Really, the largest green leaf in this country is a dock-leaf; if one holds it before one, it is like a whole apron, and if one holds it over one's head in rainy weather, it is almost as good as an umbrella, for it is so immensely large. The burdock never grows alone, but where there grows one there always grow several: it is a great delight, and all this delightfulness is snails' food. The great white snails which persons of quality in former times made fricassees of, ate, and said, “Hem, hem! how delicious!” for they thought it tasted so delicate--lived on dock-leaves, and therefore burdock seeds were sown.
事实上，这个国家最大的绿叶是坞叶。如果有一个 把它放在一个人面前，它就像一个完整的围裙，如果一个人把它放在上面 下雨天，头几乎和雨伞一样好用。 它是如此巨大。牛蒡从来不单独生长，但有的地方 长出一个，总会长出好几个：这是一种极大的快乐，而这一切 快乐是蜗牛的食物。大白蜗牛 以前的品质让我们把它做成炖肉，吃着，然后说：“哼， 哼！多好吃呀！因为他们认为它的味道如此微妙——活了下来 坞叶，因此播种了牛蒡种子。
Now, there was an old manor-house, where they no longer ate snails, they were quite extinct; but the burdocks were not extinct, they grew and grew all over the walks and all the beds; they could not get the mastery over them--it was a whole forest of burdocks. Here and there stood an apple and a plum-tree, or else one never would have thought that it was a garden; all was burdocks, and there lived the two last venerable old snails.
现在，有一座古老的庄园，他们不再吃蜗牛，他们 已经完全灭绝了；但牛蒡并没有灭绝，它们还在生长 长满了步道和所有的床上；他们无法掌握 他们的头顶上是一片牛蒡森林。到处都站着一个 苹果和一棵李子树，否则人们永远不会想到这是 一个花园；都是牛蒡，那里住着最后两位可敬的老人。 蜗牛。
They themselves knew not how old they were, but they could remember very well that there had been many more; that they were of a family from foreign lands, and that for them and theirs the whole forest was planted. They had never been outside it, but they knew that there was still something more in the world, which was called the manor-house, and that there they were boiled, and then they became black, and were then placed on a silver dish; but what happened further they knew not; or, in fact, what it was to be boiled, and to lie on a silver dish, they could not possibly imagine; but it was said to be delightful, and particularly genteel. Neither the chafers, the toads, nor the earth-worms, whom they asked about it could give them any information--none of them had been boiled or laid on a silver dish.
他们自己不知道自己多大了，但他们记得 很好，还有更多；他们是一家人 来自异国他乡，对于他们和他们的人来说，整个森林都是 种植的。他们从未出过门，但他们知道那里有 世界上还有更多的东西，那就是庄园， 它们在那里被煮沸，然后变黑，然后 放在银盘上；但接下来发生的事情他们就不知道了。或者，在 事实上，他们可以把煮沸的东西放在银盘上 不可能想象；但据说这是令人愉快的，特别是 文雅。无论是金龟子、蟾蜍还是蚯蚓，它们都 询问此事可以给他们任何信息——他们都没有被 煮或放在银盘上。
The old white snails were the first persons of distinction in the world, that they knew; the forest was planted for their sake, and the manor-house was there that they might be boiled and laid on a silver dish.
老白蜗牛是世界上最早的杰出人物。 世界，他们知道；森林是为了他们而种植的， 那里有一座庄园，可以将它们煮沸并放在银上 菜。
Now they lived a very lonely and happy life; and as they had no children themselves, they had adopted a little common snail, which they brought up as their own; but the little one would not grow, for he was of a common family; but the old ones, especially Dame Mother Snail, thought they could observe how he increased in size, and she begged father, if he could not see it, that he would at least feel the little snail's shell; and then he felt it, and found the good dame was right.
现在他们过着非常孤独又幸福的生活；由于他们没有孩子 他们自己收养了一只普通的小蜗牛，并带来了它 当作自己的；但这个小家伙不会长大，因为他是一个 普通家庭；但老人们，尤其是蜗牛妈妈，认为 他们可以观察到他的体型如何增大，她恳求父亲， 如果他看不到，他至少会感觉到小蜗牛的 外壳；然后他感觉到了，发现这位好女士是对的。
One day there was a heavy storm of rain.
有一天，下了一场大雨。
“Hear how it beats like a drum on the dock-leaves!” said Father Snail.
“听听它如何像码头树叶上的鼓一样敲击！”蜗牛爸爸说。
“There are also rain-drops!” said Mother Snail. “And now the rain pours right down the stalk! You will see that it will be wet here! I am very happy to think that we have our good house, and the little one has his also! There is more done for us than for all other creatures, sure enough; but can you not see that we are folks of quality in the world? We are provided with a house from our birth, and the burdock forest is planted for our sakes! I should like to know how far it extends, and what there is outside!”
“还有雨滴！”蜗牛妈妈说。 “现在倾盆大雨 就在茎下面！你会发现这里湿透了！我很 想到我们有了好房子，小家伙也有了 他也！当然，我们为我们所做的事情比为所有其他生物所做的还要多 足够了；但你难道看不出我们是世界上有素质的人吗？ 我们从一出生就有了房子，牛蒡林就是我们的家。 为了我们而种植！我想知道它延伸多远，以及 外面有什么！”
“There is nothing at all,” said Father Snail. “No place can be better than ours, and I have nothing to wish for!”
“什么也没有。”蜗牛爸爸说。 “没有比这更好的地方了 比我们的还好，我也没什么好求的了！”
“Yes,” said the dame. “I would willingly go to the manorhouse, be boiled, and laid on a silver dish; all our forefathers have been treated so; there is something extraordinary in it, you may be sure!”
“是的，”女士说。 “我愿意去庄园， 煮沸，放在银盘上；我们所有的祖先都得到了治疗 所以；这里面有一些非凡的东西，你可以肯定！”
“The manor-house has most likely fallen to ruin!” said Father Snail. “Or the burdocks have grown up over it, so that they cannot come out. There need not, however, be any haste about that; but you are always in such a tremendous hurry, and the little one is beginning to be the same. Has he not been creeping up that stalk these three days? It gives me a headache when I look up to him!”
“庄园估计已经沦陷了！”蜗牛爸爸说。 “或者 牛蒡已经长到上面了，长不出来了。那里 不过，不必操之过急；但你却总是处于这样的状态 速度太快了，小家伙也开始变得跟以前一样了。他有吗 这三天没爬过那根茎吗？这让我很头疼 当我仰望他的时候！”
“You must not scold him,” said Mother Snail. “He creeps so carefully; he will afford us much pleasure--and we have nothing but him to live for! But have you not thought of it? Where shall we get a wife for him? Do you not think that there are some of our species at a great distance in the interior of the burdock forest?”
“你不许骂他。”蜗牛妈妈说。 “他爬得如此小心；他 会给我们带来很多快乐——而我们除了他之外别无他物！ 但你没有想过吗？我们该去哪里给他娶个老婆呢？做 你不认为我们的一些物种在很远的地方 牛蒡林内部？”
“Black snails, I dare say, there are enough of,” said the old one. “Black snails without a house--but they are so common, and so conceited. But we might give the ants a commission to look out for us; they run to and fro as if they had something to do, and they certainly know of a wife for our little snail!”
“黑蜗牛，我敢说，已经够多了。”老人说道。 “没有房子的黑蜗牛——但它们是如此常见，又如此自负。 但我们可以委托蚂蚁来照顾我们；他们跑 来来回回，好像有什么事情要做，而且他们当然知道 给我们的小蜗牛当老婆吧！”
“I know one, sure enough--the most charming one!” said one of the ants. “But I am afraid we shall hardly succeed, for she is a queen!”
“我认识一个，果然是最迷人的一个！”一只蚂蚁说道。 “但恐怕我们很难成功，因为她是女王！”
“That is nothing!” said the old folks. “Has she a house?”
“那没什么！”老人们说。 “她有房子吗？”
“She has a palace!” said the ant. “The finest ant's palace, with seven hundred passages!”
“她有一座宫殿！”蚂蚁说。 “最好的蚂蚁宫殿，有七只 一百段！”
“I thank you!” said Mother Snail. “Our son shall not go into an ant-hill; if you know nothing better than that, we shall give the commission to the white gnats. They fly far and wide, in rain and sunshine; they know the whole forest here, both within and without.”
“我谢谢你！”蜗牛妈妈说。 “我们的儿子不会进入 蚁丘；如果您对此一无所知，我们将给予 委托给白蚊。它们飞得很远很远，风雨无阻 阳光；他们了解这里的整个森林，包括里面和外面。”
“We have a wife for him,” said the gnats. “At a hundred human paces from here there sits a little snail in her house, on a gooseberry bush; she is quite lonely, and old enough to be married. It is only a hundred human paces!”
“我们给他找了个妻子。”蚊子们说。 “距离人类一百步 她家里的醋栗丛里坐着一只小蜗牛。她 很孤独，而且已经到了结婚的年纪了。只有一百 人类的步伐！”
“Well, then, let her come to him!” said the old ones. “He has a whole forest of burdocks, she has only a bush!”
“既然如此，那就让她来找他吧！”老人们说道。 “他有一整套 牛蒡林，她只有灌木丛！”
And so they went and fetched little Miss Snail. It was a whole week before she arrived; but therein was just the very best of it, for one could thus see that she was of the same species.
于是他们去接了小蜗牛小姐。那是整整一个星期 在她到达之前；但这就是其中最好的一点 由此可见，她是同一物种。
And then the marriage was celebrated. Six earth-worms shone as well as they could. In other respects the whole went off very quietly, for the old folks could not bear noise and merriment; but old Dame Snail made a brilliant speech. Father Snail could not speak, he was too much affected; and so they gave them as a dowry and inheritance, the whole forest of burdocks, and said--what they had always said--that it was the best in the world; and if they lived honestly and decently, and increased and multiplied, they and their children would once in the course of time come to the manor-house, be boiled black, and laid on silver dishes. After this speech was made, the old ones crept into their shells, and never more came out. They slept; the young couple governed in the forest, and had a numerous progeny, but they were never boiled, and never came on the silver dishes; so from this they concluded that the manor-house had fallen to ruins, and that all the men in the world were extinct; and as no one contradicted them, so, of course it was so. And the rain beat on the dock-leaves to make drum-music for their sake, and the sun shone in order to give the burdock forest a color for their sakes; and they were very happy, and the whole family was happy; for they, indeed were so.
然后举行了婚礼。六只蚯蚓也闪闪发光 他们可以。在其他方面，整个过程非常安静，因为 老人们无法忍受喧闹和欢乐；但老蜗牛夫人做了 精彩的演讲。蜗牛爸爸说不出话来，他太过分了 受影响；于是他们把全部财产都给了他们作为嫁妆和遗产 牛蒡森林，并说——他们总是这么说——那是 世界上最好的；如果他们诚实正派地生活，并且 增加和成倍增加，他们和他们的孩子一旦进入 久而久之，来到庄园，被煮黑，躺在上面 银餐具。演讲结束后，老人们纷纷钻进自己的房间里。 贝壳，再也没有出来过。他们睡了；年轻夫妇统治 在森林里，有许多后代，但它们从未被煮熟， 从来没有出现在银盘上；因此他们得出的结论是 庄园已成为废墟，世界上所有的人 已经灭绝了；由于没有人反驳他们，所以，事情当然就是这样。 雨水敲击着坞叶，为它们奏响鼓乐， 阳光照耀着牛蒡林，为它们赋予了色彩 清酒；他们很幸福，全家人都很幸福；为了 他们，确实如此。