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The three travellers were taken ashore and marched up into the City. Crowds of Earthmen, no two alike, rubbed shoulders with them in the crowded streets, and the sad light fell on many sad and grotesque faces. But no one showed any interest in the strangers.
三位探险者被带上岸，一行人开始向城里进发。他们和成群的地精擦肩而过，这些家伙长得都不一样。他们在拥挤的街道上走着，悲伤的灯光照在他们悲伤且怪异的脸上。没人对这三个陌生人感兴趣。
Every gnome seemed to be as busy as it was sad, though Jill never found what they were so busy about. But the endless moving, shoving, hurrying, and the soft pad-pad-pad went on.
每个地精都很忙，就像每个都很悲伤一样，虽然吉尔怎么都猜不透他们忙的是什么。周围的人都在不停地走，不停地挤，匆匆忙忙，慌慌张张，轻轻地来，轻轻地去。
At last they came to what appeared to be a great castle, though few of the windows in it were lighted.
最后，一行人来到一栋看似城堡的建筑物前，虽然窗户不少，但没有一扇透出灯光。
Here they were taken in and made to cross a courtyard, and to climb many staircases. This brought them in the end to a great murkily lit room.
他们被带进大门，横跨院子，又爬上好几层楼梯，最后来到一个巨大的房间，里面的灯光依然昏暗。
But in one corner of it—oh joy!—there was an archway filled with a quite different sort of light; the honest, yellowish, warm light of such a lamp as humans use.
但房间一角的拱门里却发出一种完全不同的光，明亮的，黄色的，温暖的——人类用灯照射出的光。
What showed by this light inside the archway was the foot of a staircase which wound upward between walls of stone. The light seemed to come from the top.
透过灯光他们发现，拱门内的两座石墙之间还有一道蜿蜒的楼梯，光就是从楼梯上照下来的。
Two Earthmen stood one on each side of the arch like sentries, or footmen. The Warden went up to these two, and said, as if it were a password: "Many sink down to the Underworld."
楼梯两旁站着两名洞穴人，像哨兵似的。总督走上前去，和两名哨兵说了句通关口令一类的话：“很多人都掉入了地下世界。”
"And few return to the sunlit lands," they answered, as if it were the countersign. Then all three put their heads together and talked.
“但没有几个能出去。”哨兵回答，像是在对暗号。然后，三个人凑到一块开始交谈。
At last one of the two gnomes-in-waiting said, "I tell you the Queen's grace is gone from hence on her great affair. We had best keep these top dwellers in strait prison till her homecoming. Few return to the sunlit lands."
最终，一名哨兵说：“我告诉你，女王陛下现在因为一件重要的事外出不在。我们最好把这些上面世界来的人关进海峡监狱，等女王回来再做处置。反正没有人能逃得出去。”
At that moment the conversation was interrupted by what seemed to Jill the most delightful noise in the world.
这时，他们的谈话被一个声音打断，这简直是吉尔听到过的最动听的声音。它来自楼上。
It came from above, from the top of the staircase; and it was a clear, ringing, perfectly human voice, the voice of a young man.
这千真万确是人类的声音，是一位年轻男子的声音，既清晰又响亮悦耳。
"What coil are you keeping down there, Mullugutherum?" it shouted. "Overworlders, ha! Bring them up to me, and that presently."
“你们在下面瞎吵吵什么呢，穆鲁古瑟伦？”那个声音喊道，“来自上面世界的，哈！把他们带来，就现在。”
"Please it your Highness to remember," began Mullugutherum, but the voice cut him short.
“殿下，要知道……”穆鲁古瑟伦刚开始说就被那个声音打断了。
"It pleases my Highness principally to be obeyed, old mutterer. Bring them up," it called.
“殿下的话要遵从，老唠叨鬼。把他们带上来。”那个声音命令道。
Mullugutherum shook his head, motioned to the travellers to follow and began going up the staircase. At every step the light increased. There were rich tapestries hanging on the walls.
穆鲁古瑟伦摇摇头，他朝三个探险者摆摆手示意他们跟他上楼。每踏上一个阶梯，灯光就更亮一些。墙上挂着很多挂毯。
The lamplight shone golden through thin curtains at the staircase-head. The Earthmen parted the curtains and stood aside. The three passed in.
灯光在楼梯口的帘子上洒下金色光影。洞穴人撩开帘子站到了一边。他们走了进去。
They were in a beautiful room, richly tapestried, with a bright fire on a clean hearth, and red wine and cut glass sparkling on the table. A young man with fair hair rose to greet them.
这个房间很漂亮，挂毯随处可见，干净的壁炉里生着火，火光明亮，红酒盛在桌上的雕花玻璃杯中。一个满头金发的男子站起来迎接他们。
He was handsome and looked both bold and kind, though there was something about his face that didn't seem quite right. He was dressed in black and altogether looked a little bit like Hamlet.
他非常英俊，看起来既勇敢又和善，但他的神情看起来有点不对劲。他穿着一身黑，看上去有点像哈姆莱特。
"Welcome, Overworlders," he cried. "But stay a moment! I cry you mercy! I have seen you two fair children, and this, your strange governor, before. Was it not you three that met me by the bridge on the borders of Ettinsmoor when I rode there by my Lady's side?"
“欢迎光临，来自上面世界的客人。”他大声说道，“等一下！请原谅！我以前见过这两个孩子，还有这位奇怪的导游。你们是不是在艾斯汀荒地边境的那座桥上见过我，当时我正在和女王陛下骑马出行？”
"Oh ... you were the black knight who never spoke?" exclaimed Jill. "And was that lady the Queen of Underland?" asked Puddleglum, in no very friendly voice.
“哦……你就是那个沉默的黑骑士？”吉尔喊道。“她就是地下王国的女王？”帕德格莱姆问，语调很不友好。
And Scrubb, who was thinking the same, burst out, "Because if it was, I think she was jolly mean to send us off to a castle of giants who intended to eat us. What harm had we ever done her, I should like to know?"
斯库波也想起来了，他脱口而出：“没错，我想她是故意让我们去哈尔方城堡给巨人当下酒菜的吧。我们究竟哪里惹着她了？”
"How?" said the Black Knight with a frown. "If you were not so young a warrior, Boy, you and I must have fought to the death on this quarrel. I can hear no words against my Lady's honour.
“什么？”黑骑士皱眉说道，“如果不是念在你年龄太小，还当不了勇士，男孩，我非和你打个你死我活不可。在我面前，绝对不能有人污蔑女王大人的威严。
But of this you may be assured, that whatever she said to you, she said of a good intent. You do not know her.
至于你刚才所说的，我敢打保票，无论女王陛下和你们说了什么，她都是为你们好。你们不了解她。
