牛津書蟲系列 愛麗絲鏡中世界奇遇記 2 The garden of live flowers

2 The garden of live flowers

2.會說話的花園

There was a small hill not far away and Alice decided to walk to it.‘I shall be able to see the garden better from the top of the hill，’she said.

不遠處有座小山丘，愛麗絲決定步行到那邊去，她說：“站在山頂上，我可以把花園看得清楚些。”

She tried very hard to reach the hill，but it seemed impossible to get to it.She went first this way，then that way，but every time she turned a corner，she found herself back at the house.

為了到那山去，她做了各種努力，但要到那兒，似乎是不可能的。她先走這條路，然后走那條路，但每次一拐彎，她發(fā)現(xiàn)自己又回到出發(fā)前的那所房子。

‘I'm not going in again yet，’she told the house crossly.‘I'll have to go back through the looking-glass into the old room and that's the end of all my adventures then!’

“我現(xiàn)在還不想進去，”她望著房子，生氣地說，“我得再次穿過鏡子，回到那老房間去。那么，我的探險可就全完結(jié)了。”

She tried once more，and this time passed a large flowerbed，with a tree growing in the middle.

她又重試了一次。這次她經(jīng)過了一個大花壇，中間長了一棵樹。

‘Oh Tiger-lily，’Alice said to one of the flowers，‘I wish you could talk!’

愛麗絲對其中一株花說：“原來是株卷丹，你能講話該多好!”

‘We can talk，’said the Tiger-lily，‘if there is anybody interesting enough to talk to.’For a minute Alice was too sur-prised to speak.Then she said，almost in a whisper，‘And can all the flowers talk?’

卷丹答道：“我們會講話的，只要是同我們講話的人要有趣味性。”愛麗絲頓時驚異得啞口無言。然后，她壓低聲音問：“這兒所有的花兒都會講話嗎?”

‘As well as you can，’said the Tiger-lily.‘And a lot louder.’

卷丹答道：“不會講得比你差，而且聲音還要洪亮得多。”

‘It isn't polite for us to begin，you know，’said the Rose，‘and I was really wondering when you would speak.’

玫瑰說：“我們先開口就失禮了，我很想知道你什么時候愿意講話。”

‘But why can you all talk?’Alice said，puzzled.‘I've been in many gardens before，and none of the flowers could talk.’

愛麗絲迷惑不解，問：“但你們怎么都會講話的?我到過不少花園，花兒都不會講話。”

‘Put your hand down and feel the ground，’said the Tiger-lily.‘Then you'll know why.’

卷丹答道：“把手放下來摸摸大地，你就會明白了。”

Alice did so.‘It's very hard，’she said，‘but how does that explain it?’

愛麗絲照辦了，接著說：“地很堅硬，但這能說明什么問題呢?”

‘In most gardens，’the Tiger-lily said，‘they make the flowerbeds too soft-so the flowers are always asleep.’

卷丹答道：“大多數(shù)花壇地太軟，花兒總是昏昏欲睡。”

This sounded a very good reason to Alice.‘I never thought of that before!’she said.

愛麗絲覺得這倒很有道理，她說：“我從未想到這一點。”

‘Do you ever think at all?’asked the Rose，unkindly.

玫瑰不留情面地問了句：“你曾經(jīng)用腦筋想過?”

‘I never saw anybody with a more stupid face，’said a Daisy suddenly.It was the first time it had spoken，and Alice jumped in surprise.

雛菊也沖出了一句：“這臉蛋是我所看見過的最傻里傻氣的。”愛麗絲詫異得跳了起來，這是雛菊第一次講話。

‘Oh，be quiet!’cried the Tiger-lily.‘What do you Daisies know about the world?’

卷丹叫了聲：“別胡說!你雛菊對這世界了解多少?”

‘Are there any other people in the garden?’Alice asked.

愛麗絲問：“園中還有其他人嗎?”

‘There's one other flower that can move around like you，’said the Rose.‘She's the same strange shape as you，but she's redder，with more leaves than you have.’

玫瑰答道：“還有另外一種花，像你一樣能自由走動。她的外形跟你一樣奇特，但她更紅，比你多些樹葉。”

‘She's coming now!’cried another Daisy.‘I can hear her feet-bang，bang，bang，on the ground.’

另一株雛菊喊了起來：“現(xiàn)在她來了!我聽得見她呯呯的腳步聲。”

Alice looked round quickly，and saw that it was the Red Queen.‘She's grown a lot，’Alice thought.When she had seen her by the fireplace，the Queen had been only eight cen-timetres high.Now she was taller than Alice herself!

愛麗絲馬上看了看周圍，原來是紅方王后。她想：“她長大了不少。”那次在壁爐邊看見王后時，她只有8厘米高，而今竟比愛麗絲還高些。

‘I think I'll go and meet her，’Alice said.

愛麗絲說：“我想我還是去見見她。”

‘You can't possibly do that，’ said the Rose.‘You must walk the other way if you want to meet her.’

玫瑰說：“這你辦不到。你要見她，就必須走另外一條路。”

This sounded nonsense to Alice，so she began to walk to-wards the Red Queen.To her surprise，she found herself a minute later walking in through the front door of the house.She turned round crossly，and saw the Queen again，on the other side of the garden.This time she tried walking the other way，away from the Queen.

在愛麗絲聽來，這似乎是無稽之談，于是她開始朝紅方王后走過去。令她驚訝的是，一分鐘后，她發(fā)現(xiàn)自己又踏進那幢房子的正門。她氣惱地轉(zhuǎn)過身來，又瞧見王后在花園的另一頭。這次，她試著走另一條路，遠離王后。

It succeeded beautifully.A minute later she was standing opposite the Red Queen，and very near the hill that she had wanted to get to.

這次她終于完滿地成功了。片刻之后，她站到了王后的對面，并且離她要去的那座小山丘已經(jīng)很近了。

‘Where do you come from?’said the Red Queen.‘Where are you going?And why are you here at all?Look up，speak nicely，keep your hands still.And curtsy while you're think-ing what to say.It saves time.’

紅方王后問：“你從哪里來?要到哪里去?你來這兒究竟干什么?講話要抬頭，要有禮貌，手要放好。在考慮下一句該講什么時，要行屈膝禮。這樣會節(jié)省時間。”

Alice tried to obey all these orders，feeling just a little frightened of the Queen.

愛麗絲試圖遵循這些命令，但內(nèi)心還是有點兒害怕王后。

‘I only wanted to look at the garden，your Majesty，from the top of that hill，’she began.

她開了言：“王后陛下，我只是想站在山頂看看底下的花園。”

‘Hill!’cried the Queen.‘Some people would call that a valley.’

“山!有人稱那為峽谷。”王后高喊了一句。

‘But a hill can't be a valley，’ said Alice.‘That would be nonsense.’

愛麗絲應(yīng)了聲：“但山?jīng)Q不會是峽谷。這是無稽之談。”

The Red Queen shook her head.‘You can call it nonsense if you like.Some people would say it was sensible!’

王后搖了搖頭，“你可以把這種講法稱作無稽之談，但有人卻認為很有道理。”

Alice curtsied again，and decided it would be safer not to ar- gue any more.Together，they walked on in silence up the hill.At the top Alice could see right across the country-and a very strange country it was.There were lots of little brooks running across from side to side，and there were long lines of hedges，going the other way.It was a country of squares.

愛麗絲又行了一個禮，拿定主意還是別爭辯的好。他們雙雙一言不發(fā)地上了山。從山頂，愛麗絲可以俯瞰整個原野，這真是片奇特的原野。有條條小溪與排排的小樹林，在其間縱橫交錯。整個原野被分割成一個個方塊格子。

‘It's just like a large chess-board!’Alice said at last.‘Oh， and I can see some chessmen down there!’Her heart began to beat fast with excitement.‘It's a great game of chess， as big as the world itself-if this is the world at all.Oh，what fun! I wish I could be in it，even as a Pawn.Although I would love to be a Queen，of course.’

愛麗絲最后說：“多像一個大棋盤!啊，我還看見了那兒站著些棋子哪!”她激動得心蹦蹦直跳，“這是一場大型的象棋游戲。如果世界就在我們眼前，那么它就跟整個世界一樣大。啊，多有趣!真希望我能在那里面，做一個小卒也行。當然，我更喜歡當一個王后。”

She looked a little worriedly at the real Queen as she said this.But the Red Queen smiled kindly， and said，‘You can be the White Queen's Pawn，if you like.Lily is too young to play.You're in the Second Square now，and when you get to the Eighth Square，you'll be a Queen-’

講到這里，她有點不安地看了眼真正的王后?？墒?，紅方王后好心地微笑著說：“如果你愿意，你可以做白方王后前面的卒子。百合太小，玩不了棋?，F(xiàn)在你站在第二格，當你走到第八格時，就升變?yōu)橥鹾罅?-”

Just at that moment，they began to run.Alice never did un-derstand how it happened，but she had no time to think about it because they were running so fast.

話音剛落，兩個就開始跑起來。愛麗絲還摸不著頭腦這是怎么一回事。但是她們跑得太快了，沒有時間去考慮這個問題。

‘Faster!Faster!’cried the Queen，pulling Alice's hand. They ran like the wind，but the strange thing was that they never seemed to pass anything.The trees and other things round them never changed their places at all.

王后拉著愛麗絲的手，叫喊著：“跑快點!快點!”她們像一陣風似地跑過，但奇怪的是，她們似乎從未把什么景物甩在后面。兩邊的樹木及周圍其他物體根本沒有改變位置。

Alice was very puzzled by this， but still the Queen cried，‘Faster!Faster!’Now they were almost flying over the ground.Alice had never run so fast in her life.

愛麗絲很納悶，但王后還是喊叫著：“跑快點!快點!”這時她們幾乎是足不著地向前飛著。愛麗絲從沒有跑得這么快過。

When at last they stopped，she had to sit down because her legs were shaking.Then she looked around in surprise.

她們終于停住，愛麗絲雙腿顫抖得厲害，不得不坐下來。她驚奇地環(huán)顧四周。

‘But we've been under this same tree all the time! We're still in the same place!’

“但我們一直是在同一棵樹下!我們?nèi)匀辉谕粋€地方。”

‘Of course we are，’said the Queen.‘Why shouldn't we be?’

王后說：“那當然，這有什么不對?”

‘Well，in our country，’said Alice，‘if you run very fast for a long time，you usually arrive at a different place.’

“但在我們那地方，假如你快速地跑了很久，一般會跑到另一個地方去。”愛麗絲說。

‘What a slow kind of country!’said the Queen.‘Here，you see，you have to run very fast，just to keep in the same place.If you want to go somewhere different，you must run twice as fast.Now，’she went on，‘I shall tell you what to do.While I'm speaking，I shall take five steps，and at the fifth step，I shall go.’

王后卻說：“你那地方可真‘慢’!在我們這兒，要保持原地不動，你得跑得飛快。如果你要到別處去，至少得跑剛才兩倍的速度。”她又接著說：“我這就告訴你怎么個走法。在我講話的同時，我將邁出五步，到了第五步，我就走了。”

She took two steps away from the tree and turned round.‘A pawn goes two squares in its first move.So you'll go very quickly through the Third Square-by railway，probably.Then you'll be in the Fourth Square，which belongs to Twee-dledum and Tweedledee.The Fifth Square is mostly water，and the Sixth belongs to Humpty Dumpty.But why haven't you said anything?’

她從那棵樹邁出兩步，然后轉(zhuǎn)過身來。“卒子第一步走兩格。然后你可以飛快地通過第三格--可能乘火車。然后你就進入了第四格，這是特威丹、特威帝孿生兄弟的地方。第五格大部分是水，第六格則是矮胖子的地盤。你怎么一言不發(fā)?”

‘I didn't know I had to say anything，’said Alice.

“我不清楚我還得講話。”愛麗絲答道。

‘It's polite，’said the Queen，‘to say thank you for all this information.But never mind.Let's pretend you said it.The Seventh Square is all forest-one of the Knights will show you the way-and in the Eighth Square we shall be Queens together，and it's all parties and fun!’

王后說：“告訴你這么多詳情，道聲感謝就顯得禮貌。不過沒關(guān)系。就當你講過了吧。第七格全是森林--一枚馬將做你的向?qū)?-到了第八格，我們就都是王后了，那時我們有享受不完的歡樂時光!”

Alice got up and curtsied，and sat down again.

愛麗絲起立行了個禮，又坐了下去。

The Queen took another two steps and turned round again.‘Speak in French when you can't think of the English word-and always remember who you are!’

王后又邁了兩步，再次回過頭來，說：“想不起英文詞兒就用法文來表達--永遠別忘了自己的身份!”

She took another step，and was gone.Alice did not know if she had disappeared into the air，or run into the wood.But she had certainly gone，and Alice began to remember that she was a Pawn，and that it would soon be time to move.

她又邁了一步，就不見了。愛麗絲不清楚王后是飛上了天還是跑進了樹林。但她確實是不見了。愛麗絲開始想起她是一枚卒，不久，她就該走動了。