經典科幻文學:《銀河系漫遊指南》第8章 Part 7

"Please relax," said the voice pleasantly, like a stewardess in an airliner with only one wing and two engines one of which is on fire, "you are perfectly safe."
"But that's not the point!" raged Ford. "The point is that I am now a perfectly save penguin, and my colleague here is rapidly running out of limbs!"
"It's alright, I've got them back now," said Arthur.
"Two to the power of fifty thousand to one against and falling," said the voice.
"Admittedly," said Arthur, "they're longer than I usually like them, but ..."
"Isn't there anything," squawked Ford in avian fury, "you feel you ought to be telling us?"
The voice cleared its throat. A giant petit four lolloped off into the distance.
"Welcome," the voice said, "to the Starship Heart of Gold."
The voice continued.
"Please do not be alarmed," it said, "by anything you see or hear around you. You are bound to feel some initial ill effects as you have been rescued from certain death at an improbability level of two to the power of two hundred and seventy-six thousand to one against — possibly much higher. We are now cruising at a level of two to the power of twenty-five thousand to one against and falling, and we will be restoring normality just as soon as we are sure what is normal anyway. Thank you. Two to the power of twenty thousand to one against and falling."
The voice cut out.
Ford and Arthur were in a small luminous pink cubicle.
Ford was wildly excited.

“請放鬆一點兒，”那聲音悅耳地說，像個空中小姐，只不過是在一架只剩一隻機翼的雙引擎飛機上，另一隻機翼正在着火，“你很安全。”
“這不重要！”福特被激怒了，“重要的是我現在變成了一隻很安全的企鵝，而我的同伴很快就會失去他的四肢！”
“還好，我已經把它們拉回來了。”阿瑟說。
“2的50，000次方比1，正在下降。”那聲音又說。
“很明顯，”阿瑟說，“這串數字長了點兒，我不喜歡，不過……”
“難道就沒有什麼，”福特發出憤怒的鳥叫聲，“你覺得應該告訴我們的嗎？”
那聲音清了一下嗓子。一塊巨大的糖霜蛋糕向遠處飄蕩而去。
“歡迎，”那聲音說，“來到黃金之心號飛船。”
那聲音繼續道：

“請不要因爲你們所見到或者聽到的任何東西恐慌。開始時你們可能會有一些不適反應，因爲你們剛剛被從死亡線上救起來，在那種情況下存活概率只有2的276，000次方比1——可能還要小得多，我們現在正以2的25，000次方比1的水平巡航，這個比率正在下降。一旦我們確定了什麼是正常水平，很快便會恢復到正常水平。謝謝你們。2的20，000次方比1，正在下降。”
聲音戛然而止。
福特和阿瑟在一間泛着粉紅色光的小臥室裏。
福特感到一陣狂喜。