week2
day9:
第八章 王后的槌球场
3
'That's right!' shouted the Queen. 'Can you play croquet?'
“好极了!”王后说,“你会玩槌球吗?”
The soldiers were silent, and looked at Alice, as the question was evidently meant for her.
士兵们都看着爱丽丝,这个问题显然是问爱丽丝的。
'Yes!' shouted Alice.
“会!”爱丽丝大声回答。
'Come on, then!' roared the Queen, and Alice joined the procession, wondering very much what would happen next.
“那就过来!”王后喊道。于是爱丽丝就加入了这个队伍,她心里盘算着以后会发生什么事情呢?
'It's—it's a very fine day!' said a timid voice at her side. She was walking by the White Rabbit, who was peeping anxiously into her face.
“这……这真是一个好天气呵!”爱丽丝身旁一个胆怯的声音说。原来爱丽丝恰巧走在白兔的旁边,白兔正焦急地偷愉看着她的脸呢。
'Very,' said Alice: '—where's the Duchess?'
“是个好天气,”爱丽丝说,“公爵夫人在哪里呢?”
'Hush! Hush!' said the Rabbit in a low, hurried tone. He looked anxiously over his shoulder as he spoke, and then raised himself upon tiptoe, put his mouth close to her ear, and whispered 'She's under sentence of execution.'
“嘘!嘘!”兔子急忙低声制止她,同时还担心地转过头向王后看看,然后踮起脚尖把嘴凑到爱丽丝的耳朵根上,悄悄地说:“她被判处了死刑。”
'What for?' said Alice.
“为什么呢?”爱丽丝问。
'Did you say "What a pity!"?' the Rabbit asked.
“你是说真可怜吗?”兔子问。
'No, I didn't,' said Alice: 'I don't think it's at all a pity. I said "What for?"'
“不,不是,”爱丽丝问,“我没想可怜不可怜的问题,我是说为什么?”
'She boxed the Queen's ears—' the Rabbit began. Alice gave a little scream of laughter. 'Oh, hush!' the Rabbit whispered in a frightened tone. 'The Queen will hear you! You see, she came rather late, and the Queen said—'
“她打了王后耳光……”兔子说。爱丽丝笑出声来了。“嘘!”兔子害怕地低声说,“王后会听到的!你知道,公爵夫人来晚了,王后说……”
'Get to your places!' shouted the Queen in a voice of thunder, and people began running about in all directions, tumbling up against each other; however, they got settled down in a minute or two, and the game began. Alice thought she had never seen such a curious croquet–ground in her life; it was all ridges and furrows; the balls were live hedgehogs, the mallets live flamingoes, and the soldiers had to double themselves up and to stand on their hands and feet, to make the arches.
“各就各位!”王后雷鸣般地喊了一声,人们就朝各个方向跑开了,撞来撞去的,一两分钟后总算都站好了自己的位置。于是游戏开始了。
The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo: she succeeded in getting its body tucked away, comfortably enough, under her arm, with its legs hanging down, but generally, just as she had got its neck nicely straightened out, and was going to give the hedgehog a blow with its head, it WOULD twist itself round and look up in her face, with such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out laughing: and when she had got its head down, and was going to begin again, it was very provoking to find that the hedgehog had unrolled itself, and was in the act of crawling away: besides all this, there was generally a ridge or furrow in the way wherever she wanted to send the hedgehog to, and, as the doubled–up soldiers were always getting up and walking off to other parts of the ground, Alice soon came to the conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed.
爱丽丝想,可还从来没见过这样奇怪的槌球游戏呢?球场到处都是坎坷不平的,槌球是活刺猬,槌球棒是活红鹤(红鹤:Phoenicopterus科,趾间有蹼,因种不同羽色各异,有红、灰等色。虽称红鹤,但与鹤科Gruidae无关。中国无此鸟。),士兵们手脚着地当球门。起初,爱丽丝很难摆弄红鹤,后来总算很成功地把红鹤的身子舒服地夹在胳膊底下,红鹤的腿垂在下面。可是,当她好不容易把红鹤的脖子弄直,准备用它的头去打那个刺猬时,红鹤却把脖子扭上来,用奇怪的表情看着爱丽丝的脸,惹得爱丽丝大声笑了。她只得把红鹤的头按下去,当她准备再一次打球的时候,恼火地发现刺猬已经展开了身子爬走了。此外,把刺猬球打过去的路上总有一些土坎或小沟,躬腰做球门的士兵常常站起来走到球场的其它地方去。爱丽丝不久就得出结论:这确实是一个非常困难的游戏。
The players all played at once without waiting for turns, quarrelling all the while, and fighting for the hedgehogs; and in a very short time the Queen was in a furious passion, and went stamping about, and shouting 'Off with his head!' or 'Off with her head!' about once in a minute.
参加游戏的人没等轮到自己,就一起打起球来了,不时地为了刺猬争吵和打架。不一会,王后就大发雷霆,跺着脚来回地走,大约一分钟叫喊一次:“砍掉他的头!”“砍掉她的头!”
Alice began to feel very uneasy: to be sure, she had not as yet had any dispute with the Queen, but she knew that it might happen any minute, 'and then,' thought she, 'what would become of me? They're dreadfully fond of beheading people here; the great wonder is, that there's any one left alive!'
爱丽丝感到非常不安,说真的她还没有同王后发生争吵,可是这是每分钟都可能发生的呀!“如果吵架的话,”她想,“我会怎么样呢?这儿的人太喜欢砍头了!可是很奇怪,现在还有人活着。”
She was looking about for some way of escape, and wondering whether she could get away without being seen, when she noticed a curious appearance in the air: it puzzled her very much at first, but, after watching it a minute or two, she made it out to be a grin, and she said to herself 'It's the Cheshire Cat: now I shall have somebody to talk to.'
爱丽丝就寻找逃走的路,而且还想不被人发现的逃开。这时,她注意到天空出现了一个怪东西,起初她惊奇极了,看了一两分钟后,她判断出这是一个笑容,并对自己说:“这是柴郡猫,现在我可有人说话了。”
'How are you getting on?' said the Cat, as soon as there was mouth enough for it to speak with.
“你好吗?”柴郡猫刚出现了能说话的嘴就问。
Alice waited till the eyes appeared, and then nodded. 'It's no use speaking to it,' she thought, 'till its ears have come, or at least one of them.'
爱丽丝等到它的眼睛也出现了,才点点头。“现在跟它说话没用处,”她想,“应该等它的两只耳朵也来了,至少来,了一只,再说话。”