第27章 鍾 The Bell(第2/12 頁)

重要。

the tale provides a crowning utopian moment in Andersen’s literary work, and the scenes describing the beauties of the forest remind us that visual delights were as important to Andersen as the arresting acoustical enchantments of the bell.

就像在《皇帝的新裝》中一樣，孩子比成年人更有見識，安徒生對王子和窮人攜手的動人描繪提醒我們，對人性的深刻憤世嫉俗與對我們轉變能力的基本信念並不矛盾。

As in “the Emperor’s New clothes,” the child is more knowing than adults, and Andersen’s moving portrait of prince and pauper joining hands reminds us that deep cynicism about human nature is not inconsistent with a bedrock of faith in our capacity for transformation.

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人們說：“晚鐘正在敲響，太陽正在落山。” 因為在一個大城市狹窄的街道上聽到了一種奇怪而奇妙的聲音。它就像教堂的鐘聲：但只聽到了一會兒，因為馬車的滾動聲和人群的嘈雜聲太大了。

people said “the Evening bell is sounding, the sun is setting.” For a strange wondrous tone was heard in the narrow streets of a large town. It was like the sound of a church-bell: but it was only heard for a moment, for the rolling of the carriages and the voices of the multitude made too great a noise.

那些在城外行走的人，那裡的房子相距較遠，中間有花園或小塊田地，可以更好地看到傍晚的天空，也更清楚地聽到鐘聲。就好像聲音是從寂靜森林中的一座教堂傳來的；人們朝那個方向望去，感到他們的心靈被極其莊嚴地協調起來。

those persons who were walking outside the town, where the houses were farther apart, with gardens or little fields between them, could see the evening sky still better, and heard the sound of the bell much more distinctly. It was as if the tones came from a church in the still forest; people looked thitherward, and felt their minds attuned most solemn