Алиса в Зазеркалье / Through the Looking-glass, and What Alice Found There

“How can you talk so well?” Alice asked. “I visited many gardens, but flowers couldn’t talk.”

“Put your hand down, and feel the ground,” said the Tiger-lily. “Then you’ll know why.”

Alice did so. “It’s very hard,” she said.

“In most gardens,” the Tiger-lily said, “the flower-beds are too soft … so that the flowers are always asleep.”

This sounded like a very good reason. “I never thought of that before!” said Alice. “Are there any more people in the garden besides me?”

“There’s one other flower in the garden that can move like you,” said the Rose.

Alice thought there was another little girl in the garden somewhere.

“Does she ever come here?” she asked.

“I think you will see her soon,” said the Rose. “She has thorns.”

“Where does she wear the thorns?” Alice asked with some curiosity.

“All round her head, of course,” the Rose replied. “I wonder why you haven’t got them. Oh, she’s coming! I hear her footsteps!”

Alice looked round, and saw that it was the Red Queen. She decided to talk to her.

“You can’t do that,” said the Rose. “You should walk the other way[10 - You should walk the other way. – Тебе следует идти в обратную сторону.].”

“Nonsense”, Alice thought, so she said nothing, and went towards the Red Queen.

“Where do you come from?” asked the Red Queen. “And where are you going? Look up, speak nicely, and don’t twiddle your fingers!”

Alice explained that she was lost.

“But why did you come here at all? Curtsey while you’re thinking what to say, it saves time[11 - Curtsey while you’re thinking what to say, it saves time – Делай реверанс, пока думаешь, что сказать – это экономит время.].”

“I only wanted to see the garden, your Majesty … and I thought I’d try and find my way to the top of that hill …”

“When you say ‘hill’,” the Queen said, “I can show you hills, in comparison with which you will call that a valley.”

Alice curtseyed again, because she was afraid that the Queen could be offended. And they walked on in silence and reached the top of the little hill.

For some time Alice stood and said nothing, looking out in all directions over the country.

“It is just like a large chess-board!” Alice said at last. “It’s a great huge game of chess. Oh, what fun it is! I would like even to be a Pawn, if only I can join … although, of course, I’d like to be a Queen!”

The Red Queen only smiled, and said, “That’s easy. You can be the White Queen’s Pawn, if you like. You’re in the Second Square: when you get to the Eighth Square you’ll be a Queen … ” Just at this moment they began to run.

They were running hand in hand, and the Queen went very fast and she cried to Alice “Faster! Faster!” Alice felt that she could not go faster.

The most curious thing was, that the trees and the other things round them never changed their places at all!

The Queen kept crying [12 - kept crying – продолжала кричать]“Faster! Faster!”

“Are we nearly there?” Alice asked at last.

“Nearly there!” the Queen said. “Faster! Now! Now!”

And they went so fast that they hardly touched the ground with their feet! Suddenly they stopped.

The Queen said kindly, “You may rest a little now.”

Alice looked round her in great surprise. “We have been under this tree the whole time! Nothing changed!”

“Of course,” said the Queen. “Here we have to run in order to stay in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run faster!”

Alice did not know what to say, but the Queen did not wait for an answer. “You know that a pawn goes two squares in its first move. So you will go very quickly through the Third Square … by train[13 - by train – поездом], I think. Well, the Fourth Square belongs to Tweedledum and Tweedledee[14 - Tweedledum and Tweedledee – Труляля и Траляля (персонажи книги)]. The Fifth one is covered with water. The Sixth Square belongs to Humpty Dumpty[15 - Humpty Dumpty – Шалтай-Болтай (персонаж книги)]. The Seventh Square is a forest. One of the Knights will show you the way. And in the Eighth Square we will be Queens together, and have a lot of fun!” Alice got up and curtseyed, and sat down again.

The Red Queen said “good-bye,” and then disappeared.

And Alice began to remember that she was a Pawn, and soon she would make a move.

Exercises

1. Why could the flowers talk?

1. The flowers were magical.

2. The flowers learnt a lot from the books.

3. People talked to them very often.

4. The ground was hard, so the flowers were not asleep all the time.

2. What flowers were the noisiest?

1. Daisies

2. Roses

3. Violets

4. Lilies

3. Point out what directions the Red Queen gave to Alice.

1. Look up, speak nicely, and don’t twiddle your fingers!

2. Don’t be so shy and speak first!

3. Curtsey while you‘re thinking what to say, it saves time.