科幻小說翻譯：The Solipsist

「貝殼英語」

主頁菌上學期試翻譯了一篇簡短的科幻小說，作者是著名科幻小說家Fredric Brown，該短篇的結局與艾薩克·阿西莫夫的《最後的問題》有異曲同工之妙，令人震撼程度雖不及《最後的問題》，但同樣引人深思。

The Solipsist

唯我論者

Walter B. Jehovah, for whose name I make no apology since it really was his name, had been a solipsist all his life. A solipsist, in case you don t happen to know the word, is one who believes that he himself is the only thing that really exists, that other people and the universe in general exist only in his imagination, and that if he quit imagining them, they would cease to exist.

瓦爾特·B·耶和華——對的，他就姓耶和華，但我才不會因此道歉呢——已經當了一輩子的唯我論者了。一個唯我論者呢（以防你碰巧不知道這詞兒），相信只有他自己才是唯一真正存在的，其他人甚至宇宙都只存在於他的想像中，而一旦他不再想像了，一切都將化為烏有。

One day, Walter B. Jehovah became a practicing solipsist. Within a week, his wife had run away with another man, he d lost his job as a shipping clerk and he had broken his leg chasing a black cat to keep it from crossing his path.

一天，瓦爾特·B·耶和華這個唯我論者終於開始做事了。不到一個星期，他的頭頂就有了一片草原，還丟了船務員的飯碗，並且為了把一隻擋他路的黑貓趕走還摔斷了腿。

He decided, in a hospital, to end it all.

他在醫院裡決定，終止這一切。

Looking out the window, staring up at the stars,he wished them out of existence, and they weren t there anymore. Then he wished all other people out of existence, and the hospital became strangely quiet, even for a hospital. Next the world, and he found himself suspended in a void. He got rid of his body quite easily and then took the final step of willing himself out of existence.

他看向窗外，凝視著星辰，他希望它們消失，於是它們不見了。然後他希望所有的其他人也都不復存在，於是醫院變得異常安靜，即使作為一所醫院，它不應如此。接下來搞定整個世界之後，他發現自己懸浮在一片虛無之中。很容易地，他讓自己的身體也消失了，然後邁出了讓他自己完全消失的最後一步。

Nothing happened.

可是什麼也沒有發生。

Strange, he thought, can there be a limit to solipsism?

不對啊，他想著。難道唯我論也有一個極限嗎？

"Yes," a voice said.

「是的。」一個聲音答道。

"Who are you?" Walter B. Jehovah asked.

「你是誰？」瓦爾特·B·耶和華問。

"I am the one who created the universe which you have just willed out of existence. And now that you have taken my place"---there was a deep sigh---"I can finally cease my own existence, find oblivion, and let you take over."

「我就是那個已經被你的意志泯沒的宇宙的創造者。現在你已經取代我了。」——一聲深深的嘆息——「我終於可以終結自己的存在，尋到湮滅，並讓你來替代我了。」

"But---how can I cease to exist? That s what I m trying to do, you know."

「但是——我又怎樣才能停止存在呢？那也是我想方設法想要做到的，你懂的。」

"Yes, I know," said the voice."You must do it the same way I did. Create a universe. Wait until someone in it really believes what you believed and wills it out of existence. Then you can retire and let him take over. Good-bye now."

「當然，我知道，」這個聲音說，「你必須做得和我一樣。創造一個宇宙。等到其中的某個人真正相信你所相信的，並且用意志使它不再存在。然後你就可以退休並讓他接替你了。那麼，再會。」

And the voice was gone. Walter B. Jehovah was alone in the void an d there was only one thing he could do. He created the heaven and the earth.

這個聲音消失了。瓦爾特·B·耶和華在這片虛空之中煢煢孑立，而他只有一件事可以做。於是他創造了天與地。

It took him seven days.

他用了七天。

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