They were indeed a queer-looking party that assembled on the bank—the birds with draggled feathers, the animals with their fur clinging close to them, and all dripping wet, cross, and uncomfortable.

聚集在岸边的这支队伍看起来确实很古怪——拖着湿漉漉羽毛的鸟，皮毛紧贴着身子的小动物，它们全都湿漉漉的，生着气，而且局促不安。

The first question of course was, how to get dry again; they had a consultation about this, and after a few minutes it seemed quite natural to Alice to find herself talking familiarly with them, as if she had known them all her life. Indeed, she had quite a long argument with the Lory, who at last turned sulky, and would only say, "I am older than you, and must know better"; and this Alice would not allow without knowing how old it was, and, as the Lory positively refused to tell its age, there was no more to be said.

首要的问题当然是怎样再把身子弄干；它们就此商议起来，没过几分钟，艾丽丝就很自然地跟它们熟络地聊起天来，好像和它们是老相识似的。实际上，她跟鹦鹉争论了好长时间，最后鹦鹉生气了，只是说：“我比你年长，肯定比你知道得多。”但是艾丽丝不同意这一点，因为她根本不知道鹦鹉多大了，而且它又断然不肯透露自己的年龄，所以也就没什么可说的了。

At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority among them, called out, "Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I'LL soon make you dry enough!"They all sat down at once, in a large ring, with the Mouse in the middle. Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not get dry very soon.

最后，那只看起来像是它们之中的权威人士的老鼠喊道：“全都坐下，听我说！我会马上把你们弄干的！”它们立刻全都坐下来，围成了一个大圈，把老鼠围在中间。艾丽丝担忧地盯着它，因为她觉得如果不赶快弄干身子的话，肯定会得重感冒。

"Ahem!" said the Mouse with an important air, "are you all ready? This is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! 'William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria—'"

“啊咳！”老鼠煞有介事地说，“你们都准备好了吗？这是我所知道的最干巴巴的故事了。请你们都安静点！‘征服者威廉的事业得到了教皇的支持，他很快就使英国人屈服了，英国人渴望领袖，而且近来已经习惯了篡权和征服。麦西亚和诺森布里亚的伯爵埃德温和莫卡——’”

"Ugh!" said the Lory, with a shiver.

“啊！”鹦鹉哆嗦了一下。

"I beg your pardon!" said the Mouse, frowning, but very politely: "Did you speak?"

“请原谅！”老鼠皱着眉头，但很礼貌地问，“你说话了吗？”

"Not I!" said the Lory hastily.

“我没说！”鹦鹉赶紧说道。

"I thought you did," said the Mouse. “—I proceed. 'Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him; and even Stigand, the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found it advisable—'"

“我以为你说了什么呢，”老鼠说，“——我继续讲。‘麦西亚和诺森布里亚的伯爵埃德温和莫卡表示拥戴他；甚至坎特伯雷的爱国大主教斯蒂甘德也发现这是明智的——’”

"Found WHAT?" said the Duck.

“发现什么？”鸭子问。

"Found IT," the Mouse replied rather crossly: "of course you know what 'it' means."

“发现‘这’，”老鼠不高兴地回答道，“你当然知道‘这’指的是什么。”

"I know what 'it' means well enough, when I find a thing," said the Duck: "it's generally a frog or a worm. The question is, what did the archbishop find?"

“当我发现一个什么东西时，我当然知道‘这’指的是什么，”鸭子说，“‘这’通常是一只青蛙或一条蚯蚓。问题是，那个大主教发现的是什么东西呢？”

The Mouse did not notice this question, but hurriedly went on, “‘—found it advisable to go with Edgar Atheling to meet William and offer him the crown. William's conduct at first was moderate. But the insolence of his Normans—'How are you getting on now, my dear?" it continued, turning to Alice as it spoke.

老鼠没有理睬这个问题，而是急急忙忙地继续讲：“‘——发现与埃德加·阿瑟林一起去迎接威廉，并向他献上皇冠是明智的。起初，威廉的行为还比较节制。但是他那诺曼人的傲慢——’你现在感觉如何，我亲爱的？”它一边继续说着，一边转向艾丽丝。

"As wet as ever," said Alice in a melancholy tone: "it doesn't seem to dry me at all."

“还是一样湿，”艾丽丝忧愁地说，“这个故事好像一点也没把我弄干。”

"In that case," said the Dodo solemnly, rising to its feet, "I move that the meeting adjourn, for the immediate adoption of more energetic remedies—”

“既然这样，”渡渡鸟站了起来，严肃地说，“我主张休会，以便立即采取更有力的补救措施——”

"Speak English!" said the Eaglet. "I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and, what's more, I don't believe you do either!"And the Eaglet bent down its head to hide a smile; some of the other birds tittered audibly.

“请说英语！”小鹰说，“你说的那些冗长的单词，我有一半都不懂，而且，我相信你自己也不懂！”然后小鹰低下头窃笑；其他的一些鸟也禁不住偷笑出声来。

"What I was going to say," said the Dodo in an offended tone, "was, that the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race.”

“我要说的是，”渡渡鸟用一种恼怒的口吻说，“能让我们弄干身子的最好办法，就是来个会议式赛跑。”

"What IS a Caucus-race?" said Alice; not that she wanted much to know, but the Dodo had paused as if it thought that SOMEBODY ought to speak, and no one else seemed inclined to say anything.

“什么是会议式赛跑？”艾丽丝问道；并不是她多么想知道，而是渡渡鸟停下来，似乎认为应该有谁要提问，而大家又都不像要说些什么的样子。

"Why," said the Dodo, "the best way to explain it is to do it."(And, as you might like to try the thing yourself, some winter day, I will tell you how the Dodo managed it.)

“哎，”渡渡鸟说，“最好的解释就是将其付诸行动。”（你可能愿意在某个冬日亲自试试，因此我来告诉你渡渡鸟是怎么做的。）

First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle, ("the exact shape doesn't matter," it said,) and then all the party were placed along the course, here and there. There was no "One, two, three, and away," but they began running when they liked, and left off when they liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over. However, when they had been running half an hour or so, and were quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called out "The race is over!"and they all crowded round it, panting, and asking, "But who has won?"

首先，它画出一条赛跑路线，大体是个圆圈的形状，（“具体是什么形状没关系。”它说。）然后大家就被安置在跑道线上，这里一个，那里一个。比赛没有“一，二，三，开始”的口令，大家想跑就跑，想停就停，因此很难搞清楚比赛什么时候结束。大伙跑了大约半个小时，身上都相当干了，这时渡渡鸟突然喊道：“比赛结束了！”听到这话，大家都围过来，喘着气问：“那么谁赢了呢？”

This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of thought, and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed upon its forehead (the position in which you usually see Shakespeare, in the pictures of him), while the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo said, "EVERYBODY has won, and all must have prizes."

这个问题，渡渡鸟得仔细考虑下，否则没法回答，于是它坐下来想了好长时间，还用一个指头顶着前额（就是你在莎士比亚的画像上经常看到的他摆出的那种姿势），而其余人则安静地等待着。最后渡渡鸟说：“每个人都赢了，大家都有奖品。”

"But who is to give the prizes?" quite a chorus of voices asked.

“但是谁给我们奖品呢？”大家齐声问道。

"Why, SHE, of course," said the Dodo, pointing to Alice with one finger; and the whole party at once crowded round her, calling out in a confused way, "Prizes! Prizes!"

“哎呀，当然是她啦。”渡渡鸟说着，用一个指头指着艾丽丝；于是大家立即围住了艾丽丝，乱哄哄地叫着：“奖品！奖品！”

Alice had no idea what to do, and in despair she put her hand in her pocket, and pulled out a box of comfits, (luckily the salt water had not got into it), and handed them round as prizes. There was exactly one a-piece all round.

艾丽丝不知该怎么办，她绝望地把手伸进衣兜，拿出了一盒糖果（幸运的是糖果还没被咸水浸到），然后把糖果作为奖品分给大家。恰好每人分到一块。

"But she must have a prize herself, you know," said the Mouse.

“但是，她自己也得有一份奖品啊，你们知道的。”老鼠说。

"Of course," the Dodo replied very gravely. "What else have you got in your pocket?" he went on, turning to Alice.

“那是当然。”渡渡鸟十分严肃地回答。“你的衣兜里还有什么别的东西吗？”它转向了艾丽丝，继续问道。

"Only a thimble," said Alice sadly.

“只剩一枚顶针了。”艾丽丝伤心地说。

"Hand it over here," said the Dodo.

“把它拿过来。”渡渡鸟说。

Then they all crowded round her once more, while the Dodo solemnly presented the thimble, saying "We beg your acceptance of this elegant thimble"; and, when it had finished this short speech, they all cheered.

接着大家再次围住了艾丽丝，渡渡鸟庄重地将顶针呈递给她，说：“我们请求你接受这枚精致的顶针。”它一结束这简短的演讲，大家就全都开始欢呼。

Alice thought the whole thing very absurd, but they all looked so grave that she did not dare to laugh; and, as she could not think of anything to say, she simply bowed, and took the thimble, looking as solemn as she could.

艾丽丝觉得整个事情十分荒唐，但是它们看起来都那么庄严肃穆，她也不敢笑了；由于她想不出该说点什么，于是仅仅鞠了个躬，尽量让自己看起来严肃些。

The next thing was to eat the comfits; this caused some noise and confusion, as the large birds complained that they could not taste theirs, and the small ones choked and had to be patted on the back. However, it was over at last, and they sat down again in a ring, and begged the Mouse to tell them something more.

下一步就是吃糖果了；这引起了一阵喧闹和混乱，因为大鸟们埋怨还没尝到味糖果就没了，而小鸟们则都被噎着了，得让别人帮忙捶背。然而，糖果终究还是吃完了，它们又坐下来围成一圈，请求老鼠再讲点故事。

"You promised to tell me your history, you know," said Alice, "and why it is you hate—C and D," she added in a whisper, half afraid that it would be offended again.

“你答应过我要把你的往事告诉我，你知道的，”艾丽丝说，“为什么你仇恨——喵喵和汪汪。”她压低嗓子轻声补充道，有点怕它再次被惹恼。

"Mine is a long and a sad tale!" said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing.

“我的故事很长，又令人伤心！”老鼠转向艾丽丝说道，又叹了口气。

"It IS a long tail, certainly," said Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse's tail; "but why do you call it sad?"And she kept on puzzling about it while the Mouse was speaking, so that her idea of the tale was something like this: —

“你的尾巴（英语中tale“尾巴”和tale“故事”同音）当然很长，”艾丽丝说着，纳闷地低下头去看老鼠的尾巴，“可你为什么说它伤心呢？”老鼠讲故事的时候，她还在困扰这个问题，因此她脑子里的故事就成了这个样子：

"Fury said to a mouse, That he met in the house, 'Let us both go to law; I will prosecute YOU. —Come, I'll take no denial; We must have a trial; For really this morning I've nothing to do.'Said the mouse to the cur, 'Such a trial, dear Sir, With no jury or judge, would be wasting our breath.''I'll be judge, I'll be jury,' Said cunning old Fury: 'I'll try the whole cause, and condemn you to death.'"

“恶狗对在屋里碰见的一只老鼠说：‘让我们都上法庭去，我要控告你。——来吧，我不听任何辩解；我们必须来个审判，因为今天早上我真的没事可干。’老鼠对恶狗说：‘这样的审判，亲爱的先生，既没有陪审员，又没有法官，会白白浪费我们的时间。’‘我就是法官，我就是陪审员，’老奸巨猾的恶狗说，“我要负责整个审判，判你受刑上西天。’”

"You are not attending!" said the Mouse to Alice severely. "What are you thinking of?"

“你没有认真听！”老鼠严厉地对艾丽丝说，“你在想什么？”

"I beg your pardon," said Alice very humbly: "you had got to the fifth bend, I think?"

“请原谅，”艾丽丝非常谦卑地说，“你已经到第五个拐弯处了吧，我想？”

"I had NOT!" cried the Mouse, sharply and very angrily.

“我还没有！”老鼠非常生气地厉声喊道。

"A knot!" said Alice, always ready to make herself useful, and looking anxiously about her. "Oh, do let me help to undo it!"

“打了一个结（英语中knot“结”和not“不，没”同音）！”艾丽丝一边说着，一边焦急地在周围搜寻，她总是这样乐于助人，“噢，一定让我帮你解开它！”

"I shall do nothing of the sort," said the Mouse, getting up and walking away. "You insult me by talking such nonsense!"

“我才不吃这一套。”老鼠说着，站起身来就走，“你这些废话是对我的侮辱！”

"I didn't mean it!" pleaded poor Alice. "But you're so easily offended, you know!"

“我没有侮辱你的意思！”可怜的艾丽丝争辩道。“可是你也太容易动怒了，你瞧！”

The Mouse only growled in reply.

老鼠只是嘟囔了一声，算是回答。

"Please come back and finish your story!" Alice called after it;and the others all joined in chorus, "Yes, please do!"but the Mouse only shook its head impatiently, and walked a little quicker.

“请你回来把故事讲完！”艾丽丝在它后面喊着；其他动物也一起齐声喊道，“是啊，请回来吧！”但是老鼠只是不耐烦地摇了摇头，加快了步子。

"What a pity it wouldn't stay!" signed the Lory, as soon as it was quite out of sight;and an old Crab took the opportunity of saying to her daughter "Ah, my dear! Let this be a lesson to you never to lose YOUR temper!""Hold your tongue, Ma!" said the young Crab, a little snappishly. "You're enough to try the patience of an oyster!"

“它不愿留下来，多遗憾啊！”老鼠刚走出视线，鹦鹉就叹息道。一只老螃蟹趁机对她的女儿说：“哎，我亲爱的！让这件事教会你永远不要发脾气吧！”“别说了，妈妈！”小螃蟹有点没好气地说，“你这么唠叨，就连牡蛎也忍受不了！”

"I wish I had our Dinah here, I know I do!" said Alice aloud, addressing nobody in particular. "She'd soon fetch it back!"

“我多么希望我的黛娜在这里呀，我就知道！”艾丽丝大声地自言自语道。“那样的话，她很快就会把它带回来的！”

"And who is Dinah, if I might venture to ask the question?" said the Lory.

“请允许我冒昧问一下，谁是黛娜呢？”鹦鹉说。

Alice replied eagerly, for she was always ready to talk about her pet: "Dinah's our cat. And she's such a capital one for catching mice you can't think! And oh, I wish you could see her after the birds! Why, she'll eat a little bird as soon as look at it!"

艾丽丝总是乐意谈论她的宠物，因此她热切地回答说：“黛娜是我家的猫。她抓起老鼠来可真是好样的，你都想象不到！啊，我希望你能看看她抓鸟的样子！哎呀，她只要看见一只小鸟，一眨眼功夫就会把它吃下去了！”

This speech caused a remarkable sensation among the party. Some of the birds hurried off at once; one old Magpie began wrapping itself up very carefully, remarking, "I really must be getting home; the night-air doesn't suit my throat!"and a Canary called out in a trembling voice to its children, "Come away, my dears! It's high time you were all in bed!"On various pretexts they all moved off, and Alice was soon left alone.

这句话在这群动物中间引起了一阵强烈的骚动。有些鸟立刻匆匆离去了；一只老喜鹊开始把自己裹了个严严实实，解释说：“我真的得回家了；我的喉咙不太适应夜晚的空气！”一只金丝雀用颤抖的声音呼唤它的孩子们：“快走，我亲爱的孩子们！你们早就该上床睡觉了！”大家找了各种各样的托辞，全都离开了，很快就只剩下艾丽丝孤零零一个人。

"I wish I hadn't mentioned Dinah!" she said to herself in a melancholy tone. "Nobody seems to like her, down here, and I'm sure she's the best cat in the world! Oh, my dear Dinah! I wonder if I shall ever see you any more!"And here poor Alice began to cry again, for she felt very lonely and low-spirited. In a little while, however, she again heard a little pattering of footsteps in the distance, and she looked up eagerly, half hoping that the Mouse had changed his mind, and was coming back to finish his story.

“真希望我没有提到黛娜！”她沮丧地对自己说，“在这下面，似乎没人喜欢她，我保证她是世上最好的猫！哦，我亲爱的黛娜！我想知道还能不能再见到你！”这时可怜的艾丽丝又开始哭了起来，因为她感到十分孤单，情绪低落。然而，过了一小会，她又听到远处传来轻微的脚步声，她眼巴巴地抬起头来，有点希望是老鼠改了主意，准备回来讲完故事。

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