第8章 白雪皇后的七个故事(2/12)

首发：~第8章 白雪皇后的七个故事

他们的面容扭曲得厉害，谁也认不出他们来，甚至脸上的一颗雀斑看起来也会布满整个鼻子和嘴巴。

their countenances were so distorted that no one could recognize them, and even one freckle on the face appeared to spread over the whole of the nose and mouth

这个恶魔说这非常有趣。

the demon said this was very amusing

当任何人心中有一个善良或虔诚的念头时，在这面镜子里就会被歪曲；

when a good or pious thought passed through the mind of any one it was misrepresented in the glass;

然后这个恶魔就为他的狡猾发明大笑起来。

and then how the demon laughed at his cunning invention

所有去恶魔学校的人 —— 因为他开办了一所学校 —— 到处谈论他们所看到的奇观，并宣称人们现在才第一次看清世界和人类的真实模样。

all who went to the demon’s school — for he kept a school — talked everywhere of the wonders they had seen, and declared that people could now, for the first time, see what the world and mankind were really like

他们带着这面镜子到处走，直到最后没有一个国家或民族没有被透过这面变形的镜子看过。

they carried the glass about everywhere, till at last there was not a land nor a people who had not been looked at through this distorted mirror

他们甚至想带着它飞到天上去看天使，但是他们飞得越高，镜子就变得越滑，他们几乎抓不住它，最后它从他们手中滑落，掉到地上，摔成了数百万片。

they wanted even to fly with it up to heaven to see the angels, but the higher they flew the more slippery the glass became, and they could scarcely hold it, till at last it slipped from their hands, fell to the earth, and was broken into millions of pieces

但是现在这面镜子造成的不幸比以往任何时候都多，因为有些碎片还没有一粒沙子大，它们飞到世界各地的每一个国家。

but now the looking - glass caused more unhappiness than ever, for some of the fragments were not so large as a grain of sand, and they flew about the world into every country

当这些微小的颗粒中的一个飞进一个人的眼睛里时，它就粘在那里而本人却不知道，从那一刻起，他看一切事物都透过一种扭曲的媒介，或者只能看到他所看到的事物最糟糕的一面，因为即使是最小的碎片也保留着整面镜子所具有的同样魔力。

when one of these tiny atoms flew into a person’s eye, it stuck there unknown to him, and from that moment he saw everything through a distorted medium, or could see only the worst side of what he looked at, for even the smallest fragment retained the same power which had belonged to the whole mirror

有些人甚至心里进了镜子的碎片，这非常可怕，因为他们的心变得像冰块一样冰冷。

some few persons even got a fragment of the looking - glass in their hearts, and this was very terrible, for their hearts became cold like a lump of ice

有几块碎片非常大，可以用作窗玻璃；

a few of the pieces were so large that they could be used as window - panes;

透过它们看我们的朋友会是一件很悲哀的事。

it would have been a sad thing to look at our friends through them

其他的碎片被做成了眼镜；

other pieces were made into spectacles;

这对戴眼镜的人来说是很可怕的，因为他们看什么都不正确、不公正。

this was dreadful for those who wore them, for they could see nothing either rightly or justly

看到这一切，邪恶的恶魔笑得浑身发抖 —— 看到自己造成的恶果让他觉得很有趣。

at all this the wicked demon laughed till his sides shook — it tickled him so to see the mischief he had done

仍然有许多这样的小玻璃碎片在空中飘浮着，现在你将听到其中一片碎片所引发的事情。

there were still a number of these little fragments of glass floating about in the air, and now you shall hear what happened with one of them

第二个故事

second story

一个小男孩和一个小女孩

a little boy and a little girl

在一个满是房屋和人的大城市里，没有足够的空间让每个人都拥有哪怕一个小花园，因此他们只好满足于花盆里的几朵花。

in a large town, full of houses and people, there is not room for everybody to have even a little garden, therefore they are obliged to be satisfied with a few flowers in flower - pots

在其中一个大城市里住着两个穷苦的孩子，他们有一个比几个花盆稍大一点、更好一点的花园。

in one of these large towns lived two poor children who had a garden something larger and better than a few flower - pots

他们不是兄妹，但他们彼此相爱，就像亲兄妹一样。

they were not brother and sister, but they loved each other almost as much as if they had been

他们的父母分别住在两个阁楼里，这两个阁楼相对，相邻房屋的屋顶向彼此突出，水管在它们中间穿过。

their parents lived opposite to each other in two garrets, where the roofs of neighboring houses projected out towards each other and the water - pipe ran between them

每个房子里都有一扇小窗户，这样任何人都可以跨过水槽从一个窗户走到另一个窗户。

in each house was a little window, so that any one could step across the gutter from one window to the other

这些孩子的父母每人都有一个大木箱，他们在里面种着自家食用的香草，每个箱子里还有一棵长得很好的小玫瑰树。

the parents of these children had each a large wooden box in which they cultivated kitchen herbs for their own use, and a little rose - bush in each box, which grew splendidly

过了一段时间，父母们决定把这两个箱子横放在水管上，这样它们就从一个窗户延伸到另一个窗户，看起来就像两排花。

now after a while the parents decided to place these two boxes across the water - pipe, so that they reached from one window to the other and looked like two banks of flowers

香豌豆花垂落在箱子上，玫瑰树伸出长长的枝条，这些枝条被牵引着绕在窗户周围，几乎像一个由树叶和花朵组成的凯旋门一样簇拥在一起。

sweet - peas drooped over the boxes, and the rose - bushes shot forth long branches, which were trained round the windows and clustered together almost like a triumphal arch of leaves and flowers

箱子很高，孩子们知道未经允许不能爬上去，不过，他们经常被允许一起走出去，坐在玫瑰树下的小凳子上，或者安静地玩耍。

the boxes were very high, and the children knew they must not climb upon them, without permission, but they were often, however, allowed to step out together and sit upon their little stools under the rose - bushes, or play quietly

冬天，所有这些乐趣都结束了，因为窗户有时会完全被冻住。

in winter all this pleasure came to an end, for the windows were sometimes quite frozen over

但是那时他们会在炉子上加热铜币，然后把温热的铜币贴在结冰的窗玻璃上；

but then they would warm copper pennies on the stove, and hold the warm pennies against the frozen pane;

很快就会有一个小圆洞，透过这个洞他们可以偷看，小男孩和小女孩温柔明亮的眼睛会透过每个窗户上的洞互相凝视。

there would be very soon a little round hole through which they could peep, and the soft bright eyes of the little boy and girl would beam through the hole at each window as they looked at each other