“Then stop running down what Multivac’s done for us,” said Adell, blazing up, “It did all right.”
“那就不要小看Multivac为我们做的事，”阿代尔怒道，“它做得很好。”
“Who says it didn’t? What I say is that a sun won’t last forever. That’s all I’m saying. We’re safe for ten billion years, but then what?” Lupow pointed a slightly shaky finger at the other. “And don’t say we’ll switch to another sun.”
“谁说它做得不好？我是说太阳不能永远燃烧下去，我只是这个意思。我们在一百亿年内可以高枕无忧，但是然后呢？”卢泊夫用略微颤抖的手指指着对方，“不要说我们换另外一个太阳。”
There was silence for a while. Adell put his glass to his lips only occasionally, and Lupov’s eyes slowly closed. They rested.
片刻的沉默。阿代尔偶尔将酒杯放到唇边，而卢泊夫慢慢地闭上了眼睛。两人都在休息。
Then Lupov’s eyes snapped open. “You’re thinking we’ll switch to another sun when ours is done, aren’t you?”
然后卢泊夫突然睁开眼，“你在想当我们的太阳没了就换另外一个太阳，是吧？”
“I’m not thinking.”
“我没这么想。”
“Sure you are. You’re weak on logic, that’s the trouble with you. You’re like the guy in the story who was caught in a sudden shower and who ran to a grove of trees and got under one. He wasn’t worried, you see, because he figured when one tree got wet through, he would just get under another one.”
“你就是这么想的。你的逻辑不行，这就是你的问题。你就像故事里说的那个人一样，碰上了雨就跑到树林里躲在一棵树下。他可不担心，是吧，因为他以为当这棵树淋得太湿的时候他只要跑到另一棵树下就行。”
“I get it,” said Adell. “Don’t shout. When the sun is done, the other stars will be gone, too.”
“我明白了，”阿代尔说，“别嚷嚷。太阳完蛋了，其他的也都会完蛋。”
“Darn right they will,” muttered Lupov. “It all had a beginning in the original cosmic explosion, whatever that was, and it’ll all have an end when all the stars run down. Some run down faster than others. Hell, the giants won’t last a hundred million years. The sun will last ten billion years and maybe the dwarfs will last two hundred billion for all the good they are. But just give us a trillion years and everything will be dark. Entropy has to increase to maximum, that’s all.”
“完全正确，”卢泊夫嘟哝道，“一切都在起初那个宇宙大爆炸中有个开始，不管那到底是怎么回事。当所有的恒星都熄灭了，一切也都会有个结束。有的星星熄灭得比别的早（佳人微信公众号：jiarenorg）。像那些该死的巨星维持不了一亿年。我们的太阳能持续一百亿年，矮星再怎么样最多也只有两千亿年。一万亿年后一切都是一片漆黑。熵必须增加到最大值，就是这样。”
“I know all about entropy,” said Adell, standing on his dignity.
“我非常明白什么是熵，”阿代尔维护着他的自尊。
“The hell you do.”
“你明白个屁。”
“I know as much as you do.”
“我跟你知道的一样多。”
“Then you know everything’s got to run down someday.”
“那你该知道某一天所有的东西都会耗光。”
“All right. Who says they won’t?”
“是是是。谁说它们不会呢？”
“You did, you poor sap. You said we had all the energy we needed, forever. You said ‘forever.’
“你说的，你这个糊涂虫。你说我们有永远用不完的能量。你说的‘永远’。”
It was Adell’s turn to be contrary. “Maybe we can build things up again someday,” he said.
现在轮到阿代尔反驳了。他说：“也许有一天我们能让一切从头开始。”
“Never.”
“绝不可能。”
“Why not? Someday.”
“为什么？总有那么一天的。”
“Never.”
“没有。”
“Ask Multivac.”
“问问Multivac。”
“You ask Multivac. I dare you. Five dollars says it can’t be done.”
“你去问Multivac。你敢吗？我赌五美元它说这不可能。”
Adell was just drunk enough to try, just sober enough to be able to phrase the necessary symbols and operations into a question which, in words, might have corresponded to this: Will mankind one day without the net expenditure of energy be able to restore the sun to its full youthfulness even after it had died of old age?
阿代尔刚刚醉到愿意一试，又刚刚足够清醒到能拼写出问问题需要的符号和算式。这个问题用文字来表达就是：人类是否有一天能不需要净损耗能量而在恒星衰竭之后将其恢复到全盛时期？
Or maybe it could be put more simply like this: How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively decreased?
或者更简明地这样说：怎样使宇宙的总熵大幅度地降低？
Multivac fell dead and silent. The slow flashing of lights ceased, the distant sounds of clicking relays ended.
Multivac陷入了静止和沉默。缓慢闪烁的灯光熄灭了（佳人微信公众号：jiarenorg），深处传来的电路的滴答声停止了。
Then, just as the frightened technicians felt they could hold their breath no longer, there was a sudden springing to life of the teletype attached to that portion of Multivac. Five words were printed: INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER.
正当这两位被吓坏的技术员感到他们无法再屏住呼吸时，忽然间与Multivac相连的打字机开始运作起来。它打出几个字：数据不足，无法作答。
“No bet,” whispered Lupov. They left hurriedly.
“赌不成了。”卢泊夫悄声道。他们匆忙离开了。
By next morning, the two, plagued with throbbing head and cottony mouth, had forgotten the incident.
到了第二天早晨，两人头晕脑胀，口干舌燥，把这件事给忘了。