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Once I imagined what would happen if I reached down and lifted one of the carp "scientists" out of the pond. Before I threw him back into the water, he might struggle furiously asI examined him. I wondered how this would appear to the rest of the carp. To them, it would be a truly unsettling event. They would first notice that one of their "scientists" haddisappeared from their universe. Simply vanished, without leaving a trace. Wherever they wouldlook, there would be no evidence of the missing carp in their universe. Then, seconds later,when I threw him back into the pond ,the "scientist" would abruptly reappear out of nowhere.To the other carp,it would appear that a miracle had happened.
有一次我设想，如果我把手伸进水去，从池塘里捞出一个鲤鱼"科学家"来，那将会怎样。在我把他扔回水里去之前，我细细观察他时他也许会拼命挣扎。我不知道其他鲤鱼会怎样看待这事。他们会觉得这是一件真正令人不安的事件。他们先是察觉他们的一位"科学家"从他们的世界中消失了。就这么突然不见了，无影无踪。不管他们往哪儿找，在他们的世界中都看不到失踪鲤鱼的踪迹。然后，不过片刻功夫，我把他扔回了池塘，其时那位"科学家"不知从什么地方突然重又冒了出来。在其余那些鲤鱼看来，这是发生了奇迹。
After collecting his wits, the "scientist" would tell a truly amazing story. "Without warning," he would say, "I was somehow lifted out of the universe (the pond) and hurled into a mysterious world, with blinding lights and strangely shaped objects that I had never seen before. The strangest of all was the creature who held me prisoner, who did not resemble a fish in the slightest. I was shocked to see that it had no fins whatsoever, but nevertheless could move without them. It struck me that the familiar laws of nature no longer appliedin this other world. Then, just as suddenly,I found myself thrown back into our universe."(This story, of course, of a journey beyond the universe would be so fantastic that most of the carp would dismiss it as utter nonsense.)
"科学家"镇定下来后，会讲一个真正令人惊异的故事。他说："在预先毫不知情的情况下，我就不知怎的被人从这个世界（池塘）提了起来，扔进了一个神秘世界，那里有令人眩目的灯火，有我过去从未见过的奇形怪状的物件。最奇怪的是扣留我的那个怪物，一点也不像鱼。见它身上压根儿没长鳍但却能移动，我感到十分震惊。我突然想到，熟悉的自然法则在另一个世界里不再适用了。后来，也是那么突然，我被扔回了我们的世界。"（当然，这个关于去别的世界旅行的故事太荒诞，大多数鲤鱼会把它当作无稽之谈而不予理会。）
