Читать книгу Алиса в Стране чудес / Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Алиса в Зазеркалье / Through the Looking-glass, and What Alice Found There - Льюис Кэрролл, Льюїс Керролл, Furniss Harry - Страница 4

“Curiouser and curiouser![23]” – cried Alice (she was so surprised that for the moment she forgot how to speak good English); “now I’m opening out[24] like the largest telescope! Good-bye, feet!” (she looked down at her feet and they were almost out of sight[25]). “Oh, my poor little feet, I wonder who will put on your shoes and stockings for you now, dears? I will be too far away. But I will send you a new pair of boots every Christmas. How funny it will seem!”

“Oh dear, what nonsense I’m talking!”

At that moment her head hit the roof of the hall: now she was more than nine feet[26] high. So she took the little golden key again and hurried to the garden door.

Poor Alice! This time she could look into the garden with only one eye. So she sat down and began to cry again.

“You must be ashamed of yourself,[27]” said Alice, “Stop this moment, I tell you!” But she continued crying and soon there was a large pool all around her.

Suddenly she heard some sound in the distance and quickly dried her eyes to see what it was. It was the White Rabbit returning. It was beautifully dressed and had a pair of white gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other. He was in a great hurry saying: “Oh! The Duchess, the Duchess!” Alice needed help so much that when the Rabbit came near her she began in a low voice:[28] “Please, sir…” The Rabbit jumped up in horror, dropped the white gloves and the fan and ran away into the darkness as fast as it could.[29]

Alice took the Rabbit’s gloves and the fan and began thinking how strange everything was that day. “And yesterday things were just as usual.[30] I wonder if I’ve been changed during the night.[31] Who am I? That’s the great puzzle!” And while she was thinking about that mystery she suddenly noticed that she had put on[32] one of the Rabbit’s white gloves. “How could I do that?” she thought. “Maybe I am growing small again.” So she went to the table to check it and found that she was now about two feet high and she was continuing to get smaller and smaller. And then she understood that it was the fan in her hand and she quickly dropped it.

“And now to the garden!” and Alice ran fast to the little door but, alas! The little door was locked again and the golden key was still on the glass table. “And I am so small now!”

As she said these words[33] her foot slipped and in another moment, splash! She was in salt water. Her first idea was about the sea. However she soon understood that she was in the pool of her own tears.

“I am so sorry I cried so much! I will be drowned[34] in my own tears! That WILL be strange! However everything is strange today!”

Just then[35] she heard something splashing about in the pool and swam nearer to see what it was. At first she thought it was a walrus or a hippo but then she remembered how small she was now and understood that it was only a mouse.

“Shall I speak to this mouse?[36]” thought Alice. “I believe it can talk. I think I will try.” So she began: “O Mouse, do you know the way out of this pool? I am very tired of swimming here!” But the mouse said nothing.

“Perhaps it doesn’t understand English,” thought Alice; “Maybe it’s a French mouse.” So she began again this time with the first sentence in her French lesson-book: “Où est ma chatte?[37]” The Mouse jumped up out of the water in horror. “Oh, I beg your pardon![38]” cried Alice, “I forgot you didn’t like cats.”

“Not like cats!” cried the Mouse. “Would YOU like cats if you were me?[39]”

“Well, perhaps not,” said Alice; “don’t be angry about it. But I would like you to see[40] our cat Dinah. I think you would start liking cats if you could see her.[41] She is such a nice quiet thing.”

“No! Our family always HATED cats: nasty things! I don’t want to hear this name again!” the Mouse was trembling down to the end of its tail.

“I am sorry!” said Alice in a great hurry to change the subject of conversation.[42] “Are you… are you fond… of… of[43] dogs?” The Mouse didn’t answer so Alice continued speaking about dogs. But the Mouse was swimming away from her.

“Mouse dear! Come back again and we won’t talk about cats or dogs if you don’t like them!” Alice called softly. When the Mouse heard this it turned round and swam slowly back to her. “Let us[44] get to the shore and I’ll tell you my story and you’ll understand why I hate cats and dogs,” it said.

It was high time[45] to go because more and more animals were swimming in the pool: there were a Duck and a Dodo,[46] a Lory and an Eaglet and several other creatures. Alice swam to the shore and everybody swam after her.