It was just an error, a stupid error, the kind anyone could make. Only now Earth is never going to have another visitor from space. Not ever.
這僅僅是一個錯誤，一個愚蠢的錯誤，那種人人都可能犯的錯誤。只是從今往后再也不會有太空客前來訪問地球了。再也不會了。

The Watery Place

Issac Asimov

1 We're never going to have visitors from space. No extraterrestrials will ever land on Earth -- at least, any more.

水 鄉(xiāng)

伊薩克·阿西莫夫

我們不會再有太空游客前來了。外星人將不會登陸地球――至少是再也不會了。
　
2 I'm not just being a pessimist. As a matter of fact, extraterrestrials have landed. I know that. Space ships are crisscrossing space among a million worlds, probably, but they will never come here. I know that, too. All on account of a ridiculous error.
我這不是悲觀。事實上，外星人登陸過地球。這個我知道。在宇宙的千百萬顆星球當中穿梭往來的太空飛船可能有許多，可它們永遠不會再來我們這兒了。這我也知道。而這一切都是由于一個荒唐的錯誤導致的。

3 I'll explain.
且聽我解釋。

4 It was actually Bart Cameron's error and you'll have to understand about Bart Cameron. He's the sheriff at Twin Gulch, Idaho, and I'm his deputy. Bart Cameron is an impatient man and he gets most impatient when he has to work up his income tax. You see, besides being sheriff, he also owns and runs the general store, he's got some shares in a sheep ranch, he's got a kind of pension for being a disabled veteran (bad knee) and a few other things like that. Naturally, it makes his tax figures complicated.
這實際上是巴特·卡默倫的錯，所以你得對巴特·卡默倫這人有所了解。他是愛達荷州特溫加爾奇的治安官，我是他的副手。巴特·卡默倫是個脾氣暴躁的人，到了他不得不整理個人應(yīng)繳多少所得稅時更是容易光火。你想，他除了當治安官，還經(jīng)營著一家雜貨鋪，并擁有一家牧羊場的股份，同時還享有殘疾退伍軍人（膝蓋受過傷）津貼，以及其他某些類似的津貼。這樣一來他的個人所得稅計算起來自然就變得復雜。


5 It wouldn't be so bad if he'd let a taxman work on the forms with him, but he insists on doing it himself and it makes him a bitter man. By April 14, he isn't approachable. 要是他讓稅務(wù)人員幫他填表就不至于那么糟糕，可他非得要自己填，于是填得他牢騷滿腹。每年到了4月14日，他就變得難以接近。


6 So it's too bad the flying saucer landed on April 14, 1956.
那個飛碟在1956年4月14日這一天登陸真是大錯特錯。

7 I saw it land. My chair was backed up against the wall in the sheriff's office, and I was looking at the stars through the windows and wondering if I ought to knock off and hit the sack or keep on listening to Cameron curse real steady as he went over his columns of figures for the hundred twenty-seventh time.
我是看著它降落的。當時我的椅子背靠著治安官辦公室的墻，我正望著窗外的星星，琢磨著是不是該下班去睡覺，還是繼續(xù)聽卡默倫罵個不停，他正在第127次核對他在稅單上填寫的一欄欄數(shù)字。

8 It looked like a shooting star at first, but then the track of light broadened into two things that looked like rocket exhausts and the thing came down without a sound.
一開始像是顆流星，可接著那軌跡越來越亮，變成兩個光點，就像是火箭噴出的氣流，那個東西一點沒出聲就著落了。


9 Two men got out.
兩個人走了出來。

10 I couldn't say anything or do anything. I couldn't choke or point; I couldn't even bug my eyes. I just sat there.
我沒法說話，也無法做事。喉部肌肉僵直，也沒法用手示意，甚至眼睛都沒法瞪大。我就那么呆坐著。

11 Cameron? He never looked up.
卡默倫？他壓根兒就沒抬起過頭。

12 There was a knock on the door. It opened and the two men from the flying saucer stepped in. I would have thought they were city fellows if I hadn't seen the flying saucer land. They wore gray suits, with white shirts and dark red-brown ties. They had on black shoes and black hats. They had dark complexions, black wavy hair and brown eyes. They had very serious looks on their faces and were about five foot ten apiece. They looked very much alike.
有敲門聲。門開了，飛碟上的那兩個人走了進來。要不是我看著飛碟降落，我還會以為他們就是鎮(zhèn)上的人。兩人身著灰套裝、白襯衣，戴著深紅棕色的領(lǐng)帶。他們穿著黑皮鞋，戴著黑帽子，膚色黑黑的，卷曲的頭發(fā)黑黑的，眼睛呈棕色。兩人神情嚴肅，身高都在5.10英尺左右，看上去非常相象。

13 God, I was scared.
天哪，我害怕極了。

14 But Cameron just looked up when the door opened and frowned. He said, "What can I do for you, folks?" and he tapped his hand on the forms so it was obvious he hadn't much time.
可卡默倫只是在門開的那會兒略一抬頭，皺了皺眉頭。 “有什么事嗎，伙計？”他邊說邊用手拍著稅單，顯然正忙著呢。

15 One of the two stepped forward. He said, "We have had your people under observation a long time." He pronounced each word carefully and all by itself.
那兩人中的一個走上前說道：“我們對你們的人已經(jīng)觀察很久了。”他說話時小心翼翼一字一頓的。

16 Cameron said, "My people? All I got's a wife. What's she been doing?"
卡默倫說：“我們的人？我只有老婆一個人。她干什么來著？”