《跳高者》，1845 年

the Jumper, 1845

跳蚤、蚱蜢和跳鹅曾经想看看它们当中谁能跳得最高；它们邀请了全世界的人，以及其他任何愿意来的人，来观看这场壮观的场面。

the Flea, the Grasshopper, and the Skipjack once wanted to see which of them could jump highest; and they invited the whole world, and whoever else would e, to see the grand sight.

于是，这三位着名的跳跃选手在房间里相聚了。

And there the three famous jumpers were met together in the room.

“是的，我要把我的女儿嫁给跳得最高的那个，” 国王说，“因为让这些人白跳一场可就太不厚道了。”

“Yes, I’ll give my daughter to him who jumps highest,” said the King, “for it would be mean to let these time people jump for nothing.”

跳蚤第一个站了出来。

the Flea stepped out first.

他举止非常优雅，向四面八方鞠躬，因为他血管里流着年轻女士的血液，而且习惯只和人类交往；这可是相当重要的一点。

he had very pretty manners, and bowed in all directions, for he had young ladies’ blood in his veins, and was accustomed to consort only with human beings; and that was of great consequence.

接着蚱蜢出场了：他确实要重得多，但身材很不错，而且穿着与生俱来的绿色制服。

then came the Grasshopper: he was certainly much heavier, but he had a good figure, and wore the green uniform that was born with him.

此外，这个人还坚称自己来自埃及这片土地上一个非常古老的家族，而且在那里备受尊敬。

this person, moreover, maintained that he belonged to a very old family in the land of Egypt, and that he was highly esteemed there.

他说他刚从田野里来，还曾被放进一个三层楼高的纸牌屋，那屋子全是用把图案朝里的纸牌搭成的。

he had just e from the field, he said, and had been put into a card house three stories high, and all made of picture cards with the figures turned inwards.

房子上有门和窗户，是在红桃皇后的牌身上剪出来的。

there were doors and windows in the house, cut in the body of the queen of hearts.

“我唱歌可好听了，” 他说，“那十六只从小就鸣叫、却从未有过自己纸牌屋的本地蟋蟀，如果听到我唱歌，会嫉妒得比现在还瘦呢。”

“I sing so,” he said, “that sixteen native crickets who have chirped from their youth up, and have never yet had a card house of their own, would bee thinner than they are with envy if they were to hear me.”

跳蚤和蚱蜢这两位都特意声明了自己的身份，并且认为自己有资格娶一位公主。

both of them, the Flea and the Grasshopper, took care to announce who they were, and that they considered themselves entitled to marry a princess.

跳鹅什么也没说，但据说他心里想得更多；当看家狗刚闻了闻他，就立刻断定跳鹅出身名门，是由一只正宗的鹅的胸骨做成的。

the Skipjack said nothing, but it was said of him that he thought all the more; and directly the Yard dog had smelt at him he was ready to assert that the Skipjack was of good family, and formed from the breastbone of an undoubted goose.

那位因沉默寡言而获得过三枚奖章的老顾问宣称，跳鹅拥有预言的天赋；人们可以通过他的骨头判断出将会是一个严寒的冬天还是一个温和的冬天；而这可比人们总能从编写年历的人的胸骨上判断出来的还要准确呢。

the old councillor, who had received three medals for holding his tongue, declared that the Skipjack possessed the gift of prophecy; one could tell by his bones whether there would be a severe winter or a mild one; and that’s more than one can always tell from the breastbone of the man who writes the almanac.

“我不想再多说什么了。” 老国王说。

“I shall not say anything more,” said the old King.