Аудиокнига на английском языке, сказка Льюиса Кэрролла «Приключения Алисы в Стране чудес». Глава вторая - The Lake of Tears.
В холле было жарко, и Алиса взяла розовый веер и начала им обмахиваться. От огорчения и одиночества она заплакала. И наплакала целое озеро, в котором сама там чуть не утонула. Обмахиваясь веером, она становилась все меньше и меньше. Оказалось, что она бултыхается в слёзном озере не одна, рядом плавали разные животные...
Интерактивный транскрипт с переводом.
It was so hot in the hall that Alice picked up the pink fan and began fanning herself.
"Oh, dear," she said to herself. "I'm all alone again. How will I find my way home?"
And she started to cry once more. But, as she fanned herself, she became smaller and smaller. And, as she cried, the lake of tears got bigger and bigger. Soon the lake around Alice was so deep that she had to stop crying and start swimming.
After a few minutes, she heard splashes. She wasn't alone in the lake.
Everywhere she looked she saw more and more animals. They were swimming, too. Alice wanted to get out of the water. She swam to the edge of the lake, and the animals followed her.
The crowd of wet animals stood on the bank and looked at Alice. She looked back at them.
All the animals and Alice were wet and uncomfortable. They began to talk to each other.
"How are we going to get dry?" asked Alice. "I know the best way to get dry," said the Dodo. The Dodo was a very large bird.
"What's that?" asked Alice.
"A race," replied the Dodo.
"What sort of race?" asked Alice.
"Please explain it to us."
"The best way to explain the race is to do it," said the Dodo. "You must all stand in a circle."
Alice and all the animals stood in a circle.
"Now," said the Dodo, "you must all run about."
They all ran about for half an hour, until the Dodo suddenly called, "Stop! The race is over."
"Who has won?" shouted all the animals.
The Dodo thought for a few minutes, then he said, "Everyone has won. Everyone must have a prize, and she must give the prizes."
He pointed at Alice. Alice didn't know what to do. But when she put her hand in her pocket, she found some biscuits. She gave one biscuit to each animal. She had just the right number of biscuits.
"That's good," she thought.
"But she must have a prize herself," said the mouse.
Alice felt in her pocket again. All she had was a thimble.
" This is your prize," said the Dodo.
Alice fell rather silly and wanted to laugh, but she didn't dare. None of the animals were laughing.
Then all the animals sat down and ate their biscuits. Then their mothers arrived to take them home. It was time to go to bed. Alice said goodbye to the animals, and suddenly she was all alone again.
Alice felt very sad without all the animals. She was beginning to cry again, when she heard footsteps. Alice looked up and saw the white rabbit. He was hurrying along as usual and he was looking for something. Suddenly he saw Alice and shouted at her angrily, "Why, Mary Ann, what are you doing here? Run home at once and bring me my gloves!"
It was a mistake, of course. Alice wasn't Mary Ann at all! But the white rabbit looked so angry, and Alice was afraid. She ran off at once.
She came to a woods, and there among the trees was a little house.
"This must be the white rabbit's house," thought Alice.
She was going to go into the house, but just then someone came out of the woods and ran up to the front door. She watched him from behind a tree. At first she thought he was a man. He was wearing a hat, and a blue and gold jacket. He looked like a man, except for his face.
When she looked at his face, she saw that he wasn't a man at all. He was a fish!
When a frog in a pink and gold jacket opened the door, Alice wasn't surprised at all. She was becoming used to funny things. The frog stood on the doorstep and took a large white envelope from the fish.
"It is from the Queen," said the fish. "The Queen invites the Duchess to tea this afternoon."
The fish ran back into the woods, but the frog just sat down on the doorstep. Alice felt braver now and she walked up to the house. There was an awful noise inside. Alice was curious. She wanted to go inside the Duchess' house and see what was happening.
"May I go in, please?" Alice asked the frog.
"I shall sit here for days and days," replied the frog.
"That's not an answer to my question," said Alice.
She pushed the door open and went in.
"What an awful noise!" said Alice.
She put her hands over her ears. An ugly, fat lady sat in the middle of the room. She was holding a baby which was crying very loudly. Another woman was standing by the fire. No one was taking any notice of the noise.
"That woman with the baby must be the Duchess!" thought Alice. "And the other person must be a cook."
The cook was watching a pot which was full of soup. Alice sneezed. The air was full of smoke and pepper.
A very large cat sat beside the fire. He had a big smile on his face, which was very strange indeed. Cats don't usually smile.