经典科幻文学:《银河系漫游指南》第20章2

As they approached the ridge of higher ground they became aware that it seemed to be circular — a crater about a hundred and fifty yards wide. Round the outside of the crater the sloping ground was spattered with black and red lumps. They stopped and looked at a piece. It was wet. It was rubbery.
With horror they suddenly realized that it was fresh whalemeat.
At the top of the crater's lip they met Zaphod.
"Look," he said, pointing into the crater.
In the centre lay the exploded carcass of a lonely sperm whale that hadn't lived long enough to be disappointed with its lot. The silence was only disturbed by the slight involuntary spasms of Trillian's throat.
"I suppose there's no point in trying to bury it?" murmured Arthur, and then wished he hadn't.
"Come," said Zaphod and started back down into the crater.
"What, down there?" said Trillian with severe distaste.
"Yeah," said Zaphod, "come on, I've got something to show you."
"We can see it," said Trillian.
"Not that," said Zaphod, "something else. Come on."
They all hesitated.
"Come on," insisted Zaphod, "I've found a way in."
"In?" said Arthur in horror.
"Into the interior of the planet! An underground passage. The force of the whale's impact cracked it open, and that's where we have to go. Where no man has trod these five million years, into the very depths of time itself ..."
Marvin started his ironical humming again.
Zaphod hit him and he shut up.

当他们接近这块高地的边缘时，才发现它基本上是圆形的——是一座大约150码宽的环形山。环形山的外侧斜坡上分布着一些黑色和红色的块状物。他们停下来，观察了一会儿。块状物是湿的，还有弹性。
突然间，他们恐怖地意识到这些实际上是新鲜的鲸鱼肉。
在环形山顶端，他们见到了赞福德。
“瞧。”他指着坑底说。
中心处躺着一具已经炸裂的抹香鲸的尸体，它甚至还没来得及学会为自己的命运悲哀。沉默最后被崔莉恩喉头的一阵轻微的痉挛打破了。
“我认为试着去埋葬它没有什么意义。”阿瑟喃喃地说，但立刻就恨不得自己没有说过这句话。
“来吧。”赞福德说，一边朝坑底走下去。
“什么，下去？”崔莉恩很不情愿地说。
“是的。”赞福德说，“来吧，我有一些东西要给你们看。”
“我们已经看见了。”崔莉恩说。
“不是这个，”赞福德说，“另外的东西。来n巴。”
可大家仍然犹豫不决。
“来吧，”赞福德坚持道，“我已经找到了一条进去的通道。”
“进去？”阿瑟不安地问。
“进入这颗行星的！一条地下通道，鲸鱼的撞击把它震开了，我们现在就可以进去。我们将进入一个500万年以来从没有人打扰过的世界，进入时间本身的深处……”
马文又开始讽刺地哼哼起来。
赞福德敲了他一下，他这才闭上嘴巴。