經典科幻文學:《 基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第12章14

‘Perfectly Normal Beast. It’s a bit like a cow, or rather a bull. Kind of like a buffalo in fact. Large, charging sort of animal.’

“絕對正常獸。模樣有點像母牛，或者更像公牛。事實上有點像水牛。大塊頭，喜歡衝刺。”

‘So what’s odd about it?’

“那他有什麼古怪的？”

‘Nothing, it’s Perfectly Normal.’

“什麼也沒有。超級正常。”

‘I see.’

“原來如此。”

‘It’s just a bit odd where it comes from.’

“只不過它的來歷有點怪。”

Tricia frowned, and stopped chewing.

崔茜卡皺起眉頭不嚼了。

‘Where does it come from?’ she asked with her Mouth full. She wasn’t going to swallow until she knew.

“從哪兒來的？”她從塞得滿滿當當的嘴裏擠出這幾個字。水落石出之前她纔不要把這東西嚥下去。

‘Well it’s not just a matter of where it comes from, it’s also where it goes to. It’s all right, it’s perfectly safe to swallow. I’ve eaten tons of it. It’s great. Very succulent. Very tender. Slightly sweet flavour with a long dark finish.’

“唔，問題不只是它從哪兒來，還包括它去了哪兒。沒關係的，你可以把它嚥下去，非常安全。我吃過不知多少了。味道很棒，鮮嫩多汁，口感細膩，稍稍帶點甜，餘味濃烈悠長。”

Trillian still hadn’t swallowed.

崔莉恩還是沒往肚裏吞。

‘Where,’ she said, ‘does it come from, and where does it go to?’

“到底。”她問，“它是從哪兒來的，又去了哪兒？”

‘They come from a point just slightly to the east of the Hondo Mountains. They’re the big ones behind us here, you must have seen them as you came in, and then they sweep in their thousands across the great Anhondo plains and, er, well that’s it really. That’s where they come from. That’s where they go.’

“它們來自宏朵山稍微往東一點。就是咱們背後那些大傢伙——你進來的時候肯定看見了，然後它們好幾千好幾千地衝過安宏朵平原，然後，基本上就這樣了。它們就是從那兒來的，然後又去了那兒。”

Trillian frowned. There was something she wasn’t quite getting about this.

崔莉恩皺起眉頭。這裏頭有些東西她沒怎麼弄明白。

‘I probably haven’t made it quite clear,’ said Arthur. ‘When I say they come from a point to the east of the Hondo Mountains, I mean that that’s where they suddenly appear. Then they sweep across the Anhondo plains and, well, vanish really. We have about six days to catch as many of them as we can before they disappear. In the spring they do it again only the other way round, you see.’

“也許我沒講太清楚。”阿瑟說，“它們來自宏朵山稍微往東一點，我的意思是它們突然就出現了。然後它們就衝過安宏朵平原，然後就，唔，消失了應該說是。在它們消失之前，我們有大概六天時間可以打獵。春天的時候它們又會出現，你瞧，只不過換個方向。”

Reluctantly, Trillian swallowed. It was either that or spit it out, and it did in fact taste pretty good.

崔莉恩猶猶豫豫地嚥下三明治。問題在於，她要麼嚥下去要麼就只好吐出來，而那味道其實真的很不錯。

‘I see,’ she said, once she had reassured herself that she didn’t seem to be suffering any ill effects. ‘And why are they called Perfectly Normal Beasts?’

“明白了。”她確認自己沒有任何不良反應，“那爲什麼還管它們叫絕對正常獸？”