“We indeed!” cried the Mouse, who was trembling |дрожала| down to the end of his tail. “As if I would talk |Как будто это я заговорила| on such a subject! Our family always hated cats: nasty, low, vulgar things! Don’t let me hear the name again!”
“I won’t indeed!” said Alice, in a great hurry to change the subject of conversation. “Are you – are you fond – of – of dogs?” The Mouse did not answer, so Alice went on eagerly |нетерпеливо|: “There is such a nice little dog near our house I should like to show you! A little bright-eyed |блестящие| terrier, you know, with oh, such long curly brown hair! And it’ll fetch |ловит| things when you throw them, and it’ll sit up and beg |просит| for its dinner, and all sorts of things – I can’t remember half of them – and it belongs to a farmer, you know, and he says it’s so useful, it’s worth a hundred pounds |фунтов стерлингов|! He says it kills all the rats and – oh dear!” cried Alice in a sorrowful tone, “I’m afraid I’ve offended it again!” For the Mouse was swimming away from her as hard as it could go, and making quite a commotion in the pool as it went |волнение в луже от движения|.
So she called softly after it, “Mouse dear! Do come back again, and we won’t talk about cats or dogs either, if you don’t like them!” When the Mouse heard this, it turned round and swam slowly back to her: its face was quite pale (with passion |от эмоций|, Alice thought), and it said in a low trembling voice, “Let us get to the shore, and then I’ll tell you my history, and you’ll understand why it is I hate cats and dogs.”
It was high time |Было самое время| to go, for the pool was getting quite crowded |перенаселен| with the birds and animals that had fallen into it: there were a Duck and a Dodo, a Lory and an Eaglet |птица додо, попугай и орленок|, and several other curious creatures. Alice led the way |поплыла вперед|, and the whole party swam to the shore.
Chapter III. A Caucus-Race |Бег по кругу| and a Long Tale
They were indeed a queer-looking party that assembled on the bank |собрались на берегу| – the birds with draggled feathers |с взъерошенными перьями|, the animals with their fur clinging |прилипшим мехом| close to them, and all dripping wet, cross | промокшим, спутанным|, and uncomfortable.
The first question of course was, how to get dry again: they had a consultation about this, and after a few minutes it seemed quite natural to Alice to find herself talking familiarly |непринужденно общаясь| with them, as if she had known them all her life. Indeed, she had quite a long argument with the Lory |спор с попугаем Лори|, who at last turned sulky |в конце концов надулся|, and would only say, “I am older than you, and must know better;” and this Alice would not allow |буквально – не позволяла. Лучше – не принимала в расчет| without knowing how old it was, and, as the Lory positively |решительно| refused to tell its age, there was no more to be said.
At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority |авторитетной личностью| among them, called out, “Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I’ll soon make you dry enough!” They all sat down at once, in a large ring, with the Mouse in the middle. Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not get dry |высохнет| very soon.
“Ahem!” |звук откашливания| said the Mouse with an important air, “are you all ready? This is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! ‘William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much accustomed to usurpation and conquest |Вильгельм Завоеватель с благословения Папы добился подчинения англичан, которые нуждались в лидерах, и были не понаслышке знакомы с узурпацией и завоеваниями|. Edwin and Morcar, the earls |графы| of Mercia and Northumbria —’”
“Ugh!” said the Lory, with a shiver |с дрожью|.
“I beg your pardon!” said the Mouse, frowning |нахмурившись|, but very politely: “Did you speak?”
“Not I!” said the Lory hastily.
“I thought you did,” said the Mouse. “– I proceed |продолжу|. ‘Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him: and even Stigand, the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found it advisable |нашел это благоразумным| —’”
“Found what?” said the Duck.
“Found it,” the Mouse replied rather crossly: “of course you know what ‘it’ means.”
“I know what ‘it’ means well enough, when I find a thing,” said the Duck: “it’s generally a frog or a worm. The question is, what did the archbishop find?”
The Mouse did not notice this question, but hurriedly |спешно| went on, “‘– found it advisable to go with Edgar Atheling to meet William and offer him the crown. William’s conduct |правление| at first was moderate. But the insolence of his Normans |Но наглость его воинов-норманнов| —’ How are you getting on now |Как ты там?|, my dear?” it continued, turning to Alice as it spoke.
“As wet as ever,” |Промокшая как никогда| said Alice in a melancholy tone: “it doesn’t seem to dry me at all.”
“In that case,” said the Dodo solemnly, rising to its feet, “I move that the meeting adjourn, for the immediate adoption of more energetic remedies |Я предлагаю