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爱丽丝镜中世界奇遇记
Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There

英文中文双语对照双语交替

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6 Humpty Dumpty

But the egg got larger and larger， and more and morelike a person. Then Alice saw that it had eyes and anose and a mouth，and she realized that it was HUMPTYDUMPTY himself.

‘It must be him，’she said to herself．‘There he is， sittingon a high wall，and he looks just like an egg．’

He was sitting very still and seemed to be asleep，so Alicestood and repeated to herself the words of the song：

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall；

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall．

All the King's horses and all the King's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again．

‘Don't stand there talking to yourself，’said HumptyDumpty suddenly，opening his eyes．‘Tell me your name.’

‘My name is Alice-’

‘That's a stupid name！’said Humpty Dumpty.‘What doesit mean？’

‘Must a name mean something？’Alice asked，puzzled.

‘Of course it must，’Humpty Dumpty said with a shortlaugh．‘My name means the shape I am-and a very goodshape it is， too. With a name like yours， you could be almostany shape．’

‘Why do you sit out here all alone？’said Alice，not wishingto argue.

‘Because there's nobody with me！’ cried Humpty Dumpty．‘Did you think I didn't know the answer to that？Come，let'shave some intelligent conversation now．’

Alice tried to think of something intelligent to say， butcouldn't．‘What a beautiful belt you're wearing！’she said，suddenly noticing it．

‘That's better，’said Humpty Dumpty，looking pleased．‘Yes，it was a present from the White King and Queen．Theygave it to me for an unbirthday present．’

Alice looked puzzled．‘What is an unbirthday present？’

‘A present when it isn't your birthday，of course．’

Alice thought about this．‘I like birthday presents best，’ shesaid at last．

‘You don't know what you're talking about！’cried HumptyDumpty．‘How many days are there in a year？’

‘Three hundred and sixty-five，’said Alice．

‘And how many birthdays have you？’

‘One．’

‘And if you take one from three hundred and sixty-five，what is left？’

‘Three hundred and sixty-four， of course．’

‘So there's only one day when you can get birthdaypresents，’said Humpty Dumpty，‘but three hundred and six-ty-four days when you can get unbirthday presents！There'ssuccess for you！’

‘I don't know what you mean by “success”，’Alice said．

Humpty Dumpty smiled．‘Of course you don't-until I tellyou．I meant “there's a clever idea for you！”’

‘But“success” doesn't mean “a clever idea”，’Alice argued．

‘When I use a word，’Humpty Dumpty said，looking downhis nose at Alice，‘it means just what I choose it to mean-neither more nor less．’

‘But can you make words have different meanings？’askedAlice．

‘Words are difficult things，I agree，’said HumptyDumpty．‘But you have to be strong with them．Give them or-ders．Tell them to obey you．They must work hard，and dowhat they're told！’ He banged his hand excitedly on the wallas he spoke．

‘You seem very clever with words，Sir，’said Alicepolitely，hoping to calm him．She was worried about himfalling off the wall．

Humpty Dumpty looked pleased．‘I can explain mostwords，and get them to do what I want，’he said．‘Some ofthem are like suitcases， you know．They've got several mean-ings packed up in them．Take poems，for example．One shortpoem can carry as many meanings as five people's luggage.’

‘Somebody repeated a poem to me earlier today，’saidAlice．‘It was Tweedledee，I think．’

‘Oh，I can repeat any number of poems，if you like，’saidHumpty Dumpty．

‘Well， not just at the moment，’Alice said quickly，hopingto stop him from beginning．

‘This piece was written specially for you，’Humpty Dump-ty went on，not listening to her．‘It will amuse you．’

‘Thank you，’said Alice sadly． She could not refuse to lis-ten，she thought，if the poem was specially written for her．

In winter，when the fields are white，

I sing this song for your delight-

‘But I don't sing it，’he explained．

‘Yes，I can see that，’Alice said．

‘If you can see me singing or not singing， you've better eyesthan most people，’ said Humpty Dumpty．Alice was silent，and he went on．

In spring， when woods are getting green，

I'll try and tell you what I mean.

‘Thank you very much，’ said Alice．

In summer， when the days are long，

Perhaps you'll understand the song.

In autumn， when the leaves are brown，

Take pen and ink and write it down．

‘I will，if I can remember it so long，’said Alice．

‘Don't go on saying things，’Humpty Dumpty said．‘They're not sensible， and I forget where I am.’

I sent a message to the fish；

I told them‘This is what I wish.’

The little fishes of the sea，

They sent an answer back to me．

The little fishes’answer was

‘We cannot do it，Sir，because-’

‘I'm afraid I don't understand，’said Alice.

‘It gets easier as it goes on，’ Humpty Dumpty replied.

But the poem went on for a long time， and Alice thought itgot harder，not easier，to understand. Then Humpty Dumptysuddenly stopped， and there was a long silence.

‘Is that all？’Alice asked politely．

‘That's all，’said Humpty Dumpty．‘Goodbye.’

Alice waited a minute，but Humpty Dumpty closed his eyesand did not speak again. So she got up， said‘goodbye’， andquietly walked away．

‘What an extraordinary person！’she said to herself as shewalked．‘I don't think I ever met-’She never finished whatshe was saying，because at that moment a heavy crash shookthe forest from end to end.