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For as to the elves, having sought them in vain among foxglove leaves and bells,
至于那些小精灵们，我在毛地黄叶子与花冠之间，
under mushrooms and beneath the ground-ivy mantling old wall-nooks, I had at length made up my mind to the sad truth,
在蘑菇底下和爬满老墙角落的长春藤下遍寻无着之后，终于承认这悲哀的事实：
that they were all gone out of England to some savage country where the woods were wilder and thicker, and the population more scant.
他们都己逃离英国到某个原始的乡间去了，那儿树林更荒凉茂密，人口更为稀少。
Whereas, Lilliput and Brobdignag being, in my creed, solid parts of the earth's surface.
而我虔信，小人国和大人国都是地球表面实实在在的一部份。
I doubted not that I might one day, by taking a long voyage, see with my own eyes the little fields,
我毫不怀疑有朝一日我会去远航，亲眼看一看一个王国里小小的田野、
houses, and trees, the diminutive people, the tiny cows, sheep, and birds of the one realm.
小小的房子、小小的树木；看一看那里的小人、小牛、小羊和小鸟们。
And the corn-fields forest-high, the mighty mastiffs, the monster cats, the tower-like men and women, of the other.
目睹一下另一个王国里如森林一般高耸的玉米地、硕大的猛犬、巨大无比的猫以及高塔一般的男男女女。
Yet, when this cherished volume was now placed in my hand, when I turned over its leaves,
然而，此刻当我手里捧着这本珍爱的书，一页页翻过去，
and sought in its marvellous pictures the charm I had, till now, never failed to find — all was eerie and dreary.
从精妙的插图中寻觅以前每试必爽的魅力时，我找到的只是怪异和凄凉。
The giants were gaunt goblins, the pigmies malevolent and fearful imps, Gulliver a most desolate wanderer in most dread and dangerous regions.
巨人成了憔悴的妖怪，矮子沦为恶毒可怖的小鬼，而格列佛则已是陷身于险境的孤独的流浪者了。
I closed the book, which I dared no longer peruse, and put it on the table, beside the untasted tart.
我不敢往下看了，合上书，把它放在桌上一口未尝的小烘饼旁边。
Bessie had now finished dusting and tidying the room, and having washed her hands, she opened a certain little drawer,
贝茜现在打扫和整理完了房子，然后洗完手后打开一个装满华美丝绸碎片的小抽屉，
full of splendid shreds of silk and satin, and began making a new bonnet for Georgiana's doll.
开始给乔治安娜的洋娃娃做个新帽子。
meantime she sang. Her song was: “In the days when we went gipsying, a long time ago.”
还一边唱到：在很久很久以前的日子里，我们像吉卜赛人一样流浪。
I had often heard the song before, and always with lively delight, for Bessie had a sweet voice, — at least, I thought so.
我以前常听这首歌，而且总觉得它欢快悦耳，因为贝茜的嗓子很甜，至少我认为如此。
But now, though her voice was still sweet, I found in its melody an indescribable sadness.
而此刻，虽然她甜蜜的嗓子依旧，但歌里透出了一种难以言喻的悲哀。
Sometimes, preoccupied with her work, she sang the refrain very low, very lingeringly.
有时，她干活出了神，把迭句唱得很低沉，拖得很长。
“A long time ago” came out like the saddest cadence of a funeral hymn.
一句“很久很久以前”唱出来，如同挽歌中最哀伤的调子。
She passed into another ballad, this time a really doleful one.
她接着又唱起一首民谣来，这回可是真的哀怨凄恻了。
