牛津書蟲系列 愛麗絲鏡中世界奇遇記 3 Looking-glass animals

3 Looking-glass animals

3.鏡中動物

Alice stood at the top of the hill and looked down.

愛麗絲站在山頂上向下面看。

‘Which way should I go?’she wondered.On one side she could see，a long way away，some kind of large animals walking around.She wasn't sure that she liked the look of them，so she decided to go the other way.She ran down the hill and jumped over the first of the six little brooks.

她心里納悶：“我該走哪條路?”在很遠的一邊，她能夠看見某種龐大的動物四處走動。很難說她喜愛它們的外貌。于是她決定走另外一條路。她跑步下山，跳過六條小溪中的第一條。

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‘Tickets，please!’said the Ticket Inspector，putting his head in at the window. In a moment everybody was holding out a ticket;the tickets were almost as big as the people，and seemed to fill the train.

“請出示車票!”檢票員把頭伸進窗戶大聲嚷嚷。片刻之后，每個乘客都拿出了車票;車票幾乎與人一樣大，似乎把整個火車都給塞滿了。

‘Show your ticket，child!’the Inspector went on，looking angrily at Alice. And then several voices said all together，‘Don't keep him waiting，child!His time costs a thousand pounds a minute!’

“孩子，出示你的車票!”檢票員面帶怒色看著愛麗絲又講了一句。緊接著有好幾個聲音同時說道：“孩子，別讓他久等了!他每分鐘值1000英鎊。”

‘I'm afraid I haven't got a ticket，’Alice said in a frightened voice.‘There wasn't a ticket-office where I came from.’

愛麗絲帶著驚恐的聲音說：“我恐怕沒有車票。我來的那個地方?jīng)]有票房。”

‘Why didn't you buy one from the engine-driver?’said the Inspector. And again the voices said，‘The engine-driver's time costs a thousand pounds a minute!’

檢票員說：“你怎么不向機車司機買張票。”許多聲音又在說：“機車司機的每分鐘值1000英鎊。”

The Inspector looked at Alice first through his glasses，then over the top of them.Then he said，‘You're travelling the wrong way，’and shut up the window and went away.

檢票員先透過望遠鏡看愛麗絲，然后又從鏡子上面看了看，說：“你乘錯車了。”隨后關(guān)上窗戶就走了。

‘She ought to know which way she's going，’said the gen-tleman sitting opposite Alice(he was dressed in white paper)，‘but perhaps she doesn't know her own name.’

坐在愛麗絲對面的先生(他的衣褲是用白紙做成的)說：“她應(yīng)該清楚走哪條路的，但她可能不知道自己的名字。”

A Goat，that was sitting next to the gentleman in white，said loudly，‘She ought to know her way to the ticket-office，but perhaps she can't read or write.’

坐在那一身白衣先生旁邊的一只山羊大聲嚷嚷道：“她應(yīng)該知道去票房的路的，可能她是個文盲吧。”

There was a Beetle next to the Goat，and he had something to say about Alice as well.Then other voices spoke，but Alice could not see who they were.One voice sounded like a horse，she thought.And then a very small voice，right next to her ear，said，‘You could make a poem out of that-something about“a horse，of course”.’

坐在山羊邊上的是只甲殼蟲，他也要說愛麗絲幾句。然后還有其他的聲音，但愛麗絲看不清楚到底是誰，她想其中有一個聲音好像是馬發(fā)出的。隨后有一個很細微的聲音湊著她的耳朵講：“你可以根據(jù)那個編一首詩，內(nèi)容當然是一匹馬的故事。”

The gentleman in white paper spoke again.‘Don't worry，my dear，’he whispered.‘Just buy a return ticket every time the train stops.’

穿一身白紙的先生又說：“小寶貝，別著急。”他低聲說，“火車每停一站就買張回程票。”

‘No， I won't!’Alice said crossly.‘I don't belong to this railway journey at all.I was in a wood just now，and I wish I could get back there.’

愛麗絲生氣地應(yīng)聲道：“不，我不買!我根本不屬于這次列車。剛才我還在樹林里，我希望能回去。”

Then she heard the little voice again.She looked round，but could see nothing.‘I know you are a friend，’the voice said in her ear，‘a dear friend. And you won't hurt me，although I am an insect.’

然后她又聽見那個細微的聲音。她看了看周圍，但什么也沒有。“我知道你是個朋友，一個親愛的朋友。我是只昆蟲，你不會傷害我吧。”聲音在她耳邊響起。

‘What kind of insect?’Alice asked，a little worried.But just then there came a long scream from the engine，and eve-rybody jumped up.The Horse put his head out of the window，then pulled it back in and said calmly，‘It's only a brook that we have to jump across.’

愛麗絲問：“哪一類昆蟲?”她有點兒焦急。就在同時，火車頭長鳴一聲，每個人都嚇得跳了起來。馬向窗外探出了頭，然后重又縮回來，平靜地說：“只是一條小河，我們得跳過去。”

Alice did not like the idea of trains jumping brooks.‘But we'll get into the Fourth Square，I suppose，’she said to her-self.In another moment she felt the train go straight up into the air.Frightened，she caught at the thing nearest to her hand，which happened to be the Goat's beard.

愛麗絲不喜歡火車跳越小河這個想法。“不過我想我們即將進入第四格，”她自言自語道。過了一會兒，她感覺火車徑向空中開去。她驚恐萬狀，隨手抓住離她最近的一個東西，湊巧是山羊胡子。

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But the beard seemed to disappear as she touched it，and she found herself sitting quietly under a tree.There was an Insect sitting near her，on a low branch of the tree.

但她一觸到山羊胡子，胡子似乎就失蹤了。她發(fā)現(xiàn)自己靜靜地坐在一棵樹下。一只昆蟲坐在她身旁的低矮的樹枝上。

It was a very large insect indeed-almost as big as a chick-en.Alice thought.

愛麗絲想，這真是只碩大的昆蟲--幾乎同小雞一樣大。

‘So you don't like all insects?’the Insect said， quietly con-tinuing their conversation.

“這么說你不喜歡昆蟲?”那只昆蟲問，輕聲地繼續(xù)他們的對話。

‘I like them when they can talk，’Alice said.‘None of them ever talk，where I come from.But everything here is so different.I probably don't even know the names of the insects here.’

愛麗絲答道：“他們能說話，我就喜歡。我來的那地方，沒一只昆蟲講過話。但這里什么都不一樣。這里的昆蟲我可能連名字都叫不上來呢。”

‘Can you remember your own name?’asked the Insect.

“你記得住自己的名字嗎?”昆蟲問。

‘Of course，’said Alice.‘Nobody forgets their own name.’

“當然記得，沒人會忘記自己的名字。”愛麗絲答道。

‘Don't they?’said the Insect.‘There's a wood down there，for example，where things have no names.’

“是嗎?譬如那邊有一片樹林，里邊的東西就沒有名字。”昆蟲說道。

Alice looked round，and saw a dark wood on the other side of an open field.When she looked back，the Insect had flown away.She got up and began to walk across the field.‘This must be the way to the Eighth Square，’she thought，‘but I hope I don't lose my name in this wood.’

愛麗絲環(huán)顧四周，看見一個開闊地的另一邊有一片黑樹林。她回轉(zhuǎn)頭時，昆蟲早就飛走了。她站了起來，踏步跨越這片田野。她心里想：“這條路肯定通向第八格，可是我希望我不會把自己的名字丟落在這兒。”

She soon reached the wood and was pleased to get out of the hot sun and into the shadows under the trees.‘How nice and cool it is in here，under the…under the…under the what?’she said，surprised that she could not think of the word.She put her hand on a tree.‘What does it call itself?I do believe it's got no name!’

不久她就抵達樹林。終于擺脫了烈日烤曬，享受到樹陰下的清涼世界，這使她很高興。“在這兒，在……下，在……下，在什么(?)下，多涼爽啊!”她很奇怪，怎么就是想不起那個詞兒。她把手放在樹上，問：“它怎樣稱呼自己的?我確信它是無名無姓的。”

She stood for a moment，thinking.‘And now，who am I?I will remember，if I can.’She tried and tried，but she just could not remember her name. It began with an‘L’，she thought，but she wasn't really sure.

她站了一會兒，想：“那么，我是誰呢?我一定會想起來的。”她想了又想，就是記不起自己的名字。她想自己名字好像是“L”開頭，但又難以確定。

So she hurried on through the wood， hoping to get to the other side quickly，and after a while she came out into another open field.She stopped，and thought hard.‘Why，it's Alice，of course!’she said.‘My name's Alice-I won't forget itagain.And now，which way should I go?’

因此她快速穿過樹林，希望早點到另一邊去。過了一會兒，她又來到了一個開闊地。她停住，拚命地想。“哦，當然是愛麗絲了!”她說，“我叫愛麗絲--我不會再忘了?，F(xiàn)在，我該走哪條路?”

It was not a difficult question to answer.There was only one road，and a large signpost，which said：

回答這問題并不困難。其實只有一條路，邊上有一個巨大的路標，上面寫著：

To TWEEDLEDUM'S HOUSE

前方是特威丹的屋子

To THE HOUSE OF TWEEDLEDEE

前方是特威帝的屋子

‘I'll just call in and say hello，’Alice said，‘and ask them the way to the Eighth Square.I would like to get there before it gets dark.’So she walked on，talking to herself as she went. After a long time the road came into another wood and suddenly turned a corner，and there in front of her Alice saw two fat little men standing under a tree.

“我這就登門問個好，”愛麗絲說道，“然后詢問一下去第八格的路。太陽下山前我要趕到那里。”愛麗絲又繼續(xù)上路了，邊走邊自言自語，過了許久，腳下的路通到了另一片樹林，又急轉(zhuǎn)了個彎。就在前方，愛麗絲看見兩個胖墩墩的小人站在樹下。