躲在了一輛廂型車後面。
“嘿，一無所知，怎麼啦？”
門開了，威爾從裏面走出來，穿着一件皮質飛行夾克。他曾專門在道路研究實驗室裏讓一輛車以特定方式撞上那件夾克，以使夾克擁有一種壓扁的質感。“一無所知”開心地叫着，得到了它想要的關注，高興地忘了阿瑟。
威爾和一些哥們在一起，他們在逗狗玩。
“共黨！（注）”他們齊聲高喊。“共黨，共黨，共黨！！！”
那隻狗開始發飆暴走，咆哮着，跳來跳去，把自己小小的心臟吼出來，而且陷於一種狂怒的喜悅中。那些人則捧腹大笑，繼續挑逗着，隨後逐漸散去，鑽進他們不同的車裏，消失在夜幕中。
好吧，至少有一件事很清楚了，阿瑟在廂型車後面想，這完全就是我記憶中的那個星球。