经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第3章10

“But very disappointed in you, young Zaphod…”
“Yeah well…” Zaphod felt strangely powerless to take charge of this conversation, and Ford’s heavy breathing at his side told him that the seconds were ticking away fast. The noise and the shaking had reached terrifying proportions. He saw Trillian and Arthur’s faces white and unblinking in the gloom.
“Er, Great Grandfather…”
“We’ve been following your progress with considerable despondency…”
“Yeah, look, just at the moment you see…”
“Not to say contempt!”
“Could you sort of listen for a moment…”
“I mean what exactly are you doing with your life?”
“I’m being attacked by a Vogon fleet!” cried Zaphod. It was an exaggeration, but it was his only opportunity so far of getting the basic point of the exercise across.
“Doesn’t surprise me in the least,” said the little old figure with a shrug.
“Only it’s happening right now you see,” insisted Zaphod feverishly.
The spectral ancestor nodded, picked up the cup Arthur Dent had brought in and looked at it with interest.
“Er… Great Granddad…”

“只是对你感到很失望，年轻的赞福德……”
“是啊，嗯……”赞福德突然莫名其妙地感到自己无力再控制这次谈话了，身旁福特粗重的呼吸声提示他，时间在一秒一秒飞快地溜走。噪音和震荡已经到了可怕的程度。一片昏暗中，他看见崔莉恩和阿瑟的脸变得苍白，眼睛一眨不眨。
“嗯，曾祖父……”
“我们跟随着你的每一步，结果却感到相当泄气……”
“是啊，您瞧，正如您此刻所见到的……”
“更别提丢脸了！”
“您能听我说几句吗……？”
“我的意思是，在你的生命里，你都在干些什么啊？”
“我正在被一支沃贡舰队攻击！”赞福德终于大叫起来。虽然表达方式有点儿夸张，但要表达出这次谈话的基本出发点，这是他惟一的机会。
“一点儿也不让我惊讶。”瘦小的老人耸了耸肩说。
“问题是，您瞧，这件事现在正在发生。”赞福德发狂般地坚持道。
鬼魅般的祖先点了点头，拿起阿瑟·邓特刚才带进来的杯子，饶有兴趣地观察起来。
“嗯……曾祖父——”