牛津書蟲系列 愛麗絲鏡中世界奇遇記 8 The White Knight

8 The White Knight

8.白衣騎士

After a while the noise of the drums slowly died awayand everything became silent. Alice lifted her head andsaw that she was alone，but there，lying at her feet， was theplate on which she had tried to cut the plum-cake.

過了一會兒，鼓聲慢慢消失，萬籟俱寂。愛麗絲抬頭發(fā)現自己孤身一人，腳邊是剛才她要在上面切葡萄干蛋糕的那個盤子。

‘So I didn't dream the Lion and the Unicorn，then，’ shesaid to herself.‘But-oh dear!Perhaps we're all part of thesame dream. I do hope it's my dream， and not the RedKing's! I don't like belonging to another person's dream.’

她自言自語地說：“那么我沒夢見獅子與獨角獸?？墒?-我的天!可能我們都是同一個夢境的一部分。我真的希望那是我的夢境，而不是紅方國王的!我不喜歡成為其他人的夢中物。”

At this moment there was a loud shout，and a Knight in redarmour came riding through the forest towards her.Just as hereached her，the horse stopped suddenly.

這時傳出了一高聲喊叫，一位身披紅色鎧甲的騎士騎馬穿過森林向她走來。馬突然在她前面停了下來。

‘You're my prisoner!’the Red Knight cried，as he fell offhis horse.

“你是我的階下囚!”紅衣騎士喊叫起來，同時從馬上摔了下來。

Alice was more worried for the Knight than for herself， buthe got up and slowly climbed back on to his horse.He began again to say，‘You're my-’， but then another shout rangthrough the forest.Alice looked round in surprise.

比起她自己，愛麗絲更為騎士擔心，但他站了起來，慢慢地重新跨上馬。他又說：“你是我的--”，但此時又一聲喊叫傳遍森林。愛麗絲驚奇地四處張望。

This time it was a White Knight.He rode up to Alice andwhen his horse stopped，he too fell off at once. He got onagain，and then the two Knights sat and looked at each othersilently.Alice watched them both，feeling very puzzled.

這次來的是一個白衣騎士。他騎馬來到愛麗絲面前，馬一停步，他也即刻摔了下來。他又騎了上去，然后兩位騎士騎在馬上面面相覷。愛麗絲看著他們兩個，心里迷惑不解。

‘She's my prisoner，you know!’ the Red Knight said at

紅衣騎士最后說：“她是我的囚犯!”

‘Yes， but then I came and saved her!’the White Knightreplied.

“沒錯，但后來我來搭救了她!”白衣騎士回答道。

‘Well，we must fight for her，then，’said the Red Knight，and he began to put on his helmet，which was in the shape of ahorse's head.

“那我們得為她打一仗。”紅衣騎士說著，他開始戴上頭盔，頭盔形狀像馬頭。

When the White Knight had got into his helmet as well， thetwo began fighting each other very noisily.Several times oneknocked the otner off his horse，but then always fell off him-self.Alice got behind a tree，where she could watch moresafely.

白衣騎士也戴上了頭盔，倆人就殺聲震天地對打起來。一方把對方摔下馬好幾次，勝方總是同時也摔了下來。愛麗絲跑到樹后，在那兒，她可以更安全地觀看這場戰(zhàn)斗。

‘What a noise their armour makes when they fall off!’shesaid to herself.‘And how calm the horses are!They just standthere like tables while the Knights get on and off!’

她自言自語地說：“騎士摔下馬時，他們的鎧甲發(fā)出的聲可真響!但是，馬兒卻毫無聲響!騎士跨上跨下，他們總是站在那兒像桌子一樣，紋絲不動。”

The battle ended when they both fell off at the same time.Then they shook hands and the Red Knight got on his horseand rode away.The White Knight came up to Alice.

倆人同時墜地，戰(zhàn)斗也到此結束。然后他們握手言和，紅衣騎士騎上馬走了。白衣騎士向愛麗絲走過來。

‘I won that battle easily， didn't I?’he said.

他說：“我很輕松就贏得了那場戰(zhàn)斗，不是嗎?”

‘I don't know，’said Alice，uncertainly.‘I don't want tobe anybody's prisoner. I want to be a Queen.’

“這我不清楚，我不想做任何人的囚犯，我要當王后。”愛麗絲猶豫地說。

‘So you will，when you've crossed the next brook，’ said theWhite Knight.‘I'll see you safe to the end of the wood- andthen I must go back， you know. That's the end of my move.’

白衣騎士說：“你會的，當你跨過了下一條小河的時候。我將護送你安全抵達樹林的盡頭--然后我必須返回。那是我最后的一步。”

‘Thank you very much，’said Alice.‘May I help you takeoff your helmet?’

“多謝，多謝!我可以幫你摘下頭盔嗎?”愛麗絲問。

It was difficult to do， but at last the helmet came off.

摘下頭盔并不容易，但最后終于成功了。

‘Ah， that's better，’ said the Knight.He pushed back hislong wild hair with both hands，and turned his gentle face andlarge sad eyes to Alice.

“啊，這就舒服多了。”騎士說著，雙手往后梳了梳自己的又長又亂的頭發(fā)，他面帶溫馴轉向愛麗絲，那雙大眼睛看上去很憂傷。

He was a very strange-looking soldier，Alice thought.Hisarmour fitted him very badly，and he had a great many thingsfastened to himself，and to the horse.There was also a smallwooden box on his back，which was upside-down.

愛麗絲想，這個士兵的樣子非常怪異。鎧甲一點也不合身，身上、馬上都捆綁了好多東西，背上還有個倒放著的小木箱。

‘I see you're looking at my little box，’the Knight said in afriendly voice.‘It's my own invention-to keep clothes andsandwiches in.You see I carry it upside-down，and then therain can't get in.’

騎士友好地說：“我知道你在看著我的小木箱。這是我自己的發(fā)明創(chuàng)造--用來放衣服、三明治的。你看我倒放在背上背著，那是為了防止雨水漏進去。”

‘But the things can get out，’ Alice said gently.‘Did youknow that the top was open?’

“但這樣東西會掉出來，你知道蓋是開著的嗎?”愛麗絲輕聲地說。

‘No，I didn't，’the Knight said.‘If all the things havefallen out，’he went on unhappily，‘there's no use keeping thebox.’He unfastened it as he spoke，and put it carefully on thebranch of a tree.‘Perhaps some birds will make a home in it.Now，if you're ready… What's that plate for?’

騎士說：“這我不知道。”他不高興地又說：“如果里面的東西都掉出來了，那留著箱子就沒用了。”他說著就卸下了箱子，小心地把它放在樹枝上。“也許鳥兒可以在里面做個巢，哦，你如果準備好了……那盤子是干什么用的?”

‘It was used for plum-cake，’said Alice.

愛麗絲答道：“那是用來盛葡萄干蛋糕的。”

‘I think we should take it with us，’the Knight said.‘It'llbe useful if we find any plum-cake.Help me to get it into thisbag.’

“我想我們應該把它帶上。如果我們找到葡萄干蛋糕，那就派上用場了。幫我把它放進袋子里。”騎士說。

This took a long time to do because the bag was not reallybig enough and already had a lot of carrots in it.But at last itwas done，and they started walking through the forest.It wasa slow journey because the Knight was not a good rider. Everytime the horse stopped(which it did very often)，he fell off infront.When the horse went on again， he fell off behind.Sometimes he fell off sideways as well，and Alice learnt not towalk too close to the horse.

放盤子用了很多時間，因為袋子太小，而且里面已裝了許多胡蘿卜。但最后終于放下了。他們就開始穿越森林。騎士騎馬技術不好，因此速度很慢。每次馬兒一停下來(馬兒經常停頓)，他就從前頭摔下來。等馬又繼續(xù)走時，他又從后頭摔下來。有時也從旁邊摔下來，愛麗絲記住了走路不能同馬靠得太近。

‘Perhaps you should have a wooden horse，on wheels，’Al-ice said with a little laugh， as she helped him get back on hishorse for the seventh time.

“也許你應該備匹有輪子的木馬。”愛麗絲第七次把他扶上馬時笑著對他說。

‘Do you think so?’the Knight said seriously.‘Yes，I'll getone. One or two- several.’

騎士嚴肅地說：“這是你的想法嗎?確實，我要買一匹。一匹或兩匹--幾匹。”

As they went， the Knight told her about his many inven-tions.Alice listened with great interest，but found most ofthem hard to understand.She was thinking abut his inven-tion for turning fish eyes into buttons when she saw，to hersurprise，that they had reached the end of the forest.

在路上，騎士給她講他的許多發(fā)明。愛麗絲很有興致地聆聽著，但覺得這些發(fā)明大多數難以理解。她正考慮著他把魚眼睛變成紐扣的發(fā)明時，突然出乎意料地看見他們已抵達了森林的盡頭。

‘You are sad，’the Knight said in a worried voice.‘Let mesing you a song to cheer you up.’

騎士焦慮地說：“你情緒低落，我唱支歌，讓你高興起來。”

‘Is it very long?’ Alice asked.She felt that she had heard agreat many poems and songs that day.

“歌很長嗎?”愛麗絲問。她覺得那天她聽到的詩、歌已夠多了。

‘It's long，’said the Knight，‘but it's very，very beautiful.Everybody that hears me sing it-either they cry，or-’ Hestopped suddenly.

騎士說：“很長，但非常非常動聽。每個人只要一聽見我唱起來，不是哭就是--”他突然停住了。

‘Or what?’ said Alice.

“或者什么呢?”愛麗絲問。

‘Or they don't， you know.The song is called I'll tell youeverything I can.It's about an old， old man that I met onesummer evening long ago，while sitting on the grass.’

“或者不哭。這支歌名叫‘我要告訴你我所知道的一切。’講的是很久以前一個夏日夜晚，我坐在草地上遇見的一個年歲很高的老人。”

Years afterwads Alice could still remember very clearlythose strange moments- the Knight's gentle smile as hesang，the sunlight shining on his armour，the horse quietlymoving around， and the black shadows of the forest behind.

事隔多年，愛麗絲還能夠清楚記得那個奇怪的時刻--騎士唱歌時慈祥的笑容，鎧甲上閃耀的太陽光，馬兒靜靜地轉悠，以及身后長長的樹林的影子。

She stood and listened very carefully，but she did not cry.Itwas a sad song，certainly，and as the Knight came towards theend，he seemed lost in his own sad dreams.

她站在那兒仔細地聽，但沒有哭。那當然是首悲傷的歌。騎士走到森林盡頭時，他似乎沉浸在他自己的凄涼夢境之中。

And now，if accidentally I put

而今，如果我碰巧把

My fingers into glue，

手指伸進膠中，

Or try to pusn a right-hand foot

或者把右腳

Into a left-hand shoe，

塞進左腳的鞋里，

Or if I drop upon my toe

或者把一塊大玻璃

A very heavy glass，

砸到了自己的腳趾上，

I cry，as it reminds me so

我哭，因為這使我想起

Of that old man I used to know-

那個曾經認識的老人--

Whose face was kind，whose voice was slow，

他有慈祥的面容，講話慢悠悠，

Whose hair was whiter than the snow，

他的頭發(fā)雪白，

Who shook his body to and fro，

身子顫巍巍，

And whispered words both sad and low-

講話低沉，語調悲涼--

That summer evening long ago，

那是久遠的一個夏日黃昏，

While sitting on the grass.

我坐在草地上。

As the Knight sang the last words， he began to turn hishorse round to go back into the forest.

騎士唱完最后一句，開始掉轉馬頭，回到森林里面。

‘You've only a little way to go，’he said，‘down the hilland over the brook，and then you'll be a Queen.’

他說：“你下山跨過小河，只需走一小段路就能做王后了。”

‘Thank you very much for coming so far，’said Alice，‘andfor the song-I liked it very much.’

“非常感謝你護送我到這兒，也謝謝你的歌--我很喜歡。”愛麗絲說。

‘I hope so，’the Knight said worriedly，‘but you didn't cryvery much.’

騎士不無焦慮地說：“我希望如此，但你并沒有哭埃”

They shook hands，and then the Knight rode slowly awayinto the forest.Alice stood and watched him for a while.

他們握了手，然后騎士就慢慢地騎馬走回森林。愛麗絲站在那兒，目送他一會兒。

‘It won't be long before he falls off again，’she said to her-self.‘Yes- there he goes!Right on his head as usual! Buthe doesn't seem to mind a bit.’

她心想，“過不多久，他又要摔下來了。不錯，又來了!像往常那樣，又一頭栽下來!但他似乎一點也不在意。”

When he had gone，Alice turned and ran down the hill.‘Now for the last brook，and to be a Queen!How grand itsounds!’A few steps brought her to the edge of the brook.

他背影一消失，愛麗絲轉身跑下山去。“現在只要跨過這最后一條小河，就做王后了!多快樂啊!”幾步她就來到了小河邊。

‘The Eighth Square at last!’she cried，as she jumped over and sat down to rest on the soft green grass. At once she feltsomething very heavy on her head.‘What is this on myhead?’she said.‘And how did it get there?’She lifted it off，to see what it was.

“終于到達了第八格!”她跳過小河坐在了一片毛茸茸的青草地上，叫道。突然她感覺頭上戴了個沉重的東西。“頭上是什么?哪兒來的?”她問道，同時把它摘了下來，看個明白。

It was a golden crown.

那是一頂金冠。