Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

《愛麗絲夢游仙境》是英國作家查爾斯·路德維希·道奇森以筆名劉易斯·卡羅爾于1865年出版的兒童文學(xué)作品。故事敘述一個名叫愛麗絲的女孩從兔子洞進(jìn)入一處神奇國度，遇到許多會講話的生物以及像人一般活動的紙牌，最后發(fā)現(xiàn)原來是一場夢。本文為第一章節(jié)選。

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
By Lewis Carroll
I.Down the Rabbit-Hole
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on thebank, and of having nothing to do. Once or twice she had peeped into thebook her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations init, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures orconversations?"
So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for theday made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure ofmaking a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up andpicking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ranclose by her.
There was nothing so very remarkable in that, nor did Alice think it sovery much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, "Oh dear! Ohdear! I shall be too late!" But when the Rabbit actually took a watchout of its waistcoat-pocket and looked at it and then hurried on, Alicestarted to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had neverbefore seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to takeout of it, and, burning with curiosity, she ran across the field afterit and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole, underthe hedge. In another moment, down went Alice after it!
The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way and thendipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to thinkabout stopping herself before she found herself falling down what seemedto be a very deep well.
Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she hadplenty of time, as she went down, to look about her. First, she tried tomake 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 werefilled with cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps andpictures hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves asshe passed. It was labeled "ORANGE MARMALADE," but, to her greatdisappointment, it was empty; she did not like to drop the jar, somanaged to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it.
Down, down, down! Would the fall never come to an end? There was nothingelse to do, so Alice soon began talking to herself. "Dinah'll miss mevery much to-night, I should think!" (Dinah was the cat.) "I hopethey'll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah, my dear, I wishyou were down here with me!" Alice felt that she was dozing off, whensuddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dryleaves, and the fall was over.
Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up in a moment. She looked up,but it was all dark overhead; before her was another long passage andthe White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it. There was not amoment to be lost. Away went Alice like the wind and was just in time tohear it say, as it turned a corner, "Oh, my ears and whiskers, how lateit's getting!" She was close behind it when she turned the corner, butthe Rabbit was no longer to be seen.
She found herself in a long, low hall, which was lit up by a row oflamps hanging from the roof. There were doors all 'round the hall, butthey were all locked; and when Alice had been all the way down one sideand 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 table, all made of solid glass. Therewas nothing on it but a tiny golden key, and Alice's first idea was thatthis might belong to one of the doors of the hall; but, alas! either thelocks were too large, or the key was too small, but, at any rate, itwould not open any of them. However, on the second time 'round, she cameupon a low curtain she had not noticed before, and behind it was alittle door about fifteen inches high. She tried the little golden keyin the lock, and to her great delight, it fitted!
Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, notmuch larger than a rat-hole; she knelt down and looked along the passageinto the loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out ofthat dark hall and wander about among those beds of bright flowers andthose cool fountains, but she could not even get her head through thedoorway. "Oh," said Alice, "how I wish I could shut up like a telescope!I think I could, if I only knew how to begin."
Alice went back to the table, half hoping she might find another key onit, or at any rate, a book of rules for shutting people up liketelescopes. This time she found a little bottle on it ("which certainlywas not here before," said Alice), and tied 'round the neck of thebottle was a paper label, with the words "DRINK ME" beautifully printedon it in large letters.
"No, I'll look first," she said, "and see whether it's marked '_poison_'or not," for she had never forgotten that, if you drink from a bottlemarked "poison," it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner orlater. However, this bottle was _not_ marked "poison," so Alice venturedto taste it, and, finding it very nice (it had a sort of mixed flavor ofcherry-tart, custard, pineapple, roast turkey, toffy and hot butteredtoast), she very soon finished it off.
"What a curious feeling!" said Alice. "I must be shutting up like atelescope!"
And so it was indeed! She was now only ten inches high, and her facebrightened up at the thought that she was now the right size for goingthrough the little door into that lovely garden.
After awhile, finding that nothing more happened, she decided on goinginto the garden at once; but, alas for poor Alice! When she got to thedoor, she found she had forgotten the little golden key, and when shewent back to the table for it, she found she could not possibly reachit: she could see it quite plainly through the glass and she tried herbest to climb up one of the legs of the table, but it was too slippery,and when she had tired herself out with trying, the poor little thingsat down and cried.
"Come, there's no use in crying like that!" said Alice to herself rathersharply. "I advise you to leave off this minute!" She generally gaveherself very good advice (though she very seldom followed it), andsometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into hereyes.
Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table:she opened it and found in it a very small cake, on which the words "EATME" were beautifully marked in currants. "Well, I'll eat it," saidAlice, "and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if itmakes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door: so either way I'llget into the garden, and I don't care which happens!"
She ate a little bit and said anxiously to herself, "Which way? Whichway?" holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way she wasgrowing; and she was quite surprised to find that she remained the samesize. So she set to work and very soon finished off the cake.

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