經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第32章5

“Yes. One of our film producers is already making a fascinating documentary about the indigenous cavemen of the area.”
“They’re not cavemen.”
“They look like cavemen.”
“Do they live in caves?”
“Well…”
“They live in huts.”
“Perhaps they’re having their caves redecorated,” called out a wag from the crowd.
Ford rounded on him angrily.
“Very funny,” he said, “but have you noticed that they’re dying out?”
On their journey back, Ford and Arthur had come across two derelict villages and the bodies of many natives in the woods, where they had crept away to die. Those that still lived were stricken and listless, as if they were suffering some disease of the spirit rather than the body. They moved sluggishly and with an infinite sadness. Their future had been taken away from them.
“Dying out!” repeated Ford. “Do you know what that means?”
“Er… we shouldn’t sell them any life insurance?” called out the wag again.
Ford ignored him, and appealed to the whole crowd.
“Can you try and understand,” he said, “that it’s just since we’ve arrived that they’ve started dying out!”
“In fact that comes over terribly well in this film,” said the marketing girl, “and just gives it that poignant twist which is the hallmark of the really great documentary. The producer’s very committed.”
“He should be,” muttered Ford.

“是的。我們的一個電影製片人正在製作一部迷人的|己錄片，關於這片土地的土著穴居人。”
“他們不是穴居人。”
“可他們看起來像是穴居人。”
“他們住在山洞裏嗎？”
“嗯……”
“他們住在棚屋裏。”
“也許他們的山洞正在重新裝修。”人羣中一個愛打趣的人喊道
福特轉過身，憤怒地瞪着他。
“真好笑啊，”他說，“可是你注意到了嗎？他們正在滅絕！”
在返回這裏的途中，福特和阿瑟經過了兩個被拋棄的村莊，樹林裏還有許多土著人的屍體，他們是偷跑出來死在這兒的。那些還活着的人看上去像受了驚嚇，目光呆滯，彷彿他們正在遭受的精神上的苦難遠遠超出了肉體上的痛苦：他們遲緩地移動着，懷着無盡的哀傷。他們的未來已經被從他們手中奪走了。
“滅絕！”福特重複道，“你知道那是什麼意思嗎？”
“嗯……我們不能再賣給他們人壽保險了，”那個小丑叉喊道。
福特沒有再理睬他，而是向整個人羣呼籲。
“你們能稍稍花電力氣去理解這一點嗎？”他說，“僅僅因爲我們的到來就導致了他們的滅絕！”
“實際上，這一點在那部電影裏表現得非常出色，”市場部女孩說，“賦予影片一種痛苦感，而這正是一部真正偉大的記錄片的特徵。這個製片人投入了全部心血。”
“耗盡心血以後，他怎麼還不死？”福特喃喃地說。