Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Author: (British) Lewis Carroll
Translator: Cheng Yue / Country: United Kingdom
Publisher:
Publishing Time: 2006-07-01
Features: This novel is a representative work of British fantasy literature and one of the world's ten most famous philosophical fairy tales. With his boundless imagination, the author depicts the characters in Alice's dreamlike stories vividly in pure, simple, fresh, and natural language. For over a century, the book has spread worldwide and has been adapted into various art forms such as theater, film, television series, silent films, and animated films. It is one of the most widely read and influential children's novels in the world. This book is part of the "World Youth Literature Classics Series," a collection of classic youth literature that enriches lives! In the long history of world youth literature, the classic works of these masters have continuously influenced generations of young readers. This series primarily selects and republishes influential world youth literature classics that have been edited and published over a long period. The main purpose is to provide young readers with better literary reading materials, allowing them to gain more from these youth classics while broadening their horizons, refining their character, enriching their imagination, and adding color and charm to their lives.
Two girls sat by the riverbank. One was her sister, deeply engrossed in a book, while the other was Alice, bored and listless. With nothing to do, Alice grew impatient and kept glancing at her sister's book, wondering in her heart, "A book without pictures or dialogue—why is she so engrossed in it?"
The weather was stuffy and hot, and Alice began to feel drowsy, her mind growing hazy. However, she still tried to stay alert, thinking about whether she should pick some daisies to weave a wreath. Just then, she noticed a white rabbit with pink eyes dart past her. She also heard the rabbit muttering, "Oh, dear, I'm going to be late!"
At first, Alice didn't find it strange, though she later thought it was quite surprising that a talking rabbit existed. But at the time, she found everything quite natural, with no sense of wonder. However, when the rabbit took out a pocket watch from its vest and hurried away, Alice jumped up in astonishment—because she had never seen a rabbit wearing a vest with pockets, let alone one that could take out a watch from it! Unable to suppress her curiosity, she chased after the rabbit.
After passing through a field, she saw the rabbit leap into a large hole under the bushes. Without hesitation, Alice followed suit, not thinking about how she would get out afterward.
Inside the rabbit hole, the initial part was like a straight corridor, but it then suddenly turned downward. The bend was too sharp, and with her speed, Alice didn't have time to stop before falling into a deep well. She tumbled down, but perhaps because the well was so deep or her descent was slow, she had enough time to look around and guess what might happen next.
At first, she looked down anxiously, trying to figure out where she would land. But it was pitch black below, and she couldn't see anything. So she turned her attention to the walls of the well. She found them covered with furniture like tables, cabinets, and bookshelves, as well as maps and pictures hanging on nails.
She reached out and took a can from a shelf. The label clearly said "orange marmalade," but the can was empty. Alice was extremely disappointed. She wanted to throw the can away but was afraid of hurting someone below, so she gave up.
As she continued to fall, she put the empty can into another cabinet.
"Well, this is interesting," Alice thought, "With this experience, rolling down the stairs in the future will be a piece of cake! My family will definitely praise me for being braver now. I won't even make a sound if I fall from the roof!"—and she was right, because anyone who fell from the roof would be too stunned to speak.
As she kept falling, the well seemed bottomless. Alice couldn't help but cry out, "Who can tell me how deep I've fallen? It must be about four thousand feet, right? That means I'm getting close to the center of the Earth!"
You see, Alice had learned many such facts from her textbooks in school. But now wasn't the best time to show off her knowledge, as no one was around to hear her. Still, speaking aloud was a good practice.
"Right, that must be the distance. So, what are my longitude and latitude right now?"
Actually, Alice didn't know anything about longitude or latitude, but she thought it was a fancy term, so she couldn't resist saying it.
After a while, she couldn't help but speak again, "If I keep falling like this, I wonder if I'll pass through the Earth and land among people who walk upside down. That would be so interesting! I think they're called 'symmetrical people' (a term from 19th-century geography textbooks referring to people at the two ends of the Earth's diameter, with their soles facing each other. Alice was vague about the concept, thinking they walked 'upside down' and mispronounced 'antipodes' as 'symmetrical people')."
This time, she was relieved that no one was around to hear her, because she knew she had used the wrong words.
"If that's the case, I should ask them what their country is called. 'Madam, do you know if this is New Zealand or Australia?"'
As she spoke, she tried to make a curtsy, but failed. Who could possibly do that while falling through the air?
Next, she thought, "If I ask that, they'll think I'm a fool who doesn't even know which country I'm in. I can't do that. Maybe I'll see the country's name written somewhere!"
So she kept falling and falling, with nothing else to do. After a while, she began talking to herself again, "I'm sure Dana (Alice's pet cat) misses me terribly tonight. I hope my family doesn't forget to give her some milk with lunch. Dana, my dear, I wish you could be here with me as we fall! But I'm afraid there won't be any mice for you to eat in the air. But maybe you could catch a bat. Bats look like winged mice, you know. I just wonder if cats eat bats too?"
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