經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第20章3大綱

“I’m just saying that the question could be anything at all,” said Arthur, “and I don’t see how I am meant to know.”
“Because,” hissed Zaphod, “you were there when your planet did the big firework.”
“We have a thing on Earth…” began Arthur.
“Had,” corrected Zaphod.
“… called tact. Oh never mind. Look, I just don’t know.”
A low voice echoed dully round the cabin.
“I know,” said Marvin.
Ford called out from the controls he was still fighting a losing battle with.
“Stay out of this Marvin,” he said, “this is organism talk.”
“It’s printed in the Earthman’s brainwave patterns,” continued Marvin, “but I don’t suppose you’ll be very interested in knowing that.”
“You mean,” said Arthur, “you mean you can see into my mind?”
“Yes,” said Marvin.
Arthur stared in astonishment.
“And…?” he said.
“It amazes me how you can manage to live in anything that small.”
“Ah,” said Arthur, “abuse.”
“Yes,” confirmed Marvin.
“Ah, ignore him,” said Zaphod, “he’s only making it up.”
“Making it up?” said Marvin, swivelling his head in a parody of astonishment, “Why should I want to make anything up? Life’s bad enough as it is without wanting to invent any more of it.”
“Marvin,” said Trillian in the gentle, kindly voice that only she was still capable of assuming in talking to this misbegotten creature, “if you knew all along, why then didn’t you tell us?”
Marvin’s head swivelled back to her.

“我只是想說明那個問題可能是任何東西。”阿瑟說，“另外，我絲毫看不出有什麼理由我應該知道它。”
“因爲，”贊福德嘶嘶地說，“垮嘲拘星球變成一團巨大的焰火時，你在現場。”
“我們在地球上有一種說法”阿瑟說道：
“曾經有，”贊福德糾正他說。
“…叫做機敏。噢，別管這個了。你瞧，我確實不知道。”
一個低沉的聲音遲鈍地迴響在艙內。
“我知道。”馬文說。
控制檯邊的福特喊丁一嗓子，他還在那兒繼續打一場正在輸掉的戰鬥。
“別瞎攙和，馬文。”他說，“這是有機體之間的談話。”
“它就印在這個地球人的腦渡圖形中。”馬文繼續說道，“但我覺得你們不會對我的話感興趣。”
“你的意思是，”阿瑟問，“你是說你能看穿我的思想？”
“是的。”馬文說。
阿瑟驚愕地瞪大了眼腈。
“然後呢……”他說。
“令我感到驚訝的是，你怎麼可能成功地做到靠這麼小的一個腦子生活下去。”
“好啊，”阿瑟說，“你在侮辱我。”
“沒錯。”馬文贊同道。
“噢，別管他，”贊福德說，“全是他瞎編出來的。”
“瞎編？”馬文說，模仿出吃驚的樣子，搖晃着腦袋，“爲什麼我希望編造什麼東西呢？生話已經夠糟糕的了，用不着再爲它增添更多的糟糕玩意兒了。”
“馬文，”崔莉現在也只有她還仍然能用這樣的態度來和這個設計拙劣的傢伙說話了，“如果你早就知道，爲什麼不告訴我們呢t”
馬文的腦袋朝她轉過來。