經典科幻文學:《基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第18章13
‘No! It is fantasticAlly stupid. Look. The machine’s only a little Guide. It’s got some quite clever cybertechnology in it, but because it has Unfiltered Perception, any smallest move it makes has the power of a virus. It can propagate throughout space, time and a million other dimensions. Anything can be focused anywhere in any of the Universes that you and I move in. Its power is recursive. Think of a computer program. Somewhere, there is one key instruction, and everything else is just functions calling themselves, or brackets billowing out endlessly through an infinite address space. What happens when the brackets collapse? Where’s the final “end if”? Is any of this making sense? Arthur?’
“不！蠢得發瘋。聽着。那機器只是個小《指南》。裏頭是有些挺妙的電子技術，可因爲用了無過濾感知，它的任何一點點動作都會有病毒那樣的威力。它可以在空間、時間和其他無數個維度繁殖。無論我們進入哪個宇宙，任何地方的任何東西都逃不過它的手掌心。它的能力是遞歸式的，就好像一個計算機程序。在某個地方存在着一條關鍵指令，其餘的一切都不過是些自循環功能而已，或者說是在無休止的地址欄裏往下翻滾的括號。要是括號崩潰了怎麼辦？最後一個‘如果……則結束’上哪兒去找？你聽明白了哪怕一小點兒嗎，阿瑟？”
‘Sorry, I was nodding off for a moment. Something about the Universe, yes?’
“抱歉，我打了會瞌睡。是關於宇宙的什麼事情，對吧？”
‘Something about the Universe, yes,’ said Ford, wearily. He sat down again.
“是關於宇宙的什麼事情，對。”福特疲倦極了，他重新坐下。
‘All right,’ he said. ‘Think about this. You know who I think I saw at the Guide offices? Vogons. Ah. I see I’ve said a word you understand at last.’
“好吧。”他說，“想想吧，你知道我覺得自己在《指南》的大樓裏看見誰了？沃貢人。啊，看得出我終於說了個你能聽懂的字眼。”
Arthur leapt to his feet.
阿瑟一躍而起。
‘That noise,’ he said.
“那個噪音。”他說。
‘What noise?’
“什麼噪音？”
‘The thunder.’
“雷聲。”
‘What about it?’
“怎麼了？”
‘It isn’t thunder. It’s the spring migration of the Perfectly Normal Beasts. It’s started.’
“那不是打雷。那是絕對正常獸的春季遷徙，開始了。”
‘What are these animals you keep on about?’
“你老提到這些動物，他們到底是些什麼東西？”
‘I don’t keep on about them. I just put bits of them in sandwiches.’
“我沒老提它們。我只是在三明治裏放了些它們。”
‘Why are they called Perfectly Normal Beasts?’
“爲什麼要管它們叫絕對正常獸？”
Arthur told him.
阿瑟跟他講了。
It wasn’t often that Arthur had the pleasure of seeing Ford’s eyes open wide with astonishment.
福特驚得瞪大了眼睛，這在阿瑟可是少有的享受。
