经典科幻文学:《银河系漫游指南》第27章3

"The time is nearly upon us," said one, and Arthur was surprised to see a word suddenly materialize in thin air just by the man's neck. The word was Loonquawl, and it flashed a couple of times and the disappeared again. Before Arthur was able to assimilate this the other man spoke and the word Phouchg appeared by his neck.
"Seventy-five thousand generations ago, our ancestors set this program in motion," the second man said, "and in all that time we will be the first to hear the computer speak."
"An awesome prospect, Phouchg," agreed the first man, and Arthur suddenly realized that he was watching a recording with subtitles.
"We are the ones who will hear," said Phouchg, "the answer to the great question of Life ...!"
"The Universe ...!" said Loonquawl.
"And Everything ...!"
"Shhh," said Loonquawl with a slight gesture, "I think Deep Thought is preparing to speak!"
There was a moment's expectant pause whilst panels slowly came to life on the front of the console. Lights flashed on and off experimentally and settled down into a businesslike pattern. A soft low hum came from the communication channel.
"Good morning," said Deep Thought at last.
"Er ... Good morning, O Deep Thought," said Loonquawl nervously, "do you have ... er, that is ..."
"An answer for you?" interrupted Deep Thought majestically. "Yes. I have."
The two men shivered with expectancy. Their waiting had not been in vain.
"There really is one?" breathed Phouchg.

“那一刻正在接近我们。”其中一人说，这时阿瑟惊讶的发现在他脖子旁边稀薄的空气中突然显出了一个单词。这个单词是“卢恩克沃尔”，闪烁了几次之后又消失了。还没等阿瑟把这一切存进脑子里，另一个人就开口了，于是一个单词“佛格”出现在他的脖旁边。
“7万5千个世代以前，我们的祖先启动了这个程序。”第二个人说，“从那以后直到今天的漫长岁月中，我们将是第一个听见这台电脑说话的人。”
“一个令人敬畏的时刻，佛格。”第一个人赞同说。阿瑟这才意识到他正在观看一段配有字幕的录像。
“我们将要听到，”佛格说，“那些伟大问题的答案，生命……”
“宇宙……”卢恩克沃尔说。
“以及一切……”
“嘘，”卢恩克沃尔轻轻打了个手势，“我想深思已经准备开口了！”
伴随着一阵充满了期待的停顿，控制台前端的仪表盘慢慢地开始复苏。指示灯尝试着一明一灭地闪烁起来，构成了一幅工作中的景象。柔和而低沉的嗡嗡声从交流频道里传出。
“早上好。”深思终于说。
“嗯……早上好，深思。”卢恩克沃尔紧张地说，“你得到……嗯，那个……”
“你们所要的答案？”深思庄严地打断了他，“是的，我得到了。”
两人因为期待开始颤抖起来。他们漫长的等待毕竟不是徒劳。
“真的有一个答案吗？”佛格喘着气问。