第63章 一滴水 The Drop of Water(第1/3 頁)

《一滴水》，1848 年

the drop of water, 1848

放大鏡是什麼，你肯定知道 —— 就是那種圓圓的鏡片，能把一切東西放大一百倍，比實際的要大得多。

what a magnifying glass is, you surely know — such a round sort of spectacle-glass that makes everything full a hundred times larger than it really is.

當人把它舉到眼前，去看池塘裡的一滴水時，就能看到上千種奇怪的生物。

when one holds it before the eye, and looks at a drop of water out of the pond, then one sees above a thousand strange creatures.

那看起來幾乎就像滿滿一盤蝦在彼此間蹦來跳去，而且它們非常貪婪，會撕扯彼此的胳膊、腿、尾巴和身體兩側，但它們還是以自己的方式過得挺開心。

It looks almost like a whole plateful of shrimps springing about among each other, and they are so ravenous, they tear one another’s arms and legs, tails and sides, and yet they are glad and pleased in their way.

從前有個老頭兒，大家都叫他 “爬來爬去”，因為那就是他的名字。

Now, there was once an old man, who was called by every body creep-and-crawl; for that was his name.

他總是能把任何事情都做到最好，要是做不好，他就會求助於巫術。

he would always make the best out of everything, and when he could not make anything out of it he resorted to witchcraft.

有一天，他坐著把放大鏡舉到眼前，去看從溝渠裡的一個小水塘裡取出來的一滴水。

Now, one day he sat and held his magnifying glass before his eye, and looked at a drop of water that was taken out of a little pool in the ditch.

那裡真是一片爬來爬去的景象！成千上萬的小生物又蹦又跳，相互拉扯，相互啄咬。

what a creeping and crawling was there! all the thousands of small creatures hopped and jumped about, pulled one another, and pecked one another.

“這太可惡了！”“爬來爬去” 說，“難道就不能讓它們和平安靜地生活，各幹各的事兒嗎？”