Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. A2

“And now to the garden!” and Alice ran fast to the little door, but the little door was locked again, and the golden key was still on the glass table.

She made a step but the floor under her feet was wet and then – SPLASH! She was in salt water. She thought about the sea, but soon she understood that it was a lake of her own tears.

She heard something splashing about in the lake and swam nearer to see what it was. At first, she thought it was some big and scary animal. But then she remembered how small she was and understood that it was only a mouse.

“Should I speak to this mouse?” thought Alice. “I think it can talk. I'll try.” So she began. “O Mouse, do you know the way out of this lake? I do not want to swim anymore!” But the mouse said nothing.

“Perhaps it doesn't understand English,” thought Alice. “Maybe it's a French mouse.” So she tried again – this time with the first sentence in her French lesson book. “Ou'est ma chatte?” It meant. “Where is my cat?” The scared Mouse jumped up out of the water. “Oh, I am so sorry” cried Alice, “I forgot! You don't like cats.”

“Don't like cats!” cried the Mouse. “What mouse likes cats?”

“Well, you are right,” said Alice; “don't be angry. But our cat Dinah is very different. I think you will like her. She is such a nice quiet thing.”

“No! Our family always HATED cats! They are awful! I don't want to hear this word again!” the Mouse was trembling.

“I am sorry!” said Alice. “Do you… do you… do you like dogs?” The Mouse didn't answer, so Alice started to talk about dogs. But the Mouse was swimming away from her.

“Mouse dear! Come back again, and we won't talk about cats or dogs if you don't like them!” Alice called softly. When the Mouse heard this, it turned round and swam slowly back to her. “Get to the dry place. There I'll tell you my story and you'll understand why I hate cats and dogs,” it said.

More and more animals were swimming in the pool: a Duck, a Parrot, a Little Eagle, some strange bird and others. Alice swam towards the dry floor, and everybody swam after her.

Dictionary

golden – золотой

gloves – перчатки

fan – веер

four times five is twelve – четырежды пять – двенадцать

poem – стихотворение

tears – слёзы

Chapter 3

A Political Race and A Long Tale

The group looked very strange: the birds and the animals were all wet, angry and unhappy. First, they needed to get dry. They talked about the best way to do it. Then the Mouse said. “Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I will soon make you dry enough!”

They all sat down.

“Are you ready?” asked the mouse with an important look, “This is the driest thing I know. Listen to me, please, and do not talk!” And the Mouse began speaking about the history of England. After some time it asked Alice. “How are you, my dear?”

“Wet,” answered Alice sadly.

“Well, I think,” said the Dodo, standing up, “the best thing to get dry is a political race. You will understand how to do it when we start.”

First, the Dodo drew a circle on the floor, and everyone stood along the line. Then they began running when they liked and stopped when they liked. After half an hour of running, the Dodo suddenly cried, “The race is over!” Everyone started asking, “But who won?”

The Dodo sat thinking and everyone waited for its answer. Finally, the Dodo said. “EVERYBODY won, and everybody will have prizes.”

“But who will give us the prizes?” they asked.

“Well, SHE, of course,” said the Dodo and looked at Alice.

Alice didn't know what to do. She put her hand into her pocket, took out a box of candy (it was dry), and gave some to everybody as prizes.

“But she must have a prize herself,” said the Mouse.

“Of course,” the Dodo answered seriously. “What else do you have in your pocket?” he asked Alice.

“Only a button,” said Alice sadly.

“Give it to me,” the Dodo said.

Then the Dodo gave her the button back, saying, “Please take this beautiful button as a gift,” and everyone screamed, “Hooray!”

It looked very funny to Alice, but they all were so serious that she couldn't laugh. So she took the thread with an important look on her face.

They ate the candy, sat down again and asked the Mouse to tell them something more.

“You promised to tell me your story,” said Alice, “and why you hate – C and D,” she added.

“My tale is long and sad!” said the Mouse.

“It IS a long tail, of course!” said Alice looking down at the Mouse's tail with surprise. “But why do you call it sad?” She continued thinking about it and did not listen to the Mouse.

“You are not listening!” cried the Mouse angrily. “What are you thinking of?”

“I am very sorry,” said Alice. “You began to talk about your tail?”

“I had NOT!” the Mouse was very angry.

“A knot!” said Alice. “Oh, let me help you to undo it!”

The Mouse stood up and said, “You are a very rude girl!”

“Oh, but I tried to be polite,” cried poor Alice.

The Mouse didn't answer.

“Please come back and finish your story!” Alice called after it but the Mouse only shook its head and went away.

“It is sad that our Dinah is not here!” Alice said. “She would bring the Mouse back.”

“And who is Dinah?” asked the Lory. Alice was always ready to talk about her pet. “Dinah's our cat. And she's so good at catching mice! And oh, she is very good at catching birds too! She is very fast!”