Vann Harl was in his swivel chair, looking alarmed, pale and shaken. Had probably had some bad news as well as a nasty bang to the back of his head. Ford leapt to his feet and made a running grab for him.
范.哈尔惊慌地坐在他的转椅里,脸色发白,直打哆嗦。看来除了后脑勺那一下之外多半还听到了什么坏消息。福特一跃而起朝他冲了过去。
Under the pretext of getting him into a good solid double underpinned elbow-lock, Ford managed surreptitiously to slip the Ident-i-Eeze back into Harl’s inner pocket.
他以一个漂亮的加强版双锁肘作掩护,神不知鬼不觉地把“我-真是-我”塞回了他的内包里。
Bingo!
大功告成!
He’d done what he came to do. Now he just had to talk his way out of here.
要干的事已经完成了。现在他只需要几句甜言蜜语哄他们给自己开路。
‘OK,’ he said. ‘I…’ He paused.
“OK”他说,“我……”他停下来。
The big guy with the rocket launcher was turning towards Ford Prefect and pointing it at him, which Ford couldn’t help feeling was wildly irresponsible behaviour.
扛导弹发射器的大块头向福特转过身来,开始瞄准,福特不由感到这是一种极端不负责任的举动。
‘I…’ he started again, and then on a sudden impulse decided to duck.
“我……”他又张开嘴,然后在一阵冲动之下决定先闪了再说。
There was a deafening roar as flames leapt from the back of the rocket launcher and a rocket leapt from its front.
导弹发射器的屁股后头窜出火苗,导弹伴随着震耳欲聋的咆哮从前端飞了出去。
The rocket hurtled past Ford and hit the large plate-glass window, which billowed outwards in a shower of a million shards under the force of the explosion. Huge shock waves of noise and air pressure reverberated around the room, sweeping a couple of chairs, a filing cabinet and Colin the security robot out of the window.
导弹与福特擦肩而过,击中了又大又厚的玻璃窗,窗户在爆炸的冲击下化作百万碎片向外砰洒。噪音和气压形成的强烈冲击波在屋里回荡,把两把椅子,一个文件柜和保安机器人科林掀出了窗外。
Ah! So they’re not totally rocket-proof after all, thought Ford Prefect to himself. Someone should have a word with somebody about that. He disentangled himself from Harl and tried to work out which way to run.
啊!这么说它们其实不是真能防导弹嘛,福特暗想。真得有人跟负责的家伙说说。他同哈尔脱离了接触,开始策划逃跑路线。
He was surrounded.
他被包围了。
The big guy with the rocket launcher was moving it up into position for another shot.
扛导弹发射器的大块头正在调整位置准备再来一发。
Ford was completely at a loss for what to do next.
福特完全不晓得接下来该怎么办才好。
‘Look,’ he said in a stern voice. But he wasn’t certain how far saying things like ‘Look’ in a stern voice was necessarily going to get him, and time was not on his side. What the hell, he thought, you’re only young once, and threw himself out of the window. That would at least keep the element of surprise on his side.
“听着。”他严厉地说。可他不大确定严厉地说“听着”这种话究竟能产生什么效果,再说时间也不等人。管他呢,他想,你难道还能年轻两回么?然后就飞身跃出了窗外。这样一来,再不济也能杀对方个措手不及不是。