Then the little mermaid sighed and looked sadly at her fish's tail.

然后，小美人鱼叹了口气，悲痛地看着她的鱼尾巴。

''Let us be happy,'' said the grandmother;

祖母说：“开心点。”

''we will hop and skip during our three hundred years of life; it is surely a long enough time;

“我们可以活足足三百年；

and after it is over we shall rest all the better in our graves. There is to be a court ball to-night.''

那之后，我们将在坟墓中安息。今晚我们要举办一场舞会。

This was a much more splendid affair than we ever see on earth.

这舞会比我们在地球上看到的更加辉煌。

The walls and the ceiling of the great ballroom were of thick but transparent glass.

宴会厅的墙壁和天花板用厚而透明的玻璃制成。

Several hundreds of colossal mussel shells, rose red and grass green, were ranged in order round the sides holding blue lights,

上百个巨大的玫瑰红和草绿色的贻贝壳将排列在四周，蓝色的灯光，

which illuminated the whole room and shone through the walls, so that the sea outside was quite lit up.

照亮了整个房间和墙壁，甚至海面也被照亮了。

You could see countless fish, great and small, swimming towards the glass walls, some with shining scales of crimson hue, while others were golden and silvery.

无数形态各异的鱼游弋于玻璃墙之间，有的鱼有深红色的鳞片，还有鳞片是金色和银色的鱼类。

In the middle of the room was a broad stream of running water, and on this the mermaids and mermen danced to their own beautiful singing.

大厅中间有流淌不尽的水流，美人鱼和人鱼在那上面伴着自己优美的歌声翩翩起舞。