经典科幻文学:《银河系漫游指南》第1章Part 5
For a few seconds Ford seemed to ignore him, and stared fixedly into the sky like a rabbit trying to get run over by a car. Then suddenly he squatted down beside Arthur.
"We've got to talk," he said urgently.
"Fine," said Arthur, "talk."
"And drink," said Ford. "It's vitally important that we talk and drink. Now. We'll go to the pub in the village."
He looked into the sky again, nervous, expectant.
"Look, don't you understand?" shouted Arthur. He pointed at Prosser. "That man wants to knock my house down!"
Ford glanced at him, puzzled.
"Well he can do it while you're away can't he?" he asked.
"But I don't want him to!"
"Ah."
"Look, what's the matter with you Ford?" said Arthur.
"Nothing. Nothing's the matter. Listen to me — I've got to tell you the most important thing you've ever heard. I've got to tell you now, and I've got to tell you in the saloon bar of the Horse and Groom."
"But why?"
"Because you are going to need a very stiff drink."
Ford stared at Arthur, and Arthur was astonished to find that his will was beginning to weaken. He didn't realize that this was because of an old drinking game that Ford learned to play in the hyperspace ports that served the madranite mining belts in the star system of Orion Beta.
The game was not unlike the Earth game called Indian Wrestling, and was played like this:
Two contestants would sit either side of a table, with a glass in front of each of them.
The bottle would then be refilled. The game would be played again. And again.
有几秒钟的时间，福特像是完全忽略了他，怔怔地盯着空中看，就像一只准备躲过一辆车的兔子。然后，他突然在阿瑟身边蹲下来。
“我们必须谈谈。”他急切地说。
“好吧，”阿瑟说，“谈谈。”
“还得喝点儿。”福特说。“交谈和喝酒都相当重要。噢，我们这就去村里的酒吧。”
他又看了看天上，紧张而又期待。
“嘿，难道你还不明白吗？”阿瑟嚷道。他指着普洛塞说：“这家伙想推平我的房子！”
福特望着他，显得很困惑。
“那好啊，你离开了，他不就可以干成这件事了吗？”他问道。
“可是我并不想让他这样做啊！”
“哦。”
“嘿，你这是怎么了，福特？”阿瑟说。
“没什么。真的没什么。你听我说——我必须告诉你一件事，这也许是你听说过的最重要的事情了。我必须现在就告诉你，还必须在‘马和马夫’沙龙酒吧里。”
“为什么？”
“因为到时候你会需要一杯够劲儿的酒的。”
福特盯着阿瑟，阿瑟惊讶地发觉自己的意愿开始变得薄弱起来。他丝毫没有意识到这是由于福特使出了一种古老的喝酒游戏的伎俩，那是福特在那些为猎户座贝塔星系的矿区提供服务的超空间港口里学会的。
这种游戏和地球上称为印第安摔跤的游戏差不多，具体是这样玩的：
两名比赛者分别坐在桌子的两侧，每人面前都摆着一个玻璃杯子。
然后，酒瓶会被重新灌满。游戏继续进行。然后再继续下去。
