牛津書蟲系列 愛麗絲鏡中世界奇遇記 5 The White Queen

5 The White Queen

5.白方王后

She caught the shawl as she spoke，and looked around for the owner.A moment later the White Queen came running wildly through the wood.Alice went to meet her with the shawl.

講話的當(dāng)兒，她抓住了披肩，四處張望，尋找主人。片刻之后，白方王后穿過樹林，飛奔而來。愛麗絲手拿披肩迎上前去。

‘I'm pleased I was able to catch it for you，’Alice said，as she helped the Queen to put on her shawl again.‘Am I speak-ing to the White Queen?’she added politely.

愛麗絲說：“我很高興能把圍巾抓祝”同時，她給王后重新披上披肩。她又很有禮貌地補充了一句：“我現(xiàn)在是跟白方王后講話嗎?”

‘Yes，’said the Queen，as she pulled helplessly at her shawl.‘Oh dear!I don't know what's the matter with my shawl today.I think it's angry with me.I've pinned it here，and I've pinned it there，but it's just not happy.’

王后答道：“是的。”同時徒然地拉了拉披肩，“天哪!我不明白今天我的披肩是怎么回事。我想它在生我的氣。我把它別在這兒，又別到那兒，但它就是不滿意。”

‘But it can't go straight，you know，if you pin it all on one side，’Alice said，as she gently put it right for her.‘And I'm afraid your hair is terribly untidy.’

“你如果把披肩別在一邊，它就不可能挺直，這你也清楚。”愛麗絲說著就輕輕地把披肩給她披好。“恐怕你頭發(fā)也太亂了。”

‘The hairbrush is lost in it somewhere，’the Queen said un-happily.

王后不高興地說：“梳子不知丟在頭發(fā)里的什么地方了。”

Alice carefully took out the brush and pinned up the Queen's hair more tidily.‘There，you look better now，’she said.‘But really you should have a lady's maid.’

愛麗絲小心地拿出了梳子，把王后的頭發(fā)更整齊地別起來。“這樣看起來就好多了。說真的，你應(yīng)該有一個侍女。”她說。

‘I'd be happy to take you，’the Queen said.‘Twopence a week，and jam every other day.’

王后說：“納你做侍女，我會很高興。一周兩便士，再加上隔天吃果醬。”

‘I don't want you to employ me，’Alice said，laughing.‘And I don't like jam.’

“我不要你來雇我。再說我也不喜歡吃果醬。”愛麗絲說完，笑了起來。

‘It's very good jam，’said the Queen.

王后說：“那是很好的果醬。”

‘Well，I don't want any today，thank you.’

“我今天一點也不想要，謝謝了。”

‘But you can't have jam today，’the Queen said.‘It's jam tomorrow and jam yesterday-but never jam today.’

王后又說：“但你不可能今天有果醬。只是明天或昨天有果醬--今天決沒有果醬。”

‘It must be “jam today”sometimes，’Alice argued.

愛麗絲爭辯說：“有時肯定會‘今天有果醬’的。”

‘No，it isn't，’said the Queen.‘It's jam every other day.Today isn't any other day，you know.’

“不會有的。隔天才有果醬。今天不是隔天中的任何一天。”王后說。

‘I don't understand that，’said Alice，very puzzled.

愛麗絲摸不著頭腦，說：“我真不明白那一套。”

‘That's because we live backwards here，’explained the Queen kindly.‘It's always a little difficult at first.’

“那是因為在這兒我們往后過日子。要理解這一點起初總是困難的。”王后很友善地解釋道。

‘Live backwards!’Alice repeated，in great surprise.‘I never heard of anybody doing that.’

“往后過日子!”愛麗絲重復(fù)了一遍，大吃一驚。“我還從沒有聽說過有人這樣過日子。”

‘But there's one very useful thing about it，’the Queen went on，‘you can remember things both ways.’

王后又說：“但這樣有一點很有用處，你就可以用兩種方法記事情了。”

‘I only remember things one way，’Alice said.‘I can't re-member things before they happen.’

“我只能用一種方法記住事情。我不會記住那些還沒有發(fā)生過的事情。”愛麗絲說。

‘That's not very useful，’said the Queen.‘I can remember things that happened the week after next.For example，the King's Messenger is in prison now，but he hasn't done any-thing wrong yet.His crime will come much later.’

王后說：“那可沒有好處。我可以記住兩周后發(fā)生的事情。譬如說，國王的信使現(xiàn)在坐牢了，但他至今還沒有做錯什么事。他犯罪的時間要晚得多。”

‘But what happens if there is no crime，’asked Alice，‘and he doesn't do anything wrong at all? That seems a strange way of-’

愛麗絲問：“如果他根本沒犯罪，沒做錯事，那又能有什么后果呢?這似乎是用離奇的方式來--”

At that moment the Queen began to scream very loudly，and to shake her hand around in the air.‘Oh，oh!’she shout-ed.‘My finger's bleeding!Oh，oh，oh!’

王后突然大聲尖叫起來，并在空中揮舞著手，叫喊著：“哎呀，哎呀!我的手指在流血!哎呀，哎呀，哎呀!”

Alice put her hands over her ears.‘What is the matter?’she said，in between the Queen's screams.‘Have you cut your finger?’

愛麗絲用雙手捂住了耳朵，在王后尖叫的間隙，問：“怎么回事?你割破了手指頭?”

‘I haven't cut it yet，’the Queen said，‘but I soon shall-oh，oh，oh!’

“我還沒有割破手指，但我不久就會了，哎呀，哎呀，哎呀!”王后說。

‘When do you think you will do it?’Alice asked，trying not to laugh.

愛麗絲問：“你認(rèn)為什么時候會割破手指?”盡量不笑出聲來。

‘When I fasten my shawl again，’the Queen said unhappily，‘one of the pins will come out and-oh，oh!’As she said the words，one of her shawl pins came undone and she quickly took hold of it，trying to fasten it again.

王后不高興地說：“當(dāng)我再次系牢披肩時，一只別針會脫落下來--哎呀，哎呀!”正說著，披肩上的一只別針?biāo)闪?，她快速把它抓住，想重新把它固定?/p>

‘Take care!’cried Alice.‘You're holding it wrong!’She tried to help the Queen，but it was too late-the pin had al-ready gone deep into the Queen's finger.

愛麗絲喊道：“小心!你抓錯了方向!”她想幫王后個忙，但太遲了--別針已經(jīng)深深地扎進(jìn)了王后的指頭。

‘That explains the bleeding，you see，’the Queen said to Alice with a smile.‘Now you understand the way things hap-pen here.’

王后笑著對愛麗絲講：“那就解釋了流血的事?，F(xiàn)在你明白了這兒事情是怎樣發(fā)生的吧。”

‘But why don't you scream now?’Alice asked，holding her hands ready to put over her ears again.

“可是你現(xiàn)在為什么不叫喊?”愛麗絲問，揚起雙手準(zhǔn)備再次把耳朵捂祝

‘I've done all the screaming already，’said the Queen.‘Why do it all again?’

王后說：“我已經(jīng)叫喊過了。干嗎又要重復(fù)一遍呢?”

‘It's very difficult to believe，’Alice said，‘that life can happen backwards.’

“人生階段可以倒過來發(fā)生，這真令人難以置信。”愛麗絲說。

‘Try to believe something a bit easier，’said the Queen helpfully.‘For example，I'm a hundred and one years old.’

王后有意指點她，就說：“設(shè)法相信得更容易點。譬如說，我已101歲了。”

‘I can't believe that!’said Alice.

“我不能相信。”愛麗絲說。

‘Can't you?’the Queen said，shaking her head sadly.‘Try again.Put your hands together and shut your eyes.’

王后沮喪地?fù)u搖頭，說：“你怎么不相信?再試試。合上雙手并閉上眼睛。”

Alice laughed.‘There's no use trying，’she said.‘Nobody can believe impossible things.’

愛麗絲笑了，說：“試也沒用，沒人會相信不可能的事。”

‘Perhaps you don't work hard enough at it，’said the Queen.‘When I was a child，I worked at it for an hour a day.Why，sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.There goes my shawl again!’

王后說：“也許你不夠努力。我小時候，每天花一小時來相信不可能的事。有時早餐前共相信多達(dá)六件這樣的事。我的披肩又飛了!”

The pins had come undone again as she spoke，and a sudden wind blew her shawl across a little brook.The Queen went flying after it，and managed to catch it.‘I've got it!’she called happily.‘Now you will see me pin it on again，all by myself.’

她說著，別針又松了，一陣風(fēng)把披肩吹過小溪。王后飛速追了過去，設(shè)法抓住了披肩。她高興地叫起來：“我抓到了!你將看到我重新把它別上，全部自己來。”

‘Then I hope your finger is better now?’Alice said very po-litely，as she crossed the brook after the Queen.

愛麗絲非常有禮貌地說：“希望你的手指頭好些了。”同時緊隨王后跨過了小溪。

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‘Oh，much better!’cried the Queen，her voice getting higher and higher as she went on.‘Much be-etter!Be-e-e-ter! Be-e-eh!’The last word sounded very like the sound that a sheep makes，and Alice looked at the Queen in surprise.

“噢，好多了!”王后高叫道，她不停地叫著，聲音越來越高：“好多--了!好--多--了!好--!”最后一個詞聽起來就像綿羊在叫喚，愛麗絲不禁驚奇地看了看王后。

And indeed，the Queen was now covered in a thick woolly coat，and…Alice closed her eyes，then opened them again.She couldn't understand what had happened at all.The wood had disappeared，and she was in a little dark shop-and it re-ally was a sheep in front of her，wearing large glasses and sit-ting calmly on a chair，knitting.

一點不假，王后現(xiàn)在身披著一件厚厚的毛外衣。愛麗絲閉上眼睛，然后又睜開。她真的弄不明白到底是怎么回事。樹林消失了，她在一家昏暗的小商店里--而且在她面前確實是一只綿羊，戴著大眼鏡，靜靜地坐在椅子上織毛活。

‘What do you want to buy?’the Sheep said at last，lookingup for a moment from her knitting.

綿羊終于抬起眼睛問話了：“你要買什么?”

‘I'm not sure at the moment， ’Alice said gently.‘May Ilook round first?’

“現(xiàn)在我還拿不準(zhǔn)。我可以先看看嗎?”愛麗絲輕聲輕氣地問。

She began to walk round the shop， looking at everything.But every time she looked hard at something，it seemed tomove and then appear again a moment later in a differentplace.So it was difficult to see clearly what was there. Shewent on walking， and soon realized that the shop was muchbigger than she had thought.

她開始在商店里轉(zhuǎn)悠著，什么東西都瀏覽一番。但每當(dāng)她盯著一件東西看，那東西似乎就動起來，過一會兒出現(xiàn)在另一個地方。因此要看清楚那兒有些什么是不容易的。她繼續(xù)走動，不久就發(fā)現(xiàn)那商店比她想的要大得多。

‘What a strange shop!’Alice said.‘I wish things wouldkeep still!’

愛麗絲說：“這商店太奇特了!我希望東西擺在那兒不動。”

A few minutes later the shop became even stranger， becauseAlice found herself walking beside a large lake， with tall greenplants growing round the edge.She put out her hand to picksome， but the plants disappeared when she touched them.

幾分鐘后，商店變得更加奇特了，愛麗絲發(fā)現(xiàn)自己在一個大湖邊散步，湖邊長著高大的綠色植物。她伸出手去采摘，但當(dāng)她一觸手，植物就消失了。

‘Oh， what a pity!’said Alice.‘I would like to take somehome.They look so pretty.’

愛麗絲說：“太可借了!我要帶些回家，它們看起來多漂亮。”

‘There are lots of other things here，’said the Sheep.‘Butyou must decide what you want to buy.’

“本商店還出售許多其他東西，但你必須想好到底買些什么。”綿羊說。

‘To buy!’Alice said，jumping a little in surprise.The lakehad gone，and she was back in the little dark shop.The Sheepwas still knitting， and was looking at her crossly over the topof her glasses.

愛麗絲驚奇地跳了一小步，說：“買!”湖消失了，她又回到了那個昏暗的小店。綿羊還在織毛活，抬眼從眼鏡上面憤怒地看了看她。

‘I would like to buy an egg，please，’Alice said.‘Howmuch do they cost?’

愛麗絲說：“我想買個雞蛋。怎么賣?”

‘Fivepence for one， twopence for two，’the Sheep replied.

“一個五便士，兩個兩便士。”綿羊答道。

‘So two are cheaper than one?’Alice said in a surprisedvoice，taking out her purse.

愛麗絲拿出錢包，非常驚奇地說：“這么說，兩個比一個要便宜。”

‘But you must eat them both，if you buy two，’said theSheep.

“你要買兩個，就得吃兩個。”綿羊說。

‘Then I'll have one，please，’said Alice，giving the Sheepfivepence.

“那我就買一個。”愛麗絲說著，遞給綿羊五便士。

The Sheep took the money，then said，‘You must get ityourself，you know.It's at the end of the shop.’

綿羊接了錢，然后說道：“你得自己去拿。就在店面那一頭。”

The end of the shop was very dark，and was crowded withtables and chairs.Alice could see the egg，but she neverseemed to get near it.She almost fell over a chair，and thenrealized that it was not a chair at all，but a small tree.‘Whyare trees growing here?’she wondered.‘This is the strangestshop that I ever saw!And now here's a little brook as well!’

店面那頭很暗，擺滿了桌椅。愛麗絲看得見雞蛋，但似乎永遠(yuǎn)也接近不了。她差點兒倒在了椅子上，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)那根本不是椅子，而是一棵小樹。“樹怎么會長在這兒?”她不明白：“這是我看到過的最奇怪的一家商店。而且里面也有一條小溪!”

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So she went on， wondering more and more at every step.Af-ter a while everything had turned into a tree，and she thoughtthat the egg would soon do the same.

因此她繼續(xù)走著，每走一步，心里都在想，這到底是怎么一回事。片刻之后，樣樣?xùn)|西都變成了一株樹。她想雞蛋恐怕也會變成樹的。