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 首页 目录 上一章 下一章 | |
7 The Lion and the Unicorn
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The next moment soldiers came running through thewood,at first in twos and threes,then ten or twentytogether,and at last in great crowds that seemed to fill theforest.Alice got behind a tree and watched them go past.
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They were very strange soldiers,she thought.They werealways falling over something or other, and when one soldierwent down,several more always fell over him.Soon theground was covered with fallen men.
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Then came the horses.With four feet,they managed betterthan the foot-soldiers, but even they fell more often than not.And when a horse fell, the rider always fell off at once. It wasalmost like a battle in itself,and Alice decided it would besafer to move on.Soon she came to an open place, where shefound the White King sitting on the ground, busily writing inhis notebook.
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‘I've sent them all!’the King cried happily when he sawAlice.‘Did you happen to meet any soldiers, my dear, as youcame through the wood?’
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‘Yes,I did,’said Alice.‘Several thousand,I think.’
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‘Four thousand two hundred and seven,’ the King said,looking at his book.‘I couldn't send all the horses,becausetwo of them are wanted in the game.And I haven't sent theMessengers, Haigha and Hatta.I need them myself, of course-to come and go.One to come,and one to go.’
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‘I don't think I understand,’ said Alice.‘Why one to comeand one to go?’
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‘I've told you,’the King said crossly.‘I must have two-to fetch and carry.One to fetch, and one to carry.’
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At that moment Haigha,one of the Messengers,arrived.He had very large hands and great eyes,which were alwaysmoving wildly from side to side.
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‘What's the news from town?’ said the King.
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‘I'll whisper it,’said Haigha, putting his mouth close tothe King's ear.
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Alice was sorry about this,because she wanted to hear thenews too.But,instead of whispering,Haigha shouted at thetop of his voice,‘They're at it again!’
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‘Do you call that a whisper?’ cried the poor King, jumpingup and shaking himself.‘Don't do that again!’
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‘Who are at it again?’ Alice asked.
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‘The Lion and the Unicorn,of course,’said the King.
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‘Fighting for the crown?’
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‘Yes, and it's my crown that they're fighting about!’saidthe King.‘Amusing, isn't it? Let's run and see them.’
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They began to run,and as they went,Alice repeated to her-self the words of the old song.
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The Lion and the Unicorn
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were fighting for the crown;
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The Lion beat the Unicorn
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all round the town.
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Some gave them white bread
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and some gave them brown;
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Some gave them plum-cake
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and drummed them out of town.
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Soon they saw a great crowd in front of them, and in themiddle the Lion and the Unicorn were fighting. Hatta, theother Messenger, was standing at the edge of the crowd,witha cup of tea in one hand and a piece of bread and butter in theother.He looked very unhappy.
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‘He's only just come out of prison,’ Haigha whispered inAlice's ear,‘so he's very hungry and thirsty,you see.Howare you,dear child?’ he said to Hatta,in a friendly voice.
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Hatta looked round, but went on eating his bread and butterand drinking his tea.
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‘Come,tell us the news!’ cried the King.‘How are theygetting on with the fight?’
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‘They're getting on very well,’Hatta said through amouthful of bread and butter.‘Each of them has been down about eighty-seven times.’
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‘Then I suppose they'll soon bring the white bread and thebrown,’ Alice said.
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‘It's waiting for them now,’said Hatta.‘I'm eating a bitof it myself.’
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The fight stopped just then,and the Lion and the Unicornsat down,looking tired.
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The King called out,‘Ten minutes for tea!’,and Haighaand Hatta began to carry round plates of white and brownbread.Alice took a piece to taste, but it was very dry.
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‘I don't think they'll fight any more today,’the King saidto Hatta.‘Go and order the drums to begin.’
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As Alice watched him go,she suddenly saw somebody run-ning out of the wood.
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‘Look!’she cried excitedly.‘There's the White Queen!She came flying out of the wood.How fast those Queens canrun!’
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‘There's probably an enemy after her,’said the King, notlooking round.‘That wood's full of them. ’
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‘But aren't you going to help her?’asked Alice,very sur-prised.
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‘No use, no use!’said the King.‘She runs so terriblyquickly.You can't catch a Queen when she's running.’
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At that moment the Unicorn came past,with his hands inhis pockets.When he saw Alice,he stopped and looked at herfor some minutes.He did not seem to like what he saw.
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‘What- is- this?’ he said at last.
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‘This is a child!’Haigha said helpfully,coming forward tointroduce Alice.‘We only found it today.It's as large as life,and twice as natural!’
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‘I always thought they were fantastic monsters,’said theUnicorn.‘Is it alive?’
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‘It can talk,’said Haigha.
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The Unicorn looked dreamily at Alice.‘Talk, child.’
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Alice smiled.‘I always thought that Unicorns were fantas-tic monsters,too! I never saw one alive before.’
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‘Well, we have now met and spoken,so we can believe ineach other, yes?’The Unicorn turned to the King.‘Fetchout the plum-cake,old man. I'm tried of brown bread!’
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‘Certainly,certainly,’said the King,sounding a littlefrightened.‘Quick,Haigha, open the bag.’
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Haigha was carrying a big bag round his neck, and now hetook ont of it a very large cake,a plate and a knife.He gavethem to Alice to hold.
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The Lion had joined them while this was going on. Helooked very tired and sleepy,and his eyes were half shut.‘What's this?’ he said,looking at Alice.
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‘An, what is it, then?’the Unicorn cried.‘You'll neverguess!I couldn't.’
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The Lion looked at Alice without interest.‘Are you a veg-etable or an animal?’he asked tiredly.
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‘It's a fantastic monster!’ the Unicorn cried,before Alicecould reply.
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‘Then pass round the plum-cake,Monster,’the Lion said,lying down on the ground.‘And you two sit down,’he said tothe King and the Unicorn.
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The King looked very uncomforable when he had to sit be-tween the Lion and the Unicorn,but there was no other placefor him.His crown nearly fell off because he was shaking somuch. The Unicorn looked amused,and then tried to arguewith the Lion about who was winning the fight.
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‘I beat you all round the town,’ said the Lion angrily.‘And why is the Monster taking so long to cut up the cake?’
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‘It's very difficult,’said Alice.‘I've cut off several piecesalready,but then they join up again immediately!’
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‘You don't know how to manage looking-glass cakes,’saidthe Unicorn. ‘Pass it round first,and cut it up afterwards. ’
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This sounded nonsense,but Alice got up and carried theplate round. At once the cake cut itself into three pieces, andthen Alice returned to her place with the empty plate.
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‘Look at my piece of cake!’cried the Unicorn.‘The Mon-ster has given the Lion twice as much as me!’
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‘She hasn't kept any for herself,’said the Lion. ‘Do youlike plum-cake, Monster?’
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But before Alice could answer,the drums began.The airseemed full of the noise,and it rang and rang through herhead.Frightened, Alice began to run and jumped over the brook.
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* * * * *
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* * * * *
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Then she fell to the ground and put her hands over her ears,trying to shut out the terrible noise.
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‘If that doesn't drum the Lion and the Unicorn out oftown,’she thought to herself,‘nothing ever will!’
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