第六章 小猪和胡椒
2
3:40
读爱丽丝822
来自TeacherGwen
‘But what am I to do?' said Alice.
“可是我该干什么呢？”爱丽丝说，
‘Anything you like,' said the Footman, and began whistling.
“你想干什么就干什么？”仆人说服就吹起口哨来了。
‘Oh, there's no use in talking to him,' said Alice desperately: 'he's perfectly idiotic!' And she opened the door and went in.
“唉，同他说话没用！”爱丽丝失望地说，“他完全是个白痴！”然后她就推开门自己进去了。
The door led right into a large kitchen, which was full of smoke from one end to the other: the Duchess was sitting on a three–legged stool in the middle, nursing a baby; the cook was leaning over the fire, stirring a large cauldron which seemed to be full of soup.
这门直通一间大厨房，厨房里充满了烟雾，公爵夫人在房子中间，坐在—只三腿小凳上照料一个小孩。厨师俯身在炉子上的一只人锅里搅拌着，锅里好像盛满了汤。
‘There's certainly too much pepper in that soup!' Alice said to herself, as well as she could for sneezing.
“汤里的胡椒确实太多了！”爱丽丝费劲儿地对自己说，并不停地打着喷嚏。
There was certainly too much of it in the air. Even the Duchess sneezed occasionally; and as for the baby, it was sneezing and howling alternately without a moment's pause. The only things in the kitchen that did not sneeze, were the cook, and a large cat which was sitting on the hearth and grinning from ear to ear.
空气里的胡椒味也确实太浓了，连公爵夫人也常常打喷嚏。至于那个婴孩，不是打喷嚏就是嚎叫，一刻也不停。这间厨房里只有两个生物不打喷嚏，就是女厨师和一只大猫，那只猫正趴在炉子旁，咧着嘴笑哩。
‘Please would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, for she was not quite sure whether it was good manners for her to speak first, 'why your cat grins like that?'
“请告诉我，”爱丽丝有点胆怯地问，因为她还不十分清楚自己先开口合不合规矩，“为什么你的猫能笑呢？”
‘It's a Cheshire cat,' said the Duchess, 'and that's why. Pig!'
“它是柴郡猫（郡：英国的行政区域单位，柴郡为一个郡的名称，由于本书影响，现在西方人都把露齿傻笑的人称为柴郡猫。），”公爵夫人说，“这就是为什么它会笑了。猪！”
She said the last word with such sudden violence that Alice quite jumped; but she saw in another moment that it was addressed to the baby, and not to her, so she took courage, and went on again:—
公爵夫人凶狠地说出的最后的—个字，把爱丽丝吓了一大跳。但是，爱丽丝马上发觉她正在同婴孩说话，而不是对自己说，于是她又鼓起了勇气，继续说：
‘I didn't know that Cheshire cats always grinned; in fact, I didn't know that cats COULD grin.'
“我还不知道柴郡猫经常笑，实际上，我压根儿不知道猫会笑的。”
‘They all can,' said the Duchess; 'and most of 'em do.'
“它们都会的，”公爵夫人说，“起码大多数都会笑的。”
‘I don't know of any that do,' Alice said very politely, feeling quite pleased to have got into a conversation.
“我连一只都没见过。”爱丽丝非常有礼貌地说，并对这场开始了的谈话感到高兴。
‘You don't know much,' said the Duchess; 'and that's a fact.'
“你知道的太少了，”公爵夫人说，“这是个事实。”
Alice did not at all like the tone of this remark, and thought it would be as well to introduce some other subject of conversation. While she was trying to fix on one, the cook took the cauldron of soup off the fire, and at once set to work throwing everything within her reach at the Duchess and the baby—the fire–irons came first; then followed a shower of saucepans, plates, and dishes. The Duchess took no notice of them even when they hit her; and the baby was howling so much already, that it was quite impossible to say whether the blows hurt it or not.
爱丽丝不喜欢这种谈话的口气，想最好换个话题，她正在想话题的时候，女厨师把汤锅从火上端开了，然后立即把她随手能拿着的每件东西扔向公爵夫人和婴孩。火钩子第一个飞来，然后，平底锅、盆子、盘子像暴风雨似地飞来了。公爵夫人根本不理会，甚至打到身上都没反应。而那婴孩早已经拼命地嚎叫了，也不知道这些东西打到了他身上没有。
‘Oh, PLEASE mind what you're doing!' cried Alice, jumping up and down in an agony of terror. 'Oh, there goes his PRECIOUS nose'; as an unusually large saucepan flew close by it, and very nearly carried it off.
“喂，当心点！”爱丽丝喊着，吓得心头不住地跳，“哎哟，他那小鼻子完了。”真的，一只特大平底锅紧擦着鼻子飞过，差点就把鼻子削掉了。
‘If everybody minded their own business,' the Duchess said in a hoarse growl, 'the world would go round a deal faster than it does.'
“如果每个人都关心自己的事，”公爵夫人嘶哑着嗓子嘟喷着说，“地球就会比现在转得快一些。”
‘Which would NOT be an advantage,' said Alice, who felt very glad to get an opportunity of showing off a little of her knowledge. 'Just think of what work it would make with the day and night! You see the earth takes twenty–four hours to turn round on its axis—'
“这没好处，”爱丽丝说，她很高兴有个机会显示一下自己的知识，“你想想这会给白天和黑夜带来什么结果呢？要知道地球绕轴转一回要用二十四个钟头。”
‘Talking of axes,' said the Duchess, 'chop off her head!'
“说什么？”公爵夫人说，“把她的头砍掉！”
Alice glanced rather anxiously at the cook, to see if she meant to take the hint; but the cook was busily stirring the soup, and seemed not to be listening, so she went on again: 'Twenty–four hours, I THINK; or is it twelve? I—'
爱丽丝相当不安地瞧了女厨师一眼，看她是不是准备执行这个命令，女厨师正忙着搅汤，好像根本没听到，于是爱丽丝又继续说：“我想是二十四个小时，或许是十二个小时，我……”