宇宙尽头的餐馆小说 经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第30章3

经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第30章3  

“I think we make them happy
” said Ford.
Slowly and watchfully they walked round the perimeter of the clearing. This seemed to go down very well with the natives who bowed to them very slightly and then went about their business.
Ford and Arthur continued their journey through the wood. A few hundred yards past the clearing they suddenly came upon a small pile of fruit lying in their path – berries that looked remarkably like raspberries and blackberries
and pulpy
green skinned fruit that looked remarkably like pears.
So far they had steered clear of the fruit and berries they had seen
though the trees and bushed were laden with them.
“Look at it this way
” Ford Prefect had said
“fruit and berries on strange plas either make you live or make you die. Therefore the point at which to start toying with them is when you’re going to die if you don’t. That way you stay ahead. The secret of healthy hitch-hiking is to eat junk food.”
They looked at the pile that lay in their path with suspicion. It looked so good it made them almost dizzy with hunger.
“Look at it this way
” said Ford
“er…”
“Yes?” said Arthur.
“I’m trying to think of a way of looking at it which means we get to eat it
” said Ford.
The leaf-dappled sun gleamed on the pulp skins of the things which looked like pears. The things which looked like raspberries and strawberries were fatter and riper than any Arthur had ever seen
even in ice cream mercials.
“Why don’t we eat them and think about it afterwards?” he said.
“Maybe that’s what they want us to do.”
“Alright
look at it this way…”
“Sounds good so far.”“It’s there for us to eat. Either it’s good or it’s bad
either they want to feed us or to poison us. If it’s poisonous and we don’t eat it they’ll just attack us some other way. If we don’t eat
we lose out either way.”
“I like the way you’re thinking
” said Ford
“Now eat one.”
Hesitantly
Arthur picked up one of those things that looked like pears.
“I always thought that about the Garden of Eden story
” said Ford.
“Eh?”
“Garden of Eden. Tree. Apple. That bit
remember?”
“Yes of course I do.”
“Your God person puts an apple tree in the middle of a garden and says do what you like guys
oh
but don’t eat the apple. Surprise surprise
they eat it and he leaps out from behind a bush shouting ‘Gotcha’. It wouldn’t have made any difference if they hadn’t eaten it.”
“Why not?”
“Because if you’re dealing with somebody who has the sort of mentality which likes leaving hats on the pavement with bricks under them you know perfectly well they won’t give up. They’ll get you in the end.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Never mind
eat the fruit.”
“You know
this place almost looks like the Garden of Eden.”
“Eat the fruit.”
“Sounds quite like it too.”
Arthur took a bite from the thing which looked like a pear.
“It’s a pear
” he said.
A few moments later
when they had eaten the lot
Ford Prefect turned round and called out.
“Thank you. Thank you very much
” he called
“you’re very kind.”
They went on their way.