经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第29章2

The cat seemed undecided on the matter. It pawed rather condescendingly at the piece of fish the man was holding out, and then got distracted by a piece of dust on the floor.
“Pussy not eat his fish, pussy get thin and waste away, I think,” said the man. Doubt crept into his voice.
“I imagine this is what will happen,” he said, “but how can I tell?”
He proffered the fish again.
“Pussy think,” he said, “eat fish or not eat fish. I think it is better if I don’t get involved.” He sighed.
“I think fish is nice, but then I think that rain is wet, so who am I to judge?”
He left the fish on the floor for the cat, and retired to his seat.
“Ah, I seem to see you eating it,” he said at last, as the cat exhausted the entertainment possibilities of the speck of dust and pounced on to the fish.
“I like it when I see you eat the fish,” said the man, “because in my mind you will waste away if you don’t.”
He picked up from the table a piece of paper and the stub of a pencil. He held one in one hand and the other in the other, and experimented with the different ways of bringing them together. He tried holding the pencil under the paper, then over the paper, then next to the paper. He tried wrapping the paper round the pencil, he tried rubbing the stubby end of the pencil against the paper and then he tried rubbing the sharp end of the pencil against the paper. It made a mark, and he was delighted with the discovery, as he was every day. He picked up another piece of paper from the table. This had a crossword on it. He studied it briefly and filled in a couple of clues before losing interest.
He tried sitting on one of his hands and was intrigued by the feel of the bones of his hip.
“Fish come from far away,” he said, “or so I’m told. Or so I imagine I’m told. When the men come, or when in my mind the men come in their six black ships, do they come in your mind too? What do you see pussy?”
He looked at the cat, which was more concerned with getting the fish down as rapidly as possible than it was with these speculations.
“And when I hear their questions, do you hear questions? What do their voices mean to you? Perhaps you just think they’re singing songs to you.” He reflected on this, and saw the flaw in the supposition.
“Perhaps they are singing songs to you,” he said, “and I just think they’re asking me questions.”
He paused again. Sometimes he would pause for days, just to see what it was like.

这只猫似乎还没有拿定主意。它犹豫地用爪子拨着这人递过来的鱼，但很快就被地板上的一团灰尘吸引了过去
“猫咪不吃他的鱼，猫眯变瘦了，一天比天瘦。”这人说声音巾带着一丝怀疑。
“我觉得这是以后会发生的事，”他说，“但我怎么能说出来呢？”
他又把鱼递过去。
“猫咪想想吧，”他说，”吃鱼还是不吃鱼。如果我不在这儿搀和的话，情况也许会好点儿。”他叹了口气。
“我认为鱼很好吃，又认为雨太多了。唉，我说什么，凭什么乱下判断？”
他把鱼放在地板上，留给那只猫，然后回到自己的座位上，
“嗅，我好像看见你在吃它丁。”他最厉说：那只猫终于玩腻了那团灰尘所能提供的所有的娱乐性，然后扑向了那条鱼。
“我喜欢看见你吃鱼。”这人说，“在我的想像中，如果你不这么做的话，你就会一天天衰弱下去。”
他从桌面上拿起一张纸和一截用秃了的铅笔头，他一只手拿着这样，另一只于章着另样，试验着把它们凑到一起的各种不同的办法。他试着把铅笔放在纸的下面，然后是纸的上面，然后又是纸的旁边：他试着用纸把铅笔卷起来，他试着把铅笔钝的一头和纸压在一起，然后叉试着把铅笔尖的一头和纸压在一起，这样做的结果是形成丁一个印}己，他对于这个发现很高兴，他每天都会为这个发现而高兴：他又从桌面上拿起另一张纸。这张纸上面有一个纵横字谜他研究了片刻，填了几条，然后就失去了兴趣。
他试同坐在自己的一只手上，臀部的感觉激起了他的兴趣。
“鱼是从很远的地方来的，”他说，“人家是这么告诉我的=或者我想像人家是这么告诉我的。那些人来的时候-或者在我的想像中那些人来的时候，他们乘坐着六艘闪耀着黑色光泽的飞船‘在你的想像中他们也来了吗，你怎么看，猫眯？”
他看着那只猫。比起思考这些问题来，它更热衷于尽可能快地把鱼吃下去。
“当我听到他们的问题时，你听到问题了吗？他们的声音州尔来说意味着什么，也许体只是认为他们在对你唱歌吧，”他仔细地想了想这个问题，然后发现唯一推测中的漏洞。
“也许他们确实是在对你唱歌，”他说，“只不过我想像成了他们在问我问题。”
他顿了顿。有时候他甚至会一顿好几天，只不过为了瞧瞧一顿好几天是什么样子。