經典科幻文學:《 再見 多謝你們的魚》第3章2

The first whisked by with complete disregard, the second flashed meaninglessly. A Ford Cortina passed and put on its brakes.
Lurching with surprise, the figure bundled his bag to his chest and hurried forward towards the car, but at the last moment the Cortina span its wheels in the wet and carreered off up the road rather amusingly.
The figure slowed to a stop and stood there, lost and dejected. As it chanced, the following day the driver of the Cortina went into hospital to have his appendix out, only due to a rather amusing mix up the surgeon removed his leg in error, and before the appendectomy could be rescheduled, the appendicitis complicated into an entertainingly serious case of peritonitis and justice, in its way, was served.
The figure trudged on.
A Saab drew to a halt beside him.
Its window wound down and a friendly voice said,– Have you come far?
The figure turned toward it. He stopped and grasped the handle of the door.
The figure, the car and its door handle were all on a planet called the Earth, a world whose entire entry in the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy comprised the two words “Mostly harmless” man who wrote this entry was called Ford Prefect, and he was at this precise moment on a far from harmless world, sitting in a far from harmless bar, recklessly causing trouble.

第一輛車呼嘯而過，把那個身影完全當成了虛線；第二輛車則只是無意義地閃着車燈。一輛福特千里馬經過他身邊，剎了車。
那個身影驚訝得差點跌倒，趕緊把袋子放在胸前然後跑向那輛車，但在最後一刻，那輛千里馬的輪子突然在雨中轉動起來，嘲弄似地絕塵而去。
那個身影逐漸停了下來，隨後楞在那裏，迷茫而又絕望。他希望有朝一日那輛千里馬的司機進醫院切闌尾的時候，只是由於一連串相當有趣的巧合，醫生錯截了他的腿，隨後在重新進行闌尾切除術之前，他的闌尾炎又惡化成了令人愉快的腹膜炎重症，這樣子，正義就被伸張了。
那個身影繼續他的跋涉。
一輛薩博在他身邊停住。
車窗搖了下來，一個友善的聲音說到：“你從遠方來的？”
那個身影轉向車子，站在那裏緊緊地攥着車門把手。

那個身影，那輛車子，以及那個車門把手全都在一個名叫地球的行星上，而整個地球世界在銀河系漫遊指南中的條目只有兩個詞：“基本無害”。寫下這個條目的人名叫福特.普里弗克特，在這一精確的時間點上，福特正處在一個遠不無害的世界，坐在一家遠不無害的酒吧，魯莽地惹事兒。