经典科幻文学:《 基本上无害 Mostly Harmless》 第11章4

He had long ago realised that a lot of things that he had thought of as natural, like buying people presents at Christmas, stopping at red lights or falling at a rate of 32 feet/second/second, were just the habits of his own world and didn’t necessarily work the same way anywhere else; but not to wish – that really couldn’t be natural, could it? That would be like not breathing.

他早就意识到，许许多多他过去以为很自然的事，比如在圣诞节给人买礼物，见红灯停下，或者以每秒32英尺的速度做自由落体运动之类，这些都只是他自己世界里的习惯，在宇宙的其他地方不一定管用；可没有愿望——这总不可能是什么自然而然的事了吧，恩？这就好像不呼吸一样。

Breathing was another thing that the Bartledanians didn’t do, despite all the oxygen in the atmosphere. They just stood there. Occasionally they ran around and played netball and stuff (without ever wishing to win though, of course – they would just play, and whoever won, won), but they never actually breathed. It was, for some reason, unnecessary. Arthur quickly learned that playing netball with them was just too spooky. Though they looked like humans, and even moved and sounded like humans, they didn’t breathe and they didn’t wish for things.

呼吸是巴忒勒丹人所不必干的另外一件事情，虽然大气里满满当当到处是氧气。他们就那么站着，偶尔会到处跑跑，玩盘网子球之类（当然玩的时候并没有希望自己一定要获胜——他们就那么玩，最后赢的人就是赢了），可他们从不真正呼吸。也不知道为什么，反正呼吸就是没有必要。阿瑟很快就发现，跟他们玩网子球感觉简直太诡异了。尽管他们看起来像地球人，甚至动作声音也像地球人，可他们既不呼吸也没有任何愿望。

Breathing and wishing for things, on the other hand, was just about all that Arthur seemed to do all day. Sometimes he would wish for things so much that his breathing would get quite agitated, and he would have to go and lie down for a bit. On his own. In his small room. So far from the world which had given birth to him that his brain could not even process the sort of numbers involved without just going limp.

反过来，呼吸和希望，这两样似乎就是阿瑟生活的全部内容。有时候他的希望强烈，以至于呼吸都会被搅得很激动，让他只好去躺一会。自己躺着。在他的小房间里。离生他养他的星球那么遥远。每次想处理其中涉及的数学问题，他的脑袋都难免乱成一团。

He preferred not to think about it. He preferred just to sit and read – or at least he would prefer it if there was anything worth reading. But nobody in Bartledanian stories ever wanted anything. Not even a glass of water. Certainly, they would fetch one if they were thirsty, but if there wasn’t one available, they would think no more about it. He had just read an entire book in which the main character had, over the course of a week, done some work in his garden, played a great deal of netball, helped mend a road, fathered a child on his wife and then unexpectedly died of thirst just before the last chapter. In exasperation Arthur had combed his way back through the book and in the end had found a passing reference to some problem with the plumbing in Chapter 2. And that was it. So the guy dies. It just happens.

他宁愿不去想它。他宁愿坐着读书——只要他能找到任何值得一读的东西。可在巴忒勒丹人的故事里，从来找不到任何人想要的任何东西——连一杯水他们都不要。当然了，如果他们口渴，他们就会喝水，可如果当时没水可喝，他们也就不去想这事儿了。阿瑟刚读了一本书，主人公在一个星期里摆弄院子里地花花草草，打了好多回网子球，帮人家整修了一条路，让他老婆怀了个孩子，然后，就在最后一章前面一点点，出人意料地脱水死了。阿瑟恼羞成怒，硬是往前地毯式地搜索了一遍，结果还真的在第二章发现作者曾经随口提到水池出了什么问题。就这样了。那家伙就这么挂了。事情就这么发生了。