经典科幻文学:《银河系漫游指南》第5章 Part 3
One of the things Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about human beings was their habit of continually stating and repeating the obvious, as in It's a nice day, or You're very tall, or Oh dear you seem to have fallen down a thirty-foot well, are you alright? At first Ford had formed a theory to account for this strange behaviour. If human beings don't keep exercising their lips, he thought, their mouths probably seize up. After a few months' consideration and observation he abandoned this theory in favour of a new one. If they don't keep on exercising their lips, he thought, their brains start working. After a while he abandoned this one as well as being obstructively cynical and decided he quite liked human beings after all, but he always remained desperately worried about the terrible number of things they didn't know about.
"Yes," he agreed with Arthur, "no light." He helped Arthur to some peanuts. "How do you feel?" he asked.
"If I asked you where the hell we were," said Arthur weakly, "would I regret it?"
Ford stood up. "We're safe," he said.
"Oh good," said Arthur.
"We're in a small galley cabin," said Ford, "in one of the spaceships of the Vogon Constructor Fleet."
"Ah," said Arthur, "this is obviously some strange usage of the word safe that I wasn't previously aware of."
Ford struck another match to help him search for a light switch. Monstrous shadows leaped and loomed again. Arthur struggled to his feet and hugged himself apprehensively. Hideous alien shapes seemed to throng about him, the air was thick with musty smells which sidled into his lungs without identifying themselves, and a low irritating hum kept his brain from focusing.
"How did we get here?" he asked, shivering slightly.
"We hitched a lift," said Ford.
人类有一个习惯是福特·普里弗克特始终感到难以理解的，那就是不断重复一个非常非常明显的事实，比如说“今天天气不错”，或者“你真高啊”，或者“噢，亲爱的，你看上去就像掉进了30英尺深的井里，一切都还好吧”……起初，福特本以为找到了一种理论来解释这种奇怪的行为：如果人类不坚持锻炼嘴唇的话，他想，他们的嘴也许会失灵。不过，在经过几个月的思考和观察之后，他放弃了这种理论，而转向了新的一种：如果他们不坚持锻炼嘴唇的话，他想，他们的大脑就会开始工作。一段时间后，他又放弃了这种理论。他想通了，不管怎样自己还是很喜欢人类的。但同时，人类毫不知晓的事情太多了，他一直为此感到近乎绝望的担忧。
“是的，”他附和阿瑟道，“没有光。”他帮助阿瑟吃了一些花生。“你感觉怎么样？”他问。
“如果我问你我们这是在什么鬼地方，”阿瑟虚弱地说，“我会后悔吗？”
福特站起身来。“我们现在很安全。”他说。
“喔，那真是太好了。”阿瑟说。
“我们是在一间小厨房里，”福特说，“在沃贡建筑施工舰队的一艘飞船上。”
“哦，”阿瑟说，“显然这是‘安全’这个词儿的一种奇怪的新用法，我以前可没有意识到。”
福特再次划燃了一根火柴，以便找到灯的开关。巨大而怪异的阴影又开始隐约晃动起来。阿瑟在一旁担忧地抱着胳膊。可怕的阴影看起来像要扑向他，空气中有一股浓重的霉味，全都不分青红皂白地钻进他的肺里，低沉而恼人的嗡嗡声使他完全集中不起精神。
“我们怎么会到这儿来的？”他问，微微地颤抖着。
“我们搭了一部电梯。”福特回答说。
