首发：~第3章 小美人鱼 The Little Mermaid 续
it is one of those splendid sights which we can never see on earth
大舞厅的墙壁和天花板是由厚实但透明的水晶制成的。
the walls and the ceiling of the large ball - room were of thick, but transparent crystal
成百个巨大的贝壳，有些是深红色的，有些是草绿色的，一排排地立在两边，贝壳里有蓝色的火焰，照亮了整个大厅，并且透过墙壁闪耀着，这样大海也被照亮了。
may hundreds of colossal shells, some of a deep red, others of a grass green, stood on each side in rows, with blue fire in them, which lighted up the whole saloon, and shone through the walls, so that the sea was also illuminated
数不清的大大小小的鱼游过水晶墙壁；
innumerable fishes, great and small, swam past the crystal walls;
有些鱼的鳞片闪耀着紫色的光辉，而另一些则像金银一样闪亮。
on some of them the scales glowed with a purple brilliancy, and on others they shone like silver and gold
一条宽阔的溪流穿过大厅，男美人鱼和女美人鱼随着自己甜美歌声的韵律在溪流中跳舞。
through the halls flowed a broad stream, and in it danced the mermen and the mermaids to the music of their own sweet singing
陆地上没有人有他们那样可爱的嗓音。
no one on earth has such a lovely voice as theirs
小美人鱼比他们所有人唱得都更甜美。
the little mermaid sang more sweetly than them all
整个宫廷都用手和尾巴为她鼓掌；
the whole court applauded her with hands and tails;
有那么一瞬间，她的心里感到十分欢快，因为她知道自己有着世上或海里最美妙的嗓音。
and for a moment her heart felt quite gay, for she knew she had the loveliest voice of any on earth or in the sea
但她很快又想起了上面的世界，因为她无法忘记迷人的王子，也无法忘记自己没有像他那样不朽的灵魂的悲伤；
but she soon thought again of the world above her, for she could not forget the charming prince, nor her sorrow that she had not an immortal soul like his;
因此她悄悄地从父亲的宫殿溜了出去，当宫殿里一切都是欢乐和歌声的时候，她却独自悲伤地坐在自己的小花园里。
therefore she crept away silently out of her father’s palace, and while everything within was gladness and song, she sat in her own little garden sorrowful and alone
然后她听到号角声在水中回荡，心想 ——“他肯定正在海面上航行呢，他就是我愿望所系之人，我愿意将自己一生的幸福交托到他手中。
then she heard the bugle sounding through the water, and thought— “he is certainly sailing above, he on whom my wishes depend, and in whose hands i should like to place the happiness of my life
我要为他冒险一切，去赢得一个不朽的灵魂，当我的姐妹们在我父亲的宫殿里跳舞时，我要去找海巫婆，我一直非常害怕她，但她能给我建议和帮助。”
i will venture all for him, and to win an immortal soul, while my sisters are dancing in my father’s palace, i will go to the sea witch, of whom i have always been so much afraid, but she can give me counsel and help”
于是小美人鱼走出她的花园，踏上通往冒着泡沫的漩涡的路，巫婆就住在漩涡后面。
and then the little mermaid went out from her garden, and took the road to the foaming whirlpools, behind which the sorceress lived
她以前从未走过那条路：
she had never been that way before:
那里既没有花也没有草生长；
neither flowers nor grass grew there;
只有光秃秃、灰蒙蒙的沙地一直延伸到漩涡处，在那里，水就像冒着泡沫的水车，把它卷住的一切东西都卷起来，然后抛进无底的深渊。
nothing but bare, gray, sandy ground stretched out to the whirlpool, where the water, like foaming mill - wheels, whirled round everything that it seized, and cast it into the fathomless deep
小美人鱼必须穿过这些湍急的漩涡中间，才能到达海巫婆的领地；
through the midst of these crushing whirlpools the little mermaid was obliged to pass, to reach the dominions of the sea witch;
而且在很长一段距离内，唯一的路正好要穿过一大片温热、冒泡的泥潭，巫婆称这片泥潭为她的泥炭沼。
and also for a long distance the only road lay right across a quantity of warm, bubbling mire, called by the witch her turfmoor
在这片泥潭的那一边矗立着她的房子，房子位于一片奇特的森林中央，这片森林里所有的树木和花朵都是珊瑚虫，半是动物半是植物；
beyond this stood her house, in the centre of a strange forest, in which all the trees and flowers were polypi, half animals and half plants;
它们看起来像从地里长出一百个头的蛇。
they looked like serpents with a hundred heads growing out of the ground
树枝是长长的黏糊糊的手臂，手指像柔软的蠕虫，从根部到顶部一节一节地移动。
the branches were long slimy arms, with fingers like flexible worms, moving limb after limb from the root to the top
海里能抓到的东西它们都抓，而且抓得紧紧的，所以没有东西能从它们的爪子下逃脱。
all that could be reached in the sea they seized upon, and held fast, so that it never escaped from their clutches
小美人鱼看到眼前的景象非常惊恐，她站着不动，心因恐惧而跳动，她差一点就转身回去了；
the little mermaid was so alarmed at what she saw, that she stood still, and her heart beat with fear, and she was very nearly turning back;
但是她想到了王子，想到了她渴望得到的人类灵魂，她又鼓起了勇气。
but she thought of the prince, and of the human soul for which she longed, and her courage returned
