第2章 小美人鱼 The Little Mermaid(3/9)

首发：~第2章 小美人鱼 The Little Mermaid

这是一个英俊男孩的雕像，由纯白色的石头雕刻而成，是从一艘沉船落到海底的。

it was the representation of a handsome boy, carved out of pure white stone, which had fallen to the bottom of the sea from a wreck

她在雕像旁种了一棵玫瑰色的垂柳。

she planted by the statue a rose - colored weeping willow

它长得非常茂盛，很快就把新鲜的枝条垂在雕像上，几乎垂到蓝色的沙滩上。

it grew splendidly, and very soon hung its fresh branches over the statue, almost down to the blue sands

影子带有紫罗兰色的色调，像树枝一样来回摆动；

the shadow had a violet tint, and waved to and fro like the branches;

看起来好像树冠和树根在嬉戏，试图互相亲吻。

it seemed as if the crown of the tree and the root were at play, and trying to kiss each other

没有什么比听关于海面之上的世界更让她快乐的了。

nothing gave her so much pleasure as to hear about the world above the sea

她让她的老祖母把所知道的关于船只、城镇、人和动物的一切都告诉她。

she made her old grandmother tell her all she knew of the ships and of the towns, the people and the animals

对她来说，听说陆地上的花有香味，而海底的花没有；这似乎是最奇妙和最美丽的事情。

to her it seemed most wonderful and beautiful to hear that the flowers of the land should have fragrance, and not those below the sea;

森林里的树应该是绿色的；

that the trees of the forest should be green;

树林里的鱼能唱得如此甜美，听它们唱歌是一种极大的乐趣。

and that the fishes among the trees could sing so sweetly, that it was quite a pleasure to hear them

她的祖母把小鸟叫做鱼，否则她就不会理解祖母的话了；因为她从未见过鸟。

her grandmother called the little birds fishes, or she would not have understood her; for she had never seen birds

“当你到了十五岁的时候，” 祖母说，“你将被允许从海里升起来，在月光下坐在岩石上，这时大船正从旁边驶过；然后你将看到森林和城镇。”

“when you have reached your fifteenth year,” said the grand - mother, “you will have permission to rise up out of the sea, to sit on the rocks in the moonlight, while the great ships are sailing by; and then you will see both forests and towns”

第二年，姐妹中的一个就十五岁了：但由于每个姐妹都比下一个大一岁，最小的那个在轮到她从海底升起来像我们一样看到陆地之前，还得等五年。

in the following year, one of the sisters would be fifteen: but as each was a year younger than the other, the youngest would have to wait five years before her turn came to rise up from the bottom of the ocean, and see the earth as we do

然而，每个姐妹都承诺告诉其他人她第一次出访看到了什么，以及她认为最美丽的东西；因为她们的祖母告诉她们的还不够；有太多东西她们想要了解。

however, each promised to tell the others what she saw on her first visit, and what she thought the most beautiful; for their grandmother could not tell them enough; there were so many things on which they wanted information

她们中没有人像最小的那个那样渴望轮到自己，她要等的时间最长，而且她是如此安静和爱思考。

none of them longed so much for her turn to e as the youngest, she who had longest time to wait, and who was so quiet and thoughtful

许多夜晚，她站在敞开的窗户旁，透过深蓝色的海水向上看，看着鱼儿用鱼鳍和鱼尾四处泼水嬉戏。

many nights she stood by the open window, looking up through the dark blue water, and watching the fish as they splashed about with their fins and tails

她能看到月亮和星星微弱地闪烁着；

she could see the moon and stars shining faintly;

但是透过海水，它们看起来比我们眼中的更大。

but through the water they looked larger than they do to our eyes

当有像乌云一样的东西在她和它们之间经过时，她知道那要么是一头鲸鱼在她头顶游过，要么是一艘满载人类的船，人类从没想到一个美丽的小美人鱼正站在他们下方，朝着船的龙骨伸出她洁白的双手。

when something like a black cloud passed between her and them, she knew that it was either a whale swimming over her head, or a ship full of human beings, who never imagined that a pretty little mermaid was standing beneath them, holding out her white hands towards the keel of their ship

大姐一到十五岁，就被允许升到海面上去了。

as soon as the eldest was fifteen, she was allowed to rise to the surface of the ocean

当她回来的时候，她有成百件事要讲述；

when she came back, she had hundreds of things to talk about;

但是她说，最美好的事情是在月光下，躺在靠近海岸的宁静海水中的沙洲上，凝视附近的一个大城镇，那里的灯光像数百颗星星一样闪烁；

but the most beautiful, she said, was to lie in the moonlight, on a sandbank, in the quiet sea, near the coast, and to gaze on a large town nearby, where the lights were twinkling like hundreds of stars;

去听音乐声、马车的喧闹声和人类的说话声，然后听到教堂尖塔上传来欢快的钟声；

to listen to the sounds of the music, the noise of carriages, and the voices of human beings, and then to hear the merry bells peal out from the church steeples;

因为她不能靠近所有那些美妙的事物，她比以往任何时候都更渴望它们。

and because she could not go near to all those wonderful things, she longed for them more than ever

哦，最小的妹妹不是急切地听着所有这些描述吗？

oh, did not the youngest sister listen eagerly to all these descriptions