愛麗絲夢遊仙境章章讀
White Rabbit Checking Watch
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?”
So she was considering in her own mind, 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.
Alice was shocked when she heard the Rabbit say to itself, “Oh dear! oh dear! I shall be late!” 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. Burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the bush.
In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again. 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. 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 Marmade” 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.
“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!”
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 center of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think – yes, that’s about the right distance – but then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I’ve got to?”
“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 –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 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.”
Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. “Dinah’ll miss me very much tonight!” (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.
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.
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.
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!
(To be continued in the next post..stay with us! 🐇)
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(Note: Excerpt/adaptation from Chapter one, Alice in Wonderland, a 1865 English novel by Lewis Corroll)
愛麗絲開始厭倦坐在她姐姐身邊無所事事：有一兩次她偷看了她姐姐正在讀的書，但裡面沒有圖片或對話，愛麗絲想，「沒有圖片或對話的書有什麼好看的！」
于是她正在心里琢磨着：做菊花链的乐趣是否值得起來采摘雏菊？突然，一只粉红色眼睛的白兔从她身边跑了过来。
愛麗絲聽到兔子自言自語時大吃一驚。「天啊！天啊！我要遲到了！」當兔子從口袋裡掏出一塊手錶，看了看，然後又繼續往前走時，愛麗絲馬上站了起來，因為她以前從來沒有見過一隻穿了外套並有口袋的兔子，更別說是從口袋拿出一塊手錶了！愛麗絲很好奇，她追著兔子跑過田野，正好看到它從灌木叢下的一個大洞裡蹦出去！
過了一會兒，愛麗絲跟著它下去了，完全沒有想到她到底要怎麼出去。兔子洞像一條隧道一樣筆直地延伸了一段，然後突然向下傾斜，突然地，愛麗絲還沒來得及想停下來，就發現自己掉進了一個很深的井裡。井很深，她下落的速度很慢，因為她下井時有足夠的時間環顧四周，想知道接下來會發生什麼。首先，她試著往下看，弄清楚她要來的地方是什麼，但是太黑了，什麼也看不見；然後她看了看井牆，發現裡面擺滿了櫥櫃和書架。她到處看到掛在釘子上的地圖和圖片。她經過時從一個架子上取下一個罐子。上面貼著「橘子果醬」的標籤，但令她非常失望的是，裡面是空的；她怕一不小心鬆手讓罐子掉下，傷了人，所以她設法把它放回一個櫥櫃裡。
「好吧，」愛麗絲自言自語道，「經過這樣的一次跌倒，在家裡就算從樓梯上摔下來我都會毫不在意的！而大家都會認為我是多麼勇敢！」
向下掉。向下…再掉..永遠不會結束嗎？不知道這次我掉了多少哩？她大聲說，「我必須到達地球中心附近的某個地方。讓我看看：我認為那將是四千英里以下——是的，那是正確的距離——但我想知道我會到達什麼緯度或經度？ 」
「我想知道我是否會直接從地球上掉下來！看到每個人倒著走路的會顯得多麼有趣！」我想——我不得不問他們這國家是什麼名字。「女士，請問這是紐西蘭還是澳大利亞？她們會一定會認為我是多麼無知的小女孩！不，我不能問！」
愛麗絲繼續往下掉落！沒有別的事可做，所以愛麗絲很快又開始說話了。 「黛娜今晚會非常想念我的！」（黛娜是愛麗絲的那隻貓。）「我希望他們會記得她在下午茶時間要喝的一碟牛奶。親愛的黛娜！我希望你和我一起在這裡！空氣中沒有老鼠，但是你可能會抓到一隻蝙蝠，他們很像老鼠。 但是我想知道貓會吃蝙蝠嗎？」說到這裡，愛麗絲開始有點困了，她繼續用一種夢幻般的方式自言自語：，「貓吃蝙蝠嗎？貓吃蝙蝠嗎？」「蝙蝠吃貓嗎？」反正她無法回答任何一個問題，所以她怎麼說都無關緊要。她覺得自己在打瞌睡，剛剛開始夢到自己和黛娜手牽著手走路，她很認真地對她說：「現在，黛娜，告訴我實話：你吃過蝙蝠嗎？」突然，撲通！撲通！她跌入了一堆樹枝和乾樹葉，掉落終於，結束了。
愛麗絲絲毫沒有受傷，一下子就跳了起來：她抬頭一看，頭頂一片漆黑；眼前又是一條長長的通道，白兔還在視線範圍內，匆匆忙忙地走下去。一刻也不能錯過：愛麗絲像風一樣飛走了，剛好在它轉過一個拐角時聽到兔子說：「噢，我的耳朵和鬍鬚，來得太晚了！」當他轉過拐角時，她就在它後面，但兔子現在已經不見了：她發現自己在一個又長又低的大廳裡，屋頂上掛著一排燈，照亮了大廳。
大廳四周都有門，但都鎖著。當愛麗絲一直從一邊下來，又從另一邊上來，試遍每一扇門時，她悲傷地走到中間，想知道她怎麼才能再出去。
突然，她看到了一張三足小桌，全是實心玻璃做的。除了一把小金鑰匙，上面什麼都沒有，愛麗絲的第一個念頭是它可能屬於大廳的一扇門。可惜！不是鎖太大，就是鑰匙太小，但無論如何它都打不開。然而，在第二次檢視週遭的時候，她發現了一個她以前沒有注意到意到的低窗簾，在它後面是一扇大約十五英寸高的小門：她試了試鎖中的小金鑰匙，令她非常高興的是，它插上了！
（本貼文內容乃根據一八六五年Lewis Coroll之英文小說愛麗絲夢遊仙境改編，翻譯。）
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