愛麗絲夢游仙境：第一章 掉進(jìn)兔子洞

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice 'without pictures or conversation?'

愛麗絲靠著姐姐坐在河岸邊很久了，由于沒有什么事情可做，她開始感到厭倦，她一次又—次地瞧瞧姐姐正在讀的那本書，可是書里沒有圖畫，也沒有對話，愛麗絲想：“要是一本書里沒有圖畫和對話，那還有什么意思呢?”

So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy–chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a white rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

天熱得她非常困，甚至迷糊了，但是愛麗絲還是認(rèn)真地盤算著，做一只雛菊花環(huán)的樂趣，能不能抵得上摘雛菊的麻煩呢?就在這時，突然一只粉紅眼睛的白兔，貼著她身邊跑過去了。

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so VERY much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, 'Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!' (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat–pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat–pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit–hole under the hedge.

愛麗絲并沒有感到奇怪，甚至于聽到兔子自言自語地說：“哦，親愛的，哦，親愛的，我太遲了。”愛麗絲也沒有感到離奇，雖然過后，她認(rèn)為這事應(yīng)該奇怪，可當(dāng)時她的確感到很自然，但是兔于竟然從背心口袋里襲里掏出一塊懷表看看，然后又匆匆忙忙跑了。這時，愛麗絲跳了起來，她突然想到：從來沒有見過穿著有口袋背心的兔子，更沒有見到過兔子還能從口袋里拿出—塊表來，她好奇地穿過田野，緊緊地追趕那只兔子，剛好看見兔子跳進(jìn)了矮樹下面的一個大洞。

In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.

愛麗絲也緊跟著跳了進(jìn)去，根本沒考慮怎么再出來。

The rabbit–hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well.

這個兔子洞開始像走廊，筆直地向前，后來就突然向下了，愛麗絲還沒有來得及站住，就掉進(jìn)了—個深井里。

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book–shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it was labelled 'ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it.

也許是井太深了，也許是她自己感到下沉得太慢，因此，她有足夠的時間去東張西望，而且去猜測下一步會發(fā)生什么事，首先，她往下看，想知道會掉到什么地方。但是下面太黑了，什么都看不見，于是，她就看四周的井壁，只見井壁上排滿了碗櫥和書架，以及掛在釘子上的地圖和圖畫，她從一個架子上拿了一個罐頭，罐頭上寫著“桔子醬”，卻是空的，她很失望，她不敢把空罐頭扔下去，怕砸著下面的人，因此，在繼續(xù)往下掉的時候，她就把空罐頭放到另一個碗櫥里去了。

'Well!' thought Alice to herself, 'after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they'll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!' (Which was very likely true.)

“好啊，”愛麗絲想，“經(jīng)過了這次鍛煉，我從樓梯上滾下來就不算回事。家里的人都會說我多么勇敢啊，嘿，就是從屋頂上掉下來也沒什么了不起，”——這點倒很可能是真的，屋頂上摔下來，會摔得說不出話的。

Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end! 'I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?' she said aloud. 'I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think—' (for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this was not a VERY good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over) '—yes, that's about the right distance—but then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I've got to?' (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.)

掉啊，掉啊，掉啊，難道永遠(yuǎn)掉不到底了嗎?愛麗絲大聲說：“我很知道掉了多少英里了，我一定已經(jīng)靠近地球中心的一個地方啦!讓我想想：這就是說已經(jīng)掉了大約四千英里了，我想……”(你瞧，愛麗絲在學(xué)校里已經(jīng)學(xué)到了一點這類東西，雖然現(xiàn)在不是顯示知識的時機，因為沒一個人在聽她說話，但是這仍然是個很好的練習(xí)。)“……是的，大概就是這個距離。那么，我現(xiàn)在究竟到了什么經(jīng)度和緯度了呢?”(愛麗絲不明白經(jīng)度和緯度是什么意思，可她認(rèn)為這是挺時髦的字眼，說起來怪好聽的。)

Presently she began again. 'I wonder if I shall fall right through the earth! How funny it'll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downward! The Antipathies, I think—' (she was rather glad there WAS no one listening, this time, as it didn't sound at all the right word) '—but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand or Australia?' (and she tried to curtsey as she spoke—fancy curtseying as you're falling through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) 'And what an ignorant little girl she'll think me for asking! No, it'll never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.'

不一會兒，她又說話了：“我想知道我會不會穿過地球，到那些頭朝下走路的人們那里，這該多么滑稽呀!我想這叫做‘對稱人’(19世紀(jì)中學(xué)地理教科書上流行個名洞，叫“對跖人”，意思是說地球直徑兩端的人，腳心對著腳心。愛麗絲對“地球?qū)γ娴娜?rdquo;的概念模糊，以為他們是“頭朝下”走路的，而且把“對跖人”錯念成“對稱人”了。)吧?”這次她很高興沒人聽她說話，因為“對稱人”這個名詞似乎不十分正確。“我想我應(yīng)該問他們這個國家叫什么名稱：太太，請問您知道這是新西蘭，還是澳大利亞?”(她說這話時，還試著行個屈膝禮，可是不成。你想想看，在空中掉下來時行這樣的屈膝禮，行嗎，)“如果我這樣問，人們一定會認(rèn)為我是一個無知的小姑娘哩。不，永遠(yuǎn)不能這樣問，也許我會看到它寫在哪兒的吧!”

Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. 'Dinah'll miss me very much to–night, I should think!' (Dinah was the cat.) 'I hope they'll remember her saucer of milk at tea–time. Dinah my dear! I wish you were down here with me! There are no mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that's very like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?' And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy sort of way, 'Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?' and sometimes, 'Do bats eat cats?' for, you see, as she couldn't answer either question, it didn't much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, 'Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat?' when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.

掉啊，掉啊，掉啊，除此之外，沒別的事可干了。因此，過一會兒愛麗絲又說話了：“我敢肯定，黛娜今晚一定非常想念我。”(黛娜是只貓)“我希望他們別忘了午茶時給她準(zhǔn)備一碟牛奶。黛娜，我親愛的，我多么希望你也掉到這里來，同我在一起呀，我怕空中沒有你吃的小老鼠，不過你可能捉到一只蝙蝠，你要知道，它很像老鼠。可是貓吃不吃蝙蝠呢?”這時，愛麗絲開始瞌睡了，她困得迷迷糊糊時還在說：“貓吃蝙蝠嗎?貓吃蝙蝠嗎?”有時又說成：“蝙蝠吃貓嗎?”這兩個問題她哪個也回答不出來，所以，她怎么問都沒關(guān)系，這時候，她已經(jīng)睡著了，開始做起夢來了。她夢見正同黛娜手拉著手走著，并且很認(rèn)真地問：“黛娜，告訴我，你吃過蝙蝠嗎?，就在這時，突然“砰”地一聲，她掉到了一堆枯枝敗葉上了，總算掉到了底了!

Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in a moment: she looked up, but it was all dark overhead; before her was another long passage, and the White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it. There was not a moment to be lost: away went Alice like the wind, and was just in time to hear it say, as it turned a corner, 'Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting!' She was close behind it when she turned the corner, but the Rabbit was no longer to be seen: she found herself in a long, low hall, which was lit up by a row of lamps hanging from the roof.

愛麗絲一點兒也沒摔壞，她立即站起來，向上看看，黑洞洞的。朝前一看，是個很長的走廊，她又看見了那只白兔正急急忙忙地朝前跑。這回可別錯過時機，愛麗絲像一陣風(fēng)似地追了過去。她聽到兔子在拐彎時說：“哎呀，我的耳朵和胡子呀，現(xiàn)在太遲了!”這時愛麗絲已經(jīng)離兔子很近了，但是當(dāng)她也趕到拐角，兔子卻不見了。她發(fā)現(xiàn)自己是在一個很長很低的大廳里，屋頂上懸掛著一串燈，把大廳照亮了。

There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked; and when Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other, trying every door, she walked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever to get out again.

大廳四周都是門，全都鎖著，愛麗絲從這邊走到那邊，推一推，拉一拉，每扇門都打不開，她傷心地走到大廳中間，琢磨著該怎么出去。

Suddenly she came upon a little three–legged table, all made of solid glass; there was nothing on it except a tiny golden key, and Alice's first thought was that it might belong to one of the doors of the hall; but, alas! either the locks were too large, or the key was too small, but at any rate it would not open any of them. However, on the second time round, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before, and behind it was a little door about fifteen inches high: she tried the little golden key in the lock, and to her great delight it fitted!

突然，她發(fā)現(xiàn)了一張三條腿的小桌，桌子是玻璃做的。桌上除了一把很小的金鑰匙，什么也沒有，愛麗絲一下就想到這鑰匙可能是哪個門上的?？墒?，哎呀，要么就是鎖太大了，要么就是鑰匙太小了，哪個門也用不上。不過，在她繞第二圈時，突然發(fā)現(xiàn)剛才沒注意到的一個低帳幕后面，有一扇約十五英寸高的小門。她用這個小金鑰匙往小門的鎖眼里一插，太高興了，正合適。

Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not much larger than a rat–hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains, but she could not even get her head through the doorway; 'and even if my head would go through,' thought poor Alice, 'it would be of very little use without my shoulders. Oh, how I wish I could shut up like a telescope! I think I could, if I only know how to begin.' For, you see, so many out–of–the–way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible.

愛麗絲打開了門，發(fā)現(xiàn)門外是一條小走廊，比老鼠洞還小，她跪下來，順著走廊望出去，見到一個從沒見過的美麗花園。她多想離開這個黑暗的大廳，到那些美麗的花圃和清涼的噴泉中去玩呀!可是那門框連腦袋都過不去，可憐的愛麗絲想：“哎，就算頭能過去，肩膀不跟著過去也沒用，我多么希望縮成望遠(yuǎn)鏡里的小人呀(愛麗絲常常把望遠(yuǎn)鏡倒著看，一切東西都變得又遠(yuǎn)又小，所以她認(rèn)為望遠(yuǎn)鏡可以把人放大或縮小。)，我想自己能變小的，只要知道變的方法就行了。” 你看，一連串稀奇古怪的事，使得愛麗絲認(rèn)為沒有什么事是不可能的了。

There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so she went back to the table, half hoping she might find another key on it, or at any rate a book of rules for shutting people up like telescopes: this time she found a little bottle on it, ('which certainly was not here before,' said Alice,) and round the neck of the bottle was a paper label, with the words 'DRINK ME' beautifully printed on it in large letters.

看來，守在小門旁沒意思了，于是，她回到桌子邊，希望還能再找到一把鑰匙，至少也得找到一本教人變成望遠(yuǎn)鏡里小人的書，可這次，她發(fā)現(xiàn)桌上有一只小瓶。愛麗絲說：“這小瓶剛才確實不在這里。”瓶口上系著一張小紙條，上面印著兩個很漂亮的大字：“喝我”。

It was all very well to say 'Drink me,' but the wise little Alice was not going to do THAT in a hurry. 'No, I'll look first,' she said, 'and see whether it's marked "poison" or not'; for she had read several nice little histories about children who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant things, all because they would not remember the simple rules their friends had taught them: such as, that a red–hot poker will burn you if you hold it too long; and that if you cut your finger VERY deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked 'poison,' it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later.

說“喝我”倒不錯，可是聰明的小愛麗絲不會忙著去喝的。她說：“不行，我得先看看，上面有沒有寫著‘毒藥’兩個字。”因為她聽過一些很精彩的小故事，關(guān)于孩子們怎樣被燒傷、被野獸吃掉，以及其它一些令人不愉快的事情，所有這些，都是因為這些孩子們沒有記住大人的話，例如：握撥火棍時間太久就會把手燒壞;小刀割手指就會出血，等等。愛麗絲知道喝了寫著“毒藥”瓶里的藥水，遲早會受害的。

However, this bottle was NOT marked 'poison,' so Alice ventured to taste it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry–tart, custard, pine–apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast,) she very soon finished it off.

然而瓶子上沒有“毒藥”字樣，所以愛麗絲冒險地嘗了嘗，感到非常好吃，它混合著櫻桃餡餅、奶油蛋糕、菠蘿、烤火雞、牛奶糖、熱奶油面包的味道。愛麗絲一口氣就把一瓶喝光了。

'What a curious feeling!' said Alice; 'I must be shutting up like a telescope.'

“多么奇怪的感覺呀!”愛麗絲說，“我一定變成望遠(yuǎn)鏡里的小人了。”

And so it was indeed: she was now only ten inches high, and her face brightened up at the thought that she was now the right size for going through the little door into that lovely garden. First, however, she waited for a few minutes to see if she was going to shrink any further: she felt a little nervous about this; 'for it might end, you know,' said Alice to herself, 'in my going out altogether, like a candle. I wonder what I should be like then?' And she tried to fancy what the flame of a candle is like after the candle is blown out, for she could not remember ever having seen such a thing.

的確是這樣，她高興得眉飛色舞，現(xiàn)在她只有十英寸高了，已經(jīng)可以到那個可愛的花園里去了。不過，她又等了幾分鐘，看看會不會繼續(xù)縮小下去。想到這點，她有點不安了。“究竟會怎么收場呢?”愛麗絲對自己說，“或許會像蠟燭的火苗那樣，全部縮沒了。那么我會怎么樣呢?”她又努力試著想象蠟燭滅了后的火焰會是個什么樣幾。因為她從來沒有見過那樣的東西。

After a while, finding that nothing more happened, she decided on going into the garden at once; but, alas for poor Alice! when she got to the door, she found she had forgotten the little golden key, and when she went back to the table for it, she found she could not possibly reach it: she could see it quite plainly through the glass, and she tried her best to climb up one of the legs of the table, but it was too slippery; and when she had tired herself out with trying, the poor little thing sat down and cried.

過了一小會，好像不會再發(fā)生什么事情了，她決定立刻到花園去?？墒?，哎喲!可憐的愛麗絲!她走到門口，發(fā)覺忘拿了那把小金鑰匙。在回到桌子前準(zhǔn)備再拿的時候，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)自己已經(jīng)夠不著鑰匙，她只能通過玻璃桌面清楚地看到它，她盡力攀著桌腿向上爬，可是桌腿太滑了，她一次又一次地溜了下來，弄得她精疲力竭。于是，這個可憐的小家伙坐在地上哭了起來。

'Come, there's no use in crying like that!' said Alice to herself, rather sharply; 'I advise you to leave off this minute!' She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it), and sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into her eyes; and once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself, for this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people. 'But it's no use now,' thought poor Alice, 'to pretend to be two people! Why, there's hardly enough of me left to make ONE respectable person!'

“起來，哭是沒用的!”愛麗絲嚴(yán)厲地對自己說，“限你—，分鐘內(nèi)就停止哭!”她經(jīng)常愛給自己下個命令(雖然她很少聽從這種命令)，有時甚至把自己罵哭了。記得有一次她同自己比賽槌球，由于她騙了自己，她就打了自己一記耳光，這個小孩很喜歡裝成兩個人，“但是現(xiàn)在還裝什么兩個人呢?”可憐的小愛麗絲想，“唉!現(xiàn)在我小得連做一個像樣的人都不夠了。”

Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words 'EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants. 'Well, I'll eat it,' said Alice, 'and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door; so either way I'll get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!'

不一會兒，她的眼光落在桌子下面的一個小玻璃盒子上。打開一看，里面有塊很小的點心，點心上用葡萄干精致地嵌著“吃我”兩個字，“好，我就吃它，”愛麗絲說，“如果它使我變大，我就能夠著鑰匙了;如果它使我變得更小，我就可以從門縫下面爬過去，反正不管怎樣，我都可以到那個花園里去了。因此無論怎么變，我都不在乎。”

She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, 'Which way? Which way?', holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was growing, and she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same size: to be sure, this generally happens when one eats cake, but Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out–of–the–way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way.

她只吃了一小口，就焦急地問自己：“是哪一種，變大還是變小?”她用手摸摸頭頂，想知道變成哪種樣子?？墒欠浅Ｆ婀郑稽c沒變，說實話，這本來是吃點心的正常現(xiàn)象，可是愛麗絲已經(jīng)習(xí)慣了稀奇古怪的事了，生活中的正常事情倒顯得難以理解了。

So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake.

于是，她又吃開了，很塊就把一塊點心吃完了。