經典科幻文學:《基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第16章3

She couldn’t immediately say what it was, but they didn’t seem like sprightly healthy woods looking forward to a good spring. The trees were lolling at sickly angles and had a sort of pallid, blighted look about them. Random more than once had the worrying sensation that they were trying to reach towards her as she passed them, but it was just a trick of the way that her light caused their shadows to flicker and lurch.

她沒有立刻看出問題出在哪裏。樹枝懶洋洋，病懨懨地垂下來，一副蒼白，憔悴的模樣，蘭登不止一次心驚肉跳，覺得它們朝自己伸出了手，但那不過是手電筒在玩把戲，是光讓它們的影子閃爍，搖曳。

Suddenly, something fell out of a tree in front of her. She leapt backwards with alarm, dropping both the torch and the box as she did so. She went down into a crouch, pulling the specially sharpened rock out of her pocket.

突然，有什麼東西從樹上落到了她跟前，她大吃一驚，趕緊往後跳，電筒和盒子都掉在地上。她躬身趴下，從口袋裏掏出了那塊特別打磨的石頭。

The thing that had fallen out of the tree was moving. The torch was lying on the ground and pointing towards it, and a vast, grotesque shadow was slowly lurching through the light towards her. She could hear faint rustling and screeching noises over the steady hiss of the rain. She scrabbled on the ground for the torch, found it, and shone it directly at the creature.

從樹上落下來的那東西在動。手電筒躺在地上，正好對着那東西，一個巨大，奇異的影子緩緩穿過它的光芒向他傾斜過來。在雨點規律的嘶嘶聲之上，蘭登能聽出有東西在移動、摩擦。她在地上摸索，找到手電筒，朝它照過去。

At the same moment another dropped from a tree just a few feet away. She swung the torch wildly from one to another. She held her rock up, ready to throw.

就在這時候，幾尺之外的另一棵樹上又落下一個來。她狂亂地晃動手電筒，輪流照亮它們。她舉起手裏的石頭，時刻準備扔過去。

They were quite small in fact. It was the angle of the light that had made them loom so large. Not only small, but small, furry and cuddly. And there was another, dropping from the trees. It fell through the beam of light, so she saw it quite clearly.

事實上它們個頭挺小，剛纔只是光線的角度不對，才扭曲了它們的體型。不僅是小，而且是小小的、毛茸茸的，讓人忍不住想要抱在懷裏的那種。然後又有一個從樹上落下來。它下落的時候剛好穿過電筒的光束，所以她看的很清楚。

It fell neatly and precisely, turned, and then, like the other two, started slowly and purposefully to advance on Random.

它乾淨利落地着陸，轉過身，然後像前兩個一樣，緩緩地、果決地朝蘭登逼近過來。

She stayed rooted to the spot. She still had her rock poised and ready to throw, but was increasingly conscious of the fact that the things she had it poised and ready to throw at were squirrels. Or at least, squirrel-like things. Soft, warm, cuddly squirrel-like things advancing on her in a way she wasn’t at all certain she liked.

它釘在原地。她仍然舉着石頭，準備扔過去，但同時也越來越強烈地意識到，那些她舉着石頭準備打擊的目標原來是松鼠，或者至少是松鼠一樣的東西，軟綿綿、暖呼呼，可愛極了的松鼠一樣的東西——但它們正以一種她很難說喜歡的方式朝她步步逼近。

She shone her torch directly on the first of them. It was making aggressive, hectoring, screeching noises, and carrying in one of its little fists a small tattered piece of wet, pink rag. Random hefted her rock menacingly in her hand, but it made no impression at all on the squirrel advancing on her with its wet piece of rag.

她用手電筒照着它們中的第一個。它發出盛氣凌人、虛張聲勢的尖厲噪音，一隻小拳頭裏還抓着一小塊溼漉漉的粉紅色碎布。蘭登威脅似的把石頭舉高些，可這招對那隻拿着碎布逼過來的松鼠毫無作用。

She backed away. She didn’t know at all how to deal with this. If they had been vicious snarling slavering beasts with glistening fangs she would have pitched into them with a will, but squirrels behaving like this she couldn’t quite handle.

她往後退，第二隻松鼠開始從右側對她實行包抄，手裏還拿着個杯子。一種橡子做的東西。第三隻緊隨其後，也在往前走。它拿着什麼？一張浸水的小紙片，看着像是。

She backed away again. The second squirrel was starting to make a flanking manoeuvre round to her right. Carrying a cup. Some kind of acorn thing. The third was right behind it and making its own advance. What was it carrying? Some little scrap of soggy paper, Random thought.

她再次後退，腳踝絆在一截樹根上往後跌了下去。