第五章　毛毛虫的建议

毛毛虫和爱丽丝默默对视了一番。最后，毛毛虫从嘴里拿出水烟袋，懒洋洋地跟她搭起了话。

“你是谁？”毛毛虫问。

这可不是鼓励人交谈的开场白。爱丽丝很不好意思地回答说：“此时我——我几乎不知道，先生——至少今天起床时我知道自己是谁，但我觉得，从那时起我一定变了好几次。”

“你这话什么意思？”毛毛虫严厉地说，“自己解释一下！”

“先生，我怕，我自己无法解释，”爱丽丝说，“因为我不是我自己了，你明白的。”

“我不明白。”毛毛虫说。

“恐怕我无法说得更明白了，”爱丽丝很有礼貌地回答，“因为首先，

confusing.'

‘It isn't，'said the Caterpillar.

‘Well, perhaps you haven't found it so yet，'said Alice；‘but when you have to turn into a chrysalis—you will some day, you know—and then after that into a butterfy, I should think you'll feel it a little queer, won't you?'

‘Not a bit，'said the Caterpillar.

这一切我自己都搞不懂，我的身体在一天当中变了好几次大小，真是让人莫名其妙。”

“不会吧。”毛毛虫说。

“也许你现在还不觉得奇怪，”爱丽丝说，“可是，当你不得不变成一只蛹——你知道，总有一天你会变成蛹——然后再变成一只蝴蝶，我想你就会感到有点儿奇怪，不是吗？”

“一点也不。”毛毛虫说。

‘Well, perhaps your feelings may be different，'said Alice；‘all I know is, it would feel very queer to ME.'

‘You！'said the Caterpillar contemptuously.‘Who are YOU?'

Which brought them back again to the beginning of the conversation. Alice felt a little irritated at the Caterpillar's making such VERY short remarks, and she drew herself up and said, very gravely，‘I think, you ought to tell me who YOU are, frst.'

‘Why?'said the Caterpillar.

Here was another puzzling question；and as Alice could not think of any good reason, and as the Caterpillar seemed to be in a VERY unpleasant state of mind, she turned away.

‘Come back！'the Caterpillar called after her.‘I've something important to say！'

This sounded promising, certainly：Alice turned and came back again.

‘Keep your temper，'said the Caterpillar.

‘Is that all?'said Alice, swallowing down her anger as well as she could.

‘No，'said the Caterpillar.

Alice thought she might as well wait, as she had nothing else to do, and perhaps after all it might tell her something worth hearing. For some minutes it puffed away without speaking, but at last it unfolded its arms, took the hookah out of its mouth again, and said，‘So you think you're changed, do you?'

“或许你的感受不一样，”爱丽丝说，“我只知道，我对此非常奇怪。”

“你！”毛毛虫轻蔑地说，“你是谁？”

这又把他们带回了谈话的开头。爱丽丝对毛毛虫的话如此简短有点儿恼火，便挺起胸，一本正经地说：“我想，你应该先告诉我你是谁。”

“为什么？”毛毛虫说。

又是一个令人费解的问题。由于爱丽丝想不出什么好理由，毛毛虫又显得极为不快，爱丽丝索性转身走了。

“回来！”毛毛虫在她身后叫道，“我有重要的事儿要说！”

当然，这话听起来有听头儿，爱丽丝转身便又回来了。

“别发火。”毛毛虫说。

“就说这个呀？”爱丽丝尽可能压住怒火问。

“不是。”毛毛虫说。

爱丽丝想了想，自己不妨等一下，因为她没有别的事儿可做，说不定对方会跟她讲些值得一听的东西。几分钟过去了，毛毛虫只是不停地喷着烟，一句话不说。最后，它伸出胳膊，把水烟袋从嘴里重新拿出来，说道：“这么说，你认为你变了，是吗？”

‘I'm afraid I am, sir，'said Alice；‘I can't remember things as I used—and I don't keep the same size for ten minutes together！'

‘Can't remember WHAT things?'said the Caterpillar.

‘Well, I've tried to say“HOW DOTH THE LITTLE BUSY BEE，”but it all came different！'Alice replied in a very melancholy voice.

‘Repeat，“YOU ARE OLD, FATHER WILLIAM，”'said the Caterpillar.

Alice folded her hands, and began：

“恐怕是的，先生。”爱丽丝说，“我记不起来事儿，不像从前那样——而且不到十分钟我的身量就会变一次。”

“你记不起来什么事儿？”毛毛虫问。

“噢，我曾尝试背诵《小蜜蜂多么忙碌》，但背出来的完全不一样！”爱丽丝非常忧伤地答道。

“那就背《你老了，威廉爸爸》。”毛毛虫说。

爱丽丝交叉双手，开始背了起来：

‘You are old, Father William，'the young man said，

‘And your hair has become very white；

And yet you incessantly stand on your head—

Do you think, at your age, it is right?'

‘In my youth，'Father William replied to his son，

‘I feared it might injure the brain；

But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none，

“你老了，威廉爸爸，”年轻人说道，

“你的头发全白了；

可你总是倒立着——

你认为，你这个年龄，这还合适吗？”

“年轻时，”威廉爸爸回答儿子说，

“我担心这可能会有伤大脑；

可是，既然我完全确定自己没有大脑，

Why, I do it again and again.'

‘You are old，'said the youth，‘as I mentioned before，

And have grown most uncommonly fat；

Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door，

Pray, what is the reason of that?'

‘In my youth，'said the sage, as he shook his grey locks，

所以，我就做了一遍又一遍。”

“你老了，”年轻人说，“就像我以前说的，

而且已经胖得不能再胖；

可你一个倒空翻翻进门来，

请问，这是什么原因？”

“年轻时，”老人摇了摇头发花白的脑袋说道，

‘I kept all my limbs very supple

By the use of this ointment—one shilling the box—

Allow me to sell you a couple?'

‘You are old，'said the youth，‘and your jaws are too weak

For anything tougher than suet；

Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak—

Pray how did you manage to do it?'

“我总是把四肢保持得相当柔软

使用这种药膏——一先令一盒——

要不要我卖给你两盒？”

“你老了，”年轻人说，“你的下巴这样不结实，

连比板油硬的东西都咬不动；

可你却把鹅连骨带嘴吃个精光——

请问，你是怎么做到的？”

‘In my youth，'said his father，‘I took to the law，

And argued each case with my wife；

And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw，

Has lasted the rest of my life.'

‘You are old，'said the youth，‘one would hardly suppose

That your eye was as steady as ever；

Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose—

What made you so awfully clever?'

‘I have answered three questions, and that is enough，'

Said his father；‘don't give yourself airs！

Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?

Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs！'

‘That is not said right，'said the Caterpillar.

‘Not QUITE right, I'm afraid，'said Alice, timidly；‘some of the words have got

“年轻时，”他的父亲说，“我喜欢法律，

就和妻子辩论每个案子，

这使得我的下巴肌肉有力，

并持续了一辈子。”

“你老了，”年轻人说，“简直难以想象，

你的眼睛还像从前一样坚定。

可你居然能把一条鳝鱼顶在鼻尖上——

是什么使你这样灵巧？”

“我已经回答了三个问题。够了，”他的父亲说，

“别一副盛气凌人的样子！

你以为我能整天听这些吗？

走开，否则我就要把你踢下楼梯！”

“背错了。”毛毛虫说。

“恐怕不是很对，”爱丽丝羞怯地说，“其中一些词变更了。”

“从头到尾全错了，”毛毛虫断然说道，随即他们之间出现了几分钟的

altered.'

‘It is wrong from beginning to end，'said the Caterpillar decidedly, and there was silence for some minutes.

The Caterpillar was the frst to speak.

‘What size do you want to be?'it asked.

‘Oh, I'm not particular as to size，'Alice hastily replied；‘only one doesn't like changing so often, you know.'

‘I DON'T know，'said the Caterpillar.

Alice said nothing：she had never been so much contradicted in her life before, and she felt that she was losing her temper.

‘Are you content now?'said the Caterpillar.

‘Well, I should like to be a LITTLE larger, sir, if you wouldn't mind，'said Alice：‘three inches is such a wretched height to be.'

‘It is a very good height indeed！'said the Caterpillar angrily, rearing itself upright as it spoke（it was exactly three inches high）.

‘But I'm not used to it！'pleaded poor Alice in a piteous tone. And she thought of herself，‘I wish the creatures wouldn't be so easily offended！'

‘You'll get used to it in time，'said the Caterpillar；and it put the hookah into its mouth and began smoking again.

沉默。

毛毛虫首先开口。

“你想变成多大尺寸？”它问。

“噢，我对尺寸并不过分讲究。”爱丽丝急忙回答，“只是不喜欢总是变来变去，你知道的。”

“我不知道。”毛毛虫说。

爱丽丝没有说话。她一生中从来没有人这样和她顶过嘴，她感到自己就要发火了。

“你对现在满意吗？”毛毛虫说。

“噢，先生，如果你不介意的话，我想再大一点，”爱丽丝说，“三英寸高，这太可怜了。”

“这么高确实非常不错！”毛毛虫生气地说。它说话的同时直起了身子，正好三英寸高。

“可是，我不习惯这么高！”爱丽丝可怜巴巴地哀求道。她心里想：“要是这些动物别动不动就发火，该多好！”

“你迟早会习惯的。”毛毛虫说着，又把水烟袋放进嘴里，开始抽了起来。

This time Alice waited patiently until it chose to speak again. In a minute or two the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth and yawned once or twice, and shook itself.Then it got down off the mushroom, and crawled away in the grass, merely remarking as it went，‘One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.'

‘One side of WHAT?The other side of WHAT?'thought Alice to herself.

‘Of the mushroom，'said the Caterpillar, just as if she had asked it aloud；and in another moment it was out of sight.

Alice remained looking thoughtfully at the mushroom for a minute, trying to make out which were the two sides of it；and as it was perfectly round, she found this a very diffcult question. However, at last she stretched her arms round it as far as they would go, and broke off a bit of the edge with each hand.

‘And now which is which?'she said to herself, and nibbled a little of the right-hand bit to try the effect：the next moment she felt a violent blow underneath her chin：it had struck her foot！

She was a good deal frightened by this very sudden change, but she felt that there was no time to be lost, as she was shrinking rapidly；so she set to work at once to eat some of the other bit. Her chin was pressed so closely against her foot, that there was hardly room to open her mouth；but she did it at last, and managed to swallow a morsel of the left-hand bit.

这次，爱丽丝耐心地等着它再次主动开口。过了一、两分钟，毛毛虫从嘴里拿出了水烟袋，打了一两个哈欠，晃了晃身子，从蘑菇上下来，向草丛里爬去，只是一边爬，一边说：“一边可让你长高，另一边可让你变矮。”

“什么的一边？什么的另一边？”爱丽丝暗想。

就好像爱丽丝大声问过它似的，毛毛虫说：“蘑菇的。”它转眼就不见了踪影。

爱丽丝若有所思地看了蘑菇一会儿，竭力想分辨出哪是它的两边。因为它非常圆。她发现这是一个非常困难的问题。不过，最后，她尽可能伸长双臂抱住它，一只手掰下来一小块蘑菇边。

“这哪边是哪边呢？”她问自己，然后轻轻地咬了一点右手那块，想试试效果。她立刻感到下巴底下重重地挨了一下，原来下巴撞到了她的脚！

对这突如其来的变化，她害怕极了。可是，她感到没时间耽搁了，因为她正在迅速缩小。于是，她马上咬了另一块一口。她的下巴跟她的脚压得紧紧地，简直连嘴都张不开了。可是，她终于努力张开嘴，把左手上的那点蘑菇咽下了一小块。

‘Come, my head's free at last！'said Alice in a tone of delight, which changed into alarm in another moment, when she found that her shoulders were nowhere to be found：all she could see, when she looked down, was an immense length of neck, which seemed to rise like a stalk out of a sea of green leaves that lay far below her.

‘What CAN all that green stuff be?'said Alice.‘And where HAVE my shoulders got to?And oh, my poor hands, how is it I can't see you?'She was moving them about as she spoke, but no result seemed to follow, except a little shaking among the distant green leaves.

As there seemed to be no chance of getting her hands up to her head, she tried to get her head down to them, and was delighted to fnd that her neck would bend about easily in any direction, like a serpent. She had just succeeded in curving it down into a graceful zigzag, and was going to dive in among the leaves, which she found to be nothing but the tops of the trees under which she had been wandering, when a sharp hiss made her draw back in a hurry：a large pigeon had fown into her face, and was beating her violently with its wings.

‘Serpent！'screamed the Pigeon.

‘I'm NOT a serpent！'said Alice indignantly.‘Let me alone！'

‘Serpent, I say again！'repeated the Pigeon, but in a more subdued tone, and added with a kind of sob，‘I've tried every way, and nothing seems to suit them！'

‘I haven't the least idea what you're talking about，'said Alice.

“嗨，我的头终于自由了！”爱丽丝高兴地说道。转眼间，她的高兴又变成了惊慌，因为她发现自己的肩膀哪里都找不见了。她向下看，只能看到一个极其长的脖子，它就像从下面万千绿叶里高高探出的一枝花茎。

“这绿东西会是什么呢？”爱丽丝说，“我的肩膀哪里去了？噢，我可怜的双手，我怎么看不见你们呀？”她一边说着，一边来回晃动双手。可是，除了远处的绿叶丛微微颤动，似乎没什么结果。

既然没办法把手举到头顶上，她就试着低头去看手。她高兴地发现，自己的脖子像蛇一样可以随意弯转。她刚把脖子向下弯成一个优美的Z字形，正准备伸到绿叶中去，却发现那些绿叶只是她在下面游走的那些树林的树梢。这时，一声尖利的飕飕声使她急忙缩了回去。只见一只大鸽子朝她脸上飞来，翅膀猛烈地拍打着她。

“蛇！”鸽子尖叫道。

“我不是蛇！”爱丽丝愤怒地说，“走开！”

“是蛇，我再说一遍！”鸽子重复道，但声音柔和多了，随即它带着哭腔说道，“我每种方法都尝试过了，似乎都对付不了它们！”

‘I've tried the roots of trees, and I've tried banks, and I've tried hedges，'the Pigeon went on, without attending to her；‘but those serpents！There's no pleasing them！’

Alice was more and more puzzled, but she thought there was no use in saying anything more till the Pigeon had fnished.

‘As if it wasn't trouble enough hatching the eggs，'said the Pigeon；‘but I must be on the look-out for serpents night and day！Why, I haven't had a wink of sleep these three weeks！'

‘I'm very sorry you've been annoyed，'said Alice, who was beginning to see its meaning.

‘And just as I'd taken the highest tree in the wood，'continued the Pigeon, raising its voice to a shriek，‘and just as I was thinking I should be free of them at last, they must needs come wriggling down from the sky！Ugh, Serpent！'

‘But I'm NOT a serpent, I tell you！'said Alice.‘I'm a—I'm a—'

‘Well！WHAT are you?'said the Pigeon.‘I can see you're trying to invent something！'

‘I—I'm a little girl，'said Alice, rather doubtfully, as she remembered the number of changes she had gone through that day.

‘A likely story indeed！'said the Pigeon in a tone of the deepest contempt.‘I've seen a good many little girls in my time, but never ONE with such a neck as that！No, no！You're a serpent；and there's no use denying it. I suppose you'll be telling me next

“你说的话我一点儿都不明白。”爱丽丝说。

“我试过树根，试过河岸，还试了树篱，”鸽子没有注意她，继续说道，“可是，那些蛇！它们根本就不让人消停！”

爱丽丝越听越糊涂，但她想，不等鸽子说完，自己说什么也没用。

“好像光孵蛋还不够麻烦似的，”鸽子说，“我还得日夜提防着蛇！唉，已经三个星期都没合过眼了！”

“打扰了你，我很抱歉。”爱丽丝说，开始明白了它的意思。

“我刚搬到树林里最高的树上，”鸽子提高了嗓门，尖声说道，“正在我想着我终于摆脱它们了，可它们偏偏又从天上扭下来！呸，蛇！”

“可我不是蛇，我告诉你！”爱丽丝说，“我是个——我是个——”

“啊！你是什么？”鸽子说，“我看出来了，你是想编瞎话！”

“我——我是个小姑娘。”爱丽丝不太敢确定，因为她想起了这一天中经历的几次变化。

“编得确实像那么回事儿！”鸽子用最轻蔑的口吻说，“我长这么大见过的小姑娘多得是，可从来没有见过一个像你一样长着这样的脖子的！没有，没

that you never tasted an egg！'

‘I HAVE tasted eggs, certainly，'said Alice, who was a very truthful child；‘but little girls eat eggs quite as much as serpents do, you know.'

‘I don't believe it，'said the Pigeon；‘but if they do, why, then they're a kind of serpent, that's all I can say.'

This was such a new idea to Alice, that she was quite silent for a minute or two, which gave the Pigeon the opportunity of adding，‘You're looking for eggs, I know THAT well enough；and what does it matter to me whether you're a little girl or a serpent?'

‘It matters a good deal to ME，'said Alice hastily；‘but I'm not looking for eggs, as it happens；and if I was, I shouldn't want YOURS：I don't like them raw.'

‘Well, be off, then！'said the Pigeon in a sulky tone, as it settled down again into its nest. Alice crouched down among the trees as well as she could, for her neck kept getting entangled among the branches, and every now and then she had to stop and untwist it.After a while she remembered that she still held the pieces of mushroom in her hands, and she set to work very carefully, nibbling frst at one and then at the other, and growing sometimes taller and sometimes shorter, until she had succeeded in bringing herself down to her usual height.

It was so long since she had been anything near the right size, that it felt quite strange at frst；but she got used to it in a few minutes, and began talking to herself, as

有！你是一条蛇，否认绝对没用。我想接下来你会告诉我，你从来没有尝过一只蛋吧！”

“我尝过蛋，”爱丽丝说，她是一个非常诚实的孩子，“可小姑娘吃的蛋跟蛇差不多同样多，你知道的。”

“我不相信，”鸽子说，“如果那样的话，哎，那我只能说它们是一种蛇。”

这想法让爱丽丝听来确实新鲜，她足足沉默了一、两分钟。鸽子趁机又说：“你是在找蛋，这我清楚得很；至于你是小姑娘还是蛇，跟我有什么关系？”

“这跟我关系可大了，”爱丽丝急忙说道，“可碰巧我不是在找蛋，就算我是在找蛋，也不会要你的。我不喜欢生蛋。”

“哼，那就滚开！”鸽子一边生气地说着，一边飞下去钻进了窝里。爱丽丝尽可能往树林中间蹲下来。其间，她的脖子常常缠在枝蔓里，她时不时得停下来去解开。过了一会儿，她想起了仍然握在手里的两块蘑菇，就开始小心翼翼地这块咬一点，那块咬一点，身体随着也时而长高，时而变矮。最后，她终于使自己回到了往常的身高。

她已经好久不是原来的大小了，所以一开始觉得十分异样。可是，几分

usual.‘Come, there's half my plan done now！How puzzling all these changes are！I'm never sure what I'm going to be, from one minute to another！However, I've got back to my right size：the next thing is, to get into that beautiful garden—how IS that to be done, I wonder?'As she said this, she came suddenly upon an open place, with a little house in it about four feet high.‘Whoever lives there，’thought Alice，‘it’ll never do to come upon them THIS size：why, I should frighten them out of their wits！’So she began nibbling at the right-hand bit again, and did not venture to go near the house till she had brought herself down to nine inches high.

钟后，她就习惯了。她像平常那样开始自言自语：“嗨，现在我的计划成功一半了！所有这些变化真令人费解！我从来都拿不准下一分钟我会是什么样。不过，我已经恢复了原来的身高，接下来我要走进那个美丽的花园——也不知道该怎么去做？”说话间，她突然来到了一片开阔地，这里有一座大约4英尺高的小房子。“无论谁住在这里，”爱丽丝想，“以我这样的大小见他们绝对不行，哎，我会把他们的魂都吓飞的！”于是，她又轻轻咬了一口右手上的蘑菇，直到缩到9英寸高，她才冒险走近那座房子。