第四章 兔子派来一个小比尔

原来是那只小白兔又迈着小碎步跑了回来。它一边跑一边不安地环顾四周,好像丢了什么东西。爱丽丝还听到它喃喃自语:“公爵夫人!公爵夫人!噢,我的宝贝爪子!噢,我的皮毛和胡子!她会处死我,就像雪貂是雪貂那样千真万确!我不知道,我能把它们丢在哪里了呢?”爱丽丝马上猜到它是在找那把扇子和那副白羔皮手套。于是,她也好心地到处寻找起来,但哪里都找不见——自从她在池塘里游泳以来,好像一切都已经变了,玻璃桌和小门也都不见了。

不一会儿,当爱丽丝在四处寻找时,兔子注意到了她,生气地冲她大声喊道:“哎呀,玛丽·安,你在这外面干什么?马上跑回家给我取一副手套和一把扇子!现在快去!”爱丽丝吓得要命,顾不上解释兔子认错了人,就马上顺着它指的方向跑去。

‘He took me for his housemaid,'she said to herself as she ran.‘How surprised he'll be when he fnds out who I am!But I'd better take him his fan and gloves—that is, if I can fnd them.'As she said this, she came upon a neat little house, on the door of which was a bright brass plate with the name‘W. RABBIT'engraved upon it.She went in without knocking, and hurried upstairs, in great fear lest she should meet the real Mary Ann, and be turned out of the house before she had found the fan and gloves.

‘How queer it seems,'Alice said to herself,‘to be going messages for a rabbit!I suppose Dinah'll be sending me on messages next!'And she began fancying the sort of thing that would happen:‘“Miss Alice!Come here directly, and get ready for your walk!”“Coming in a minute, nurse!But I've got to see that the mouse doesn't get out.”Only I don’t think,’Alice went on,‘that they’d let Dinah stop in the house if it began ordering people about like that!’

By this time she had found her way into a tidy little room with a table in the window, and on it(as she had hoped)a fan and two or three pairs of tiny white kid gloves:she took up the fan and a pair of the gloves, and was just going to leave the room, when her eye fell upon a little bottle that stood near the looking-glass. There was no label this time with the words‘DRINK ME,'but nevertheless she uncorked it and put it to her lips.‘I know SOMETHING interesting is sure to happen,'she said

“它把我当成它的女仆了,”她一边跑一边对自己说,“当它察觉我是谁后,会多么吃惊!可我最好还是给它去拿手套和扇子——也就是说,我能找到的话。”说着说着,她来到了一栋整洁的小房子前,房门上挂着一块明晃晃的黄铜牌,上面刻着“白兔”的名字。爱丽斯没有敲门就走了进去,匆匆跑上楼,生怕碰见真正的玛丽·安,那样的话,不等她找到手套和扇子,就会被赶出房子。

“给一只兔子跑腿,看起来是多么奇怪!”爱丽丝对自己说,“我估计接下来黛娜就会让我跑腿了!”于是,她开始幻想可能会发生的那种情景:“‘爱丽丝小姐!马上过来这里,准备去散步!’‘马上过来,保姆!可我得看着不许老鼠出来。’只是我想,”爱丽丝接着说,“如果黛娜像那样把人使唤得团团转,他们是不会让它待在家里的!”

这时,她已经走进了一个整洁的小房间里,房间靠窗处有一张桌子,桌子上像她希望的那样有一把扇子和两三双白羔皮小手套。她拿起扇子和手套,正要离开房间时,她的目光落在镜子旁边的一只小瓶上。这次瓶子上没有“喝我”的字样,但她还是拔开瓶塞,把瓶子凑到了嘴唇边。“每次我吃喝东西时,”她对自己说,“就会发生点有趣的事儿,所以我要看看这个瓶子有什么

to herself,‘whenever I eat or drink anything;so I'll just see what this bottle does. I do hope it'll make me grow large again, for really I'm quite tired of being such a tiny little thing!'

It did so indeed, and much sooner than she had expected:before she had drunk half the bottle, she found her head pressing against the ceiling, and had to stoop to save her neck from being broken. She hastily put down the bottle, saying to herself,‘That's quite enough—I hope I shan't grow any more—As it is, I can't get out at the door—I do wish I hadn't drunk quite so much!'

Alas!It was too late to wish that!She went on growing, and growing, and very soon had to kneel down on the foor:in another minute there was not even room for this, and she tried the effect of lying down with one elbow against the door, and the other arm curled round her head. Still she went on growing, and, as a last resource, she put one arm out of the window, and one foot up the chimney, and said to herself,‘Now I can do no more, whatever happens.What WILL become of me?'

Luckily for Alice, the little magic bottle had now had its full effect, and she grew no larger:still it was very uncomfortable, and, as there seemed to be no sort of chance of her ever getting out of the room again, no wonder she felt unhappy.

‘It was much pleasanter at home,'thought poor Alice,‘when one wasn't always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and rabbits. I almost

用。我真希望它会使我再长大,因为我厌烦透顶了做这么个小不点儿!”

果然应验了,而且比她期望的快得多,还没有喝完一半,爱丽丝就感到头顶住了天花板,她只好弯下腰,以免折断脖子。爱丽丝慌忙放下瓶子,对自己说:“足够了——我希望不要再长了——实际上,我连门都出不去了——我真希望自己没有喝那么多!”

唉!这么想已经太晚了!她继续长啊长!不一会儿,她不得不跪在地上,一分钟后连跪的地方也没有了。她尽力把一只胳膊贴着地用肘部顶住门,而用另一只胳膊抱住头。即便如此,她还在继续长。爱丽丝不得已,使出最后一招,把一只手臂伸出窗户,一只脚伸向进烟囱,自言自语:“现在,无论发生什么事儿,我都无能为力了。我会变成什么样子啊?”

爱丽丝很幸运,小魔瓶的魔力此刻已经完全施展出来了,她不再长了,虽然仍极不舒服,而且,她好像没有可能再从这个房子里出来了,所以难怪她伤心。

“以前在家里要舒服得多,”可怜的爱丽丝想,“那时总不会一会儿变大、一会儿变小,也不会被老鼠和兔子吆来喝去。我都希望自己不曾钻进这个兔子洞——可是——可这样的生活,你知道,好奇怪!我真不知道什么事儿会发生在我身上?过去看童话时,我认为那种事儿绝对不会发生,现在我却身陷

wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole—and yet—and yet—it's rather curious, you know, this sort of life!I do wonder what CAN have happened to me!When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!There ought to be a book written about me, that there ought!And when I grow up, I'll write one—but I'm grown up now,'she added in a sorrowful tone;‘at least there’s no room to grow up any more HERE.’

‘But then,'thought Alice,‘shall I NEVER get any older than I am now?That'll be a comfort, one way—never to be an old woman—but then—always to have lessons to learn!Oh, I shouldn't like THAT!'

‘Oh, you foolish Alice!'she answered herself.‘How can you learn lessons in here?Why, there's hardly room for YOU, and no room at all for any lesson-books!'

其中!我应该写一本有关我的书,应该这样!我长大了,一定要写—本。可是,我现在已经长大了。”她用伤心的语调补充说,“至少这里没有让我再长下去的空间了。”

“不过,”爱丽丝想,“我绝不会比现在年龄大了吧?这倒是个安慰——永远不会成为一个老太婆——不过——总是得学功课!噢,我不喜欢那样!”

“噢,你真蠢,爱丽丝!”她自问自答,“你在这里怎么能学功课呢?哎呀,这里容不下你,根本没有地方放课本!”

And so she went on, taking frst one side and then the other, and making quite a conversation of it altogether;but after a few minutes she heard a voice outside, and stopped to listen.

‘Mary Ann!Mary Ann!'said the voice.‘Fetch me my gloves this moment!'

Then came a little pattering of feet on the stairs. Alice knew it was the Rabbit coming to look for her, and she trembled till she shook the house, quite forgetting that she was now about a thousand times as large as the Rabbit, and had no reason to be afraid of it.

Presently the Rabbit came up to the door, and tried to open it;but, as the door opened inwards, and Alice's elbow was pressed hard against it, that attempt proved a failure. Alice heard it say to itself,‘Then I'll go round and get in at

她就这样继续说着,先说这边,后说那边,说得不亦乐乎。可是,几分钟后,她听到门外有说话声,便停下来去听。

“玛丽·安!玛丽·安!”那个声音说,“马上给我拿手套!”

随后,轻快的脚步声走上了楼梯。爱丽丝知道是兔子来找她了。她吓得发抖,震得整个房子晃动起来,完全忘了自己现在大约有兔子的一千倍大。

很快,兔子来到了门口,试着推开门,但门是朝里开的,爱丽丝的胳膊肘牢牢地顶着门,兔子怎么也推不动。爱丽丝听到它自言自语:“那我绕过去,

the window.'

‘THAT you won't,'thought Alice, and, after waiting till she fancied she heard the Rabbit just under the window, she suddenly spread out her hand, and made a snatch in the air. She did not get hold of anything, but she heard a little shriek and a fall, and a crash of broken glass, from which she concluded that it was just possible it had fallen into a cucumber-frame, or something of the sort.

Next came an angry voice—the Rabbit's—‘Pat!Pat!Where are you?'And then a voice she had never heard before,‘Sure then I'm here!Digging for apples, yer honour!'

‘Digging for apples, indeed!'said the Rabbit angrily.‘Here!Come and help me out of THIS!'(Sounds of more broken glass.)

‘Now tell me, Pat, what's that in the window?'

‘Sure, it's an arm, yer honour!'(He pronounced it‘arrum.')

‘An arm, you goose!Who ever saw one that size?Why, it flls the whole window!'

‘Sure, it does, yer honour:but it's an arm for all that.'

‘Well, it's got no business there, at any rate:go and take it away!'

There was a long silence after this, and Alice could only hear whispers now and then;such as,‘Sure, I don't like it, yer honour, at all, at all!'‘Do as I tell you, you

从窗户爬进去。”

“那你可办不到。”爱丽丝想;她等了一会儿后,听到兔子走到窗下,突然伸出一只手,在空中抓了一把。她什么也没抓住,但听到了小小的尖叫声、摔倒声和碎玻璃的哗啦声。由此,她推断,兔子很可能掉进了黄瓜架或诸如此类的东西里。

接着,传来了一个愤怒的声音——是兔子的声音——“帕特!帕特!你在哪里?”然后,是爱丽丝之前从来没有听到过的一个声音,“我确实在这里!正在挖寻苹果,先生!”

“确实是在挖寻苹果吧!”兔子怒气冲冲地说,“过来,过来把我从这里拉出来!”(又传来一阵碎玻璃声。)

“帕特,快告诉我,窗户里是什么?”

“当然是只胳膊,先生!”它把“胳膊”说成了“胳薄”。

“一只胳膊,你这傻瓜!谁见过这么大的一只胳膊?哎呀,它撑满了整个窗户!”

“先生,的确撑满了,可它就是一只胳膊。”

“哼,不管怎么说,它绝不能在那里碍事。去把它移开!”

随后,沉默了好一阵子,爱丽丝只能断断续续地听到这样的低语声:“我

coward!'and at last she spread out her hand again, and made another snatch in the air. This time there were TWO little shrieks, and more sounds of broken glass.‘What a number of cucumber-frames there must be!'thought Alice.‘I wonder what they'll do next!As for pulling me out of the window, I only wish they COULD!I'm sure I don't want to stay in here any longer!’

She waited for some time without hearing anything more:at last came a rumbling of little cartwheels, and the sound of a good many voices all talking together:she made out the words:‘Where's the other ladder?Why, I hadn't to bring but one;Bill's got the other—Bill!Fetch it here, lad!Here, put'em up at this corner—No, tie'em together frst—they don’t reach half high enough yet—Oh!They’ll do well enough;don’t be particular—Here, Bill!Catch hold of this rope—Will the roof bear?Mind that loose slate—Oh, it’s coming down!Heads below!’(a loud crash)—‘Now, who did that?It was Bill, I fancy—Who’s to go down the chimney?Nay, I shan’t!YOU do it!That I won’t, then!Bill’s to go down—Here, Bill!The master says you’re to go down the chimney!’

‘Oh!So Bill's got to come down the chimney, has he?'said Alice to herself.‘Shy, they seem to put everything upon Bill!I wouldn't be in Bill's place for a good deal:this freplace is narrow, to be sure;but I THINK I can kick a little!'

She drew her foot as far down the chimney as she could, and waited till she heard a

肯定一点儿都不喜欢它,先生!”“照我吩咐的做,你这胆小鬼!”最后,爱丽斯又伸开手掌,在空中抓了一把。这一次传来两声微弱的尖叫和更剧烈的碎玻璃声。“这里一定有好多黄瓜架!”爱丽丝想,“我不知道它们接着要干什么!要是把我从窗户里拉出去的话,我但愿它们能行!我实在不想再待在这里了!”

她等了一段时间,没有再听到任何声响,后来传来了小货车轮的辘辘声,还有好多七嘴八舌的嘈杂声。她听到有声音说:“另一个梯子在哪里?哎呀,我只搬来一个,比尔搬另外那个——比尔!搬到这里来,伙计!放这里,竖到这个角上——不,先把它们绑在一起——它们还不到一半高——噢!它们可以了,别挑剔了——给,比尔!抓住这根绳子——屋顶承受得了吗?小心那块松动的石板瓦——噢,它掉下来了!头朝下!”(一个响亮的撞击声)——“喂,是谁干的?我想是比尔——谁来顺着烟囱下去?不,我不干!你干吧!那我也不干!比尔来一下——过来,比尔!主人说让你下烟囱!”

“噢!这么说,比尔要从烟囱下来,对吗?”爱丽丝对自己说,“没羞,它们好像把什么都往比尔身上推!我说什么也不做比尔这个角色。这个壁炉当然很窄,但我想还是可以稍微踢一下!”

她努力将伸进烟囱里的脚向下收紧,等听到一个小动物(她猜不出是什

little animal(she couldn't guess of what sort it was)scratching and scrambling about in the chimney close above her:then, saying to herself‘This is Bill,'she gave one sharp kick, and waited to see what would happen next.

The frst thing she heard was a general chorus of‘There goes Bill!'then the Rabbit's voice along—‘Catch him, you by the hedge!'then silence, and then another confusion of voices—‘Hold up his head—Brandy now—Don't choke him—How was it, old fellow?What happened to you?Tell us all about it!'

Last came a little feeble, squeaking voice,(‘That's Bill,'thought Alice,)‘Well, I hardly know—No more, thank ye;I'm better now—but I'm a deal too fustered to tell you—all I know is, something comes at me like a Jack-in-the-box, and up I goes like a sky-rocket!'

么动物)在烟囱里靠近她上方的地方横抓竖挠时,她自言自语:“这是比尔。”她飞快地踢了一脚,然后等着听动静。

她听到的第一个动静就是一阵齐声叫喊:“比尔下来了!”然后是兔子的声音:“你的篱笆边,接住它!”接下来,静了一会儿,然后又是一片嚷嚷声:“抬起它的头——快拿白兰地——别呛着它——怎么样,老伙计?发生了什么事儿?统统告诉我们!”

最后传来的是一个微弱尖细的声音:(“是比尔。”爱丽丝想,)“唉,我几乎什么也不知道——不再喝了,谢谢你。我现在好些了——我心慌意乱,无法告诉你们——我所知道的是有东西像弹簧红桃J一样朝我冲来,我就像火箭一样飞了起来!”

‘So you did, old fellow!'said the others.

‘We must burn the house down!'said the Rabbit's voice;and Alice called out as loud as she could,‘If you do. I'll set Dinah at you!'

There was a dead silence instantly, and Alice thought to herself,‘I wonder what they WILL do next!If they had any sense, they'd take the roof off.'After a minute or two, they began moving about again, and Alice heard the Rabbit say,‘A barrowful will do, to begin with.'

‘A barrowful of WHAT?'thought Alice;but she had not long to doubt, for the next moment a shower of little pebbles came rattling in at the window, and some of them hit her in the face.‘I'll put a stop to this,'she said to herself, and shouted out,‘You'd better not do that again!'which produced another dead silence.

Alice noticed with some surprise that the pebbles were all turning into little cakes as they lay on the foor, and a bright idea came into her head.‘If I eat one of these cakes,'she thought,‘it's sure to make SOME change in my size;and as it can't possibly make me larger, it must make me smaller, I suppose.'

So she swallowed one of the cakes, and was delighted to find that she began shrinking directly. As soon as she was small enough to get through the door, she ran out of the house, and found quite a crowd of little animals and birds waiting outside.The poor little Lizard, Bill, was in the middle, being held up by two guinea-pigs, who

“是这样,老伙计!”其他人说。

“我们必须烧掉房子!”兔子的声音说道。爱丽丝扯开嗓子喊道:“你们要是这样做,我就放黛娜咬你们!”

马上是死一般的寂静,爱丽丝暗自想道:“我不知道它们接下来要干什么!如果它们有点儿理性的话,就会掀掉屋顶。”过了一、两分钟,它们又开始走动起来,爱丽丝听到兔子说:“先来一小推车。”

“一小推车什么?”爱丽丝想,但她没有疑惑多久,因为紧接着小圆石像雨点般吧嗒吧嗒砸向窗户,有一些小圆石还打到了她的脸上。“我要制止这种事,”她对自己说,然后喊道,“你们最好别再这样干了!”这又引起了死一般的寂静。

爱丽丝有些吃惊地注意到,那些小圆石落到地上都变成了小蛋糕。她心头一亮,计上心来。“如果我吃掉其中一块蛋糕,”她想,“肯定会使我的个头有些变化。我想,它不能让我变得更大,就一定会把我变小。”

于是,她吞下一块蛋糕,随后欣喜地发现,她立刻开始缩小了。她刚缩小到能穿过门的个头,就奔出了房子,发现一大群小动物和小鸟正等在外边。那只可怜的小壁虎比尔夹在其中,被两只豚鼠支撑着举了起来,它们正喂它吃着

were giving it something out of a bottle. They all made a rush at Alice the moment she appeared;but she ran off as hard as she could, and soon found herself safe in a thick wood.

‘The frst thing I've got to do,'said Alice to herself, as she wandered about in the wood,‘is to grow to my right size again;and the second thing is to fnd my way into that lovely garden. I think that will be the best plan.'

It sounded an excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and simply arranged;the only diffculty was, that she had not the smallest idea how to set about it;and while she was peering about anxiously among the trees, a little sharp bark just over her head made her look up in a great hurry.

An enormous puppy was looking down at her with large round eyes, and feebly stretching out one paw, trying to touch her.‘Poor little thing!'said Alice, in a coaxing tone, and she tried hard to whistle to it;but she was terribly frightened all the time at the thought that it might be hungry, in which case it would be very likely to eat her up in spite of all her coaxing.

Hardly knowing what she did, she picked up a little bit of stick, and held it out to the puppy;whereupon the puppy jumped into the air off all its feet at once, with a yelp of delight, and rushed at the stick, and made believe to worry it;then Alice dodged behind a great thistle, to keep herself from being run over;and the moment

从一个瓶子里拿出的什么东西。爱丽丝一露面,它们都向她冲过来。可是,她拼命逃跑,不久便发现自己平安地逃进了一片密林。

“我要做的第一件事,”爱丽丝一边在树林中漫步,一边对自己说,“就是再长到我的正常个头;第二件事就是找到那条通向那个美丽花园的路。我想这将是我最好的计划。”

听起来这是一个极好的计划,而且安排得非常精巧,唯一的困难是她一筹莫展。正当她在树林中惶恐不安四处张望时,她头顶上方传来的一声尖细的吠叫使她急忙抬起头来。

一只硕大的小狗正用又大又圆的眼睛低头看着她,并有气无力地伸出一只爪子,想尽力去摸她。“可怜的小东西!”爱丽丝用抚慰的语调说,然后使劲冲它吹口哨。可是,一想到它可能饿了,不管她怎么抚慰它,它都很可能把她吃掉,她就怕得要死。

她简直不知道该怎么办,她拾起一小截小树枝,伸向小狗,小狗马上高兴地吠叫着四爪腾空,向小树枝冲过来,假装要撕咬。爱丽丝连忙躲到一丛大蓟后面,摆脱被小狗扑咬。她刚闪到另一侧,小狗就又扑向小树枝,急于得到树枝,慌乱中一头栽在了自己的爪子上。这样一来,爱丽丝认为这很像跟一匹拉

she appeared on the other side, the puppy made another rush at the stick, and tumbled head over heels in its hurry to get hold of it;then Alice, thinking it was very like having a game of play with a cart-horse, and expecting every moment to be trampled under its feet, ran round the thistle again;then the puppy began a series of short charges at the stick, running a very little way forwards each time and a long way back, and barking hoarsely all the while, till at last it sat down a good way off, panting, with its tongue hanging out of its mouth, and its great eyes half shut.

货车的马在玩一场游戏,期望着小狗随时被它自己的爪子绊倒,就又围着那丛大蓟跑了起来。这时,小狗又向小树枝发起一连串的突袭,每次都向前跑出去一点儿,再后退很长一段距离,同时不停地用刺耳的声音吠叫着。到了最后,它远远地卧下来,呼哧呼哧喘着气,舌头耷拉在嘴外面,硕大的眼睛半闭着。

This seemed to Alice a good opportunity for making her escape;so she set off at once, and ran till she was quite tired and out of breath, and till the puppy's bark sounded quite faint in the distance.

‘And yet what a dear little puppy it was!'said Alice, as she leant against a buttercup to rest herself, and fanned herself with one of the leaves:‘I should have liked teaching it tricks very much, if—if I'd only been the right size to do it!Oh dear!I'd nearly forgotten that I've got to grow up again!Let me see—how IS it to be managed?I suppose I ought to eat or drink something or other;but the great question is, what?'

The great question certainly was, what?Alice looked all round her at the fowers and the blades of grass, but she did not see anything that looked like the right thing to eat or drink under the circumstances. There was a large mushroom growing near her, about the same height as herself;and when she had looked under it, and on both sides of it, and behind it, it occurred to her that she might as well look and see what was on the top of it.

She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of the mushroom, and her eyes immediately met those of a large blue caterpillar, that was sitting on the top with its arms folded, quietly smoking a long hookah, and taking not the smallest notice of her or of anything else.

这似乎是爱丽丝逃跑的一个好机会,于是,她撒腿就跑,一直跑到筋疲力尽,上气不接下气,跑到小狗的吠声在远处变得微弱。

“可它是一只好可爱的小狗啊!”爱丽丝说,她倚靠在一棵毛茛上休息,并用一片毛茛叶,给自己扇着风,“要是——要是我刚才能有正常个头,我真想好好教它几招!哎哟!我差点儿忘了我还得再长大呢!让我想一想——这该怎么办呢?我想我应该吃点儿、喝点儿什么,或其他什么的,可主要的问题是吃点儿、喝点儿什么呢?”

确实,主要的问题是吃喝什么呢?爱丽丝环顾周围的花朵和草儿的叶片。可是,在这样的环境中,她没有看到可以吃喝的任何东西。她身边长着一株大蘑菇,跟她差不多一样高。她瞅瞅蘑菇下面、两旁和后面,突然想到不妨瞧瞧上面有什么。

她挺直身子,踮起脚尖,顺着蘑菇伞的边缘瞄了一眼,一下子就瞅见一条蓝色大毛毛虫,正端坐在蘑菇顶上,双臂叠在胸前,气定神闲,正抽着一支长长的水烟管,丝毫没有留意她或别的东西。