愛麗絲夢游仙境：第二章 眼淚的池塘

'Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English); 'now I'm opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Good–bye, feet!' (for when she looked down at her feet, they seemed to be almost out of sight, they were getting so far off). 'Oh, my poor little feet, I wonder who will put on your shoes and stockings for you now, dears? I'm sure I shan't be able! I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself about you: you must manage the best way you can;—but I must be kind to them,' thought Alice, 'or perhaps they won't walk the way I want to go! Let me see: I'll give them a new pair of boots every Christmas.'

“奇怪啊奇怪，”愛麗絲喊道，她那么驚奇，霎時(shí)，竟說不成話了，“現(xiàn)在我一定變成最大的望遠(yuǎn)鏡里的人了。再見了，我的雙腳!”她俯視自己的腳，遠(yuǎn)得快看不見了。“哦，我的可憐的小腳喲!誰再給你們穿鞋和系鞋帶呢，親愛的，我可不能了，我離你們太遠(yuǎn)了，沒法再照顧你們了，以后你們只好自己照顧自己吧!……但是我必須對它們好一些，”愛麗絲又想道，“否則它們會不愿走到我想去的地方的，對啦，每次圣誕節(jié)我一定要送它們一雙新的長統(tǒng)靴。”

And she went on planning to herself how she would manage it. 'They must go by the carrier,' she thought; 'and how funny it'll seem, sending presents to one's own feet! And how odd the directions will look!

她繼續(xù)盤算該怎么送禮：“我得把禮物打成包裹寄給它們，”她想，“呀，多滑稽，給自己的腳寄禮物鼠這地址寫起來可太離奇了：

ALICE'S RIGHT FOOT, ESQ.HEARTHRUG,

壁爐邊擱腳攔桿上

NEAR THE FENDER,

愛麗絲的右腳收

(WITH ALICE'S LOVE).

愛麗絲寄

Oh dear, what nonsense I'm talking!'

“哦，親愛的，我說的什么廢話呀!”

Just then her head struck against the roof of the hall: in fact she was now more than nine feet high, and she at once took up the little golden key and hurried off to the garden door.

就在這一剎那，她的頭撞到了大廳的屋頂上。她現(xiàn)在至少有九英尺高了，她急忙拿起小金鑰匙向小花園的門跑去。

Poor Alice! It was as much as she could do, lying down on one side, to look through into the garden with one eye; but to get through was more hopeless than ever: she sat down and began to cry again.

可憐的愛麗絲!現(xiàn)在最多只能側(cè)身躺在地下，用一只眼睛往花園里望，更沒有可能進(jìn)去了，于是她又哭了。

'You ought to be ashamed of yourself,' said Alice, 'a great girl like you,' (she might well say this), 'to go on crying in this way! Stop this moment, I tell you!' But she went on all the same, shedding gallons of tears, until there was a large pool all round her, about four inches deep and reaching half down the hall.

“你不害澡嗎?”愛麗絲對自己說，“像你這么大的姑娘(說得很對)，還要哭。馬上停止，我命令你!”但她還不停地哭，足足掉了一桶眼淚。她還繼續(xù)哭，直到身邊成了個(gè)大池塘，有四英尺深，半個(gè)大廳都變成池塘了。

After a time she heard a little pattering of feet in the distance, and she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming. It was the White Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other: he came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to himself as he came, 'Oh! the Duchess, the Duchess! Oh! won't she be savage if I've kept her waiting!' Alice felt so desperate that she was ready to ask help of any one; so, when the Rabbit came near her, she began, in a low, timid voice, 'If you please, sir—' The Rabbit started violently, dropped the white kid gloves and the fan, and skurried away into the darkness as hard as he could go.

過了一會兒，她聽到遠(yuǎn)處輕微的腳步聲，她急忙擦干眼淚，看看誰來了。原來那只小白兔又回來了，打扮得漂漂亮亮的，一只手里本著一雙白羊羔皮手套，另一只手里拿著一把大扇子，正急急忙忙地小跑著過來。小白兔一邊走.一邊喃喃自語地說：“哦，公爵夫人，公爵夫人!唉!假如我害她久等了，她可別生氣呵!”愛麗絲很希望來個(gè)人幫助自己，因此見到小白兔很失望。但是在小白兔走近時(shí)，她還是怯生生地小聲說：“勞駕，先生……”這可把兔子嚇了一跳，扔掉了白羔皮手套和扇子，拼命地跑進(jìn)暗處去了。

Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: 'Dear, dear! How queer everything is to–day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I? Ah, THAT'S the great puzzle!' And she began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself, to see if she could have been changed for any of them.

愛麗絲拾起了扇子和手套。這時(shí)屋里很熱，她就一邊搧著扇子，一邊自言自語地說：“親愛的，親愛的，今天可凈是怪事，昨天還是那么正常，是不是夜里發(fā)生的變化?讓我想想：我早晨起來時(shí)是不是還是我自己，我想起來了，早晨就覺得有點(diǎn)不對頭。但是，要是我不是自己的話，那么我能是誰呢，唉!這可真是個(gè)謎啊!”于是她就挨個(gè)兒地去想和她相同年齡的女孩子，她是變成了她們中的哪一個(gè)了?

'I'm sure I'm not Ada,' she said, 'for her hair goes in such long ringlets, and mine doesn't go in ringlets at all; and I'm sure I can't be Mabel, for I know all sorts of things, and she, oh! she knows such a very little! Besides, SHE'S she, and I'm I, and—oh dear, how puzzling it all is! I'll try if I know all the things I used to know. Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is—oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate! However, the Multiplication Table doesn't signify: let's try Geography. London is the capital of Paris, and Paris is the capital of Rome, and Rome—no, THAT'S all wrong, I'm certain! I must have been changed for Mabel! I'll try and say "How doth the little—"' and she crossed her hands on her lap as if she were saying lessons, and began to repeat it, but her voice sounded hoarse and strange, and the words did not come the same as they used to do:—

“我敢說，我不是愛達(dá)，”愛麗絲說，“因?yàn)樗情L長的卷發(fā)，而我的根本不卷。我肯定不是瑪貝爾，因?yàn)槲抑栏鞣N各祥的事情，而她，哼!她什么也不知道。而且，她是她，我是我，哎喲!親愛的，把我迷惑住了，真叫人傷腦筋。我試試看，還記得不自己得過去知道的事情。讓我想一想四乘五是十二，四乘六是十三，四乘七……唉，這樣背下去永遠(yuǎn)到不了二十;況且乘法表也沒大意思。讓我試試地理知識看：倫敦是巴黎的首都，而巴黎是羅馬的首都，羅馬是……不，不，全錯(cuò)了。我一定，一定已經(jīng)變成了瑪貝爾了。讓我再試試背《小鱷魚怎樣……》。”于是她把手交叉地放在膝蓋上，就像背課文那樣，一本正經(jīng)地背起來了。她的聲音嘶啞、古怪，吐字也和平時(shí)不一樣：

'How doth the little crocodile

小鱷魚怎樣保養(yǎng)

Improve his shining tail,

它閃亮的尾巴，

And pour the waters of the Nile

把尼羅河水灌進(jìn)

On every golden scale!<

每一片金色的鱗甲。

'How cheerfully he seems to grin,

它笑得多么快樂，

How neatly spread his claws,

伸開爪子的姿勢多么文雅，

And welcome little fishes in

它在歡迎那些小魚

With gently smiling jaws!'

游進(jìn)它溫柔微笑著的嘴巴。

'I'm sure those are not the right words,' said poor Alice, and her eyes filled with tears again as she went on, 'I must be Mabel after all, and I shall have to go and live in that poky little house, and have next to no toys to play with, and oh! ever so many lessons to learn! No, I've made up my mind about it; if I'm Mabel, I'll stay down here! It'll be no use their putting their heads down and saying "Come up again, dear!" I shall only look up and say "Who am I then? Tell me that first, and then, if I like being that person, I'll come up: if not, I'll stay down here till I'm somebody else"—but, oh dear!' cried Alice, with a sudden burst of tears, 'I do wish they WOULD put their heads down! I am so VERY tired of being all alone here!'

“我相信背錯(cuò)了。”可憐的愛麗絲一邊說著，一邊又掉下了眼淚：“我一定真的成了瑪貝爾了，我得住在破房子里，什么玩具也沒有，還得學(xué)那么多的功課。不行!我拿定主意了，如果我是瑪貝爾，我就呆在這井下，他們把頭伸到井口說：‘上來吧!親愛的!”我只往上問他們：‘你們先得告訴我，我是誰，如果變成我喜歡的人，我就上來，如果不是，我就一直呆在這里，除非我再變成什么人’……可是，親愛的!”愛麗絲突然哭起來：“我真想讓他們來叫我上去呀!實(shí)在不愿意孤零零地呆在這兒了。”

As she said this she looked down at her hands, and was surprised to see that she had put on one of the Rabbit's little white kid gloves while she was talking. 'How CAN I have done that?' she thought. 'I must be growing small again.' She got up and went to the table to measure herself by it, and found that, as nearly as she could guess, she was now about two feet high, and was going on shrinking rapidly: she soon found out that the cause of this was the fan she was holding, and she dropped it hastily, just in time to avoid shrinking away altogether.

她說話時(shí)，無意中看了一下自己的手，見到一只手上戴了小白兔的白羊羔皮手套，她奇怪極了，“這怎么搞的?”她想，“我一定又變小了，”她起來步到桌子邊，量一量自己，正像她猜測的那樣，她現(xiàn)在大約只有二英寸高了，而且還在迅速地縮下去，她很快發(fā)現(xiàn)是拿著的那把扇子在作怪，于是她趕緊扔掉扇子，總算快，要不就縮得沒有了。

'That WAS a narrow escape!' said Alice, a good deal frightened at the sudden change, but very glad to find herself still in existence; 'and now for the garden!' and she ran with all speed back to the little door: but, alas! the little door was shut again, and the little golden key was lying on the glass table as before, 'and things are worse than ever,' thought the poor child, 'for I never was so small as this before, never! And I declare it's too bad, that it is!'

“好險(xiǎn)呀!”愛麗絲說。她真的嚇壞了，但總算自己還存在，因此很高興，“現(xiàn)在，該去花園了!”她飛快地跪到小門那兒，但是，哎喲，小門又鎖上了，小金鑰匙像從前一樣仍在玻璃桌子上。“現(xiàn)在更糟糕了，”可憐的小愛麗絲想，“因?yàn)槲疫€沒有這樣小過，從來沒有重我該說這太糟了!太糟了!”

As she said these words her foot slipped, and in another moment, splash! she was up to her chin in salt water. Her first idea was that she had somehow fallen into the sea, 'and in that case I can go back by railway,' she said to herself. (Alice had been to the seaside once in her life, and had come to the general conclusion, that wherever you go to on the English coast you find a number of bathing machines in the sea, some children digging in the sand with wooden spades, then a row of lodging houses, and behind them a railway station.) However, she soon made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was nine feet high.

她說話時(shí)，突然滑倒了，“撲通”一聲，咸咸的水已經(jīng)淹到她的下巴了。她第一個(gè)念頭是掉進(jìn)海里了。她對自己說：“那么我可以坐火車回去了，”——愛麗絲到海邊去過，看到海濱有許多更衣車，孩子們在沙灘上用木鏟挖洞玩。還有一排出租的住房，住房后面是個(gè)火車站——然而不久，她就明白了，自己是在一個(gè)眼淚的池塘里，這是她九英尺高的時(shí)候流出來的眼淚。

'I wish I hadn't cried so much!' said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out. 'I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears! That WILL be a queer thing, to be sure! However, everything is queer to–day.'

“但愿我剛才沒哭得這么厲害!”愛麗絲說話時(shí)來回游著，想找條路游出去，現(xiàn)在我受報(bào)應(yīng)了，我的眼沼快要把自己淹死啦!這又是樁怪事，說真的，今天盡是怪事!”

Just then she heard something splashing about in the pool a little way off, and she swam nearer to make out what it was: at first she thought it must be a walrus or hippopotamus, but then she remembered how small she was now, and she soon made out that it was only a mouse that had slipped in like herself.

就在這時(shí)，她聽到不遠(yuǎn)的地方有劃水聲，就向前游去，想看看是什么，起初，她以為這一定是只海象或者河馬。然而，她一想起自己是多么小的時(shí)候，就立即明白了，這不過是只老鼠，是像自己一樣滑進(jìn)水里來的。

'Would it be of any use, now,' thought Alice, 'to speak to this mouse? Everything is so out–of–the–way down here, that I should think very likely it can talk: at any rate, there's no harm in trying.' So she began: 'O Mouse, do you know the way out of this pool? I am very tired of swimming about here, O Mouse!' (Alice thought this must be the right way of speaking to a mouse: she had never done such a thing before, but she remembered having seen in her brother's Latin Grammar, 'A mouse—of a mouse—to a mouse—a mouse—O mouse!') The Mouse looked at her rather inquisitively, and seemed to her to wink with one of its little eyes, but it said nothing.

“它來有什么用處呢?”愛麗絲想，“同一只老鼠講話嗎?這井底下的事情都是那么奇怪，也許它會說話的，不管怎樣，試試也沒害處，”于是，愛麗絲就說，“喂，老鼠!你知道從池塘里出去的路嗎?我已經(jīng)游得很累了。喂，老鼠!”愛麗絲認(rèn)為這是同老鼠談話的方式，以前，她沒有做過這種事，可她記得哥哥的《拉丁文語法》中有：“一只老鼠……一只老鼠……喂，老鼠!”現(xiàn)在這老鼠狐疑地看著她，好像還把一只小眼睛向她眨了眨，但沒說話。

'Perhaps it doesn't understand English,' thought Alice; 'I daresay it's a French mouse, come over with William the Conqueror.' (For, with all her knowledge of history, Alice had no very clear notion how long ago anything had happened.) So she began again: 'Ou est ma chatte?' which was the first sentence in her French lesson–book. The Mouse gave a sudden leap out of the water, and seemed to quiver all over with fright. 'Oh, I beg your pardon!' cried Alice hastily, afraid that she had hurt the poor animal's feelings. 'I quite forgot you didn't like cats.'

“也許它不懂英語，”愛麗絲想，“她是同征服者威廉(威廉(1027或1028-1087)原為諾曼第(現(xiàn)法國的諾曼第半島)公爵，后來征服并統(tǒng)一了英國)一起來的，”(盡管愛麗絲有些歷史知識，可搞不清這些事情已經(jīng)多久了。)于是，她又用法語說：“我的貓?jiān)谀睦铮?rdquo;這是她的法文課本的第一句話。老鼠一聽這話，突然跳出水面，嚇得渾身發(fā)抖，愛麗絲怕傷害了這個(gè)可憐的小動(dòng)物的感情，趕快說：“請?jiān)徫?我忘了你不喜歡貓。”

'Not like cats!' cried the Mouse, in a shrill, passionate voice. 'Would YOU like cats if you were me?'

“不喜歡貓!”老鼠激動(dòng)而尖聲地喊著，“假如你是我的話，你喜歡貓嗎?”

'Well, perhaps not,' said Alice in a soothing tone: 'don't be angry about it. And yet I wish I could show you our cat Dinah: I think you'd take a fancy to cats if you could only see her. She is such a dear quiet thing,' Alice went on, half to herself, as she swam lazily about in the pool, 'and she sits purring so nicely by the fire, licking her paws and washing her face—and she is such a nice soft thing to nurse—and she's such a capital one for catching mice—oh, I beg your pardon!' cried Alice again, for this time the Mouse was bristling all over, and she felt certain it must be really offended. 'We won't talk about her any more if you'd rather not.'

“也許不，”愛麗絲撫慰著說，“別生我的氣了?？墒俏疫€是希望你能夠看到我的貓——，黛娜，只要你看到她，就會喜歡貓了，她是一個(gè)多么可愛而又安靜的小東西呀。”愛麗絲一面懶散地游著，一面自言自語地繼續(xù)說，“她坐在火爐邊打起呼嚕來真好玩，還不時(shí)舔舔爪子，洗洗臉，摸起來綿軟得可愛。還有，她抓起老鼠來真是個(gè)好樣的……，哦，請?jiān)徫摇?rdquo;這次真把老鼠氣壞了。愛麗絲又喊道：“如果你不高興的話，咱們就不說她了。”

'We indeed!' cried the Mouse, who was trembling down to the end of his tail. 'As if I would talk on such a subject! Our family always HATED cats: nasty, low, vulgar things! Don't let me hear the name again!'

“還說‘咱們’呢!”老鼠喊著，連尾巴梢都發(fā)抖了，“好像我愿意說似的!我們家族都仇恨貓，這種可惡的、下賤的、粗鄙的東西!再別讓我聽到這個(gè)名字了!”

'I won't indeed!' said Alice, in a great hurry to change the subject of conversation. 'Are you—are you fond—of—of dogs?' The Mouse did not answer, so Alice went on eagerly: 'There is such a nice little dog near our house I should like to show you! A little bright–eyed terrier, you know, with oh, such long curly brown hair! And it'll fetch things when you throw them, and it'll sit up and beg for its dinner, and all sorts of things—I can't remember half of them—and it belongs to a farmer, you know, and he says it's so useful, it's worth a hundred pounds! He says it kills all the rats and—oh dear!' cried Alice in a sorrowful tone, 'I'm afraid I've offended it again!' For the Mouse was swimming away from her as hard as it could go, and making quite a commotion in the pool as it went.

“我不說了，真的!”愛麗絲說著，急忙改變了話題，“你……喜歡……喜歡……狗嗎?”老鼠沒回答，于是，愛麗絲熱心地說了下去，“告訴你，我家不遠(yuǎn)有一只小狗，—只眼晴明亮的小獵狗，你知道，它長著那么長的棕色卷毛。它還會接住你扔的東西，又會坐起來討吃的，還會玩各式各樣的把戲，它是一個(gè)農(nóng)民的，你可知道，那個(gè)農(nóng)民說它真頂用，要值一百英鎊哪!說它還能殺掉所有的老鼠……哦，親愛的!”愛麗絲傷心地說，“我怕又惹你生氣了。”老鼠已經(jīng)拼命游遠(yuǎn)了，它游開時(shí)，還弄得池塘的水一陣波動(dòng)。

So she called softly after it, 'Mouse dear! Do come back again, and we won't talk about cats or dogs either, if you don't like them!' When the Mouse heard this, it turned round and swam slowly back to her: its face was quite pale (with passion, Alice thought), and it said in a low trembling voice, 'Let us get to the shore, and then I'll tell you my history, and you'll understand why it is I hate cats and dogs.'

愛麗絲跟在老鼠的后面柔聲細(xì)氣地招呼它：“老鼠啊，親愛的，你還是回來吧，你不喜歡的話，咱們再也不談貓和狗了!”老鼠聽了這話，就轉(zhuǎn)過身慢慢地向她游來，它臉色蒼白(愛麗絲想一定是氣成這樣的)，用低而顫抖的聲音說：“讓我們上岸去吧，然后我將把我的歷史告訴你，這樣你就會明白我為什么也恨貓和狗了。”