2007年：
迈克尔·约翰·哈里森的《新星旋转》（Nova Swing）脱颖而出，最终拔得头筹。

2006年：
Geoff Ryman's Air has won this year's Arthur C. Clarke Award, announced tonight at the Apollo Cinema in London. It's Ryman's second Clarke Award; he won in 1990 for The Child Garden. This year's award consists of an engraved bookend and a cheque for £2,006. Air has also won the British Science Fiction Association and James Tiptree, Jr. Memorial Awards. • Shortlist
» A special honorary Clarke Award was presented to judge chairman Paul Kincaid, who is retiring after this year's award.

Author's Note
       The novel 2001: A Space Odyssey was written during the years 1964-8 and was published in July 1968, shortly after release of the movie. As I have described in The Last Worlds of 2001, both projects proceeded simultaneously, with feed-back in each direction. Thus I often had the strange experience of revising the manuscript attar viewing rushes based upon an earlier version of the story -- a stimulating, but rather expensive, way of writing a novel.
       As a result, there is a much closer parallel between book and movie than is usually the case, but there are also major differences. In the novel, the destination of the spaceship Discovery was Iapetus (or Japetus), most enigmatic of Saturn's many moons. The Saturnian system was reached
via Jupiter: Discovery made a close approach to the giant planet, using its enormous ravitational field to produce a 'slingshot' effect and to accelerate it along the second lap of its journey. Exactly the same manoeuvre was used by the Voyager space probes in 1979, when they made the first
detailed reconnaissance of the outer giants.
       In the movie, however, Stanley Kubrick wisely avoided confusion by setting the third onfrontation between Man and Monolith among the moons of Jupiter. Saturn was dropped from the script entirely, though Douglas Trumbull later used the expertise he had acquired to film the
ringed planet in his own production, Silent Running.
       No one could have imagined, back in the mid-sixties, that the exploration of the moons of Jupiter lay, not in the next century, but only fifteen years ahead. Nor had anyone dreamed of the wonders that would be found there -- although we can be quite certain that the discoveries of the
twin Voyagers will one day be surpassed by even more unexpected finds. When 2001 was written, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto were mere pinpoints of light in even the most powerful telescope; now they are worlds each unique, and one of them -- Io -- is the most volcanically active body in the Solar System.
       Yet, all things considered, both movie and book stand up quite well in the light of these discoveries, and it is fascinating to compare the Jupiter sequences in the film with the actual movies from Voyager cameras. But clearly, anything written today has to incorporate the results of the 1979 explorations: the moons of Jupiter are no longer uncharted territory.
       And there is another, more subtle, psychological factor to be taken into consideration. 2001 was written in an age that now lies beyond one of the Great Divides in human history; we are sundered from it forever by the moment when Neil Armstrong set foot upon the Moon. The date 20 July 1969 was still half a decade in the future when Stanley Kubrick and I started thinking about the 'proverbial good science-fiction movie' (his phrase). Now history and fiction have become inextricably intertwined.
       The Apollo astronauts had already seen the film when they left for Moon. The crew of Apollo 8, who at Christmas 1968 became the first men ever to set eyes upon the Lunar Farside, told me that they had been tempted to radio back the discovery of a large black monolith: alas, discretion prevailed.
       And there were, later, almost uncanny instances of nature imitation art. Strangest of all was the saga of Apollo 13 in 1970.
       As a good opening, the Command Module, which houses the crew, had been christened Odyssey. Just before the explosion of the oxygen tank that caused the mission to be aborted, the crew had been playing Rechard Strauss's Zarathustra theme, now universally identified with the movie. Immediately after the loss of power, Jack Swigert radioed back to Mission Control: 'Houston, we've had a problem.' The words that Hal used to astronaut Frank Poole on a similar occasion were: 'Sorry to interrupt the festivities, but we have a problem.
       When the report of the Apollo 13 mission was later published, NASA Administrator Tom Paine sent me a copy, and noted under Swiggert's words: 'Just as you always said it would be, Arthur.' I still get a very strange feeling when I contemplate this whole series of events -- almost, indeed, as if I share a certain responsibility.
       Another resonance is less serious, but equally striking. one of the most technically brilliant sequences in the movie was that in which Frank Poole was shown running round
and round the circular track of the giant centrifuge, held in place by the 'artificial gravity' produced by its spin.
       Almost a decade later, the crew of the superbly successful Skylab realized that its designers had provided them with a similar geometry; a ring of storage cabinets formed a smooth, circular band around the space station's interior. Skylab, however, was not spinning, but this did not deter its ingenious occupants. They discovered that they could run around the track, just like mice in a squirrel cage, to produce a result visually indistinguishable from that shown in 2001. And they televised the whole exercise back to Earth (need I name the accompanying music?) with the comment: 'Stanley Kubrick should see this.' As in due course he did, because I sent him the telecine recording. (I never got it back; Stanley uses a tame Black Hole as a filing system.)
       Yet another link between film and reality is the painting by Apollo-Soyuz Commander, Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, 'Near the Moon'. I first saw it in 1968, when 2001 was presented at the United Nations Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Immediately after the screening,
Alexei pointed out to me that his concept (on page 32 of the Leonov - Sokolov book The Stars Are Awaiting Us, Moscow, 1967) shows exactly the same line-up as the movie's opening: the Earth rising beyond the Moon, and the Sun rising beyond them both. His autographed sketch of the painting now hangs on my office wall; for further details see Chapter 12.
       Perhaps this is the appropriate point to identify another and less well-known name appearing in these pages, that of Hsue-shen Tsien. In 1936, with the great Theodore von Karman and Frank J. Malina, Dr. Tsien founded the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology (GALCIT) -- the direct ancestor of Pasadena's famed Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He was also the first Goddard Professor at Caltech, and contributed greatly to American rocket research through the 1940s. Later, in one of the most disgraceful episodes of the McCarthy period, he was arrested on trumped-up security charges when he wished to return to his native country. For the last two decades, he has been one of the leaders of the Chinese rocket programme.
       Finally, there is the strange case of the 'Eye of Japetus'-Chapter 35 of 2001. Here I escribe astronaut Bowman's discovery on the Saturnian moon of a curious feature: 'a brilliant white oval, about four hundred miles long and two hundred wide ... perfectly symmetrical ... and so sharp-
edged that it almost looked ... painted on the face of the little moon.' As he came closer, Bowman convinced himself that 'the bright ellipse set against the dark background of the satellite was a huge empty eye staring at him as he approached ...' Later, he noticed 'the tiny black dot at the exact center', which turns out to be the Monolith (or one of its avatars).
       Well, when Voyager 1 transmitted the first photographs of Iapetus, they did indeed disclose a large, clear-out white oval with a tiny black dot at the centre. Carl Sagan promptly sent me a print from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory with the cryptic annotation 'Thinking of you ...' I do not know whether to be relieved or disappointed that Voyager 2 has left the matter still open.
       Inevitably, therefore, the story you are about to read is something much more complex than a straightforward sequel to the earlier novel -- or the movie. Where these differ, I have followed the screen version; however, I have been more concerned with making this book self-consistent, and as accurate as possible in the light of current knowledge.
       Which, of course, will once more be out of date by 2001 ...

Arthur C. Clarke
Colombo, Sri Lanka
January 1982

　　“这是一个有点另类的要求，”理智地压抑着自己好奇心的瓦格纳博士说道，“据我所知，这是首次有人要求向西藏喇嘛供应一台自动时序计算机。我并不想因好奇而显得无礼，但是，我并不认为您的，呃，机构需要用到这样的机器。您是否能够解释一下，你们打算用它干些什么活计呢？”
　　“我很荣幸，”喇嘛答道，同时整理了一下他的丝质长袍，并将刚才使用的货币汇率计算尺仔细地收入袍内，“你们的V型号计算机能够进行任意十位数范围内的数学计算，但是我们的工作决定了我们的兴趣在于字母，而不是数字。因此，我们希望你们修改一下输出电路，使机器能够直接输出单词，而不是成卷的数字。”
　　“我不太明白……”
　　“这是我们的一个项目，而我们已经为此工作了三个世纪之久——这个项目的起源甚至可以回溯到我们的喇嘛院刚成立的时候。实际上，作为教外人士，您可能不太容易理解，所以我希望您能虚心地听我解释。”
　　“这是自然。”
　　“说起来很简单。我们一直在编写一份清单，一份包含了创世主可能拥有的所有名字的清单。”
　　“抱歉，我还是没弄明白。”
　　“我们已经证实，”喇嘛平静地继续，“这些名字是由9个以内的人类文明所创造的字符而组成的。”
　　“你们就为这忙活了三个世纪？”
　　“是的。我们原本预计会耗费一万五千年左右的时间。”
　　“噢。”瓦格纳博士有一点晕忽，“原来你们租用我们的电脑是做这事儿。但你们这项工程的确切目的又是什么呢？”
　　这次喇嘛迟疑了一下，瓦格纳博士不禁怀疑自己是否触犯了对方。不过即使有的话，喇嘛的回复里仍然听不出一丝怒意。
　　“您尽可以把它看做是某种仪式，但它是我们信仰的基石之一。主神的所有名字——上帝，耶和华，安拉，等等——都是人们创造的某种标识。这是一个颇有深度的哲学问题，我并不打算在这里讨论它，但是在所有符合规则的字符组合的某处，存在着创世主的真实姓名。我们打算籍由有规则地改变字符组合的方式，将这份清单列完整地出来。”
　　“我明白了。你们的工作从AAAAAAAAA开始，至ZZZZZZZZZ结束。”
　　“正是——不过我们用的是我们自己列出的、特殊的字符表而已。通过调整电子打印机来处理这些字符，当然这工作本身是相当琐碎的。有趣之处在于，制定合适的电路规则，以消除荒谬的字符组合。比方说，相同的字符不能够连续出现三次以上。”
　　“三次？难道不是两次么？”
　　“不重复出现三次才是合理的。要解释清楚这点，恐怕要花上相当长的时间，即便是您懂得我们的语言。”
　　“这我相信。”瓦格纳急切地说道，“请继续。”
　　“幸运的是，一旦你们的自动时序计算机被调整妥当，编制好了能够将规律地改变每个字符的排列并打印出结果的程序之后，这项工作就成了小菜一碟。而我们原计划要耗费一万五千年之久的工作，可以在一千天左右完成。”
　　瓦格纳博士觉得自己仿佛远离了楼下曼哈顿街头传来的喧嚣。他似乎身处于另一个世界，一个自然的，没有任何人工凿痕的，山峦世界。那个遥遥在上世界里，喇嘛们耐心地工作着，代复一代，用毫无意义的字符编制着他们的名单。就连人性的罪恶在哪里也是要碰壁的吧？但是，他没有向喇嘛透露他的任何想法。顾客就是上帝，他们的话总是正确的……
　　“毫无疑问，”博士回答道，“我们可以调整型号V，使它能够列印这种性质的清单。相比之下，我更担心安装和维修的问题。要知道，从这里到西藏可不会是一段轻松的旅程哪。”
　　“这点我们可以安排。电脑的组件都不大，可以空运过去——这也是为什么我们会选择你们产品的原因。一旦到达印度，后半程的运输将由我们来负责。”
　　“你们是否需要聘用两位我们的工程师呢？”　　
　　“是的，为期三个月，也就是工程所要耗费的时间。”
　　“我能肯定我们的人员能够满足你们的要求。”瓦格纳博士在记事簿上涂写着，“另外还有两个问题——”
　　在他完成书写之前，喇嘛递上了一张纸。
　　“这是我们在亚洲银行信贷余额的证明信。”
　　“谢谢您。这看起来相当的——啊——充足啊。第二个问题就有点微不足道了，我不知是当提不当提——尽管这个问题被大家忽略的次数频繁到让人惊异。你们，用什么发电？”
　　“一台110伏的柴油发电机，能够提供50千瓦的电力。是在五年前安装的，一直非常稳定。它让喇嘛寺的生活舒适多了，当然最大的作用是为带动转经轮转动的马达提供了动力。”
　　“自然，”瓦格纳博士回应道：“我应该想到这一点的。”
　　
　　隔着高处的栏杆向外望，会让人有晕眩的感觉，然而时间令你适应一切。经过了三个月之后，乔治·海德尼已经不再震惊于脚下陡峭的足有两千多英尺的峭壁以及峡谷内仿如西洋跳棋棋盘那样整齐分布的田地。此刻他正倚靠在山间风化光滑的巨石上，愁眉苦脸地凝望着远处不知名的群山。
　　这真是太疯狂了，乔治思量着。“香格里拉计划”在实验室里经过了智慧的洗礼。几个星期以来，V型已经努力地在相当于好几英亩面积的纸上印满了不知所云的字符。耐心、不知疲倦，计算机排列着所有符合规则的字符组合，穷举一个类内的所有可能，继而转向下一个。当纸条从电子打印机里源源不断地涌出的时候，喇嘛们细心地将其裁剪，并装订成一本本厚重的书籍。在若干个星期之后，老天保佑，他们将完成整个工程。到底这些晦涩的计算已经使得喇嘛们相信，他们无需再与那十数个、或者二十来个、甚至上百个——具体数目乔治懒得去统计——的字符打交道。乔治的一个在现实中重现的梦魇，给计划带来了一些变动，而且高阶喇嘛（大家通常管他叫萨姆·加斐，尽管他本人与这个名字根本名不副实）突然宣布，这项工程将持续到公元2060年结束。他们有能力这么做。
　　乔治听到沉重的木门被风猛烈地阖上时，查克也来到栏杆边并站到了他的身旁。和往常一样，查克叼着一支雪茄，那是使得他在喇嘛中如此受欢迎的玩意儿——即使那群喇嘛是如此的清心寡欲，并不愿意接受在普通人看来很寻常的生活乐趣。
　　“出什么事了？是机器异常吗？”那是乔治所能想像的最坏的状况。它可能会推迟他的归期，没有什么比这更可怕的了。他现在的感觉，就像一个电视广告中的场景——渴求着来自天堂的甘露。至少，也渴求着来自家中的纽带。
　　“不——完全不是这么回事情。”查克在栏杆上找了个适合的位置并难得地靠了上去，说难得是因为他有点恐高。
　　“我刚刚才理清了整件事。”
　　“你是什么意思呀——难道以前我们没弄清楚吗。”
　　“当然——我们知道喇嘛们正试图在做的事情。但我们不了解为什么要这么做。这是件全天下最疯狂的事情……”
　　“说重点。”乔治咆哮道。
　　“……但是老山姆刚刚点醒了我。你应该记得他每天下午溜达过来看着飞速增加的记录纸时的神情。呃，今天他似乎特别兴奋，至少都像他将永远拥有它一样。当我告诉他我们正在进行工程的最后一个周期的时候，他用他那可爱的英文口音的问我，我是否曾经想过他们这么做的目的。 我回答，‘是的。’——然后他就告诉我了。”
　　“继续，我很好奇。”
　　“嗯，喇嘛们相信当他们完全列出创世主所有的名字的时候——据喇嘛们计算大约有九十亿个——创世主的目的就达到了。人类已经完成这个种族被创造而赋予的意义，因此没有必要继续繁衍下去。实际上，这个特别的想法本身就是一种亵渎。”
　　“那他们希望我们在那时候做什么？自杀吗？”
　　“没那必要。在这份名单完成的时刻，创世主将插手，轻轻地了解一切……砰！”
　　“噢，我理解喇嘛们的意思了。我们完成任务之时，亦是世界之末日。”
　　查克神经质地轻笑了一下。
　　“正巧我也是这么对山姆说的。你知道后来发生了什么吗？他用一种怪异的眼神看着我，仿佛我是课堂上最愚蠢的学生，接著，他说，‘世界末日？太渺小了。’”
乔治停住话头，仔细考虑了一会儿。
　　“我管这叫——远见。”他最后说道。
　　“但是你觉得我们该为此做些什么呢？我并不认为它会对我们造成任何细微的影响。毕竟我们是知道那些喇嘛有多么狂热的。”
　　“不错——不过，到时候会发生些什么呢？名单完成而最后审判日的号声并未吹响——或是其他喇嘛所料的结局没有出现——我们难辞其咎。他们用的是我们的电脑。我可不太喜欢这样的局面。”
　　“我知道。”乔治缓缓说道，“你有充足的反驳理由。可是这样的事情并非没有先例。当我还是个住在路易斯安那的小孩子的时候，我们那儿有一个疯狂的传教士到处宣扬说这个世界将会在下个周日来临时终结。数以百计的人相信他——甚至变卖了自己的家园。然而什么都没有发生。人们却没有因此而敌对传教士。他们相信他只是计算失误，而并非信仰错误。我猜某些喇嘛就抱有这种观点。”
　　“好了，让我来提醒你吧，这里可不是路易斯安那州。这里只有我们两个和数百个喇嘛。我喜欢他们，当老山姆毕生的信仰崩塌的时候，我也会对他感到歉仄。但不管怎么样，我仍希望我对他们来说是特别的。”
　　“我已经为此祈祷了数星期。但除了坐等合同完成，交通工具抵达并载着我们离开外，我们无能为力。”
　　“当然。”查克沉思着，“我们总是可以试着稍微干点儿坏事。”
　　“该死的‘我们可以’！这会使事情更糟。”
　　“我不是这个意思。换种说法。按照现在每天工作二十个小时的进度来看，我们的电脑将在四天内完成工作。交通工具会在我们召唤后的一个星期内到达。好，那么我们所要做的仅仅就是在某次例行检查的时候，找出某个需要更换的零件——某个将暂停工作进程两三天的零件。当然，我们将修好它，但不会太快。如果我们的日程安排妥善，那我们将在电脑印下最后一个名字的同时登上飞机。他们逮不到我们。”
　　“我不喜欢这样，”乔治说，“它将是我第一次没完成一个工作就离开。此外，这也会使他们怀疑。不，我还是毫不动摇地面对一切吧。”
　　“我还是不喜欢这样，”七天后的乔治说，此刻他们正被山区特有的小型马驹驮着走在下山的蜿蜒的阡陌上。“而且你不觉得吗，我逃走是因为我害怕。我因山上的那些可怜的老家伙们而内疚，而且我不想在他们发现他们陷入了何种的境地的时候围过来责难我。也不知道山姆会怎么处理？”
　　“听起来有点可笑，”查克回答道，“可是当我道别的时候，我有种感觉，山姆知道我们逃跑了——他根本不在乎，因为他知道电脑运行正常，这一工作将很快完成。接著，当然，对他来说没有所谓的‘接著’……”
　　乔治从他的马鞍上转过身，凝视着山路。这是最后一个可以在视野里清晰地看到喇嘛寺的地方。静静蹲伏的翘檐建筑，被落日的余晖勾勒出轮廓的剪影；此处和彼处，不断闪烁明灭着的光影像极了远洋航班的舷窗。电灯，当然是电灯，和型号V分享着同一电力线路的电灯，不过这样的分享还能持续多久呢？乔治怀疑。注定被失望和愤怒笼罩的喇嘛们会捣毁计算机吗？或者，他们只是安静地坐下来，再一次重新开始他们的计算？
　　他完全可以想像，此时此刻，山顶正在发生的事情。高阶喇嘛和他的助手们穿着他们的丝质长袍盘腿坐着，初级喇嘛忙于检查记录着结果的纸条，收集它们，最终装订到那本伟大的册子里面。没有人会说话。唯一的声音来自每秒默不作声地进行了数千次计算的型号V，它的打印针持续不断的敲击在纸张上，像一场永无休止的暴雨。三个月的工作，乔治想，完全足够让任何人开始爬上那座院墙。
　　“她在那儿！”查克指着低陷的山谷叫道：“她真美，不觉得么？”
　　她当然很美，乔治想。略显老旧的DC-3伏于跑道的尽头，就像一个小小的银色十字架。不到两个小时之内，她会将他们带离此地，带回那个自由的、寻常的世界。这真值得高兴，当浮一大白。乔治想像着利口酒倾泻而下的场景，由着小马驹驮着自己耐心地跋涉在倾斜的山路上。
　　高耸的喜马拉雅山脉投下的轻捷阴影此刻已经几乎笼罩了他们。所幸，这段道路路面极好，并且他们俩人都带着手电筒。除了浸人的凉意让人不适外，并没有任何危险。头顶的苍穹明净剔透，被熟稔而友善的星子的映衬得发亮。至少不用冒险了，即使飞行员由于天气状况而不能起飞，乔治忖量着。这是他唯一剩下的烦恼了。
　　他扯开嗓子唱了几句，却很快放弃了这种行为。四周山峦围成一个空阔的环形剧场，每个方向的看台都鬼影憧撞，显然此地并不适合这种热血的行为。然后乔治瞄了一眼手表。
　　“应该有一个多小时，”他头也不回地对查克说。想了一下后，他接著补充道：“不知道那台电脑是不是已经结束了运算？应该就是这个时候完成的。”
　　查克未作答复，因此乔治在马鞍上回身。他看到了查克的脸，苍白的、向着天空仰视的脸。
　　“看，”查克呢喃着，于是乔治抬眼望向天堂。（那里通常是世间万物的最后归宿。）
　　头顶，没有任何骚乱地，群星消失了。

　　如果对俺的翻译有任何意见或建议，当然最好是能拿出一篇更漂亮的，让俺羞得无地自容的翻译，请至发表。不过请注意发帖格式！