個人覺得比起好兆頭還差一點﹐每次看到他在形容一個地方或者生物的時候我都會會睡著﹐不過這是一本很有愛的書﹐沒什麼空就先把第三本的一部份放上來(順代一提﹐指南第三本只有英文版﹐各位阿彌陀佛自求多福)
Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged was - indeed, is - one of the Universe's very small number of immortal beings.
Most of those who are born immortal instinctively know how to cope with it, but Wowbagger was not one of them. Indeed, he
had come to hate them, the load of serene bastards. He had had his immortality inadvertently thrust upon him by an unfortunate
accident with an irrational particle accelerator, a liquid lunch and a pair of rubber bands. The precise details of the accident
are not important because no one has ever managed to duplicate the exact circumstances under which it happened, and many people
have end up looking very silly, or dead, or both, trying.
Wowbagger closed his eyes in a grim and weary expression, put some light jazz on the ships' stereo, and reflected that he
could have made it if it hadn't been for Sunday afternoons, he really could have done.
To begin with it was fun; he had a ball, living dangerously, taking risks, cleaning up on high-yield long-term investments,
and just generally outliveing the hell out of everybody.
In the end, it was the Sunday afternoons he couldn't cope with, and that terrible listlessness that starts to set in at
about 2:55, when you know you've taken all the baths you can usefully take that day, that however hard you stare at any given
paragraph in the newspaper you will never actually read it, or use the revolutionary new pruning technique it describes, and
that as you stare at the clock the hands will move relentlessly on to four o'clock, and you will enter the long dark teatime of
the soul.
So things began to pall for him. The mery smiles he used to wear at other people's funerals began to fade. He began to
despise the Universe in general, and everybody in it in particular.
This was the point at which he conceived his purpose, the thing would drive him on, and which, as far as he could see, would
drive him on forever. It was this
He would insult the Universe.
That is, he would insult everybody in it. Individually, personally, one by one, and (this was the thing he really decided to
grit his teeth over) in alphabetical order.
When people protested to him, as they sometimes had done, that the plan was not merely misguided but actually impoosible
because of the number of people being born and dying al lthe time, he would merely fix them with a steely look and say, “A man
can dream, can't he?”
不怎負責的中文翻譯﹕
“Wowbagger無限延長”曾經是 - 正確來說﹐仍然是 - 宇宙中為數不多擁有永久生命的生物。
那些生來就不死的生物﹐通常從他們一出生開始便知道要如何面對這樣的生命﹐但Wowbagger不是。事實是﹐他已經開始討厭那些平靜的狗娘養的。他的不死其實是由一次涉及無理份子加速器﹐一份液體午餐﹐和
一對橡皮筋的意外造成的。意外的詳細過程並不重要﹐因為從來沒有人能成功的複製意外發生時的情況﹐嘗試的人要不看上去愚蠢無比﹐要不死了﹐要不兩者皆是。
Wowbagger疲憊的閉上眼睛﹐播放點輕爵士樂﹐然後了解到如果不是星期天的下午的話﹐他或許能真的忍受過來﹐他真的可以忍受。
一開始的時候充滿了刺激﹔他有膽有種﹐生活在危險邊緣﹐承擔風險﹐清理高回報長期投資﹐同時比任何一個人都和的長命。
然後到最後﹐他不能忍受星期天下午﹐那可怕的空白的“需要做事情”的清單﹐在大概下午2點55分開始 - 當你清楚了解你已經洗過一個正常人一天應該洗澡的次數時﹐了解到無論你多麼認真的看報紙你也不會真
正去讀它或者按照它所教你除雜草的新方法﹐了解到你所緊盯的時針將不請願的指向4點﹐了解到你的靈魂即將踏入漫長黑暗的下午茶時間。
(這句話我不想翻譯﹐總之他很不爽整個宇宙和宇宙里的所有人就是了。)
就是這個時候﹐他給自己定下了人生的目的﹐一個讓他活下去﹐而在他看來﹐直到永遠的目的。它就是這個。
他要辱罵整個宇宙。
那是﹐他會辱罵所有生存在這個宇宙里的人。單獨﹐面對面﹐一個接一個﹐和(這是真正讓他能咬牙切齒的)按照字母順序來。
偶爾會有人向他抗議 - 這個計劃不但是完全誤導﹐而每秒中宇宙中無數的人出生和死亡的事實也讓這個計劃變得根本不現實 - 時﹐他訂著那人的目光像鋼鐵版﹐說﹐“一個人總可以夢想吧﹖”