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‘In Science— in fact, in most things—it is usually best to begin at the beginning. In some things, of course, it’s better to begin at the other end. For instance, if you wanted to paint a dog green, it might be best to begin with the tail, as it doesn’t bite at that end. And so—”
“在科学中——事实上，在大多数事情中——通常最好从开头开始。当然，在某些事情中，最好从另一端开始。例如，如果你想把狗涂成绿色，最好从尾巴开始，因为它在那一端不咬人。所以——”
“Help me to do what?” said the puzzled Professor, looking up for a moment, but keeping his finger on the book he was reading from, so as not to lose his place.
“帮我做什么？”困惑的教授抬起头看了一会儿，但手指仍然放在他正在阅读的书上，以免失去位置。
“To paint a dog green!” cried Bruno. “Oo can begin wiz its mouf, and I’ll—”
“把狗涂成绿色！”布鲁诺喊道。“你可以从它的嘴开始，我就——”
And so”, returning to his note-book, “I’ll give you the Axioms of Science.
“那么”，回到他的笔记本，“我将给你们科学的公理。”
For instance, if I were to say ‘Here we are’‘, that would be accepted without any contradiction, and it’s a nice sort of remark to begin a conversation with.
例如，如果我说“我们到了”，这将被毫无矛盾地接受，而且这是开始对话的一种很好的说法。
“Oh, Bruno!” said Sylvie in a warning whisper. “Of course it would be an Axiom, if the Professor said it!”
“哦，布鲁诺！”西尔维警告地低声说。“当然，如果教授这么说，那就是公理！”
“—that would be accepted, if people were civil,” continued the Professor; “so it would be another Axiom.”
“——如果人们有礼貌，那将被接受，”教授继续说道，“所以这将是另一个公理。”
“Ignorance of Axioms”, the Lecturer continued, “is a great drawback in life.
“对公理的无知，”讲师继续说，“是生活中的一大障碍。
For instance, take the Axiom, ’Nothing is greater than itself’; that is, ’Nothing can contain itself.’
例如，以公理‘没有什么比它本身更大’为例；也就是说，‘没有什么能包含它本身’。
How often you hear people say ‘He was so excited, he was quite unable to contain himself.’
你经常听到人们说‘他太激动了，完全无法控制自己’。”
“I say, look here, you know!” said the Emperor, who was getting a little restless. “How many Axioms are you going to give us? At this rate, we sha’n’t get to the Experiments till to-morrow-week!”
“我说，看这里，你知道的！”皇帝说，他开始有点不安了。“你要给我们多少公理？照这样下去，我们要到明天星期才能做实验！”
“Oh, sooner than that, I assure you!” the Professor replied, looking up in alarm. “There are only,” (he referred to his notes again) “only two more, that are really necessary.”
“哦，比那快，我向你保证！”教授回答，惊恐地抬头看。“只有，”（他又看了看他的笔记）“只有两个真正必要的公理了。”
“The First Axiom”, the Professor read out in a great hurry, “consists of these words, ’Whatever is, is.’
“第一公理”，教授急忙读出来，“由这些词组成，‘凡是存在的，就是存在的’。”
“Some of the labels—owing to insufficient adhesion—” Here he stopped again, and carefully examined the page with his eyeglass.
“一些标签——由于粘附不足——”他又停了下来，用眼镜仔细检查了这一页。
“I ca’n’t read the rest of the sentence,” he said at last, “but it means that the labels have come loose, and the Things have got mixed—”
“我读不了剩下的句子了，”他最后说，“但它的意思是标签松动了，东西混在一起了——”
“Let me stick ‘em on again!” cried Bruno eagerly, and began licking them, like postage-stamps, and dabbing them down upon the Crystals and the other Things. But the Professor hastily moved the tray out of his reach. “They might get fixed to the wrong Specimens, you know!” he said.
“让我再把它们贴上！”布鲁诺急切地喊道，开始像舔邮票一样舔它们，然后把它们贴在水晶和其他东西上。但是教授急忙把托盘移到他够不到的地方。“你知道，它们可能会贴到错误的标本上！”他说。
“Oo shouldn’t have any wrong peppermints in the tray!” Bruno boldly replied. “Should he, Sylvie?”
“托盘里不应该有任何错误的胡椒薄荷糖！”布鲁诺大胆地回答。“对吧，西尔维？”
He had taken up one of the bottles, and was carefully reading the label through his eye-glass.
他拿起一个瓶子，透过眼镜仔细地读着标签。
“Our first Specimen ” he announced, as he placed the bottle in front of the other Things, “is— that is, it is called—” here he took it up, and examined the label again, as if he thought it might have changed since he last saw it, “is called Aqua Pura—common water—the fluid that cheers—”
“我们的第一个标本”他宣布，把瓶子放在其他东西前面，“是——也就是说，它被称为——”他在这里拿起它，再次检查标签，好像他认为自从他上次看到它以来它可能已经改变了，“被称为纯水——普通水——令人振奋的液体——”
“—but not inebriates!” the Professor went on quickly, but only just in time to check the “Hooroar!” which was beginning.
“——但不会使人陶醉！”教授赶紧接着说，但只是及时制止了正在开始的“万岁！”。
“Our second Specimen”, he went on, carefully opening a small jar, “is—” here he removed the lid, and a large beetle instantly darted out, and with an angry buzz went straight out of the Pavilion, “—is—or rather, I should say,” looking sadly into the empty jar, “it was— a curious kind of Blue Beetle.
“我们的第二个标本，”他继续说，小心地打开一个小罐子，“是——”这时他取下盖子，一只大甲虫立刻飞了出来，带着愤怒的嗡嗡声径直飞出了亭子，“——是——或者更确切地说，我应该说，”看着空罐子，悲伤地说，“它是——一种奇怪的蓝色甲虫。
Did anyone happen to remark—as it went past—three blue spots under each wing?”
有人碰巧注意到——当它飞过去的时候——每只翅膀下面有三个蓝色的斑点吗？”
Unless you remark that kind of thing at the moment, it’s very apt to get overlooked!
除非你当时注意到那种事情，否则很容易被忽视！
You will observe—” Here he beckoned to the Gardener to come up on the platform, and with his help began putting together what looked like an enormous dog-kennel, with short tubes projecting out of it on both sides.
你会观察到——”在这里，他招手让园丁走上平台，在他的帮助下开始组装一个看起来像巨大的狗窝的东西，两边都有短管伸出。
“You know you ca’n’t see a Flea, properly, without a magnifying-glass—what we call a Microscope.
“你知道没有放大镜——我们称之为显微镜——你就不能正确地看到跳蚤。
Well, just in the same way, you ca’n’t see an Elephant, properly—without a minimifying-glass.
同样，没有缩小镜，你就不能正确地看到大象。
Please open both curtains, down at the end there, and make way for the Elephant!”
请把那边尽头的两幅窗帘都拉开，给大象让路！
There was a general rush to the sides of the Pavilion and all eyes were turned to the open end, watching for the return of the Gardener, who had gone away singing “He thought he saw an Elephant That practiced on a Fife!”
大家都冲到亭子的两边，所有的眼睛都转向开放的一端，注视着园丁的归来，他一边走一边唱着“他以为他看到了一头大象，那头大象在吹笛子！”
There was silence for a minute: and then his harsh voice was heard again in the distance.
沉默了一分钟：然后又听到他在远处刺耳的声音。
And in marched or waddled—it is hard to say which is the right word—an Elephant, on its hind-legs, and playing on an enormous fife which it held with its fore-feet.
然后走进来或摇摇摆摆地走——很难说哪个词更合适——一只大象，用后腿站立，吹奏着它用前腿拿着的巨大笛子。
The Professor hastily threw open a large door at the end of the Megaloscope, and the huge animal, at a signal from the Gardener, dropped the fife, and obediently trotted into the machine, the door of which was at once shut by the Professor.
教授急忙打开巨型望远镜尽头的一扇大门，大象在园丁的信号下放下笛子，顺从地小跑进入机器，教授立即关上了门。
There was a general rush to the tubes, and the spectators watched with delight the minikin creature, as it playfully coiled its trunk round the Professor’s extended finger, finally taking its stand upon the palm of his hand while he carefully lifted it out, and carried it off to exhibit to the Imperial party.
大家都涌向管子，观众们高兴地看着这个小生物，它顽皮地把树干缠绕在教授伸出的手指上，最后站在他的手掌上，他小心翼翼地把它拿出来，带到帝国一行人那里去展示。
“Isn’t it a darling?” cried Bruno. “May I stroke it, please? I’ll touch it welly gently!”
“它不是很可爱吗？”布鲁诺喊道。“我可以摸摸它吗，拜托？我会很温柔地摸它的！”
The Empress inspected it solemnly with her eye-glass. “It is very small,” she said in a deep voice. “Smaller than elephants usually are, I believe?”
皇后用她的眼镜严肃地检查了它。“它很小，”她用低沉的声音说。“我相信比大象通常要小吧？”
The Professor gave a start of delighted surprise. “Why, that’s true!” he murmured to himself. Then louder, turning to the audience, “Her Imperial Highness has made a remark which is perfectly sensible!” And a wild cheer arose from that vast multitude.
教授高兴地吃了一惊。“哎呀，这是真的！”他自言自语地低声说。然后声音更大，转向观众，“皇后殿下说了一句完全明智的话！”那广大的人群中响起了一阵狂热的欢呼。
“The next Specimen”, the Professor proclaimed, after carefully placing the little elephant in the tray, among the Crystals and other things, “is a Flea, which we will enlarge for the purposes of observation.”
“下一个标本”，教授小心翼翼地把小象放在托盘里，放在水晶和其他东西中间，然后宣布，“是一只跳蚤，我们将为观察的目的把它放大。”
Taking a small pill-box from the tray, he advanced to the Megaloscope, and reversed all the tubes.
他从托盘里拿出一个小药盒，走到巨型显微镜前，把所有的管子都倒过来。
he cried, with his eye at one of the tubes, while he carefully emptied the pill-box through a little hole at the side.
他喊道，眼睛盯着其中一根管子，同时小心翼翼地通过侧面的一个小孔把药盒里的东西倒空。
There was another general rush, to look through the tubes, and the Pavilion rang with shouts of delight; through which the Professor’s anxious tones could scarcely be heard.
又是一阵普遍的奔跑，去看管子，展馆里回荡着欢呼声；教授焦虑的声音几乎听不见。
The door had swung open, and in another moment the Monster had got out, and was trampling down the terrified, shrieking spectators.
门已经被打开了，不一会儿，怪物就出来了，正在践踏那些惊恐、尖叫的观众。
But the Professor’s presence of mind did not desert him. “Undraw those curtains!” he shouted. It was done. The Monster gathered its legs together, and in one tremendous bound vanished into the sky.
但教授并没有惊慌失措。“拉开那些窗帘！”他喊道。大家照做了。怪物收拢了它的腿，然后一个巨大的跳跃消失在了天空中。
“In the next Province, I fancy,” the Professor replied. “That jump would take it at least five miles! The next thing is to explain a Process or two. But I find there is hardly room enough to operate—the smaller animal is rather in my way—”
“我想是在隔壁的省份，”教授回答说。“那个跳跃至少能让它跳五英里！接下来要解释一两个过程。但我发现这里几乎没有足够的空间来操作——这个较小的动物有点挡我的路——”
“Be kind enough to move—angularly—to this corner,” the Professor said, addressing himself to Bruno.
“请好心地——以角度——移动到这个角落，”教授对布鲁诺说。
Bruno hastily moved his chair in the direction indicated. “Did I move angrily enough?” he inquired. But the Professor was once more absorbed in his Lecture, which he was reading from his note-book.
布鲁诺急忙按照指示的方向移动他的椅子。“我移动得够生气吗？”他问道。但教授又一次沉浸在他的讲座中，他正在从他的笔记本上读。
“I will now explain the process of—the name is blotted, I’m sorry to say. It will be illustrated by a number of— of—” here he examined the pages for some time, and at last said “It seems to be either ‘Experiments’ or ‘Specimens’ ”
“现在我将解释——过程的名称被弄脏了，很抱歉。它将通过一些——一些——”在这里，他检查了几页，最后说“似乎是‘实验’或‘标本’”
“Let it be Experiments,” said the Emperor. “We’ve seen plenty of Specimens.”
“让它是实验吧，”皇帝说。“我们已经看到了足够多的标本。”
“Certainly, certainly!” the Professor assented. “We will have some Experiments.”
“当然，当然！”教授同意。“我们将进行一些实验。”
“Oh dear no!” The Professor looked dismayed. “I really don’t know what would happen if you did them!”
“哦，亲爱的不！”教授看起来很沮丧。“我真的不知道如果你做了会发生什么！”
“Our First Experiment requires a Machine. It has two knobs—only two—you can count them, if you like. ”
“我们的第一个实验需要一台机器。它有两个旋钮——只有两个——如果你愿意，你可以数一数。”
“Now you might press those two knobs together—but that’s not the way to do it. Or you might turn the Machine upside-down—but that’s not the way to do it!”
“现在你可以把这两个旋钮压在一起——但这不是做它的方法。或者你可以把机器倒过来——但这也不是做它的方法！”
“What are the way to do it?” said Bruno, who was listening very attentively.
“正确的方法是什么？”布鲁诺非常专注地听着，问道。
The Professor smiled benignantly. “Ah, yes!” he said, in a voice like the heading of a chapter. “The Way To Do It! Permit me!” and in a moment he had whisked Bruno upon the table. “I divide my subject”, he began, “into three parts—”
教授和蔼地笑了笑。“啊，是的！”他说，声音就像一章的标题。“正确的方法！请允许我！”他立刻把布鲁诺推到桌子上。“我把我的主题分成三个部分——”
“I think I’ll get down!” Bruno whispered to Sylvie. “It aren’t nice to be divided!”
“我想我要下来！”布鲁诺小声对西尔维说。“被分开可不太好！”
“He hasn’t got a knife, silly boy!” Sylvie whispered in reply. “Stand still! You’ll break all the bottles!”
“他没有刀，傻孩子！”西尔维小声回答。“站着别动！你会打破所有的瓶子！”
“The first part is to take hold of the knobs,” putting them into Bruno’s hands. “The second part is—” Here he turned the handle, and, with a loud “Oh!”, Bruno dropped both the knobs, and began rubbing his elbows.
“第一部分是抓住旋钮，”把它们放在布鲁诺的手里。“第二部分是——”这时他转动手柄，布鲁诺大叫一声“哦！”，把两个旋钮都扔了，开始揉他的肘部。
The Professor chuckled in delight. “It had a sensible effect. Hadn’t it?” he enquired.
教授高兴地咯咯笑。“这有一个明智的效果。不是吗？”他问道。
“No, it hadn’t a sensible effect!” Bruno said indignantly. “It were very silly indeed. It jingled my elbows, and it banged my back, and it crinkled my hair, and it buzzed among my bones!”
“不，它没有明显的效果！”布鲁诺愤慨地说。“这真的很傻。它叮了我的肘部，砰了我的背部，弄皱了我的头发，还在我的骨头里嗡嗡作响！”
“Oo doesn’t know nuffin about it!” Bruno replied. “Oo wasn’t there to see. Nobody ca’n’t go among my bones. There isn’t room!”
“哦，谁也不知道！”布鲁诺回答。“哦，谁也不在那里看。没有人能进入我的骨头。没有空间！”
“Our Second Experiment”, the Professor announced, as Bruno returned to his place, still thoughtfully rubbing his elbows, “is the production of that seldom-seen-but greatly-to-be-admired phenomenon, Black Light!
“我们的第二个实验”，教授宣布，当布鲁诺回到他的位置，仍然若有所思地揉着他的肘部，“是产生那种很少见到但非常令人钦佩的现象，黑光！
You have seen White Light, Red Light, Green Light, and so on: but never, till this wonderful day, have any eyes but mine seen Black Light!
你们已经看到了白光、红光、绿光等等：但直到这个美妙的日子，除了我的眼睛，没有任何眼睛看到过黑光！
This box”, carefully lifting it upon the table, and covering it with a heap of blankets, “is quite full of it.
这个盒子”，小心地把它放在桌子上，用一堆毯子盖住它，“里面装满了它。”
The way I made it was this—I took a lighted candle into a dark cupboard and shut the door.
我制作它的方法是这样的——我拿着点燃的蜡烛走进一个黑暗的橱柜，然后关上了门。
Then I took a bottle of Black ink, and poured it over the candle: and, to my delight, every atom of the Yellow Light turned Black!
然后我拿了一瓶黑色墨水，倒在蜡烛上：令我高兴的是，每一个黄色光的原子都变成了黑色！
Dead silence followed this appeal: but at last Bruno said “I’ll get under, if it won’t jingle my elbows.”
这个呼吁之后是死一般的寂静：但最后布鲁诺说：“如果不会叮当我的手肘，我就钻进去。”
Satisfied on this point, Bruno crawled under the blankets, and, after a minute or two, crawled out again, very hot and dusty, and with his hair in the wildest confusion.
在这一点上得到满足后，布鲁诺钻进了毯子下面，过了一两分钟，又爬了出来，非常热，满身灰尘，头发乱得最厉害。
He has described the appearance of the thing exactly!” the Professor exclaimed with enthusiasm. “Black Light and Nothing, look so extremely alike, at first sight, that I don’t wonder he failed to distinguish them! We will now proceed to the Third Experiment.”
他准确地描述了这个东西的外观！”教授热情地喊道。“黑光和虚无，乍一看非常相似，我不奇怪他没能区分它们！我们现在将进行第三个实验。”
The Professor came down, and led the way to where a post had been driven firmly into the ground.
教授下来，带路到一根被牢牢钉入地面的柱子那里。
To one side of the post was fastened a chain, with an iron weight hooked on to the end of it, and from the other side projected a piece of whalebone, with a ring at the end of it.
柱子的一侧系着一条链子，链子的末端挂着一个铁砝码，另一侧伸出一块鲸骨，末端有一个环。
“And in the same way, if I were to bend this piece of whalebone round the post—thus—and put the ring over this hook—thus—it stays bent: but, if I unhook it, it straightens itself again. You do not deny that?”
“同样，如果我把这块鲸鱼骨绕在柱子上——这样——把戒指套在这个钩子上——这样——它就保持弯曲了：但是，如果我解开它，它又会伸直。你不否认吧？”
The force of the whalebone would get exhausted, you know, and it would stay bent, even when you unhooked it.
你知道，鲸鱼骨的力量会耗尽，即使你解开它，它也会保持弯曲。”
The whalebone gets so used to being bent, that it ca’n’t straighten itself any more.
鲸骨习惯了被弯曲，以至于它再也无法伸直自己。
Why shouldn’t the weight get so used to being held up, that it ca’n’t fall any more?
为什么重量习惯了被支撑，以至于它再也无法下降呢？
The Professor looked at his watch. “Well, I think a thousand years will do to begin with,” he said. “Then we will cautiously unhook the weight: and, if it still shows (as perhaps it will) a slight tendency to fall, we will hook it on to the chain again, and leave it for another thousand years.”
教授看了看手表。“嗯，我想先等一千年吧，”他说。“然后我们会小心翼翼地解开重物：如果它仍然显示（也许会）有轻微的下降趋势，我们会再次把它挂在链子上，再等一千年。”
Here the Empress experienced one of those flashes of Common Sense which were the surprise of all around her. “Meanwhile there’ll be time for another Experiment,” she said.
这时，皇后经历了她周围所有人都惊讶的常识闪现之一。“与此同时，还有时间进行另一个实验，”她说。
“There will indeed!” cried the delighted Professor. “Let us return to the platform, and proceed to the Fourth Experiment!”
“确实有！”高兴的教授喊道。“让我们回到平台，继续进行第四个实验！”
“For this concluding Experiment, I will take a certain Alkali, or Acid—I forget which. Now you’ll see what will happen when I mix it with Some—” here he took up a bottle, and looked at it doubtfully, “—when I mix it with—with Something—”
“对于这个最后的实验，我将使用某种碱或酸——我忘记是哪一种了。现在你们将看到当我把它与某些——”这时他拿起一个瓶子，怀疑地看着它，“——当我把它与——与某种东西混合时会发生什么——”
“I don’t remember the name,” said the Professor: “and the label has come off.”
“我不记得名字了，”教授说：“而且标签已经掉了。”
He emptied it quickly into the other bottle, and, with a tremendous bang, both bottles flew to pieces, upsetting all the machines, and filling the Pavilion with thick black smoke.
他迅速把它倒进另一个瓶子里，随着一声巨响，两个瓶子都飞成了碎片，打翻了所有的机器，亭子里充满了浓浓的黑烟。
I sprang to my feet in terror, and—and found myself standing before my solitary hearth, where the poker, dropping at last from the hand of the sleeper, had knocked over the tongs and the shovel, and had upset the kettle, filling the air with clouds of steam.
我惊恐地跳起来，然后——发现自己站在孤独的壁炉前，那里的拨火棍终于从沉睡者的手中掉落，打翻了火钳和铲子，还打翻了水壶，空气中充满了蒸汽云。
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