經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第3章10

“But very disappointed in you, young Zaphod…”
“Yeah well…” Zaphod felt strangely powerless to take charge of this conversation, and Ford’s heavy breathing at his side told him that the seconds were ticking away fast. The noise and the shaking had reached terrifying proportions. He saw Trillian and Arthur’s faces white and unblinking in the gloom.
“Er, Great Grandfather…”
“We’ve been following your progress with considerable despondency…”
“Yeah, look, just at the moment you see…”
“Not to say contempt!”
“Could you sort of listen for a moment…”
“I mean what exactly are you doing with your life?”
“I’m being attacked by a Vogon fleet!” cried Zaphod. It was an exaggeration, but it was his only opportunity so far of getting the basic point of the exercise across.
“Doesn’t surprise me in the least,” said the little old figure with a shrug.
“Only it’s happening right now you see,” insisted Zaphod feverishly.
The spectral ancestor nodded, picked up the cup Arthur Dent had brought in and looked at it with interest.
“Er… Great Granddad…”

“只是對你感到很失望，年輕的贊福德……”
“是啊，嗯……”贊福德突然莫名其妙地感到自己無力再控制這次談話了，身旁福特粗重的呼吸聲提示他，時間在一秒一秒飛快地溜走。噪音和震盪已經到了可怕的程度。一片昏暗中，他看見崔莉恩和阿瑟的臉變得蒼白，眼睛一眨不眨。
“嗯，曾祖父……”
“我們跟隨着你的每一步，結果卻感到相當泄氣……”
“是啊，您瞧，正如您此刻所見到的……”
“更別提丟臉了！”
“您能聽我說幾句嗎……？”
“我的意思是，在你的生命裏，你都在幹些什麼啊？”
“我正在被一支沃貢艦隊攻擊！”贊福德終於大叫起來。雖然表達方式有點兒誇張，但要表達出這次談話的基本出發點，這是他惟一的機會。
“一點兒也不讓我驚訝。”瘦小的老人聳了聳肩說。
“問題是，您瞧，這件事現在正在發生。”贊福德發狂般地堅持道。
鬼魅般的祖先點了點頭，拿起阿瑟·鄧特剛纔帶進來的杯子，饒有興趣地觀察起來。
“嗯……曾祖父——”