經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第3章2

“Vogons!” snapped Ford, “we’re under attack!”
Arthur gibbered.
“Well what are you doing? Let’s get out of here!”
“Can’t. Computer’s jammed.”
“Jammed?”
“It says all its circuits are occupied. There’s no power anywhere in the ship.”
Ford moved away from the computer terminal, wiped a sleeve across his forehead and slumped back against the wall.
“Nothing we can do,” he said. He glared at nothing and bit his lip.
When Arthur had been a boy at school, long before the Earth had been demolished, he had used to play football. He had not been at all good at it, and his particular specialty had been scoring own goals in important matches. Whenever this happened he used to experience a peculiar tingling round the back of his neck that would slowly creep up across his cheeks and heat his brow. The image of mud and grass and lots of little jeering boys flinging it at him suddenly came vividly to his mind at this moment.
A peculiar tingling sensation at the back of his neck was creeping up across his cheeks and heating his brow.

“沃貢人！”福特猛然道，“我們正遭到攻擊！”
阿瑟結巴起來。
“那，那你們還在幹嘛？我們趕快溜啊！”
“動不了。電腦阻塞了。”
“阻塞？”
“它聲稱它所有的線路都已經被佔用了。飛船上沒有其他動力。”
福特從電腦終端前離開，用衣袖擦了擦前額，無奈地倚在牆上。
“我們沒有任何辦法。”他說。他眼神空洞地盯着前方，嘴脣蠕動着。
在地球毀滅之前很久，當阿瑟還是學校裏的孩子時，他曾經玩過足球。他在這方面向來沒有任何天賦，他的專長只是在重要比賽中自擺烏龍。每當這樣的情形發生時，他總是感到脖子上有一種奇怪的刺痛感，這種感覺慢慢地爬上他的臉頰，最後連眉頭都發燙了。泥巴、草皮以及朝他扔來這些東西的一大羣口出穢言的男孩兒的形像，突然間異常鮮明地出現在他的腦海中。
此時此刻，一種奇怪的刺痛感正沿着他的後頸窩慢慢爬上他的臉頰，最後連眉頭都發燙了。