经典科幻文学:《 再见 多谢你们的鱼》第10章1
At the third stroke it will be one… thirty-two… and twenty seconds.
Beep… beep… beep.
Ford Prefect suppressed a little giggle of evil satisfaction, realized that he had no reason to suppress it, and laughed out loud, a wicked laugh.
He switched the incoming signal through from the Sub-Etha Net to the ship’s hi-fi system, and the odd, rather stilted, sing-song voice spoke out with remarkable clarity round the cabin.
At the third stroke it will be one… thirty-two… and thirty seconds.
Beep… beep… beep.
He tweaked the volume up just a little while keeping a careful eye on a rapidly changing table of figures on the ship’s computer display. For the length of time he had in mind, the question of power consumption became significant. He didn’t want a murder on his conscience.
At the third stroke it will be one… thirty-two… and forty seconds.
Beep… beep… beep.
He checked around the small ship. He walked down the short corridor. At the third stroke…
He stuck his head into the small, functional, gleaming steel bathroom.
it will be…
It sounded fine in there.
He looked into the tiny sleeping quarters.
…one… thirty-two…
It sounded a bit muffled. There was a towel hanging over one of the speakers. He took down the towel.
…and fifty seconds.
Fine.
He checked out the packed cargo hold, and wasn’t at all satisfied with the sound. There was altogether too much crated junk in the way. He stepped back out and waited for the door to seal. He broke open a closed control panel and pushed the jettison button. He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of that before. A whooshing rumbling noise died away quickly into silence. After a pause a slight hiss could be heard again.
It stopped.
He waited for the green light to show and then opened the door again on the now empty cargo hold.
…one… thirty-three… and fifty seconds.
Very nice.
“报时第三响，时间将是一点……三十二分……二十秒。”
“哔……哔……哔。”
福特.普里弗克特压抑住由于邪恶的满足感而想要傻笑的欲望，又发现自己没理由要压抑它，于是又开始狂笑，邪恶地狂笑。
他把传入的信号从亚以泰网转到了飞船上的hi-fi（高保真）音响系统，那个怪异的、生硬的、带点旋律的声音在船舱内清楚地萦绕着。
“报时第三响，时间将是一点……三十二分……三十秒。”
“哔……哔……哔。”
他一边小心地盯着飞船电脑屏幕上飞速变化的数据表格，一边把音量拧大。他考虑了一会，能量消耗的问题变得紧要了。他还不希望谋杀掉自己的良心。
“报时第三响，时间将是一点……三十二分……四十秒。”
“哔……哔……哔。”
他检查了一圈这艘小飞船，走进短廊。“报时第三响……”
他把头伸进小小的，实用的，闪着钢铁光泽的浴室。
“时间将是……”
这声音在那儿听起来很好。
他又瞅着那小小的卧室。
“……一点……三十二分……”
声音听起来有些模糊。有条毛巾搭在了一个扬声器上。他把毛巾拿了下来。
“五十秒。”
很好。
他检查了货舱，对那里的声音完全不满意。那里堆了太多的箱子垃圾。他退出来，等着门重新封上。他把锁闭的控制面板撬开并摁下了“投弃货物”的按钮。福特不明白自己为何刚才没想到这个。一阵“嗖隆”的噪音过后一切很快又归于了沉寂。一段停顿后，又可以听到轻微的“嘶嘶”声。
然后嘶嘶声停止了。
他等着绿灯亮起，随后再一次打开已经空荡荡的货舱。
“……一点……三十三分……五十秒。”
非常好。
