经典科幻文学:《银河系漫游指南》第35章END

That night, as the Heart of Gold was busy putting a few light years between itself and the Horsehead Nebula, Zaphod lounged under the small palm tree on the bridge trying to bang his brain into shape with massive Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters; Ford and Trillian sat in a corner discussing life and matters arising from it; and Arthur took to his bed to flip through Ford's copy of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Since he was going to live in the place, he reasoned, he'd better start finding out something about it. + He came across this entry.
It said: 'The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why and Where phases."For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question How can we eat? the second by the question Why do we eat? and the third by the question Where shall we have lunch?"
He got no further before the ship's intercom buzzed into life.
"Hey Earthman? You hungry kid?" said Zaphod's voice.
"Er, well yes, a little peckish I suppose," said Arthur.
"OK baby, hold tight," said Zaphod. "We'll take in a quick bite at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe."

那个晚上，当“黄金之心”号忙着在自己和马头星云之间拉开数光年的距离时，赞福德懒洋洋的躺在控制桥里的那株小棕榈树下面，试图借助强力的泛银河系含漱爆破药来整理自己的思路：福特和崔莉恩坐在一个角落里讨论生命以及由此而引发的一系列问题：阿瑟躺在床上翻看福特的那本《银河系漫游指南》。既然自己从此以后就必须在这个空间内生活了，他觉得，最好还是开始了解一下这地方。他偶然翻到了这样一个条目。
它说：“银河系每一个主要文明的历史都会经历三个可以清晰辨识的阶段，即生存、质疑和诡辩，或者也被称为如何、为何以及向何处去三阶段。比如，第一个阶段的特征是这样的问题：我们如何才能吃到东西？第二个阶段则是：我们为何要吃东西？第三个阶段就变成了：我们到何处吃午餐呢？”
这时，飞船的对讲系统嗡嗡的响了起来，他也就沒有再继续看下去了。
“嘿，地球人？你饿了吗，伙计？”赞福德的声音传来。
“喔，好吧，是的，我想我是有点儿饿了。”阿瑟回答说。
“那好，伙计，再稍微忍忍吧。”赞福德说。“我们很快就可以到一家餐馆美美的吃上一顿了，就在宇宙的尽头。”