They were indeed a queer–looking party that assembled on the bank—the birds with draggled feathers, the animals with their fur clinging close to them, and all dripping wet, cross, and uncomfortable.
The first question of course was, how to get dry again: they had a consultation about this, and after a few minutes it seemed quite natural to Alice to find herself talking familiarly with them, as if she had known them all her life. Indeed, she had quite a long argument with the Lory, who at last turned sulky, and would only say, 'I am older than you, and must know better'; and this Alice would not allow without knowing how old it was, and, as the Lory positively refused to tell its age, there was no more to be said.
At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority among them, called out, 'Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I'LL soon make you dry enough!' They all sat down at once, in a large ring, with the Mouse in the middle. Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not get dry very soon.
'Ahem!' said the Mouse with an important air, 'are you all ready? This is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! "William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria—"'
'Ugh!' said the Lory, with a shiver.
'I beg your pardon!' said the Mouse, frowning, but very politely: 'Did you speak?'
'Not I!' said the Lory hastily.
'I thought you did,' said the Mouse. '—I proceed. "Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him: and even Stigand, the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found it advisable—"'
'Found WHAT?' said the Duck.
'Found IT,' the Mouse replied rather crossly: 'of course you know what "it" means.'
'I know what "it" means well enough, when I find a thing,' said the Duck: 'it's generally a frog or a worm. The question is, what did the archbishop find?'
The Mouse did not notice this question, but hurriedly went on, '"—found it advisable to go with Edgar Atheling to meet William and offer him the crown. William's conduct at first was moderate. But the insolence of his Normans—" How are you getting on now, my dear?' it continued, turning to Alice as it spoke.
'As wet as ever,' said Alice in a melancholy tone: 'it doesn't seem to dry me at all.'
'In that case,' said the Dodo solemnly, rising to its feet, 'I move that the meeting adjourn, for the immediate adoption of more energetic remedies—'
'Speak English!' said the Eaglet. 'I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and, what's more, I don't believe you do either!' And the Eaglet bent down its head to hide a smile: some of the other birds tittered audibly.
'What I was going to say,' said the Dodo in an offended tone, 'was, that the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus–race.'
'What IS a Caucus–race?' said Alice; not that she wanted much to know, but the Dodo had paused as if it thought that SOMEBODY ought to speak, and no one else seemed inclined to say anything.
'Why,' said the Dodo, 'the best way to explain it is to do it.' (And, as you might like to try the thing yourself, some winter day, I will tell you how the Dodo managed it.)
First it marked out a race–course, in a sort of circle, ('the exact shape doesn't matter,' it said,) and then all the party were placed along the course, here and there. There was no 'One, two, three, and away,' but they began running when they liked, and left off when they liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over. However, when they had been running half an hour or so, and were quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called out 'The race is over!' and they all crowded round it, panting, and asking, 'But who has won?'
This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of thought, and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed upon its forehead (the position in which you usually see Shakespeare, in the pictures of him), while the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo said, 'EVERYBODY has won, and all must have prizes.'
'But who is to give the prizes?' quite a chorus of voices asked.
'Why, SHE, of course,' said the Dodo, pointing to Alice with one finger; and the whole party at once crowded round her, calling out in a confused way, 'Prizes! Prizes!'
Alice had no idea what to do, and in despair she put her hand in her pocket, and pulled out a box of comfits, (luckily the salt water had not got into it), and handed them round as prizes. There was exactly one a–piece all round.
'But she must have a prize herself, you know,' said the Mouse.
'Of course,' the Dodo replied very gravely. 'What else have you got in your pocket?' he went on, turning to Alice.
'Only a thimble,' said Alice sadly.
'Hand it over here,' said the Dodo.
Then they all crowded round her once more, while the Dodo solemnly presented the thimble, saying 'We beg your acceptance of this elegant thimble'; and, when it had finished this short speech, they all cheered.
Alice thought the whole thing very absurd, but they all looked so grave that she did not dare to laugh; and, as she could not think of anything to say, she simply bowed, and took the thimble, looking as solemn as she could.
The next thing was to eat the comfits: this caused some noise and confusion, as the large birds complained that they could not taste theirs, and the small ones choked and had to be patted on the back. However, it was over at last, and they sat down again in a ring, and begged the Mouse to tell them something more.
'You promised to tell me your history, you know,' said Alice, 'and why it is you hate—C and D,' she added in a whisper, half afraid that it would be offended again.
'Mine is a long and a sad tale!' said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing.
'It IS a long tail, certainly,' said Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse's tail; 'but why do you call it sad?' And she kept on puzzling about it while the Mouse was speaking, so that her idea of the tale was something like this:—
'Fury said to a mouse, That he met in the house, "Let us both go to law: I will prosecute YOU.—Come, I'll take no denial; We must have a trial: For really this morning I've nothing to do." Said the mouse to the cur, "Such a trial, dear Sir, With no jury or judge, would be wasting our breath." "I'll be judge, I'll be jury," Said cunning old Fury: "I'll try the whole cause, and condemn you to death."'
'You are not attending!' said the Mouse to Alice severely. 'What are you thinking of?'
'I beg your pardon,' said Alice very humbly: 'you had got to the fifth bend, I think?'
'I had NOT!' cried the Mouse, sharply and very angrily.
'A knot!' said Alice, always ready to make herself useful, and looking anxiously about her. 'Oh, do let me help to undo it!'
'I shall do nothing of the sort,' said the Mouse, getting up and walking away. 'You insult me by talking such nonsense!'
'I didn't mean it!' pleaded poor Alice. 'But you're so easily offended, you know!'
The Mouse only growled in reply.
'Please come back and finish your story!' Alice called after it; and the others all joined in chorus, 'Yes, please do!' but the Mouse only shook its head impatiently, and walked a little quicker.
'What a pity it wouldn't stay!' sighed the Lory, as soon as it was quite out of sight; and an old Crab took the opportunity of saying to her daughter 'Ah, my dear! Let this be a lesson to you never to lose YOUR temper!' 'Hold your tongue, Ma!' said the young Crab, a little snappishly. 'You're enough to try the patience of an oyster!'
'I wish I had our Dinah here, I know I do!' said Alice aloud, addressing nobody in particular. 'She'd soon fetch it back!'
'And who is Dinah, if I might venture to ask the question?' said the Lory.
Alice replied eagerly, for she was always ready to talk about her pet: 'Dinah's our cat. And she's such a capital one for catching mice you can't think! And oh, I wish you could see her after the birds! Why, she'll eat a little bird as soon as look at it!'
This speech caused a remarkable sensation among the party. Some of the birds hurried off at once: one old Magpie began wrapping itself up very carefully, remarking, 'I really must be getting home; the night–air doesn't suit my throat!' and a Canary called out in a trembling voice to its children, 'Come away, my dears! It's high time you were all in bed!' On various pretexts they all moved off, and Alice was soon left alone.
'I wish I hadn't mentioned Dinah!' she said to herself in a melancholy tone. 'Nobody seems to like her, down here, and I'm sure she's the best cat in the world! Oh, my dear Dinah! I wonder if I shall ever see you any more!' And here poor Alice began to cry again, for she felt very lonely and low–spirited. In a little while, however, she again heard a little pattering of footsteps in the distance, and she looked up eagerly, half hoping that the Mouse had changed his mind, and was coming back to finish his story.
背景介绍和作者介绍
这段摘录出自《爱丽丝漫游仙境》，这是一部由刘易斯·卡罗尔（Lewis Carroll）创作的经典小说，他是查尔斯·勒特威奇·道奇森（Charles Lutwidge Dodgson）的笔名，于1865年首次出版。卡罗尔是一位数学家、逻辑学家和作家，以其对语言的巧妙运用和逻辑谜题而闻名。故事讲述了一个名叫爱丽丝的年轻女孩掉进兔子洞，进入一个充满奇异生物和异想天开冒险的奇幻世界。
详细解读和意义
在这段文字中，爱丽丝和一群湿漉漉、衣衫褴褛的动物和鸟类在掉入水中后聚集在河岸边。这些角色就历史和政治展开了一场幽默而荒诞的讨论，很快变成了一场异想天开的“混战”——一场没有明确规则或获胜者的比赛，象征着某些社会或政治过程的荒谬性。老鼠试图讲故事，却被爱丽丝的好奇心和误解打断，这说明了贯穿全书的嬉戏般的混乱。
这一幕突出了卡罗尔运用讽刺和荒诞来嘲讽维多利亚时代的礼仪和习俗。这些动物的行为反映了人类的特质，如固执、急躁和对秩序的渴望，但却以一种颠三倒四、不合逻辑的方式呈现。爱丽丝的互动展现了她的天真和好奇心，以及她试图理解一个令人困惑的世界。
给儿童和学生的启示和见解
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好奇心和批判性思维： 爱丽丝的提问态度鼓励年轻读者保持好奇心，并批判性地思考他们所接收到的信息。她质疑鹦鹉自以为是的说法，因为它年纪更大，并质疑老鼠的故事，这表明提出问题和寻求理解是可以的。
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想象力的价值： 奇幻的场景和角色邀请读者运用他们的想象力，这对于现实生活中的创造力和解决问题至关重要。
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理解荒诞和幽默： 认识到幽默和无稽之谈可以帮助孩子们培养灵活的思维方式，学会通过从不同的角度看待事物来应对令人困惑或沮丧的情况。
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社交互动和同理心： 故事展示了不同的个性以及他们如何互动——有些人脾气暴躁，有些人骄傲，有些人害羞。理解这些特质可以帮助孩子们培养同理心和更好的社交技能。
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耐心和情绪控制： 老鼠的恼怒和老螃蟹关于不要发脾气的建议，教会孩子们在社交场合保持耐心和管理情绪的重要性。
在日常生活中应用这些经验教训
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在学习中： 学生可以效仿爱丽丝的好奇心，在课堂上提问，而不是盲目接受信息。他们还可以运用想象力来增强写作、艺术和解决问题的任务。
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在社交场合： 认识到不同的个性有助于结交朋友和解决冲突。孩子们可以学会耐心和尊重，即使其他人表现不同。
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在情感成长中： 了解在某些时候感到困惑或沮丧是正常的，并且幽默或新的视角可以提供帮助，这是一项宝贵的情感技能。
从故事中鼓励积极行为
- 保持好奇： 像爱丽丝一样，随时准备探索和质疑你周围的世界。
- 保持开放的心态： 接受并非所有事情都能立即理解；有时，事情只是愚蠢或奇怪。
- 练习善良： 即使其他人脾气暴躁或难以相处，也要尝试理解和耐心。
- 运用想象力： 让创造力引导你学习和玩耍。
- 管理情绪： 学会控制你的脾气并平静地表达感受。
通过阅读《爱丽丝漫游仙境》，儿童和青少年不仅可以欣赏一个神奇的故事，还可以获得对人性的宝贵见解、社交互动以及想象力的力量，这些可以丰富他们的个人和学术生活。
