经典科幻文学:《银河系漫游指南》第32章2

"The only thing we can do now," said Benji, crouching and stroking his whiskers in thought, "is to try and fake a question, invent one that will sound plausible."
"Difficult," said Frankie. He thought. "How about What's yellow and dangerous?"
Benji considered this for a moment.
"No, no good," he said. "Doesn't fit the answer." They sank into silence for a few seconds.
"Alright," said Benji. "What do you get if you multiply six by seven?"
"No, no, too literal, too factual," said Frankie, "wouldn't sustain the punters' interest."
Again they thought.
Then Frankie said: "Here's a thought. How many roads must a man walk down?"
"Ah," said Benji. "Aha, now that does sound promising!" He rolled the phrase around a little. "Yes," he said, "that's excellent! Sounds very significant without actually tying you down to meaning anything at all. How many roads must a man walk down? Forty-two. Excellent, excellent, that'll fox 'em. Frankie baby, we are made!"
They performed a scampering dance in their excitement.

“目前我们唯一能做的，”本吉说，他一边摆弄着胡须，一边冥思苦想，“就是尽量伪造一个问题，必须听起来合情合理。”
“很难阿。”弗兰克说。他想了想，“这个怎么样，‘什么是黄颜色和危险’？”
本吉考虑了一会儿。
“不大好，”他说，“和那个答案不相配。”有几秒钟的时间，他们陷入了沉默。
“有了。”本吉说，“‘用7乘以6，你会得到什么’？”
“不行，不行，太字面化了，太实际了。”弗兰克说，“这样引不起观众们的兴趣。”
于是他们又开始思考。
弗兰克说：“我有个想法。‘一个男人必须走完多少条路’？”
“嘿！”本吉说，“哈，这个听起来很有希望！”他把这句话来回念叨了几遍。“好，”他说，“简直太棒了！听上去意味深长，实际上又不会把你框进任何具体的意义中去。‘一个男人必须走完多少条路？42。’太棒了，太棒了，一定会蒙住他们。弗兰克，亲爱的，我们成功了！”
兴奋之余，他们跳了一只轻快的舞。