英文书摘精选 不朽名著03：掉进兔子洞

Down the Rabbit-Hole



掉进兔子洞



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?”



爱丽丝挨着姐姐坐在河岸边，她开始感到厌烦，讨厌这无事可做的状态。她偷偷瞥了瞥姐姐正在看的书一两眼，但是里面既没有图片，也没有对话，“没有图片和对话的书有什么用呢？ ”爱丽丝想。



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.



于是她在头脑里寻思，编一个雏菊花环的乐趣是否值得她不怕麻烦地站起身去采摘雏菊呢，突然，一只粉色眼睛的白兔跑到她跟前。



There was nothing so very remarkable 1 in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!” but 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 and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.



这件事并没有什么非常令人惊讶的，当爱丽丝听到兔子自言自语地说，“哦， 天呀！哦，天呀！我要迟到了！ ”她也没觉得有多么奇怪，但那只兔子竟然从背心口袋里掏出一块表来，看了看，然后急急忙忙地赶路，爱丽丝站起身，因为她脑海一闪而过的想法是：她从来没有看见过一只兔子有背心口袋，或者能从口袋里掏出一块表来。出于强烈的好奇心，她跟着兔子穿过田野，幸运的是，正好看到它跳进了篱笆底下的一个大兔子洞。



In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.



转眼工夫，爱丽丝便跟着它跳了下去，从未考虑过自己究竟怎样才能再出去。



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.



兔子洞像隧道一样直直地向下延伸，一段路后，突然向下倾斜，太突然了，爱丽丝根本来不及想到让自己停下来，便发现她正在顺着一个很深的井往下掉。



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 bookshelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs 2. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it was labelled “ORANGE MARMALADE", but to her great disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing 3 somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it.



要么是井非常深，要么是她掉得很慢，因为她在往下掉的同时，还有足够的时间去东张西望，去猜测接下来会发生的事情。首先，她试着往下看，想弄清她要意到哪里，但井里漆黑一片，什么也看不见；然后，她看了看井的四周，发现四面全是橱柜和书架；她看见钉子上到处挂着地图和图片。她从经过的一个架子上拿下一个瓶子，上面贴着“橘子酱”的标签，但是让她大失所望的是，瓶子是空的。她不想扔掉瓶子，因为怕砸死人，所以设法把它放进了下落时又经过的一个橱柜里。



“Well!” thought Alice to herself, “after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling 4 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!”



“好呀！ ”爱丽丝心想,“经历过这样一次往下掉，我就不会把从楼梯上滚下去当一回事了！家里人都会觉得我是多么勇敢呀！哎呀，这件事我不会说一个字，即 使我从房顶上掉下来！ ”



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 centre 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 5 or Longitude 6 I’ve got to?”



向下，向下，向下掉。难道向下掉永远不会结束！ “不知道到这个时候我已经 下降了多少英里？ ”她大声说。“我一定正在靠近地球中心的某个地方。让我想想：可能掉了四千英里啦，我想——” “——是的，大概正是这个距离一但是， 那我达到的纬度和经度是多少呢？ ”



Presently she began again. “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 7, I think—”



不一会儿她又开始说，“不知道我会不会一直掉下去，穿越地球呢！出来的时候，看到身边的人都头朝下倒着走路，那该有多可笑呀！讨厌的家伙们，我相——"



“—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?”



“——但是，你们知道，我将不得不询问他们国家的名字。夫人，请问这里是新西兰，还是澳大利亚呢？ ”



“And what an ignorant little girl she’ll think of me for asking! No, it'11 never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.”



“我这么问，她会以为我是一个多么无知的小女孩呀！不，绝不能提问，也许我会看到国名在哪儿写着呢。”



Down, down, down. Finally she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.



向下，向下，向下掉。最后她掉到了一堆干枝枯叶上，下降结束了。



课堂笔记：

1.这是一个由“nor”引导的部分倒装句，表示“也不”。“it”用作形式宾语，不定式 “to hear the Rabbit say to itself” 为真正的宾语。词组 “out of the way” 意指“不同寻常 的，罕见的”，程度副词“so”和副词词组“very much”均用于修饰该词组。

2.这是“for”引导的原因状语从句，从句中的主语it为形式主语，真正的主语是“that” 引导的从句。“that” 从句中的介词短语 “with either a waistcoat pocket, or a watch to take out of it” 用作 “rabbit” 的定语，其中代词 it 指代 “a waistcoat pocket”。结构 “either... or...”用于连接表示选择关系的名词或代词，意为“要么……要么……”。

3.固定结构“think nothing of doing sth.”表示“认为做某事没什么大不了，认为做某事没什么奇怪的”。

4.“even if"引导的让步状语从句，表示“即使，尽管”。此句使用了虚拟语气，主从句中的谓语动词分别用一般过去时和过去将来时态，表示对将来的假设虚拟。

5.这是一个由“how”引导的感叹句型。其中“it”为形式主语，代指不定式“to come out among the people that walk with their heads downward” 构成的真正主语，“that” 引导的 定语从句修饰先行词“people”。在爱丽丝神奇的想象中，穿越地球之后，她所见到的人都是脚贴地面，头倒悬的模样。

6.名词“antipathy”意指“敌视，厌恶”，此处的复数形式表示“令人厌恶的人”，首字母大写表示突出强调。