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[ 本帖最后由 mayflora 于 2008-3-17 14:47 编辑 ] |
A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale They were indeed a queer-looking party that assembled on the bank--the birds with draggled feathers, the animals with their fur clinging close to them, and all dripping wet, cross, and uncomfortable. The first question of course was, how to get dry again: they had a consultation about this, and after a few minutes it seemed quite natural to Alice to find herself talking familiarly with them, as if she had known them all her life. Indeed, she had quite a long argument with the Lory, who at last turned sulky, and would only say, `I am older than you, and must know better'; and this Alice would not allow without knowing how old it was, and, as the Lory positively refused to tell its age, there was no more to be said. At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority among them, called out, `Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I'LL soon make you dry enough!' They all sat down at once, in a large ring, with the Mouse in the middle. Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not get dry very soon. `Ahem!' said the Mouse with an important air, `are you all ready? This is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! "William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria--"' `Ugh!' said the Lory, with a shiver. `I beg your pardon!' said the Mouse, frowning, but very politely: `Did you speak?' `Not I!' said the Lory hastily. `I thought you did,' said the Mouse. `--I proceed. "Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him: and even Stigand, the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found it advisable--"' `Found WHAT?' said the Duck. `Found IT,' the Mouse replied rather crossly: `of course you know what "it" means.' `I know what "it" means well enough, when I find a thing,' said the Duck: `it's generally a frog or a worm. The question is, what did the archbishop find?' The Mouse did not notice this question, but hurriedly went on, `"--found it advisable to go with Edgar Atheling to meet William and offer him the crown. William's conduct at first was moderate. But the insolence of his Normans--" How are you getting on now, my dear?' it continued, turning to Alice as it spoke. `As wet as ever,' said Alice in a melancholy tone: `it doesn't seem to dry me at all.' `In that case,' said the Dodo solemnly, rising to its feet, `I move that the meeting adjourn, for the immediate adoption of more energetic remedies--' `Speak English!' said the Eaglet. `I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and, what's more, I don't believe you do either!' And the Eaglet bent down its head to hide a smile: some of the other birds tittered audibly. `What I was going to say,' said the Dodo in an offended tone, `was, that the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race.' `What IS a Caucus-race?' said Alice; not that she wanted much to know, but the Dodo had paused as if it thought that SOMEBODY ought to speak, and no one else seemed inclined to say anything. `Why,' said the Dodo, `the best way to explain it is to do it.' (And, as you might like to try the thing yourself, some winter day, I will tell you how the Dodo managed it.) First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle, (`the exact shape doesn't matter,' it said,) and then all the party were placed along the course, here and there. There was no `One, two, three, and away,' but they began running when they liked, and left off when they liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over. However, when they had been running half an hour or so, and were quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called out `The race is over!' and they all crowded round it, panting, and asking, `But who has won?' This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of thought, and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed upon its forehead (the position in which you usually see Shakespeare, in the pictures of him), while the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo said, `EVERYBODY has won, and all must have prizes.' `But who is to give the prizes?' quite a chorus of voices asked. `Why, SHE, of course,' said the Dodo, pointing to Alice with one finger; and the whole party at once crowded round her, calling out in a confused way, `Prizes! Prizes!' Alice had no idea what to do, and in despair she put her hand in her pocket, and pulled out a box of comfits, (luckily the salt water had not got into it), and handed them round as prizes. There was exactly one a-piece all round. `But she must have a prize herself, you know,' said the Mouse. `Of course,' the Dodo replied very gravely. `What else have you got in your pocket?' he went on, turning to Alice. `Only a thimble,' said Alice sadly. `Hand it over here,' said the Dodo. Then they all crowded round her once more, while the Dodo solemnly presented the thimble, saying `We beg your acceptance of this elegant thimble'; and, when it had finished this short speech, they all cheered. Alice thought the whole thing very absurd, but they all looked so grave that she did not dare to laugh; and, as she could not think of anything to say, she simply bowed, and took the thimble, looking as solemn as she could. The next thing was to eat the comfits: this caused some noise and confusion, as the large birds complained that they could not taste theirs, and the small ones choked and had to be patted on the back. However, it was over at last, and they sat down again in a ring, and begged the Mouse to tell them something more. `You promised to tell me your history, you know,' said Alice, `and why it is you hate--C and D,' she added in a whisper, half afraid that it would be offended again. `Mine is a long and a sad tale!' said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing. `It IS a long tail, certainly,' said Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse's tail; `but why do you call it sad?' And she kept on puzzling about it while the Mouse was speaking, so that her idea of the tale was something like this:-- `Fury said to a mouse, That he met in the house, "Let us both go to law: I will prosecute YOU. --Come, I'll take no denial; We must have a trial: For really this morning I've nothing to do." id the mouse to the cur, "Such a trial, dear Sir, With no jury or judge, would be wasting our breath." "I'll be judge, I'll be jury," Said cunning old Fury: "I'll try the whole cause, and condemn you to death."' `You are not attending!' said the Mouse to Alice severely. `What are you thinking of?' `I beg your pardon,' said Alice very humbly: `you had got to the fifth bend, I think?' `I had NOT!' cried the Mouse, sharply and very angrily. `A knot!' said Alice, always ready to make herself useful, and looking anxiously about her. `Oh, do let me help to undo it!' `I shall do nothing of the sort,' said the Mouse, getting up and walking away. `You insult me by talking such nonsense!' `I didn't mean it!' pleaded poor Alice. `But you're so easily offended, you know!' The Mouse only growled in reply. `Please come back and finish your story!' Alice called after it; and the others all joined in chorus, `Yes, please do!' but the Mouse only shook its head impatiently, and walked a little quicker. `What a pity it wouldn't stay!' sighed the Lory, as soon as it was quite out of sight; and an old Crab took the opportunity of saying to her daughter `Ah, my dear! Let this be a lesson to you never to lose YOUR temper!' `Hold your tongue, Ma!' said the young Crab, a little snappishly. `You're enough to try the patience of an oyster!' `I wish I had our Dinah here, I know I do!' said Alice aloud, addressing nobody in particular. `She'd soon fetch it back!' `And who is Dinah, if I might venture to ask the question?' said the Lory. Alice replied eagerly, for she was always ready to talk about her pet: `Dinah's our cat. And she's such a capital one for catching mice you can't think! And oh, I wish you could see her after the birds! Why, she'll eat a little bird as soon as look at it!' This speech caused a remarkable sensation among the party. Some of the birds hurried off at once: one old Magpie began wrapping itself up very carefully, remarking, `I really must be getting home; the night-air doesn't suit my throat!' and a Canary called out in a trembling voice to its children, `Come away, my dears! It's high time you were all in bed!' On various pretexts they all moved off, and Alice was soon left alone. `I wish I hadn't mentioned Dinah!' she said to herself in a melancholy tone. `Nobody seems to like her, down here, and I'm sure she's the best cat in the world! Oh, my dear Dinah! I wonder if I shall ever see you any more!' And here poor Alice began to cry again, for she felt very lonely and low-spirited. In a little while, however, she again heard a little pattering of footsteps in the distance, and she looked up eagerly, half hoping that the Mouse had changed his mind, and was coming back to finish his story. 集合在岸上的这一大群,确实稀奇古怪——羽毛湿了的鸟、毛紧贴着身子的小动物等等,全都是湿淋淋的,横躺竖卧的,显得很狼狈。 重要的是:怎样把身上弄干,对这个问题,他们商量了一会儿。过了几分钟,爱丽丝就同它们混熟了,好像老相识似的。你瞧,爱丽丝已经同鹦鹉辩论了好长时间了,最后鹦鹉生气了,一个劲儿地说:“我比你年龄大,也就肯定比你知道得多。”可爱丽丝不同意这点,因为爱丽丝压根儿不知道它的年龄,而鹦鹉又拒绝说出自已的年龄,她们就再没话可说了。 最后,那只老鼠——它在它们中间好像很有权威似的——喊道:“你们全部坐下,听我说,我很快就会把你们弄干的!”他们立即都坐下了,围成一个大圈,老鼠在中间,爱丽丝焦急地盯着它,她很清楚,如果湿衣服不能很快干的活,她会得重感冒的, “咳,咳!”老鼠煞有介事地说:“你们都准备好了吗?下面是我要说的最干巴巴的故事了,请大家安静点。‘征服者威廉的事业是教皇支持的,不久就征服了英国,英国人也需要有人领导,而且已经对篡权和被征服都习惯了。梅西亚和诺森勃列亚(海西亚Mercia和诺森勃利亚Northumbria是英国的两个古国。)的伯爵埃德温和莫卡…… “啊!”鹦鹉打着哆嗦。 “请原谅!”老鼠皱着眉头说,但仍然很有礼貌地问:“你有什么话吗?” “我没有啥说的!”鹦鹉急忙答道。 “我以为你有话要说哩!”老鼠说,“我继续讲,这两个地方的伯爵埃德温和莫卡都宣告支持威廉,甚至坎特伯雷的爱国大主教斯蒂坎德也发现这是可行的……” “发现什么?”鸭子问, “发观‘这’,”老鼠有点不耐烦地回答,“你当然不知道‘这,的意思。” “我发现了什么吃的东西时,当然知道‘这’是指什么。‘这’通常指一只青蛙或一条蚯蚓,现在的问题是:大主教发现的是什么呢?”鸭子还不停地呱啦着。 老鼠一点也不理睬,只是急急忙忙地继续讲:“……发现与埃德加.阿瑟林一起去亲自迎接威廉,并授予他皇冠是可行的,威廉的行动起初还有点节制,可他那诺曼人的傲慢……,你感觉怎么样了?我亲爱的。”它突然转向爱丽丝问道。 “跟原来一样的湿。”爱丽丝忧郁地说,“你讲这些一点也不能把我身上弄干。” “在这种情况下,我建议休会,并立即采取更加有效的措施。”渡渡鸟站后来严肃地说。 “讲英语!”小鹰说,“你这句话的意思,我连一半都听不懂!更主要的是我不相信你自己会懂,”小鹰说完后低下头偷偷笑了,其它一些鸟也都偷偷地笑出声来。 “我说的是,能让我们把湿衣服弄干的最好办法,是来个会议式的赛跑。”渡渡鸟恼怒地说。 “什么是会议式赛跑?”爱丽丝问,爱丽丝本来不想多问,因为渡渡鸟说到这里停住了,似乎想等别人问似的,而偏偏又没人问它。 渡渡鸟说:“对,为了说明它,最好的办法就是咱们亲自做一做。”(由于你在冬天也许会想起来玩这种游戏,所以我占这里告诉你渡渡鸟是怎么做的。) 前先,它划出个比赛路线,有点像个圆圈,它说:“具体形状没关系的。”然后,这一大群家伙就在圈子内散乱地站着,也不用说“—,二,三,开始!”而是谁想开始就开始,谁想停下,就停下,所以,要知道这场比赛的结束是不容易的。它们跑了大约半个小时,衣服大体上都干了,渡渡鸟就突然喊道:“比赛结束了!”听这话,它们都喘着气围拢过来,不停地问:“谁赢了,” 这个问题,渡渡鸟得好好考虑一下才能回答。因此,它坐下来,用一个指头撑着前额想了好长时间(就像照片上莎士比亚的那种姿态),这段时间里大家都安静地等待着。最后,渡渡鸟说:“每人都赢了,而且都有奖品!” “谁给奖品呢?”大家齐声问, “她重当然是她啦!”渡渡鸟用一个手指头指着爱丽丝说。于是,这一大群立即围住了爱丽丝,胡乱喊叫着:“奖品!奖品!” 爱丽丝真不知该怎么办了,她无可奈何地把手伸进了衣袋,嘿!拿出了一盒糖果,真幸运,还没给咸水浸透,她就把糖果作为奖品,发给了大家。正好每位分到一块,只是她自己没有。 “可是她自己也应该有一份奖品啊!”老鼠说, “当然啦,”渡渡鸟非常严肃地回答,“你的口袋里还有别的东西吗,”它转向爱丽丝问道。 “只有一个顶针了。”爱丽丝伤心地说。 “把它拿来。”渡渡鸟说, 这时,大家又围住了爱丽丝,渡渡鸟接过顶针后兑严肃地递给了她,说:“我们请求你接受这只精致的顶针,”它刚结束这句简短的讲演,大家全都欢呼起来了。 爱丽丝认为这些事情全都非常荒唐,可是它们却十分认真,她也不敢笑,一时又想不出许说什么话,只见好鞠了个躬,尽量装得一本正经地接过了顶针。 下步是吃糖果了,这又引起一阵喧闹,大鸟们埋怨还没尝到味儿,糖就没了,小鸟们则被糖块噎着了,还得别人替它拍拍背。不管怎么说,最后,糖果总算吃完了,这时它们又围成一个大圈坐下来,请求老鼠再讲点故事。 “你记得吗,你答应过讲你的历史,”爱丽丝说,“作为什么恨……恨‘M’和‘G’呀,”她压低声音,说完了这句话,她怕说出猫和狗这两个字惹老鼠生气,于是只说出猫和狗两字的拼音字头。 “我的处事是个结尾悲伤的长故事,”老鼠对爱丽丝叹息着说。 爱丽丝没有听清这句话,她看着老鼠的尾巴纳闷了:“它确实是根长尾巴,可为什么说尾巴是悲伤的呢?”老鼠讲故事的整个过程中,爱丽丝还一直为这个问题纳闷,因此,在她脑子里就把整个故事想象成这个样子了: “猎狗对屋子里的一只老鼠说道:‘跟我到法庭去,我要把你控告,我不睬你的辩解,要把你审判。因为今晨我没事干,所以我要跟你捣捣蛋。’老孔对恶狗说:‘这样的审判,既没有陪审员,又没有法官,不过是白白浪费时间,恩狗说:‘我就是陪审员,我就是法官,我要亲自执法审判,我要判处你的死刑!’”“你没有注意听,”老鼠严厉地对爱丽丝说,“你在想什么呢?”“请原谅!”爱丽丝似乎理亏似地说,“我想你已经拐到第五个弯了吧!”“我没有弯!”老鼠非常生气地厉声说。 “你要个碗(弯)!”爱丽丝说,由于她总是热心帮助别人的,因此就焦急她四周寻找,“哦,让我帮你找找看。” “我不吃你这一套,你的这些废话侮辱了我!”老鼠说着站起来就走。 “我没有侮辱你的意思!可是你也太容易生气了!”可怜的爱丽丝辩解着说。 老鼠咕噜了—声没理她。 “请你回来讲完你的故事!”爱丽丝喊着,其他动物也都齐声说:“是啊!请回来吧!”但是,老鼠只是不耐烦地摇着脑袋,步子走得更快了。 “它走了,多遗憾哪!”当老鼠刚走得看不见了时,鹦鹉就叹息着,老螃蟹趁这个机会对女儿说:“哦,我亲爱的,这是一个教训,告诉你以后永远也不要发脾气。” “别说了,妈!你这样罗嗦,就是牡蛎都忍耐不了。”小螃蟹耐着小脾气说。 “我多么希望我的黛娜在这儿呀!”爱丽丝自言自语地大声说,“她一定会马上把它抓回来的!” “请允许我冒昧地问一下,那么,黛娜是谁呢?”鹦鹉说。 爱丽丝随时都乐意谈论她心爱的小宝贝,所以她热心地回答:“黛娜是我的猫,她抓老鼠可是好样的,简直想象不出来。嘿,我还希望你看到她怎么抓鸟的哩,她只要看见一只鸟,一眨眼就合把它吃到肚子里去的!” 这话惹得大家十分惊慌,有些鸟急急忙忙离开了,老喜鹊小心地把自己裹严,解释道:“我必须回家了,今晚的空气对我的喉咙不合适。”金丝鸟发抖地对它的孩子说:“走吧!我亲爱的,你们早该睡觉了。”它们全都在各种借口下走掉了。不久,又只剩下爱丽丝孤单单的一个人了。 “我要是刚才不提到黛娜就好了!”爱丽丝忧郁地对自己说,“这里好像没有一个喜欢她的,唉!只有我知道她是世界上最好的猫!啊,我亲爱的黛娜,真不知道什么时候还会再见到你呢!说到这里,可怜的小爱丽丝的眼泪又出来了,她感到非常孤独和懊丧,过了一会儿,总算听到不远处传来了脚步声,她巴望地抬头看看是谁来了,希望老鼠改变主意,回来讲完它的故事。 [ 本帖最后由 mayflora 于 2008-3-17 14:48 编辑 ] |
[ 本帖最后由 mayflora 于 2008-3-17 14:49 编辑 ] |
[ 本帖最后由 mayflora 于 2008-3-17 14:50 编辑 ] |
Pig and PepperFor a minute or two she stood looking at the house, and wondering what to do next, when suddenly a footman in livery came running out of the wood--(she considered him to be a footman because he was in livery: otherwise, judging by his face only, she would have called him a fish)--and rapped loudly at the door with his knuckles. It was opened by another footman in livery, with a round face, and large eyes like a frog; and both footmen, Alice noticed, had powdered hair that curled all over their heads. She felt very curious to know what it was all about, and crept a little way out of the wood to listen. The Fish-Footman began by producing from under his arm a great letter, nearly as large as himself, and this he handed over to the other, saying, in a solemn tone, `For the Duchess. An invitation from the Queen to play croquet.' The Frog-Footman repeated, in the same solemn tone, only changing the order of the words a little, `From the Queen. An invitation for the Duchess to play croquet.' Then they both bowed low, and their curls got entangled together. Alice laughed so much at this, that she had to run back into the wood for fear of their hearing her; and when she next peeped out the Fish-Footman was gone, and the other was sitting on the ground near the door, staring stupidly up into the sky. Alice went timidly up to the door, and knocked. `There's no sort of use in knocking,' said the Footman, `and that for two reasons. First, because I'm on the same side of the door as you are; secondly, because they're making such a noise inside, no one could possibly hear you.' And certainly there was a most extraordinary noise going on within--a constant howling and sneezing, and every now and then a great crash, as if a dish or kettle had been broken to pieces. `Please, then,' said Alice, `how am I to get in?' `There might be some sense in your knocking,' the Footman went on without attending to her, `if we had the door between us. For instance, if you were INSIDE, you might knock, and I could let you out, you know.' He was looking up into the sky all the time he was speaking, and this Alice thought decidedly uncivil. `But perhaps he can't help it,' she said to herself; `his eyes are so VERY nearly at the top of his head. But at any rate he might answer questions.--How am I to get in?' she repeated, aloud. `I shall sit here,' the Footman remarked, `till tomorrow--' At this moment the door of the house opened, and a large plate came skimming out, straight at the Footman's head: it just grazed his nose, and broke to pieces against one of the trees behind him. `--or next day, maybe,' the Footman continued in the same tone, exactly as if nothing had happened. `How am I to get in?' asked Alice again, in a louder tone. `ARE you to get in at all?' said the Footman. `That's the first question, you know.' It was, no doubt: only Alice did not like to be told so. `It's really dreadful,' she muttered to herself, `the way all the creatures argue. It's enough to drive one crazy!' The Footman seemed to think this a good opportunity for repeating his remark, with variations. `I shall sit here,' he said, `on and off, for days and days.' `But what am I to do?' said Alice. `Anything you like,' said the Footman, and began whistling. `Oh, there's no use in talking to him,' said Alice desperately: `he's perfectly idiotic!' And she opened the door and went in. The door led right into a large kitchen, which was full of smoke from one end to the other: the Duchess was sitting on a three-legged stool in the middle, nursing a baby; the cook was leaning over the fire, stirring a large cauldron which seemed to be full of soup. `There's certainly too much pepper in that soup!' Alice said to herself, as well as she could for sneezing. There was certainly too much of it in the air. Even the Duchess sneezed occasionally; and as for the baby, it was sneezing and howling alternately without a moment's pause. The only things in the kitchen that did not sneeze, were the cook, and a large cat which was sitting on the hearth and grinning from ear to ear. `Please would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, for she was not quite sure whether it was good manners for her to speak first, `why your cat grins like that?' `It's a Cheshire cat,' said the Duchess, `and that's why. Pig!' She said the last word with such sudden violence that Alice quite jumped; but she saw in another moment that it was addressed to the baby, and not to her, so she took courage, and went on again:-- `I didn't know that Cheshire cats always grinned; in fact, I didn't know that cats COULD grin.' `They all can,' said the Duchess; `and most of 'em do.' `I don't know of any that do,' Alice said very politely, feeling quite pleased to have got into a conversation. `You don't know much,' said the Duchess; `and that's a fact.' Alice did not at all like the tone of this remark, and thought it would be as well to introduce some other subject of conversation. While she was trying to fix on one, the cook took the cauldron of soup off the fire, and at once set to work throwing everything within her reach at the Duchess and the baby --the fire-irons came first; then followed a shower of saucepans, plates, and dishes. The Duchess took no notice of them even when they hit her; and the baby was howling so much already, that it was quite impossible to say whether the blows hurt it or not. `Oh, PLEASE mind what you're doing!' cried Alice, jumping up and down in an agony of terror. `Oh, there goes his PRECIOUS nose'; as an unusually large saucepan flew close by it, and very nearly carried it off. `If everybody minded their own business,' the Duchess said in a hoarse growl, `the world would go round a deal faster than it does.' `Which would NOT be an advantage,' said Alice, who felt very glad to get an opportunity of showing off a little of her knowledge. `Just think of what work it would make with the day and night! You see the earth takes twenty-four hours to turn round on its axis--' `Talking of axes,' said the Duchess, `chop off her head!' Alice glanced rather anxiously at the cook, to see if she meant to take the hint; but the cook was busily stirring the soup, and seemed not to be listening, so she went on again: `Twenty-four hours, I THINK; or is it twelve? I--' `Oh, don't bother ME,' said the Duchess; `I never could abide figures!' And with that she began nursing her child again, singing a sort of lullaby to it as she did so, and giving it a violent shake at the end of every line: `Speak roughly to your little boy, And beat him when he sneezes: He only does it to annoy, Because he knows it teases.' CHORUS. (In which the cook and the baby joined):-- `Wow! wow! wow!' While the Duchess sang the second verse of the song, she kept tossing the baby violently up and down, and the poor little thing howled so, that Alice could hardly hear the words:-- `I speak severely to my boy, I beat him when he sneezes; For he can thoroughly enjoy The pepper when he pleases!' CHORUS. `Wow! wow! wow!' `Here! you may nurse it a bit, if you like!' the Duchess said to Alice, flinging the baby at her as she spoke. `I must go and get ready to play croquet with the Queen,' and she hurried out of the room. The cook threw a frying-pan after her as she went out, but it just missed her. Alice caught the baby with some difficulty, as it was a queer- shaped little creature, and held out its arms and legs in all directions, `just like a star-fish,' thought Alice. The poor little thing was snorting like a steam-engine when she caught it, and kept doubling itself up and straightening itself out again, so that altogether, for the first minute or two, it was as much as she could do to hold it. As soon as she had made out the proper way of nursing it, (which was to twist it up into a sort of knot, and then keep tight hold of its right ear and left foot, so as to prevent its undoing itself,) she carried it out into the open air. `IF I don't take this child away with me,' thought Alice, `they're sure to kill it in a day or two: wouldn't it be murder to leave it behind?' She said the last words out loud, and the little thing grunted in reply (it had left off sneezing by this time). `Don't grunt,' said Alice; `that's not at all a proper way of expressing yourself.' The baby grunted again, and Alice looked very anxiously into its face to see what was the matter with it. There could be no doubt that it had a VERY turn-up nose, much more like a snout than a real nose; also its eyes were getting extremely small for a baby: altogether Alice did not like the look of the thing at all. `But perhaps it was only sobbing,' she thought, and looked into its eyes again, to see if there were any tears. No, there were no tears. `If you're going to turn into a pig, my dear,' said Alice, seriously, `I'll have nothing more to do with you. Mind now!' The poor little thing sobbed again (or grunted, it was impossible to say which), and they went on for some while in silence. Alice was just beginning to think to herself, `Now, what am I to do with this creature when I get it home?' when it grunted again, so violently, that she looked down into its face in some alarm. This time there could be NO mistake about it: it was neither more nor less than a pig, and she felt that it would be quite absurd for her to carry it further. So she set the little creature down, and felt quite relieved to see it trot away quietly into the wood. `If it had grown up,' she said to herself, `it would have made a dreadfully ugly child: but it makes rather a handsome pig, I think.' And she began thinking over other children she knew, who might do very well as pigs, and was just saying to herself, `if one only knew the right way to change them--' when she was a little startled by seeing the Cheshire Cat sitting on a bough of a tree a few yards off. The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good- natured, she thought: still it had VERY long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with respect. `Cheshire Puss,' she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. `Come, it's pleased so far,' thought Alice, and she went on. `Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?' `That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat. `I don't much care where--' said Alice. `Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat. `--so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation. `Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, `if you only walk long enough.' Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question. `What sort of people live about here?' `In THAT direction,' the Cat said, waving its right paw round, `lives a Hatter: and in THAT direction,' waving the other paw, `lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad.' `But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked. `Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.' `How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice. `You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.' Alice didn't think that proved it at all; however, she went on `And how do you know that you're mad?' `To begin with,' said the Cat, `a dog's not mad. You grant that?' `I suppose so,' said Alice. `Well, then,' the Cat went on, `you see, a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad.' `I call it purring, not growling,' said Alice. `Call it what you like,' said the Cat. `Do you play croquet with the Queen to-day?' `I should like it very much,' said Alice, `but I haven't been invited yet.' `You'll see me there,' said the Cat, and vanished. Alice was not much surprised at this, she was getting so used to queer things happening. While she was looking at the place where it had been, it suddenly appeared again. `By-the-bye, what became of the baby?' said the Cat. `I'd nearly forgotten to ask.' `It turned into a pig,' Alice quietly said, just as if it had come back in a natural way. `I thought it would,' said the Cat, and vanished again. Alice waited a little, half expecting to see it again, but it did not appear, and after a minute or two she walked on in the direction in which the March Hare was said to live. `I've seen hatters before,' she said to herself; `the March Hare will be much the most interesting, and perhaps as this is May it won't be raving mad--at least not so mad as it was in March.' As she said this, she looked up, and there was the Cat again, sitting on a branch of a tree. `Did you say pig, or fig?' said the Cat. `I said pig,' replied Alice; `and I wish you wouldn't keep appearing and vanishing so suddenly: you make one quite giddy.' `All right,' said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone. `Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin,' thought Alice; `but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!' She had not gone much farther before she came in sight of the house of the March Hare: she thought it must be the right house, because the chimneys were shaped like ears and the roof was thatched with fur. It was so large a house, that she did not like to go nearer till she had nibbled some more of the lefthand bit of mushroom, and raised herself to about two feet high: even then she walked up towards it rather timidly, saying to herself `Suppose it should be raving mad after all! I almost wish I'd gone to see the Hatter instead! 她站在小房跟前看了一两分钟,想着下一步该干什么。突然间,一个穿着制服的仆人(她认为仆人是由于穿着仆人的制服,如果只看他的脸,会把他看成一条鱼的)从树林跑来,用脚使劲儿地踢着门。另一个穿着制服,长着圆脸庞和像青蛙一样大眼睛的仆人开了门,爱丽丝注意到这两个仆人,都戴着涂了脂的假发。她非常想知道这到底是怎么回事,于是就从树林里探出头来听。 鱼仆人从胳膊下面拿出一封很大的信,这信几乎有他身子那么大,然后把信递给那一个,同时还用严肃的声调说:“致公爵夫人:王后邀请她去玩槌球。”那位青蛙仆人只不过把语序变了一下,用同样严肃的声调重复着说:“王后的邀请:请公爵夫人去玩槌球。” 然后他们俩都深深地鞠了个躬,这使得他们的假发缠在一起了。这情景惹得爱丽丝要发笑了,她不得不远远地跑进树林里,免得被他们听到。她再出来偷看时,鱼仆人已经走了,另一位坐在门口的地上,呆呆地望着天空愣神。 爱丽丝怯生生地走到门口,敲了门。 “敲门没用。”那位仆人说,“这有两个原因:第一,因为我同你一样,都在门外,第二,他们在里面吵吵嚷嚷,根本不会听到敲门声。”确实,里面传来了很特别的吵闹声:有不断的嚎叫声,有打喷嚏声,还不时有打碎东西的声音,好像是打碎盘子或瓷壶的声音。 “那么,请告诉我,”爱丽丝说,“我怎么进去呢?” “如果这扇门在我们之间,你敲门,可能还有意义,”那仆人并不注意爱丽丝,继续说着,“假如,你在里面敲门,我就能让你出来。”他说话时,一直盯着天空,爱丽丝认为这是很不礼貌的。“也许他没有办法,”她对自己说,“他的两只眼睛几乎长到头顶上了,但至少是可以回答问题的,我该怎样进去呢?”因此,她又大声重复地说。 “我坐在这里,”那仆人继续说他的,“直到明天……” 就在这时,这个房子的门开了,一只大盘子朝仆人的头飞来,掠过他的鼻子,在他身后的一棵树上撞碎了。 “……或者再过一天。”仆人继续用同样的口吻说,就像什么也没发生过。 “我该怎么进去呢?”爱丽丝更大声地问, “你到底要不要进去呢?”仆人说,“要知道这是该首先决定的问题,”这当然是对的,不过爱丽丝不愿意承认这点,“真讨厌,”她对自己喃喃地说道,“这些生物讨论问题的方法真能叫人发疯。” 那仆人似乎认为是重复自己的话的好机会,不过稍微改变了一点儿说法:“我将从早到晚坐在这几,一天又一天地坐下去。” “可是我该干什么呢?”爱丽丝说, “你想干什么就干什么?”仆人说服就吹起口哨来了。 “唉,同他说话没用!”爱丽丝失望地说,“他完全是个白痴!”然后她就推开门自己进去了。 这门直通一间大厨房,厨房里充满了烟雾,公爵夫人在房子中间,坐在—只三腿小凳上照料一个小孩。厨师俯身在炉子上的一只人锅里搅拌着,锅里好像盛满了汤。 “汤里的胡椒确实太多了!”爱丽丝费劲儿地对自己说,并不停地打着喷嚏。 空气里的胡椒味也确实太浓了,连公爵夫人也常常打喷嚏。至于那个婴孩,不是打喷嚏就是嚎叫,一刻也不停。这间厨房里只有两个生物不打喷嚏,就是女厨师和一只大猫,那只猫正趴在炉子旁,咧着嘴笑哩。 “请告诉我,”爱丽丝有点胆怯地问,因为她还不十分清楚自己先开口合不合规矩,“为什么你的猫能笑呢?” “它是柴郡猫(郡:英国的行政区域单位,柴郡为一个郡的名称,由于本书影响,现在西方人都把露齿傻笑的人称为柴郡猫。),”公爵夫人说,“这就是为什么它会笑了。猪!” 公爵夫人凶狠地说出的最后的—个字,把爱丽丝吓了一大跳。但是,爱丽丝马上发觉她正在同婴孩说话,而不是对自己说,于是她又鼓起了勇气,继续说: “我还不知道柴郡猫经常笑,实际上,我压根儿不知道猫会笑的。” “它们都会的,”公爵夫人说,“起码大多数都会笑的。” “我连一只都没见过。”爱丽丝非常有礼貌地说,并对这场开始了的谈话感到高兴。 “你知道的太少了,”公爵夫人说,“这是个事实。” 爱丽丝不喜欢这种谈话的口气,想最好换个话题,她正在想话题的时候,女厨师把汤锅从火上端开了,然后立即把她随手能拿着的每件东西扔向公爵夫人和婴孩。火钩子第一个飞来,然后,平底锅、盆子、盘子像暴风雨似地飞来了。公爵夫人根本不理会,甚至打到身上都没反应。而那婴孩早已经拼命地嚎叫了,也不知道这些东西打到了他身上没有。 “喂,当心点!”爱丽丝喊着,吓得心头不住地跳,“哎哟,他那小鼻子完了。”真的,一只特大平底锅紧擦着鼻子飞过,差点就把鼻子削掉了。 “如果每个人都关心自己的事,”公爵夫人嘶哑着嗓子嘟喷着说,“地球就会比现在转得快一些。” “这没好处,”爱丽丝说,她很高兴有个机会显示一下自己的知识,“你想想这会给白天和黑夜带来什么结果呢?要知道地球绕轴转一回要用二十四个钟头。” “说什么?”公爵夫人说,“把她的头砍掉!” 爱丽丝相当不安地瞧了女厨师一眼,看她是不是准备执行这个命令,女厨师正忙着搅汤,好像根本没听到,于是爱丽丝又继续说:“我想是二十四个小时,或许是十二个小时,我……” “唉,别打扰我!”公爵夫人说,“我受不了数字!”她说着照料孩子去了,她哄孩子时唱着一种催睡曲,唱到每句的末尾,都要把孩子猛烈地摇儿下。 “对你的小男孩要粗暴地说话,在他打喷嚏的时候就读他,因为他这样只是为了捣乱,他只不过是在撒娇和卖傻。”合唱(女厨师和小孩也参加):哇!哇!哇! 公爵夫人唱第二段歌时,把婴孩猛烈地扔上扔下,可怜的小家伙没命地嚎哭,所以爱丽丝几乎都听不清唱词了:“我对我的小孩说话严厉,他一打喷嚏我就读他个够味,因为他只要高兴,随时可以欣赏胡椒的味道。”合唱:哇!哇!哇! “来!如果你愿意的话,抱他一会儿!”公爵夫人一边对爱丽丝说,一边就把小孩扔给她,“我要同王后玩链球去了,得准备一下。”说着就急忙地走出了房间。她往外走时,女厨师从后自向她扔了只炸油锅,但是没打着。 爱丽丝费劲儿地抓住那个小孩,因为他是个样子奇特的小生物,他的胳膊和腿向各个方向伸展,“真像只海星,”爱丽丝想,她抓着他时,这可怜的小家伙像蒸汽机样地哼哼着,还把身子一会儿蜷曲起来,一会儿伸开,就这样不停地折腾,搞得爱丽丝在最初的一两分钟里,只能勉强把他抓住。 她刚找到—种拿住他的办法(把他像打结一样团在一起,然后抓紧他的右耳朵和左脚,他就不能伸开了)时,就把他带到屋子外面的露天地方去了。“如果我不把婴孩带走,”爱丽丝想,“她们肯定在一两天里就会把他打死的。把他扔在这里不就害了他吗?”最后一句她说出声来了,那小家伙咕噜了一声作为回答(这段时间他已经不打喷嚏了)。别咕噜,”爱丽丝说,“你这样太不像样子了。” 那婴孩又咕噜了一声,爱丽丝很不安地看了看他的脸,想知道是怎么回事。只见他鼻子朝天,根本不像个常人样,倒像个猪鼻子;他的眼睛也变得很小不像个婴孩了。爱丽丝不喜欢这副模样。“也许他在哭吧,”爱丽丝想。她就看看他的眼睛,有没有眼泪。 没有,一点儿眼泪也没有。“如果你变成了一只猪,”爱丽丝严肃地说,“听着,我可再不理你了!”那可怜的小家伙又抽泣了一声(或者说又咕噜了—声,很难说到底是哪种),然后他们就默默地走了一会儿。 爱丽丝正在想:“我回家可把这小生物怎么办呢?,这时,他又猛烈地咕噜了一声,爱丽丝马上警觉地朝下看他的脸。这次一点儿都不会错了,它完全是只猪。她感到如果再带着它就太可笑了。 于是她把这小生物放下,看着它很快地跑进树林,感到十分轻松。“如果它长大的话,爱丽丝对自己说,“一定会成为可怕的丑孩子,要不就成为个漂亮的猪。”然后,她去一个个想她认识的孩子,看看谁如果变成猪更像样些,她刚想对自己说:“只要有人告诉他们变化的办法……”,这时,那只柴郡猫把她吓了一跳,它正坐在几码远的树枝上。 猫对爱丽丝只是笑,看起来倒是好脾气。爱丽丝想,不过它还是有很长的爪子和许多牙齿,因此还应该对它尊敬点。 “柴郡猫,”她胆怯地说。还不知道它喜欢不喜欢这个名字,可是,它的嘴笑得咧开了。“哦,它很高兴,”爱丽丝想,就继续说了:“请你告诉我,离开这里应该走哪条路?” “这要看你想上哪儿去,”猫说。 “去哪里,我不大在乎。”爱丽丝说。 “那你走哪条路都没关系。”猫说。 “只要.能走到一个地方。”爱丽丝又补充说了一句。 “哦,那行,”猫说,“只要你走得很远的话。” 爱丽丝感到这话是没法反对的,所以她就试着提了另外的一个问题:“这周围住些什么?” “这个方向”猫说着,把右爪子挥了一圈,“住着个帽匠;那个方向,”猫又挥动另一个爪子,“住着一只三月兔。你喜欢访问谁就访问谁,他们俩都是疯子。” “我可不想到疯子中间去。”爱丽丝回答。 “啊,这可没法,”猫说,“我们这儿全都是疯的,我是疯的,你也是疯的。” “你怎么知道我是疯的?”爱丽丝问。 “一定的,”猫说,“不然你就不会到这里来了。” 爱丽丝想这根本不能说明问题,不过她还是继续问:“你又怎么知遏你是疯子呢?” “咱们先打这里说起,”猫说,“狗是不疯的,你同意吗?” “也许是吧!爱丽丝说。 “好,那么,”猫接着说,“你知道,狗生气时就叫,高兴时就摇尾巴,可是我,却是高兴时就叫,生气时就摇尾巴。所以,我是疯子。” “我把这说成是打呼噜,不是叫。”爱丽丝说。 “你怎么说都行,”猫说,“你今天同王后玩槌球吗?” “我很喜欢玩槌球,”爱丽丝说,“可是到现在还没有邀请我嘛!” “你,会在那儿看到我!”猫说着突然消失了。 爱丽丝对这个并不太惊奇,她已经习惯这些不断发生的怪事了。她看着猫坐过的地方,这时,猫又突然出现了。 “顺便问一声,那个婴孩变成什么了?”猫说,“我差一点忘了。” “已经变成一只猪了。”爱丽丝平静地回答说,就好像猫再次出现是正常的。 “我就想它会那样的。”猫说着又消失了。 爱丽丝等了一会,还希望能再看见它,可是它再没出现。于是,她就朝着三月兔住的方向走去。“帽匠那儿,我也要去的。”她对自己说,“三月兔一定非常有趣,现在是五月,也许它不至于太疯——至少不会比三月份疯吧。”就在说这些话时,一抬头又看见那只猫,坐在一根树枝上。 “你刚才说的是猪,还是竹?”猫问。 “我说的是猪,”爱丽丝回答,“我希望你的出现和消失不要太突然,这样,把人搞得头都晕了。” “好,”猫答应着。这次它消失得非常慢,从尾巴尖开始消失,一直到最后看不见它的笑脸,那个笑脸在身体消失后好久,还停留了好一会儿。 “哎哟,我常常看见没有笑脸的猫,”爱丽丝想,“可是还从没见过没有猫的笑脸呢。这是我见过的最奇怪的事儿了。” 她没走多远,就见到了一间房子,她想这一定是三月兔的房子了,因为烟囱像长耳朵,屋顶铺着兔子毛。房子很大,使她不敢走近。她咬了口左手的蘑菇,使自己长到了二英尺高,才胆怯地走去,一边对自己说:“要是它疯得厉害可怎么办?我还不如去看看帽匠呢!” [ 本帖最后由 mayflora 于 2008-3-17 14:51 编辑 ] |
A Mad Tea-PartyThere was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head. `Very uncomfortable for the Dormouse,' thought Alice; `only, as it's asleep, I suppose it doesn't mind.' The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it: `No room! No room!' they cried out when they saw Alice coming. `There's PLENTY of room!' said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table. `Have some wine,' the March Hare said in an encouraging tone. Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea. `I don't see any wine,' she remarked. `There isn't any,' said the March Hare. `Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it,' said Alice angrily. `It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being invited,' said the March Hare. `I didn't know it was YOUR table,' said Alice; `it's laid for a great many more than three.' `Your hair wants cutting,' said the Hatter. He had been looking at Alice for some time with great curiosity, and this was his first speech. `You should learn not to make personal remarks,' Alice said with some severity; `it's very rude.' The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he SAID was, `Why is a raven like a writing-desk?' `Come, we shall have some fun now!' thought Alice. `I'm glad they've begun asking riddles.--I believe I can guess that,' she added aloud. `Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?' said the March Hare. `Exactly so,' said Alice. `Then you should say what you mean,' the March Hare went on. `I do,' Alice hastily replied; `at least--at least I mean what I say--that's the same thing, you know.' `Not the same thing a bit!' said the Hatter. `You might just as well say that "I see what I eat" is the same thing as "I eat what I see"!' `You might just as well say,' added the March Hare, `that "I like what I get" is the same thing as "I get what I like"!' `You might just as well say,' added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, `that "I breathe when I sleep" is the same thing as "I sleep when I breathe"!' `It IS the same thing with you,' said the Hatter, and here the conversation dropped, and the party sat silent for a minute, while Alice thought over all she could remember about ravens and writing-desks, which wasn't much. The Hatter was the first to break the silence. `What day of the month is it?' he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then, and holding it to his ear. Alice considered a little, and then said `The fourth.' `Two days wrong!' sighed the Hatter. `I told you butter wouldn't suit the works!' he added looking angrily at the March Hare. `It was the BEST butter,' the March Hare meekly replied. `Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,' the Hatter grumbled: `you shouldn't have put it in with the bread-knife.' The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily: then he dipped it into his cup of tea, and looked at it again: but he could think of nothing better to say than his first remark, `It was the BEST butter, you know.' Alice had been looking over his shoulder with some curiosity. `What a funny watch!' she remarked. `It tells the day of the month, and doesn't tell what o'clock it is!' `Why should it?' muttered the Hatter. `Does YOUR watch tell you what year it is?' `Of course not,' Alice replied very readily: `but that's because it stays the same year for such a long time together.' `Which is just the case with MINE,' said the Hatter. Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. The Hatter's remark seemed to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English. `I don't quite understand you,' she said, as politely as she could. `The Dormouse is asleep again,' said the Hatter, and he poured a little hot tea upon its nose. The Dormouse shook its head impatiently, and said, without opening its eyes, `Of course, of course; just what I was going to remark myself.' `Have you guessed the riddle yet?' the Hatter said, turning to Alice again. `No, I give it up,' Alice replied: `what's the answer?' `I haven't the slightest idea,' said the Hatter. `Nor I,' said the March Hare. Alice sighed wearily. `I think you might do something better with the time,' she said, `than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers.' `If you knew Time as well as I do,' said the Hatter, `you wouldn't talk about wasting IT. It's HIM.' `I don't know what you mean,' said Alice. `Of course you don't!' the Hatter said, tossing his head contemptuously. `I dare say you never even spoke to Time!' `Perhaps not,' Alice cautiously replied: `but I know I have to beat time when I learn music.' `Ah! that accounts for it,' said the Hatter. `He won't stand beating. Now, if you only kept on good terms with him, he'd do almost anything you liked with the clock. For instance, suppose it were nine o'clock in the morning, just time to begin lessons: you'd only have to whisper a hint to Time, and round goes the clock in a twinkling! Half-past one, time for dinner!' (`I only wish it was,' the March Hare said to itself in a whisper.) `That would be grand, certainly,' said Alice thoughtfully: `but then--I shouldn't be hungry for it, you know.' `Not at first, perhaps,' said the Hatter: `but you could keep it to half-past one as long as you liked.' `Is that the way YOU manage?' Alice asked. The Hatter shook his head mournfully. `Not I!' he replied. `We quarrelled last March--just before HE went mad, you know--' (pointing with his tea spoon at the March Hare,) `--it was at the great concert given by the Queen of Hearts, and I had to sing "Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! How I wonder what you're at!" You know the song, perhaps?' `I've heard something like it,' said Alice. `It goes on, you know,' the Hatter continued, `in this way:-- "Up above the world you fly, Like a tea-tray in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle--"' Here the Dormouse shook itself, and began singing in its sleep `Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle--' and went on so long that they had to pinch it to make it stop. `Well, I'd hardly finished the first verse,' said the Hatter, `when the Queen jumped up and bawled out, "He's murdering the time! Off with his head!"' `How dreadfully savage!' exclaimed Alice. `And ever since that,' the Hatter went on in a mournful tone, `he won't do a thing I ask! It's always six o'clock now.' A bright idea came into Alice's head. `Is that the reason so many tea-things are put out here?' she asked. `Yes, that's it,' said the Hatter with a sigh: `it's always tea-time, and we've no time to wash the things between whiles.' `Then you keep moving round, I suppose?' said Alice. `Exactly so,' said the Hatter: `as the things get used up.' `But what happens when you come to the beginning again?' Alice ventured to ask. `Suppose we change the subject,' the March Hare interrupted, yawning. `I'm getting tired of this. I vote the young lady tells us a story.' `I'm afraid I don't know one,' said Alice, rather alarmed at the proposal. `Then the Dormouse shall!' they both cried. `Wake up, Dormouse!' And they pinched it on both sides at once. The Dormouse slowly opened his eyes. `I wasn't asleep,' he said in a hoarse, feeble voice: `I heard every word you fellows were saying.' `Tell us a story!' said the March Hare. `Yes, please do!' pleaded Alice. `And be quick about it,' added the Hatter, `or you'll be asleep again before it's done.' `Once upon a time there were three little sisters,' the Dormouse began in a great hurry; `and their names were Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie; and they lived at the bottom of a well--' `What did they live on?' said Alice, who always took a great interest in questions of eating and drinking. `They lived on treacle,' said the Dormouse, after thinking a minute or two. `They couldn't have done that, you know,' Alice gently remarked; `they'd have been ill.' `So they were,' said the Dormouse; `VERY ill.' Alice tried to fancy to herself what such an extraordinary ways of living would be like, but it puzzled her too much, so she went on: `But why did they live at the bottom of a well?' `Take some more tea,' the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. `I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone, `so I can't take more.' `You mean you can't take LESS,' said the Hatter: `it's very easy to take MORE than nothing.' `Nobody asked YOUR opinion,' said Alice. `Who's making personal remarks now?' the Hatter asked triumphantly. Alice did not quite know what to say to this: so she helped herself to some tea and bread-and-butter, and then turned to the Dormouse, and repeated her question. `Why did they live at the bottom of a well?' The Dormouse again took a minute or two to think about it, and then said, `It was a treacle-well.' `There's no such thing!' Alice was beginning very angrily, but the Hatter and the March Hare went `Sh! sh!' and the Dormouse sulkily remarked, `If you can't be civil, you'd better finish the story for yourself.' `No, please go on!' Alice said very humbly; `I won't interrupt again. I dare say there may be ONE.' `One, indeed!' said the Dormouse indignantly. However, he consented to go on. `And so these three little sisters--they were learning to draw, you know--' `What did they draw?' said Alice, quite forgetting her promise. `Treacle,' said the Dormouse, without considering at all this time. `I want a clean cup,' interrupted the Hatter: `let's all move one place on.' He moved on as he spoke, and the Dormouse followed him: the March Hare moved into the Dormouse's place, and Alice rather unwillingly took the place of the March Hare. The Hatter was the only one who got any advantage from the change: and Alice was a good deal worse off than before, as the March Hare had just upset the milk-jug into his plate. Alice did not wish to offend the Dormouse again, so she began very cautiously: `But I don't understand. Where did they draw the treacle from?' `You can draw water out of a water-well,' said the Hatter; `so I should think you could draw treacle out of a treacle-well--eh, stupid?' `But they were IN the well,' Alice said to the Dormouse, not choosing to notice this last remark. `Of course they were', said the Dormouse; `--well in.' This answer so confused poor Alice, that she let the Dormouse go on for some time without interrupting it. `They were learning to draw,' the Dormouse went on, yawning and rubbing its eyes, for it was getting very sleepy; `and they drew all manner of things--everything that begins with an M--' `Why with an M?' said Alice. `Why not?' said the March Hare. Alice was silent. The Dormouse had closed its eyes by this time, and was going off into a doze; but, on being pinched by the Hatter, it woke up again with a little shriek, and went on: `--that begins with an M, such as mouse-traps, and the moon, and memory, and muchness-- you know you say things are "much of a muchness"--did you ever see such a thing as a drawing of a muchness?' `Really, now you ask me,' said Alice, very much confused, `I don't think--' `Then you shouldn't talk,' said the Hatter. This piece of rudeness was more than Alice could bear: she got up in great disgust, and walked off; the Dormouse fell asleep instantly, and neither of the others took the least notice of her going, though she looked back once or twice, half hoping that they would call after her: the last time she saw them, they were trying to put the Dormouse into the teapot. `At any rate I'll never go THERE again!' said Alice as she picked her way through the wood. `It's the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in all my life!' Just as she said this, she noticed that one of the trees had a door leading right into it. `That's very curious!' she thought. `But everything's curious today. I think I may as well go in at once.' And in she went. Once more she found herself in the long hall, and close to the little glass table. `Now, I'll manage better this time,' she said to herself, and began by taking the little golden key, and unlocking the door that led into the garden. Then she went to work nibbling at the mushroom (she had kept a piece of it in her pocket) till she was about a foot high: then she walked down the little passage: and THEN--she found herself at last in the beautiful garden, among the bright flower-beds and the cool fountains. 房前的一棵大树下,放着一张桌子。三月兔和帽匠坐在桌旁喝着茶,一只睡鼠在他们中间酣睡着,那两个家伙把它当做垫子,把胳膊支在睡鼠身上,而且就在它的头上谈话。“这睡鼠可够不舒服的了,”爱丽丝想,“不过它睡着了,可能就不在乎了。” 桌子很大,他们三个都挤在桌子的一角,“没地方啦!没地方啦!”他们看见爱丽丝走过来就大声嚷着。 “地方多得很呢!”爱丽丝说着就在桌子一端的大扶手椅上坐下了。 “要喝酒吗?”三月兔热情地问。 爱丽丝扫视了一下桌上,除了茶,什么也没有。“我没看见酒啊!”她回答。 “根本就没酒嘛!”三月兔说。 “那你说喝酒就不太礼貌了。”爱丽丝气愤地说。 “你没受到邀请就坐下来,也是不太礼貌的。”三月兔回敬她。 “我不知道这是你的桌子,”爱丽丝说,“这可以坐下好多人呢?还不止三个!” “你的头发该剪了。”帽匠好奇地看了爱丽丝一会儿,这是他第一次开口。 “你应该学会不随便评论别人,”爱丽丝板着脸说,“这是非常失礼的。” 帽匠睁大眼睛听着,可是末了他说了句:“一只乌鸦为什么会像一张写字台呢?” “好了,现在我们可有有趣的事了!”爱丽丝想,“我很高兴猜谜语,我一定能猜出来,”她大声说。 “你的意思是你能说出答案来吗?”三月兔问, “正是这样。”爱丽丝说。 “那你怎么想就怎么说。”三月兔继续说。 “我正是这样的,”爱丽丝急忙回答,“至少……至少凡是我说的就是我想的——这是一回事,你知道。” “根本不是一回事,”帽匠说,“那么,你说‘凡是我吃的东西我都能看见’和‘凡是我看见的东西我都能吃’,也算是一样的了?”三月兔加了句:“那么说‘凡是我的东西我都喜欢’和‘凡是我喜欢的东西都是我的’,也是一样的喽?” 睡鼠也像在说梦话一样说道:“那么说‘我睡觉时总要呼吸’和‘我呼吸时总在睡觉’也是一样的吗?” “这对你倒真是一个样。”帽匠对睡鼠说。谈到这里话题中断了,大家沉默了一会,这时候爱丽丝费劲儿地想着有关乌鸦和写字台的事,可是她知道的确实不能算多,还是帽匠打破了沉默,“今天是这个月的几号?”他问爱丽丝,一面从衣袋里掏出了一只怀表,不安地看着,还不停地摇晃,拿到耳朵旁听听。 爱丽丝想了想说,“四号。” “错了两天!”帽匠叹气说,“我告诉你不该加奶油的,”他又生气地看着三月兔加了一句。 “这是最好的奶油了!”三月兔辩白地说。 “不错,可是不少面包屑也掉进去了,帽匠咕噜着,“你不应该用面包刀加奶油。” 三月兔泄气地拿起怀表看看,再放到茶杯里泡了一会儿,又拿起来看看,但是除了说“这是最好的奶油了”,再没别的说的了。 爱丽丝好奇地从他肩头上看了看。“多么奇怪的不表啊,”她说,“它告诉几月几日,却不告诉时间。” “为什么要告诉时间呢?”帽匠嘀咕着,“你的表告诉你哪一年吗?” “当然不,”爱丽丝很快地回答说,“可是很长时,里年份不会变的。” “这也跟我的表不报时间的原因一样。”帽匠说。 爱丽丝被弄得莫名其妙,帽匠的话听起来没有任何意思,然而确实是地地道道的英国话。“我不大懂你的话,”她很礼貌地说。 “睡鼠又睡着了,”帽匠说着在睡鼠的鼻子上倒了一点热茶。 睡鼠立即晃了晃头,没睁开眼就说:“当然,当然,我自己正要这么说呢。” “你猜到那个谜语了吗?”帽匠说爱丽丝,“没有,我猜不出来,”爱丽丝回答,“谜底到底是什么呢?” “我也不知道。”帽匠说。 “我也不清楚,”三月兔说, 爱丽丝轻轻叹了一声说,“我认为你应该珍惜点时间,像这样出个没有谜底的谜语,简直是白白浪费宝贵的时间。” “如果你也像我一样对时间熟悉,”帽匠说,“你就不会叫它‘宝贵的时间’,而叫它‘老伙计’了。” “我不懂你的意思。”爱丽丝说。 “你当然不懂,”帽匠得意地晃着头说,“我敢肯定你从来没有同时间说过话。” “也许没有,”爱丽丝小心地回答,“但是我在学音乐的时候,总是按着时间打拍子的。” “唉,这就完了!”帽匠说,“你最不高兴人家按住它打了。如果你同它好,它会让钟表听你的话,譬如说,现在是早上九点钟,正是上学的时间,你只要悄悄地对时间说一声,钟表就会一下子转到一点半,该吃午饭了!” “我真希望这样。”三月兔小声自语道。 “那太棒了!”爱丽丝思索着说,“可是要是我还不饿怎么办呢?” “一开始也可能不饿,”帽匠说,“但是只要你喜欢,你就能把钟表保持在一点半钟。” “你是这样办的吗?”爱丽丝问。 帽匠伤心地摇摇头,“我可不行了,”他回答,“我和时间在三月份吵了架——就是他发疯前(他用茶匙指着三月兔),那是在红心王后举办的一次大音乐会上,我演唱了: ‘闪闪的小蝙蝠,我感到你是多么奇怪!’ 你可能知道这首歌吧?” “我听过一首同它有点像(原来的歌应为“闪闪的小星,你是多么的奇怪……帽匠全唱错了。这首歌现在中国有唱片,有些中小学常常播放。)。”爱丽丝说。 “我知道下面是这样接着的,”帽匠继续说,“是这样的: ‘你飞在地面上多高, 就像茶盘在天空上。 闪啊,闪啊……’” 睡鼠抓了摇身子,在睡梦中开始唱道:“闪啊,闪啊,闪啊,闪啊,”一直唱下去,直到他们捅,了它一下才停止。 “我还没唱完第一段,”帽匠说,“那王后就大喊道“他简直是在糟蹋时间,砍掉他的头!’” “多么残忍呀!”爱丽丝攘道。 帽匠伤心地继续说,“从那以后,它就再也不肯照我的要求做了,它总是停在六点钟。” 爱丽丝的脑子里突然闪过一个聪明的念头,她问:“这就是这儿有这么多茶具的缘故吗?” “是的,就是这个缘故,”帽匠叹息着说,“只有喝茶的时间,连洗茶具的时间也没有了。”, “所以你们就围着桌子转?”爱丽丝问。 “正是这样,”帽匠说,“茶具用脏了,我们就往下挪。” “可是你们转回来以后怎么办呢?”爱丽丝继续间。 “我们换一个话题吧,”三月兔打着哈欠打断了他们的谈话,“我听烦了,建议让小姑娘讲个故事吧。” “恐怕我一个故事都不会讲,”爱丽丝说。她对这个建议有点慌神。 “那么睡鼠应该讲一个!”三月兔和帽匠一齐喊道,“醒醒,睡鼠!”他们立刻在两边一起捅它。 睡鼠慢慢地睁开眼,嘶哑无力地说:“我没有睡,你们说的每一个字我都听着呢。” “给我们讲个故事!”三月兔说。 “就是,请讲一个吧!”爱丽丝恳求着。 “而且要快点讲,要不然你还没讲完又睡着了,”帽匠加了一句。 睡鼠急急忙忙地讲了:“从前有三个小姐妹,她们的名字是:埃尔西、莱斯、蒂尔莉,她们住在一个井底下……” “她们靠吃什么活着呢?”爱丽丝总是最关心吃喝的问题。 “她们靠吃糖浆生活。”睡鼠想了一会儿说。 “你知道,这样是不行的,她们都会生病的。”爱丽丝轻声说。 “正是这样,她们都病了,病得很厉害。”睡鼠说。 爱丽丝尽量地想象这样特殊的生活方式会是什么样子,可是太费脑子了。于是,她又继续问:“她们为什么要住在井底下呢?” “再多喝一点茶吧!”三月兔认真地对爱丽丝说。 “我还一点都没喝呢?因此不能说再多喝一点了!”爱丽丝不高兴地回答。 “你应该说不能再少喝点了,”帽匠说,“比没有喝再多喝一点是最容易不过的了。” “没人来问你!”爱丽丝说。 “现在是谁失礼了?”帽匠得意地问。 这回爱丽丝不知该说什么了,只得自己倒了点茶,拿了点奶油面包,再向睡鼠重复她的问题:“她们为什么要住在井底下呢?”, 睡鼠又想了一会,说:“因为那是一个糖浆井。” “没有这样的井!”爱丽丝认真了。帽匠和三月兔不停地发出“嘘、嘘……”的声音,睡鼠生气地说:“如果你不讲礼貌,那么最好你自己来把故事讲完吧。” “不,请你继续讲吧!”爱丽丝低声恳求着说,“我再不打岔了,也许有那样一个井吧。” “哼,当然有一个!”睡鼠煞有介事地说。又往下讲了:“这三个小姐妹学着去画画。” “她们画什么呢?”爱丽丝忘了自己的保证又问开了。 “糖浆。”睡鼠这次毫不犹豫地回答。 “我想要一只干净茶杯,”帽匠插嘴说,“让我们移动一下位子吧。” 他说着就挪到了下一个位子上,睡鼠跟着挪了,三月兔挪到了睡鼠的位子上,爱丽丝很不情愿地坐到了三月兔的位子上。这次挪动唯一得到好处的是帽匠,爱丽丝的位子比以前差多了,因为三月兔把牛奶罐打翻在位子上了。 爱丽丝不愿再惹睡鼠生气,于是开始小心地说:“可是我不懂,她们从哪里把糖浆取出来的呢?” “你能够从水井里吸水,”帽匠说,你也应该想到从糖浆井里能够吸糖浆了,怎么样,傻瓜?” “但是她们在井里呀!”爱丽丝对睡鼠说。 “当然她们是在井里啦,”睡鼠说,“还在很里面呢。” 这个回答把可怜的爱丽丝难住了,她好大没打搅睡鼠,让它一直讲下去。 “她们学着画画,”睡鼠继续说着,一边打了个哈欠,又揉揉眼睛,已经非常困了,“她们画各种各样的东西,而每件东西都是用‘老’宇开头的。” “为什么用‘老’字开头呢?”爱丽丝问。 “为什么不能呢?”三月兔说。 爱丽丝不吭气了。这时候,睡鼠已经闭上了眼,打起盹来了,但是被帽匠捅了—下,它尖叫着醒来了,继续讲,“用‘老’字开头的东西,例如老鼠笼子,老头儿,还有老多。你常说老多东西,可是你怎么画出这个—老多’来?” “你问我吗?”爱丽丝难住了,说,“我还没想……” “那么你就不应该说话!”帽匠说。 这句话可使爱丽丝无法忍受了,于是她愤愤地站起来走了,睡鼠也立即睡着了。那两个家伙一点也不注意爱丽丝的走掉。爱丽丝还回头看了一两次,指望他们能够留她。后来她看见他们正要把睡鼠塞进茶壶里去。 “不管怎么说,我再也不去那里了,”爱丽丝在树林中找路时说,“这是我见过的最愚蠢的茶会了。” 就在她叨叨咕咕的时候,突然看到一棵树上还有一个门,可以走进去。“真奇怪!”她想,“不过今天的每件事都很奇怪,还是进去看看吧。”想着就走进去了。 她又一次来到那个很长的大厅里了,而且很靠近那只小玻璃桌子。“啊,这是我最好的机会了!”她说着拿起了那个小金钥匙,打开了花园的门,然后轻轻地咬了一门蘑菇(她还留了一小块在口袋里呢),直到缩成大约一英尺高,她就走过了那条小过道。终于进入了美丽的花园,到达了漂亮的花坛和清凉的喷泉中间了。 [ 本帖最后由 mayflora 于 2008-3-17 14:52 编辑 ] |
The Queen's Croquet-Ground A large rose-tree stood near the entrance of the garden: the roses growing on it were white, but there were three gardeners at it, busily painting them red. Alice thought this a very curious thing, and she went nearer to watch them, and just as she came up to them she heard one of them say, `Look out now, Five! Don't go splashing paint over me like that!' `I couldn't help it,' said Five, in a sulky tone; `Seven jogged my elbow.' On which Seven looked up and said, `That's right, Five! Always lay the blame on others!' `YOU'D better not talk!' said Five. `I heard the Queen say only yesterday you deserved to be beheaded!' `What for?' said the one who had spoken first. `That's none of YOUR business, Two!' said Seven. `Yes, it IS his business!' said Five, `and I'll tell him--it was for bringing the cook tulip-roots instead of onions.' Seven flung down his brush, and had just begun `Well, of all the unjust things--' when his eye chanced to fall upon Alice, as she stood watching them, and he checked himself suddenly: the others looked round also, and all of them bowed low. `Would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, `why you are painting those roses?' Five and Seven said nothing, but looked at Two. Two began in a low voice, `Why the fact is, you see, Miss, this here ought to have been a RED rose-tree, and we put a white one in by mistake; and if the Queen was to find it out, we should all have our heads cut off, you know. So you see, Miss, we're doing our best, afore she comes, to--' At this moment Five, who had been anxiously looking across the garden, called out `The Queen! The Queen!' and the three gardeners instantly threw themselves flat upon their faces. There was a sound of many footsteps, and Alice looked round, eager to see the Queen. First came ten soldiers carrying clubs; these were all shaped like the three gardeners, oblong and flat, with their hands and feet at the corners: next the ten courtiers; these were ornamented all over with diamonds, and walked two and two, as the soldiers did. After these came the royal children; there were ten of them, and the little dears came jumping merrily along hand in hand, in couples: they were all ornamented with hearts. Next came the guests, mostly Kings and Queens, and among them Alice recognised the White Rabbit: it was talking in a hurried nervous manner, smiling at everything that was said, and went by without noticing her. Then followed the Knave of Hearts, carrying the King's crown on a crimson velvet cushion; and, last of all this grand procession, came THE KING AND QUEEN OF HEARTS. Alice was rather doubtful whether she ought not to lie down on her face like the three gardeners, but she could not remember ever having heard of such a rule at processions; `and besides, what would be the use of a procession,' thought she, `if people had all to lie down upon their faces, so that they couldn't see it?' So she stood still where she was, and waited. When the procession came opposite to Alice, they all stopped and looked at her, and the Queen said severely `Who is this?' She said it to the Knave of Hearts, who only bowed and smiled in reply. `Idiot!' said the Queen, tossing her head impatiently; and, turning to Alice, she went on, `What's your name, child?' `My name is Alice, so please your Majesty,' said Alice very politely; but she added, to herself, `Why, they're only a pack of cards, after all. I needn't be afraid of them!' `And who are THESE?' said the Queen, pointing to the three gardeners who were lying round the rosetree; for, you see, as they were lying on their faces, and the pattern on their backs was the same as the rest of the pack, she could not tell whether they were gardeners, or soldiers, or courtiers, or three of her own children. `How should I know?' said Alice, surprised at her own courage. `It's no business of MINE.' The Queen turned crimson with fury, and, after glaring at her for a moment like a wild beast, screamed `Off with her head! Off--' `Nonsense!' said Alice, very loudly and decidedly, and the Queen was silent. The King laid his hand upon her arm, and timidly said `Consider, my dear: she is only a child!' The Queen turned angrily away from him, and said to the Knave `Turn them over!' The Knave did so, very carefully, with one foot. `Get up!' said the Queen, in a shrill, loud voice, and the three gardeners instantly jumped up, and began bowing to the King, the Queen, the royal children, and everybody else. `Leave off that!' screamed the Queen. `You make me giddy.' And then, turning to the rose-tree, she went on, `What HAVE you been doing here?' `May it please your Majesty,' said Two, in a very humble tone, going down on one knee as he spoke, `we were trying--' `I see!' said the Queen, who had meanwhile been examining the roses. `Off with their heads!' and the procession moved on, three of the soldiers remaining behind to execute the unfortunate gardeners, who ran to Alice for protection. `You shan't be beheaded!' said Alice, and she put them into a large flower-pot that stood near. The three soldiers wandered about for a minute or two, looking for them, and then quietly marched off after the others. `Are their heads off?' shouted the Queen. `Their heads are gone, if it please your Majesty!' the soldiers shouted in reply. `That's right!' shouted the Queen. `Can you play croquet?' The soldiers were silent, and looked at Alice, as the question was evidently meant for her. `Yes!' shouted Alice. `Come on, then!' roared the Queen, and Alice joined the procession, wondering very much what would happen next. `It's--it's a very fine day!' said a timid voice at her side. She was walking by the White Rabbit, who was peeping anxiously into her face. `Very,' said Alice: `--where's the Duchess?' `Hush! Hush!' said the Rabbit in a low, hurried tone. He looked anxiously over his shoulder as he spoke, and then raised himself upon tiptoe, put his mouth close to her ear, and whispered `She's under sentence of execution.' `What for?' said Alice. `Did you say "What a pity!"?' the Rabbit asked. `No, I didn't,' said Alice: `I don't think it's at all a pity. I said "What for?"' `She boxed the Queen's ears--' the Rabbit began. Alice gave a little scream of laughter. `Oh, hush!' the Rabbit whispered in a frightened tone. `The Queen will hear you! You see, she came rather late, and the Queen said--' `Get to your places!' shouted the Queen in a voice of thunder, and people began running about in all directions, tumbling up against each other; however, they got settled down in a minute or two, and the game began. Alice thought she had never seen such a curious croquet-ground in her life; it was all ridges and furrows; the balls were live hedgehogs, the mallets live flamingoes, and the soldiers had to double themselves up and to stand on their hands and feet, to make the arches. The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo: she succeeded in getting its body tucked away, comfortably enough, under her arm, with its legs hanging down, but generally, just as she had got its neck nicely straightened out, and was going to give the hedgehog a blow with its head, it WOULD twist itself round and look up in her face, with such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out laughing: and when she had got its head down, and was going to begin again, it was very provoking to find that the hedgehog had unrolled itself, and was in the act of crawling away: besides all this, there was generally a ridge or furrow in the way wherever she wanted to send the hedgehog to, and, as the doubled-up soldiers were always getting up and walking off to other parts of the ground, Alice soon came to the conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed. The players all played at once without waiting for turns, quarrelling all the while, and fighting for the hedgehogs; and in a very short time the Queen was in a furious passion, and went stamping about, and shouting `Off with his head!' or `Off with her head!' about once in a minute. Alice began to feel very uneasy: to be sure, she had not as yet had any dispute with the Queen, but she knew that it might happen any minute, `and then,' thought she, `what would become of me? They're dreadfully fond of beheading people here; the great wonder is, that there's any one left alive!' She was looking about for some way of escape, and wondering whether she could get away without being seen, when she noticed a curious appearance in the air: it puzzled her very much at first, but, after watching it a minute or two, she made it out to be a grin, and she said to herself `It's the Cheshire Cat: now I shall have somebody to talk to.' `How are you getting on?' said the Cat, as soon as there was mouth enough for it to speak with. Alice waited till the eyes appeared, and then nodded. `It's no use speaking to it,' she thought, `till its ears have come, or at least one of them.' In another minute the whole head appeared, and then Alice put down her flamingo, and began an account of the game, feeling very glad she had someone to listen to her. The Cat seemed to think that there was enough of it now in sight, and no more of it appeared. `I don't think they play at all fairly,' Alice began, in rather a complaining tone, `and they all quarrel so dreadfully one can't hear oneself speak--and they don't seem to have any rules in particular; at least, if there are, nobody attends to them--and you've no idea how confusing it is all the things being alive; for instance, there's the arch I've got to go through next walking about at the other end of the ground--and I should have croqueted the Queen's hedgehog just now, only it ran away when it saw mine coming!' `How do you like the Queen?' said the Cat in a low voice. `Not at all,' said Alice: `she's so extremely--' Just then she noticed that the Queen was close behind her, listening: so she went on, `--likely to win, that it's hardly worth while finishing the game.' The Queen smiled and passed on. `Who ARE you talking to?' said the King, going up to Alice, and looking at the Cat's head with great curiosity. `It's a friend of mine--a Cheshire Cat,' said Alice: `allow me to introduce it.' `I don't like the look of it at all,' said the King: `however, it may kiss my hand if it likes.' `I'd rather not,' the Cat remarked. `Don't be impertinent,' said the King, `and don't look at me like that!' He got behind Alice as he spoke. `A cat may look at a king,' said Alice. `I've read that in some book, but I don't remember where.' `Well, it must be removed,' said the King very decidedly, and he called the Queen, who was passing at the moment, `My dear! I wish you would have this cat removed!' The Queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. `Off with his head!' she said, without even looking round. `I'll fetch the executioner myself,' said the King eagerly, and he hurried off. Alice thought she might as well go back, and see how the game was going on, as she heard the Queen's voice in the distance, screaming with passion. She had already heard her sentence three of the players to be executed for having missed their turns, and she did not like the look of things at all, as the game was in such confusion that she never knew whether it was her turn or not. So she went in search of her hedgehog. The hedgehog was engaged in a fight with another hedgehog, which seemed to Alice an excellent opportunity for croqueting one of them with the other: the only difficulty was, that her flamingo was gone across to the other side of the garden, where Alice could see it trying in a helpless sort of way to fly up into a tree. By the time she had caught the flamingo and brought it back, the fight was over, and both the hedgehogs were out of sight: `but it doesn't matter much,' thought Alice, `as all the arches are gone from this side of the ground.' So she tucked it away under her arm, that it might not escape again, and went back for a little more conversation with her friend. When she got back to the Cheshire Cat, she was surprised to find quite a large crowd collected round it: there was a dispute going on between the executioner, the King, and the Queen, who were all talking at once, while all the rest were quite silent, and looked very uncomfortable. The moment Alice appeared, she was appealed to by all three to settle the question, and they repeated their arguments to her, though, as they all spoke at once, she found it very hard indeed to make out exactly what they said. The executioner's argument was, that you couldn't cut off a head unless there was a body to cut it off from: that he had never had to do such a thing before, and he wasn't going to begin at HIS time of life. The King's argument was, that anything that had a head could be beheaded, and that you weren't to talk nonsense. The Queen's argument was, that if something wasn't done about it in less than no time she'd have everybody executed, all round. (It was this last remark that had made the whole party look so grave and anxious.) Alice could think of nothing else to say but `It belongs to the Duchess: you'd better ask HER about it.' `She's in prison,' the Queen said to the executioner: `fetch her here.' And the executioner went off like an arrow. The Cat's head began fading away the moment he was gone, and, by the time he had come back with the Dutchess, it had entirely disappeared; so the King and the executioner ran wildly up and down looking for it, while the rest of the party went back to the game. 靠近花园门口有一棵大玫瑰树,花是白色的,三个园丁正忙着把白花染红。爱丽丝觉得很奇怪,走过去想看看。当她正朝他们走过去的时候,其中一个人说:“小心点,老五!别这样把颜料溅到我身上。” “不是我不小心,”老五生气地说,“是老七碰了我的胳膊。” 这时老七抬起头说:“得啦!老五,你老是把责任推给别人。” “你最好别多说了,”老五说,“我昨天刚听王后说,你该受斩头的惩罚!” “为什么?”第一个说话的人问。 “这与你无关,老二!”老七说。 “不,与他有关!”老五说,“我要告诉他——这是由于你没给厨师拿去洋葱,而拿去了郁金香根!” 老七扔掉了手上的刷子说,“哦,说起不公平的事……”他突然看到了爱丽丝,爱丽丝正站着注视他们呢。他随即不说了,那两个也回过头来看。然后三人都深深地鞠了一躬。 “请你们告诉我,”爱丽丝胆怯地说,“为什么染玫瑰花呢?” 老五和老七都望着老二,老二低声说:“哦,小姐,你知道,这里应该种红玫瑰的,我们弄错了,种了白玫瑰,如果王后发现,我们全都得被杀头。小姐,你看,我们正在尽最大努力,要在王后驾临前,把……”就在这时,一直在焦虑地张望的老五,突然喊道:“王后!王后!”这三个园丁立即脸朝下地趴下了。这时传来了许多脚步声,爱丽丝好奇地审视着,想看看王后。 首先,来了十个手拿狼牙棒的士兵,他们的样子全都和三个园丁一样,都是长方形的平板,手和脚长在板的四角上。接着来了十名侍臣,这些人全都用钻石装饰着,像那些士兵一样,两个两个并排着走。侍臣的后面是王室的孩子们,这些可爱的小家伙,一对对手拉着手愉快地跳着跑来了,他们全都用红心(红心和侍臣的钻石,士兵的狼牙棒,是纸牌中的三种花色。即:红桃、方块、草花,英文原意为红心、钻石、棒子。)装饰着。后面是宾客,大多数宾客也是国王和王后。在那些宾客中,爱丽丝认出了那只白兔,它正慌忙而神经质地说着话,对别人说的话都点头微笑,却没注意到爱丽丝。接着,是个红心武士,双手托着放在紫红色垫子上的王冠。这庞大的队伍之后,才是红心国王和王后。 爱丽丝不知道该不该像那三个园丁那样,脸朝地的趴下,她根本不记得王室行列经过时,还有这么一个规矩。“人们都脸朝下趴着,谁来看呢?这样,这个行列有什么用呢?”也这样想着,仍站在那里,等着瞧。 队伍走到爱丽丝面前时,全都停下来注视着她。王后严厉地问红心武上:“这是谁呀!”红心武士只是用鞠躬和微笑作为回答。 “傻瓜!”王后不耐烦地摇摇头说,然后向爱丽丝问道:“你叫什么名字?小孩?” “我叫爱丽丝,陛下。”爱丽丝很有礼貌地说,可她又自己嘀咕了句:“哼!说来说去,他们只不过是一副纸牌,用不着怕他们!” “他们是谁呢?”皇后指着三个园丁问。那三个园丁围着一株玫瑰趴着,背上的图案同这副纸牌的其他成员一样,看不出这三个是园丁呢?还是士兵、侍臣,或者是她自己的三个孩子了。 “我怎么知道呢?这不干我的事!”爱丽丝回答,连她自己都对自己的勇气感到惊奇。 王后的脸气红了,两眼像野兽样瞪了爱丽丝一会儿,然后尖声叫道:“砍掉她的头!砍掉……” “废话!”爱丽丝干脆大声说。而王后却不说话了。 国王用手拉了下王后的胳膊,小声地说:“冷静点,我亲爱的,她还只是个孩子啊!” 王后生气地从国王身边转身走开了,并对武士说:“把他们翻过来。” 武士用脚小心地把他们三个翻了过来。 “起来!”王后尖声叫道。那三个园丁赶紧爬起来,开始向国王、王后、王室的孩子们以及每个人一一鞠躬。 “停下来!”王后尖叫着,“把我的头都弄晕了!”她转身向着那株玫瑰继续问:“你们在于什么?” “陛下,愿你开恩,”老二低声下气地跪下一条腿说,“我们正想……” “我明白了!砍掉他们的头!,王后察看了一阵玫瑰花后说。队伍又继续前进了,留下三个士兵来处死这三个不幸的园丁。三个园丁急忙跑向爱韶丝,想得到她的保护。 “你们不会被砍头的!”爱丽丝说着就把他们藏进旁边的一个大花盆里。那三个士兵到处找,几分钟后还没找到,只得悄悄地去追赶自己的队伍了。 “把他们的头砍掉没有?”王后怒吼道。 “他们的头已经掉了,陛下!”士兵大声回答, “好极了!”王后说,“你会玩槌球吗?” 士兵们都看着爱丽丝,这个问题显然是问爱丽丝的。 “会!”爱丽丝大声回答。 “那就过来!”王后喊道。于是爱丽丝就加入了这个队伍,她心里盘算着以后会发生什么事情呢? “这……这真是一个好天气呵!”爱丽丝身旁一个胆怯的声音说。原来爱丽丝恰巧走在白兔的旁边,白兔正焦急地偷愉看着她的脸呢。 “是个好天气,”爱丽丝说,“公爵夫人在哪里呢?” “嘘!嘘!”兔子急忙低声制止她,同时还担心地转过头向王后看看,然后踮起脚尖把嘴凑到爱丽丝的耳朵根上,悄悄地说:“她被判处了死刑。” “为什么呢?”爱丽丝问。 “你是说真可怜吗?”兔子问。 “不,不是,”爱丽丝问,“我没想可怜不可怜的问题,我是说为什么?” “她打了王后耳光……”兔子说。爱丽丝笑出声来了。“嘘!”兔子害怕地低声说,“王后会听到的!你知道,公爵夫人来晚了,王后说……” “各就各位!”王后雷鸣般地喊了一声,人们就朝各个方向跑开了,撞来撞去的,一两分钟后总算都站好了自己的位置。于是游戏开始了。 爱丽丝想,可还从来没见过这样奇怪的槌球游戏呢?球场到处都是坎坷不平的,槌球是活刺猬,槌球棒是活红鹤(红鹤:Phoenicopterus科,趾间有蹼,因种不同羽色各异,有红、灰等色。虽称红鹤,但与鹤科Gruidae无关。中国无此鸟。),士兵们手脚着地当球门。 起初,爱丽丝很难摆弄红鹤,后来总算很成功地把红鹤的身子舒服地夹在胳膊底下,红鹤的腿垂在下面。可是,当她好不容易把红鹤的脖子弄直,准备用它的头去打那个刺猬时,红鹤却把脖子扭上来,用奇怪的表情看着爱丽丝的脸,惹得爱丽丝大声笑了。她只得把红鹤的头按下去,当她准备再一次打球的时候,恼火地发现刺猬已经展开了身子爬走了。此外,把刺猬球打过去的路上总有一些土坎或小沟,躬腰做球门的士兵常常站起来走到球场的其它地方去。爱丽丝不久就得出结论:这确实是一个非常困难的游戏。 参加游戏的人没等轮到自己,就一起打起球来了,不时地为了刺猬争吵和打架。不一会,王后就大发雷霆,跺着脚来回地走,大约一分钟叫喊一次:“砍掉他的头!”“砍掉她的头!” 爱丽丝感到非常不安,说真的她还没有同王后发生争吵,可是这是每分钟都可能发生的呀!“如果吵架的话,”她想,“我会怎么样呢?这儿的人太喜欢砍头了!可是很奇怪,现在还有人活着。” 爱丽丝就寻找逃走的路,而且还想不被人发现的逃开。这时,她注意到天空出现了一个怪东西,起初她惊奇极了,看了一两分钟后,她判断出这是一个笑容,并对自己说:“这是柴郡猫,现在我可有人说话了。” “你好吗?”柴郡猫刚出现了能说话的嘴就问。 爱丽丝等到它的眼睛也出现了,才点点头。“现在跟它说话没用处,”她想,“应该等它的两只耳朵也来了,至少来,了一只,再说话。”过了一两分钟,整个头出现了,爱丽丝才放下红鹤,给它讲打槌球的情况。她对于有人听她说话非常高兴。那只猫似乎认为出现的部分已经够了,就没有显露出身子。 “他们玩得不公平,”爱丽丝抱怨地说,“他们吵得太厉害了,弄得人家连自己说的话都听不清了。而且他们好像没有一定的规则,就算有的话,也没人遵守。还有,你简直想象不到,所有的东西都是活的。真讨厌。譬如说,我马上就要把球打进球门,而那个球门却散步去了;再加我正要用自己的球碰王后的刺猾球,哼,它一见我的球来撒腿就跑掉啦!” “你喜欢王后吗?”猫轻声说。 “一点都不喜欢,”爱丽丝说,“她非常……”正说到这里,她突然发觉王后就在她身后听呢?于是她马上改口说:“非常会玩椒球,别人简直不必要再同她比下去了。” 王后微笑着走开了。 “你在跟谁说话?”国王走来问爱丽丝,还很奇怪地看着那个猫头。 “请允许我介绍,这是我的朋友——柴郡猫。”爱丽丝说。 “我一点也不喜欢它的模样,不过,如果它愿意的话,可以吻我的手。”国王说。 “我不愿意。”猫回答。 “不要失礼!”国王说,“别这样看我了!”他一边说一边躲到爱丽丝的身后。 “猫是可以看国王的,我在一本书上见过这句话,不过不记得是哪本书了。”爱丽丝说。 “喂,必须把这只猫弄走!”国王坚决地说,接着就向刚来的王后喊道:“我亲爱的,我希望你来把这只猫弄走。” 王后解决各种困难的办法只有一种:“砍掉它的头!”她看也不看一下就这样说。 “我亲自去找刽子手。”国王殷勤地说着,急急忙忙走了。 爱丽丝听到王后在远处尖声吼叫,想起该去看看游戏进行得怎样了。爱丽丝已经听到王后又宣判了三个人死刑,原因是轮到他们打球而没有马上打。爱丽丝很不喜欢这个场面,整个游戏都是乱糟糟的,弄得她根本不知道什么时候轮到,什么时候不轮到。因此她就走了,找她的刺猬去了。 她的刺猬正同另一只刺猬打架,爱丽丝认为这真是用一只刺猬球去打中另一个刺猬球的好机会,可是她的红鹤却跑掉了,爱丽丝看到它正在花园的那边,在徒劳地向树上飞。 等她捉住红鹤回来,正在打架的两只刺猬都跑得无影无踪了。爱丽丝想:“这没多大关系,因为这里的球门都跑掉了。”为了不让红鹤再逃跑,爱丽丝把它夹在胳膊下,又跑回去想同她的朋友多谈一会儿。 爱丽丝走回柴郡猫那儿时,惊奇地看到一大群人围着它,刽子手、国王、王后正在激烈地辩论。他们同时说话,而旁边的人都静悄悄地呆着,看上去十分不安。 爱丽丝刚到,这三个人就立即让她作裁判,他们争先恐后地同时向她重复自己的理由,爱丽丝很难听清楚他们说的是什么。 刽子手的理由是:除非有身子,才能从身上砍头,光是一个头是没法砍掉的。他说他从来没做过这种事,这辈子也不打算做这样的事了。 国王的理由是:只要有头,就能砍,你刽子手执行就行了,少说废话。王后的理由是:谁不立即执行她的命令,她就要把每个人的头都砍掉,周围的人的头也都砍掉(正是她最后这句话,使这些人都吓得要命)。 爱丽丝想不出什么办法,只是说:“这猫是公爵夫人的,你们最好去问她。” “她在监狱里,”王后对刽子手说,“把她带来!”刽子手好像离弦的箭似的跑去了。 就在刽子手走去的一刹那,猫头开始消失,刽子手带着公爵夫人来到时,猫头完全没有了。国王和刽子手就发疯似地跑来跑去到处找,而其他人又回去玩槌球了。 [ 本帖最后由 mayflora 于 2008-3-17 14:52 编辑 ] |
[ 本帖最后由 mayflora 于 2008-3-17 14:53 编辑 ] |
[ 本帖最后由 mayflora 于 2008-3-17 14:52 编辑 ] |
CHAPTER XI Who Stole the Tarts? The judge, by the way, was the King; and as he wore his crown over the wig, (look at the frontispiece if you want to see how he did it,) he did not look at all comfortable, and it was certainly not becoming. `And that's the jury-box,' thought Alice, `and those twelve creatures,' (she was obliged to say `creatures,' you see, because some of them were animals, and some were birds,) `I suppose they are the jurors.' She said this last word two or three times over to herself, being rather proud of it: for she thought, and rightly too, that very few little girls of her age knew the meaning of it at all. However, `jury-men' would have done just as well. The twelve jurors were all writing very busily on slates. `What are they doing?' Alice whispered to the Gryphon. `They can't have anything to put down yet, before the trial's begun.' `They're putting down their names,' the Gryphon whispered in reply, `for fear they should forget them before the end of the trial.' `Stupid things!' Alice began in a loud, indignant voice, but she stopped hastily, for the White Rabbit cried out, `Silence in the court!' and the King put on his spectacles and looked anxiously round, to make out who was talking. Alice could see, as well as if she were looking over their shoulders, that all the jurors were writing down `stupid things!' on their slates, and she could even make out that one of them didn't know how to spell `stupid,' and that he had to ask his neighbour to tell him. `A nice muddle their slates'll be in before the trial's over!' thought Alice. One of the jurors had a pencil that squeaked. This of course, Alice could not stand, and she went round the court and got behind him, and very soon found an opportunity of taking it away. She did it so quickly that the poor little juror (it was Bill, the Lizard) could not make out at all what had become of it; so, after hunting all about for it, he was obliged to write with one finger for the rest of the day; and this was of very little use, as it left no mark on the slate. `Herald, read the accusation!' said the King. On this the White Rabbit blew three blasts on the trumpet, and then unrolled the parchment scroll, and read as follows:-- `The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, All on a summer day: The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts, And took them quite away!' `Consider your verdict,' the King said to the jury. `Not yet, not yet!' the Rabbit hastily interrupted. `There's a great deal to come before that!' `Call the first witness,' said the King; and the White Rabbit blew three blasts on the trumpet, and called out, `First witness!' The first witness was the Hatter. He came in with a teacup in one hand and a piece of bread-and-butter in the other. `I beg pardon, your Majesty,' he began, `for bringing these in: but I hadn't quite finished my tea when I was sent for.' `You ought to have finished,' said the King. `When did youbegin?' The Hatter looked at the March Hare, who had followed him into the court, arm-in-arm with the Dormouse. `Fourteenth of March, I think it was,' he said. `Fifteenth,' said the March Hare. `Sixteenth,' added the Dormouse. `Write that down,' the King said to the jury, and the jury eagerly wrote down all three dates on their slates, and then added them up, and reduced the answer to shillings and pence. `Take off your hat,' the King said to the Hatter. `It isn't mine,' said the Hatter. `Stolen!' the King exclaimed, turning to the jury, who instantly made a memorandum of the fact. `I keep them to sell,' the Hatter added as an explanation;`I've none of my own. I'm a hatter.' Here the Queen put on her spectacles, and began staring at theHatter, who turned pale and fidgeted. `Give your evidence,' said the King; `and don't be nervous, orI'll have you executed on the spot.' This did not seem to encourage the witness at all: he keptshifting from one foot to the other, looking uneasily at theQueen, and in his confusion he bit a large piece out of his teacup instead of the bread-and-butter. Just at this moment Alice felt a very curious sensation, which puzzled her a good deal until she made out what it was: she was beginning to grow larger again, and she thought at first she would get up and leave the court; but on second thoughts she decided to remain where she was as long as there was room for her. `I wish you wouldn't squeeze so.' said the Dormouse, who was sitting next to her. `I can hardly breathe.' `I can't help it,' said Alice very meekly: `I'm growing.' `You've no right to grow here,' said the Dormouse. `Don't talk nonsense,' said Alice more boldly: `you know you're growing too.' `Yes, but I grow at a reasonable pace,' said the Dormouse:`not in that ridiculous fashion.' And he got up very sulkily and crossed over to the other side of the court. All this time the Queen had never left off staring at the Hatter, and, just as the Dormouse crossed the court, she said to one of the officers of the court, `Bring me the list of the singers in the last concert!' on which the wretched Hatter trembled so, that he shook both his shoes off. `Give your evidence,' the King repeated angrily, `or I'll have you executed, whether you're nervous or not.' `I'm a poor man, your Majesty,' the Hatter began, in a trembling voice, `--and I hadn't begun my tea--not above a week or so--and what with the bread-and-butter getting so thin--and the twinkling of the tea--' `The twinkling of the what?' said the King. `It began with the tea,' the Hatter replied. `Of course twinkling begins with a T!' said the King sharply. `Do you take me for a dunce? Go on!' `I'm a poor man,' the Hatter went on, `and most thingstwinkled after that--only the March Hare said--' `I didn't!' the March Hare interrupted in a great hurry. `You did!' said the Hatter. `I deny it!' said the March Hare. `He denies it,' said the King: `leave out that part.' `Well, at any rate, the Dormouse said--' the Hatter went on,looking anxiously round to see if he would deny it too: but the Dormouse denied nothing, being fast asleep. `After that,' continued the Hatter, `I cut some more bread- and-butter--' `But what did the Dormouse say?' one of the jury asked. `That I can't remember,' said the Hatter. `You MUST remember,' remarked the King, `or I'll have you executed.' The miserable Hatter dropped his teacup and bread-and-butter, and went down on one knee. `I'm a poor man, your Majesty,' he began. `You're a very poor speaker,' said the King. Here one of the guinea-pigs cheered, and was immediately suppressed by the officers of the court. (As that is rather a hard word, I will just explain to you how it was done. They had a large canvas bag, which tied up at the mouth with strings: into this they slipped the guinea-pig, head first, and then sat upon it.) `I'm glad I've seen that done,' thought Alice. `I've so often read in the newspapers, at the end of trials, "There was some attempts at applause, which was immediately suppressed by the officers of the court," and I never understood what it meant till now.' `If that's all you know about it, you may stand down,' continued the King. `I can't go no lower,' said the Hatter: `I'm on the floor, as it is.' `Then you may SIT down,' the King replied. Here the other guinea-pig cheered, and was suppressed. `Come, that finished the guinea-pigs!' thought Alice. `Now we shall get on better.' `I'd rather finish my tea,' said the Hatter, with an anxious look at the Queen, who was reading the list of singers. `You may go,' said the King, and the Hatter hurriedly left the court, without even waiting to put his shoes on. `--and just take his head off outside,' the Queen added to one of the officers: but the Hatter was out of sight before the officer could get to the door. `Call the next witness!' said the King. The next witness was the Duchess's cook. She carried the pepper-box in her hand, and Alice guessed who it was, even before she got into the court, by the way the people near the door began sneezing all at once. `Give your evidence,' said the King. `Shan't,' said the cook. The King looked anxiously at the White Rabbit, who said in a low voice, `Your Majesty must cross-examine THIS witness.' `Well, if I must, I must,' the King said, with a melancholy air, and, after folding his arms and frowning at the cook till his eyes were nearly out of sight, he said in a deep voice, `What are tarts made of?' `Pepper, mostly,' said the cook. `Treacle,' said a sleepy voice behind her. `Collar that Dormouse,' the Queen shrieked out. `Behead that Dormouse! Turn that Dormouse out of court! Suppress him! Pinch him! Off with his whiskers!' For some minutes the whole court was in confusion, getting the Dormouse turned out, and, by the time they had settled down again, the cook had disappeared. `Never mind!' said the King, with an air of great relief. `Call the next witness.' And he added in an undertone to the Queen, `Really, my dear, YOU must cross-examine the next witness. It quite makes my forehead ache!' Alice watched the White Rabbit as he fumbled over the list, feeling very curious to see what the next witness would be like, `--for they haven't got much evidence YET,' she said to herself. Imagine her surprise, when the White Rabbit read out, at the top of his shrill little voice, the name `Alice!' 第十一章谁偷走了馅饼 爱丽丝还没有到过法庭,只在书上读到过。她很高兴的是对这里的一切都能说得上。“那是法官,”她对自己说,“因为他有假发。” 该说一下,那位法官就是国王。由于他在假发上又戴上王冠,看起来很不顺眼,而且肯定也不会舒服的。 “那是陪审员席,”爱丽丝心想,“那十二个动物”(她不得不称之为“动物”,因为有的是兽类,有的是鸟类),“该是陪审员了。”这最后一句,她对自己说了两三遍,觉得挺自豪的。因为她想,几乎没有像她那样年龄的女孩,会懂得这么多的。即使说“法律审查员”她们也不会懂的。 十二位陪审员全都在纸板上忙着写什么。“他们在干什么?”爱丽丝对鹰头狮低声说,“在审判开始前,他们不会有任何事情要记录的,” 鹰头狮低声回答:“他们在记下姓名,怕在审判结束前忘掉。” “蠢家伙!”爱丽丝不满地高声说,但她立刻就不说话了,因为白兔喊着:“法庭肃静。”这时,国王戴上了眼镜,迅速地扫视了四周,想找出谁在说瓜。 爱丽丝就像趴在陪审员肩头上看到的那样清楚,看到所有的陪审员都在纸板上写下了“蠢家伙”。她甚至还看到有个陪审员不会写“蠢”字,要求邻座的告诉他。“不到审判结束,他们的纸板准会写得一塌糊涂!”爱丽丝想。 有一名陪审员在书写时发出刺耳的市音,爱丽丝当然经受不住了,于是,她在法庭里转了一圈,到他的背后,找了个机会—下子夺走了那支铅笔。她干得很利索,那个可怜的小陪审员(它就是壁虎比尔)根本不知道发生了什么事。当它到处找不到自己的铅笔后,就只能用手指头来书写了。这当然毫无用处,因为手指在纸板上留不下任何痕迹。 “传令官,宣读起诉书。”国王宣布说。 白兔在喇叭上吹了三下,然后摊开那卷羊皮纸,宣读如下: “红心王后做了馅饼, 夏日的白天竟发生这样的事情: 红心武士偷走了馅饼, 全都带走匆忙离境!” “请考虑你们的评审意见。”国王对陪审员说。 “不行,还不行!”兔子赶快插话说,“还有好些过程呢!” 于是,国王说:“传第一个作证人。”白兔在喇叭上吹了三下,喊道:“传第一个证人!” 第一个证人就是那位帽匠。他进来时,一手拿着一只茶杯,一手拿着一片奶油面包。他说:“陛下,请原谅我带这些来,因为我还没吃完茶点就被传来了。” “你应该吃完的。你什么时候开始吃的?”国王间。 帽匠看了看三月兔——三月兔是同睡鼠手挽着手跟着他进来的——说:“我想是三月十四日开始吃的。” “是十五日。”三月兔说。 “十六日。”睡鼠补充说。 “记下来。”国王对陪审员说,陪审员急忙在纸板上写下了这三个日期,然后把它们加起来,再把半数折算成先令和便士。 “摘掉你的帽子!”国王对帽匠说。 “那不是我的。”帽匠说。 “偷的!”国王叫了起来,并看了看陪审员。陪审员立即记下,作为事实备忘录。 “我拿帽子来卖的,我是个帽匠,没有一顶帽子属于我的。”帽匠解释道。 这时,王后戴上了眼镜,使劲儿盯着帽匠,只见帽匠脸色发白,局促不安。 “拿出证据来,”国王说,“并且不得紧张,否则,我就把你拿到场上处决。” 这些话根本没有鼓励作证人。他不断地把两脚交替着站,不自在地看着王后,而且由于心里慌乱,竟在茶杯上咬了一大口,而不是去吃奶油面包。 正在这时,爱丽丝有一种奇怪的感觉,她迷惑了好一会,后来才慢慢地搞清楚,原来她又在长大了,起初,她想站起来走出法庭,但转眼间她又决定留下了,只要这里还有她容身的余地。 “我希望你不要挤我,我透不过气来了。”坐在爱丽丝旁边的睡鼠说。 “我作不了主呀,你看我还在长呢!”爱丽丝非常温和地说。 “在这里你没有权利长呀!”睡鼠说。 “别说废话了,你自己也在长呀!”爱丽丝大胆地说。 “是的,但是我是合理地生长,不是长成可笑的样子,”睡鼠说着,不高兴地站了起来,转到法庭的另一边去了。 在爱丽丝和睡鼠说话的时候,王后的眼睛始终盯着帽匠,当睡鼠转到法庭的那边,她就对一位官员说:“把上次音乐会上唱歌人的名单给我,”听到这话,这个可怜的帽匠吓得发抖,甚至把两只鞋子也抖了下来。 “拿出证据来,否则,我就处决你,不管你紧张不紧张!”国王愤怒地重复了一遍。 “我是个穷人,陛下,”帽匠颤抖着说,“我只是刚刚开始吃茶点……没有超过一星期……再说为什么奶油面包变得这么薄呢……还有茶会闪光……” “什么闪光?”国王问。 “我说茶。”帽匠回答。 “哦,擦,当然,擦火柴是闪光的。你以为我是笨蛋吗?接着说!”国王尖锐地指出。 “我是个穷人,”帽匠继续说,“从那以后,大部分东西都闪光了……只有三月兔说……” 三月兔赶快插嘴:“我没说过。” “你说了。”彻匠说。 “我没说。”三月兔说。 “它既然不承认,就谈点别的吧!”国王说。 “好,无论如何,那就睡鼠来说……”说到这否认。然而睡鼠什么也没说,它睡得正香呢。 “从那以后,我切了更多的奶油面包……”帽匠继续说。 “但是睡鼠说了什么?”一位陪审员问。 “这个我记不得了。”帽匠说。 “你必须记得,否则我就处决你。”国王说。 那个可怜的帽匠丢掉了茶杯、奶油面包,单膝跪下说,“我是个可怜人,陛下。” “你是个可怜的狡辩者。”国王说。 这时,一只豚鼠突然喝起彩来,但立即被法庭上的官员制止了。(所谓制止,实在很难说,我只能向你说说是怎么回事。他们用一只大帆布袋,把那只胆鼠头朝里塞进去,用绳扎上了袋口,然后他们坐在袋上。) 爱丽丝心里想:“我很高兴能看到了这回事。我常常在报上看到,说审判结束时“出现了喝彩声,当即被法庭上的官员所制止。’直到现在我才明白是怎么回事。” “如果你再没有别的补充,你可以退下去了。”国王宣布说。 “我已经没法再退了,我已经是站在地板上的了。”帽匠说。 “那么你可以坐下。”国王说。 这时,又一只豚鼠喝起彩来,又被制止了。 爱丽丝心里想:“嗳,他们这样收拾豚鼠!实在应该文明一些。” “我还得喝完这杯茶。”帽匠说着,不安地看着王后,而王后正在看唱歌人的名单。 “你可以走了。”国王一说,帽匠立即跑出法庭。甚至顾不上去穿他的鞋。 这进,王后吩咐一位官员说:“立即将那帽匠在庭外斩首。”可是官员追到大门口,帽匠已经无影无踪了。 “传下一个作证人!”国王吩咐。 下一个作证人是公爵夫人的厨师。她手里带着胡椒盒,一走进法庭,就使靠近她的人不停地打喷嚏,这使爱丽丝一下就猜出是谁了。 “提供你的证据。”国王吩咐。 “我不能提供。”厨师回答。 国王着急地看了看白兔,白兔低声说:“陛下必须反复质询这个证人。” “好,如果必须这样,我必定这样做。”国王带着优郁的神态说。然后他交叉着双臂,对厨师蹙着眉,直到视野模糊了,才用深沉的声音说:“馅饼是用什么做的?” “大部分是胡椒,”厨师说, “糖浆。”一个困倦的声音从厨师后面传来。 “掐住那个睡鼠的脖子,”王后尖叫起来,“把它斩首,把它撵出法庭,制止它,掐死它,拔掉它的络腮胡子!” 整个法庭完全混乱了好几分钟。把睡鼠赶出去以后,大家才再次坐下来,这时厨师失踪了。 “没关系!”国王坦然地说,“传下一个作证人。”然后他对王后耳语说:“真的,亲爱的,下一个作证人必须你来审讯了,我已经头疼得无法忍受了。” 爱丽丝看到白兔摆弄着名单,非常好奇,想看看下一个作证人是谁。她想:“恐怕他们还没有收集到足够的证据。”使她大吃一惊的是:当白兔用刺耳的嗓音尖叫出来时,竟是“爱丽丝!” [ 本帖最后由 mayflora 于 2008-3-17 14:55 编辑 ] |
Alice's Evidence `Here!' cried Alice, quite forgetting in the flurry of the moment how large she had grown in the last few minutes, and she jumped up in such a hurry that she tipped over the jury-box with the edge of her skirt, upsetting all the jurymen on to the heads of the crowd below, and there they lay sprawling about, reminding her very much of a globe of goldfish she had accidentally upset the week before. `Oh, I BEG your pardon!' she exclaimed in a tone of great dismay, and began picking them up again as quickly as she could, for the accident of the goldfish kept running in her head, and she had a vague sort of idea that they must be collected at once and put back into the jury-box, or they would die. `The trial cannot proceed,' said the King in a very grave voice, `until all the jurymen are back in their proper places-- ALL,' he repeated with great emphasis, looking hard at Alice as he said do. Alice looked at the jury-box, and saw that, in her haste, she had put the Lizard in head downwards, and the poor little thing was waving its tail about in a melancholy way, being quite unable to move. She soon got it out again, and put it right; `not that it signifies much,' she said to herself; `I should think it would be QUITE as much use in the trial one way up as the other.' As soon as the jury had a little recovered fro m the shock of being upset, and their slates and pencils had been found and handed back to them, they set to work very diligently to write out a history of the accident, all except the Lizard, who seemed too much overcome to do anything but sit with its mouth open, gazing up into the roof of the court. `What do you know about this business?' the King said to Alice. `Nothing,' said Alice. `Nothing WHATEVER?' persisted the King. `Nothing whatever,' said Alice. `That's very important,' the King said, turning to the jury. They were just beginning to write this down on their slates, when the White Rabbit interrupted: `UNimportant, your Majesty means, of course,' he said in a very respectful tone, but frowning and making faces at him as he spoke. `UNimportant, of course, I meant,' the King hastily said, and went on to himself in an undertone, `important--unimportant-- unimportant--important--' as if he were trying which word sounded best. Some of the jury wrote it down `important,' and some `unimportant.' Alice could see this, as she was near enough to look over their slates; `but it doesn't matter a bit,' she thought to herself. At this moment the King, who had been for some time busily writing in his note-book, cackled out `Silence!' and read out from his book, `Rule Forty-two. ALL PERSONS MORE THAN A MILE HIGH TO LEAVE THE COURT.' Everybody looked at Alice. `I'M not a mile high,' said Alice. `You are,' said the King. `Nearly two miles high,' added the Queen. `Well, I shan't go, at any rate,' said Alice: `besides, that's not a regular rule: you invented it just now.' `It's the oldest rule in the book,' said the King. `Then it ought to be Number One,' said Alice. The King turned pale, and shut his note-book hastily. `Consider your verdict,' he said to the jury, in a low, trembling voice. `There's more evidence to come yet, please your Majesty,' saidthe White Rabbit, jumping up in a great hurry; `this paper has just been picked up.' `What's in it?' said the Queen. `I haven't opened it yet,' said the White Rabbit, `but it seems to be a letter, written by the prisoner to--to somebody.' `It must have been that,' said the King, `unless it was written to nobody, which isn't usual, you know.' `Who is it directed to?' said one of the jurymen. `It isn't directed at all,' said the White Rabbit; `in fact, there's nothing written on the OUTSIDE.' He unfolded the paper as he spoke, and added `It isn't a letter, after all: it's a set of verses.' `Are they in the prisoner's handwriting?' asked another of they jurymen. `No, they're not,' said the White Rabbit, `and that's the queerest thing about it.' (The jury all looked puzzled.) `He must have imitated somebody else's hand,' said the King. (The jury all brightened up again.) `Please your Majesty,' said the Knave, `I didn't write it, and they can't prove I did: there's no name signed at the end.' `If you didn't sign it,' said the King, `that only makes the matter worse. You MUST have meant some mischief, or else you'd have signed your name like an honest man.' There was a general clapping of hands at this: it was the first really clever thing the King had said that day. `That PROVES his guilt,' said the Queen. `It proves nothing of the sort!' said Alice. `Why, you don't even know what they're about!' `Read them,' said the King. The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. `Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?' he asked. `Begin at the beginning,' the King said gravely, `and go on till you come to the end: then stop.' These were the verses the White Rabbit read:-- `They told me you had been to her, And mentioned me to him: She gave me a good character, But said I could not swim. He sent them word I had not gone (We know it to be true): If she should push the matter on, What would become of you? I gave her one, they gave him two, You gave us three or more; They all returned from him to you, Though they were mine before. If I or she should chance to be Involved in this affair, He trusts to you to set them free, Exactly as we were. My notion was that you had been (Before she had this fit) An obstacle that came between Him, and ourselves, and it. Don't let him know she liked them best, For this must ever be A secret, kept from all the rest, Between yourself and me.' `That's the most important piece of evidence we've heard yet,' said the King, rubbing his hands; `so now let the jury--' `If any one of them can explain it,' said Alice, (she had grown so large in the last few minutes that she wasn't a bit afraid of interrupting him,) `I'll give him sixpence. _I_ don't believe there's an atom of meaning in it.' The jury all wrote down on their slates, `SHE doesn't believe there's an atom of meaning in it,' but none of them attempted to explain the paper. `If there's no meaning in it,' said the King, `that saves a world of trouble, you know, as we needn't try to find any. And yet I don't know,' he went on, spreading out the verses on his knee, and looking at them with one eye; `I seem to see some meaning in them, after all. "--SAID I COULD NOT SWIM--" you can't swim, can you?' he added, turning to the Knave. The Knave shook his head sadly. `Do I look like it?' he said. (Which he certainly did NOT, being made entirely of cardboard.) `All right, so far,' said the King, and he went on muttering over the verses to himself: `"WE KNOW IT TO BE TRUE--" that's the jury, of course-- "I GAVE HER ONE, THEY GAVE HIM TWO--" why, that must be what he did with the tarts, you know--' `But, it goes on "THEY ALL RETURNED FROM HIM TO YOU,"' said Alice. `Why, there they are!' said the King triumphantly, pointing to the tarts on the table. `Nothing can be clearer than THAT. Then again--"BEFORE SHE HAD THIS FIT--" you never had fits, my dear, I think?' he said to the Queen. `Never!' said the Queen furiously, throwing an inkstand at the Lizard as she spoke. (The unfortunate little Bill had left off writing on his slate with one finger, as he found it made no mark; but he now hastily began again, using the ink, that was trickling down his face, as long as it lasted.) `Then the words don't FIT you,' said the King, looking round the court with a smile. There was a dead silence. `It's a pun!' the King added in an offended tone, and everybody laughed, `Let the jury consider their verdict,' the King said, for about the twentieth time that day. `No, no!' said the Queen. `Sentence first--verdict afterwards.' `Stuff and nonsense!' said Alice loudly. `The idea of having the sentence first!' `Hold your tongue!' said the Queen, turning purple. `I won't!' said Alice. `Off with her head!' the Queen shouted at the top of her voice. Nobody moved. `Who cares for you?' said Alice, (she had grown to her full size by this time.) `You're nothing but a pack of cards!' At this the whole pack rose up into the air, and came flying down upon her: she gave a little scream, half of fright and half of anger, and tried to beat them off, and found herself lying on the bank, with her head in the lap of her sister, who was gently brushing away some dead leaves that had fluttered down from the trees upon her face. `Wake up, Alice dear!' said her sister; `Why, what a long sleep you've had!' `Oh, I've had such a curious dream!' said Alice, and she told her sister, as well as she could remember them, all these strange Adventures of hers that you have just been reading about; and when she had finished, her sister kissed her, and said, `It WAS a curious dream, dear, certainly: but now run in to your tea; it's getting late.' So Alice got up and ran off, thinking while she ran, as well she might, what a wonderful dream it had been. But her sister sat still just as she left her, leaning her head on her hand, watching the setting sun, and thinking of little Alice and all her wonderful Adventures, till she too began dreaming after a fashion, and this was her dream:-- First, she dreamed of little Alice herself, and once again the tiny hands were clasped upon her knee, and the bright eager eyes were looking up into hers--she could hear the very tones of her voice, and see that queer little toss of her head to keep back the wandering hair that WOULD always get into her eyes--and still as she listened, or seemed to listen, the whole place around her became alive the strange creatures of her little sister's dream. The long grass rustled at her feet as the White Rabbit hurried by--the frightened Mouse splashed his way through the neighbouring pool--she could hear the rattle of the teacups as the March Hare and his friends shared their never-ending meal, and the shrill voice of the Queen ordering off her unfortunate guests to execution--once more the pig-baby was sneezing on the Duchess's knee, while plates and dishes crashed around it--once more the shriek of the Gryphon, the squeaking of the Lizard's slate-pencil, and the choking of the suppressed guinea-pigs, filled the air, mixed up with the distant sobs of the miserable Mock Turtle. So she sat on, with closed eyes, and half believed herself in Wonderland, though she knew she had but to open them again, and all would change to dull reality--the grass would be only rustling in the wind, and the pool rippling to the waving of the reeds--the rattling teacups would change to tinkling sheep- bells, and the Queen's shrill cries to the voice of the shepherd boy--and the sneeze of the baby, the shriek of the Gryphon, and all thy other queer noises, would change (she knew) to the confused clamour of the busy farm-yard--while the lowing of the cattle in the distance would take the place of the Mock Turtle's heavy sobs. Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood: and how she would gather about her other little children, and make THEIR eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago: and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days. 爱丽丝的证明 “在这儿!”爱丽丝喊道,她完全忘了在刚才的混乱时刻,她已经长得很大了。她过于急促地站起来,竟弄得裙边掀动了陪审员席,把陪审员们翻倒在下面听众的头上,害得他们在人头上爬来爬去,这情景使爱丽丝想起一星期前她偶然打翻金鱼缸的事。 “啊,请大家原谅!”爱丽丝极其尴尬地说,一面尽快地把陪审员们扶回原位,因为对金鱼缸的事情的回忆还在她头脑回旋,使她隐约地意识到如果不立即把陪审员放回席位上,它们会死去的, 这时,国王庄重地宣称:“审讯暂停,直至全体陪审员返回原位。”他说得那么使劲儿,眼睛严厉地盯着爱丽丝。 爱丽丝看着陪审员席,发现由于自己的疏忽,竟将壁虎头朝下放上了。那个可怜的小东西无力动弹,只是滑稽地摇摆着尾巴。爱丽丝立即把它拾起来放正。爱丽丝想,“如果没有重大变故,壁虎还会同其它陪审员一样,发挥重大作用的。” 等到陪审员们镇定下来,纸板和铅笔也都找到了以后,它们立即勤奋地工作起来了。首先是记下刚才事故的历史。只有壁虎除外,它已经精疲力尽,不能干任何事情了,只是张着嘴坐着,两眼无力地望着法庭的屋顶。 国王开口了:“你对这个案子知道些什么?” “什么也不知道。”爱丽丝回答。 “任何事也不知道?”国王再问。 “任何事也不知道。”爱丽丝答。 “这点很重要。”国王对陪审员们说。 陪审员们正在把这些问答记在纸板上,白兔忽然插嘴说:“陛下的意思当然是不重要。”它用十分尊敬的口气,同时对国王挤眉弄眼的。 国王赶快把话接过来:“当然,我的意思是不重要。”接着又低声亩语,“重要……不重要……不重要……重要”——好像在反复推敲词句。 有些陪审员记下了“重要”,有些写了“不重要”。爱丽丝离陪审员们很近,它们在纸板上记的字她都看得一清二楚。心想:“反正怎么写都没关系。” 国王一直忙着在记事本上写什么?这时他高声喊道:“保持肃静!”然后他看着本子宣读:“第四十二条,所有身高一英里以上者退出法庭。” 大家都望着爱丽丝。 “我不到一英里高。”爱丽丝说, “将近两英里了。”王后插话说。 “你够了。”国王又说, “不管怎么说,我反正不走,”爱丽丝说,“再说,那根本不是一条正式规定,是你在这儿临时发明出来的。” “这是书里最老的一条规定。”国王说。 “那么这应该是第一条呀。”爱丽丝说。 国王脸色苍白,急忙合上了本子,他以发抖的声调低声对陪审美说:“请考虑评审意见。” “陛下,好了,又发现新的证据了。”白兔急忙跳起来说,“这是才拾到的一张纸。” “里面说什么?”王后问。 白兔回答:“我还没打开来呢?但是看来是一封信,是那个罪犯写给……给一个什么人的。” “肯定是这样,”国王说,“除非它不是写给任何人的,而这不合情理。” “信写给谁的?”一个陪审员问。 “它不是写给谁的,事实上,外面什么也没写,”白兔一面说,一面打开摺叠的纸,又说,“根本不是信,而是一首诗。” “是那罪犯的笔迹吗?”另一个陪审员问。 “不是的,这真是奇怪的事。”白兔说。这时陪审员全都感到莫名其妙。 “一定是他模仿了别人的笔迹。”国王这么一说,陪审员全都醒悟过来了。 这时,武士开口了:“陛下,这不是我写的,他们也不能证实是我写的。末尾并没有签名。” “如果你没有签名,”国玉说,“只能说明情节更恶劣。这意味着你的狡猾,否则你就应该像一个诚实的人那样,签上你的名字。” 对此,出现了一片掌声。这真是那天国王所讲的第一句聪明话。 “那就证明了他犯罪。”王后说。 爱丽丝却说:“这证明不了什么!啊,你们甚至不知道这首诗写的是什么呀!” “快读一读!”国王命令道。 白兔戴上了眼镜,问道,“我该从哪儿开始呢?陛下。” “从开始的地方开始吧,一直读到末尾,然后停止。”国王郑重地说。 下面就是白兔所读的诗句: “他们说你先是对她, 后又对他谈到了我。 她给我良好的赞誉, 但却说我不会游水。 “他捎话说我没有前往, 我们知道这并非撒谎。 假如她竟然把事情推进, 你又当处于何种景况? 我给她一个,他们给他一双, 你给我们三个或者两双, 它们都从他那里归于你方, 反正从前都是我的,一样一样。 “假如我或她竟然会 掉进这个是非漩涡, 他请你解除他的冤枉, 就如我们早先的期望。 “我的想法就是你的那样, 也就是她有过的诗章, 你在他和我们之间, 早已成了难越的屏障。 “切勿告诉他:她最喜欢他们, 这必须永远是个秘密。 也切勿告诉其他人, 只在你我之间。” “这是我们听到的最重要的证据了,”国王擦着手说,“现在请陪审员……” “如果有谁能解释这些诗,我愿意给他六十便士,我认为这些诗没有任何意义。”爱丽丝这么说。(就在刚才的那一瞬间,她已经长得十分巨大,所以她一点也不怕打断国王的话。) 陪审员都在纸板上写下:“她相信这些诗没有任何意义。”但是他们中没有一个试图解释一下这些诗。 “如果诗里没有任何意义,”国王说,“那就免除了许多麻烦。你知道,我们并不要找出什么意义,而且我也不懂什么意义。”国王说着,把这些诗摊开在膝上,用一只眼睛看着说,“我终于明白了其中的一些意义——‘说我不会游水’一—就是说你不会游水,是吗,”国王对着武士说。 武士伤心地摇摇头说:“我像会游水的吗?”(他肯定不会游水的,因为他全部是由硬纸片做成的。) “现在全对了,”国王说,一面又继续嘟嚷着这些诗句:“我们知道这并非撒谎’——这当然是指陪审员的——‘我给她一个,他们给他一双’——看,这肯定是指偷的馅饼了,是吗?……” “但后面说‘它们都从他那里归于你方。’”爱丽丝说。 “是啊,它们都在,没有比这更清楚的了。”国王手指着桌上的馅饼,得意地说,“那么再看:‘也就是她有过的诗章,’亲爱的,我想你没有过诗章吧?”他对王后说。 “从来没有!”王后狂怒着说,并把桌上的墨水缸扔到了壁虎比尔的身上。那个不幸的比尔已经不再用手指在纸板上写字了,因为他发现这样是写不出宇来的。但是现在他又急忙蘸着脸上的墨水写了。 “这话没有湿胀(‘诗章’的谐音一—译者注)你吧!”国王带着微笑环视着法庭说。但是法庭上一片寂静。 “这算一句俏皮话吧!”国王发怒了,而大家却笑了起来。“让陪审员考虑评审意见。”国王这天人约是第二十次说这话了。 “不,不,”王后说,“应该先判决,后评审。” “愚蠢的废话,竟然先判决!”爱丽丝大声说。 “住嘴!”王后气得脸色都发紫了。 “我偏不!”艾丽丝毫不示弱地回答。 “砍掉她的头!”王后声嘶力竭地喊道。但是没有一个人动一动。 “谁理你呢?”爱丽丝说,这时她已经恢复到本来的身材了,“你们只不过是一副纸牌!” 这时,整副纸牌上升到空中,然后又飞落在她身上,她发出一小声尖叫,既惊又怒,她正在把这些纸牌扬去,却发觉自己躺在河岸边,头还枕在姐姐的腿上,而姐姐正在轻轻地拿掉落在她脸上的枯叶。 “醒醒吧,亲爱的爱丽丝,”她姐姐说,“看,你睡了多久啦!” “啊,我做了个多奇怪的梦啊!”爱丽丝尽她所记忆的,把那些奇怪的经历,告诉了姐姐。也就是你刚才读过的那些。当她说完了,姐姐吻了她一下说:“这真是奇怪的梦,亲爱的,但是现在快去喝茶吧,天已经不早了。”于是爱丽丝站起来走了,一面走,一面还费劲地想,她做了个多奇妙的梦呀!爱丽丝走后,她姐姐仍静坐在那里,头向前支在一只手上,望着西下的夕阳,想着小爱丽丝和她梦中的奇幻经历,然后自己进人了梦乡。下面就是她的梦。 开始,她梦见了小爱丽丝本人,又一次双手抱住了膝盖,用明亮而热切的眼光仰视着她。她听到小爱丽丝的声音,看到了她的头微微一摆,把蓬乱的头发摆顺了些,这是她常常见到的情景。当她听着、听着爱丽丝说的话时,周围的环境随着她小妹妹梦中的那些奇异动物的降临而活跃起来了。 白兔跳来蹦去,弄得她脚下的洞草沙沙作响,受惊的老鼠在邻近的洞穴间穿来穿去,不时扬起一股尘土。她还听到三月兔同它的朋友们共享着没完没了的美餐时碰击茶杯的声音,以及王后命令处决她的不幸客人的尖叫声。同时也听到猪孩子在公爵夫人腿上打喷嚏,以及盘碗的摔碎声。甚至听到鹰头狮的尖叫,壁虎写字时的沙沙声,被制裁的豚鼠的挣扎声等等。这种种声音充满了空间,还混杂着远处传来的素甲鱼那悲哀的抽泣声。 于是她将身子坐正,闭着眼睛,半信半疑自己真的到了奇境世界。尽管她知道只是重温一个旧梦,而一切都仍会返回现实:蒿草只是迎风作响,池水的波纹摆动了芦苇。茶杯的碰击声实际是羊颈上的铃铛声,王后的尖叫起源于牧童的吃喝。猪孩子的喷嚏声,鹰头狮的尖叫声和各种奇声怪音,原来只是农村中繁忙季节的各种喧闹声。而远处耕牛的低吟,在梦中变成素甲鱼的哀泣。 最后,她想像了这样的情景:她的这位小妹妹,以后将成为一位妇女。而她将会毕生保留着童年时的纯洁珍爱之心。她还会逗引孩童们,用许多奇异的故事,或许就是许久以前的这个梦游奇境,使得他们眼睛变得更加明亮热切。她也将共享儿童们纯洁的烦恼,因为这些烦恼就存在于她自己的童年,以及那愉快的夏日回忆之中。 [ 本帖最后由 mayflora 于 2008-3-17 14:56 编辑 ] |
不错的故事 ~~~ |