her skin was as soft and delicate as a roseleaf, her eyes as blue as the deepest sea,

她的皮肤又光又嫩，像玫瑰的花瓣;她的眼睛是蔚蓝色的，像最深的湖水。

but like all the others she had no feet, and instead of legs she had a fish's tail.

不过，跟其他的公主一样，她没有腿;她身体的下部是一条鱼尾。

All the livelong day they used to play in the palace in the great halls, where living flowers grew out of the walls.

她们把漫长的日子全部消磨在皇宫里，在墙上生有鲜花的大厅里玩耍。

When the great amber windows were thrown open the fish swam in,

那些琥珀镶的大窗子是开着的，鱼儿向着她们游来，

just as the swallows fly into our rooms when we open the windows,

正如我们打开窗子的时候，燕子会飞进来一样。

but the fish swam right up to the little princesses, ate out of their hands, and allowed themselves to be patted.

不过鱼儿一直游向这些小小的公主，在她们的手里找东西吃，让她们来抚摸自己。

Outside the palace was a large garden, with fiery red and deep blue trees,

宫殿外面有一个很大的花园，里边生长着许多火红和深蓝色的树木;

the fruit of which shone like gold, while the flowers glowed like fire on their ceaselessly waving stalks.

树上的果子亮得像黄金，花朵开得像燃烧着的火，花枝和叶子在不停地摇动。

The ground was of the finest sand, but it was of a blue phosphorescent tint.

地上全是最细的砂子，但是蓝得像硫磺发出的光焰。

Everything was bathed in a wondrous blue light down there;

在那儿，处处都闪耀着一种奇异的、蓝色光彩。

you might more readily have supposed yourself to be high up in the air, with only the sky above and below you, than that you were at the bottom of the ocean.

你很容易就会以为你正悬在空中而不是在海底，你的头上和脚下全是一片蓝天。

In a dead calm you could just catch a glimpse of the sun like a purple flower with a stream of light radiating from its calyx.

当海水沉静的时候，你可以隐约看见太阳;它像一朵紫色的花，花萼中折射出形形色色的光。

Each little princess had her own little plot of garden, where she could dig and plant just as she liked.

在花园里，每一位小公主有自己的一小块地方，他们可以在自己的地方随意栽种。

One made her flower-bed in the shape of a whale; another thought it nice to have hers like a little mermaid;

有的小公主把自己的花坛布置得像一条鲸鱼;有的觉得最好把自己的花坛布置得像一个小人鱼。

but the youngest made hers quite round like the sun, and she would only have flowers of a rosy hue like its beams.

可是最年幼的那位公主却把自己的花坛布置得圆圆的，像一轮太阳;同时她也只种像太阳一样红的花朵。

She was a curious child, quiet and thoughtful,

她是一个古怪的孩子，不大爱讲话，总是静静地在想着什么事情。

and while the other sisters decked out their gardens with all kinds of extraordinary objects which they got from wrecks,

当别的姐妹们用她们从沉船里得到的最奇异的东西来装饰她们的花园的时候，

she would have nothing besides the rosy flowers like the sun up above, except a statue of a beautiful boy.

她除了栽种太阳一样火红的的花朵以外，只想要个雕刻着一位俊美的男子的大理石像。