第3章 小美人鱼 The Little Mermaid 续 (第1/27页)

于是她向老祖母请教，老祖母对上面的世界了如指掌，她非常正确地称之为海面上的陆地。

then she applied to her old grandmother, who knew all about the upper world, which she very rightly called the lands above the sea.

“如果人类不被淹死，” 小美人鱼问道，“他们能永远活着吗？他们是否像我们在海里一样永远不死呢？”

“If human beings are not drowned,” asked the little mermaid, “can they live forever? do they never die as we do here in the sea?”

“是的，” 老妇人回答说，“他们也必须死，而且他们的寿命甚至比我们的还短。”

“Yes,” replied the old lady, “they must also die, and their term of life is even shorter than ours.

我们有时能活到三百岁，但当我们在这里不复存在时，我们只会变成水面上的泡沫，而且我们在海底甚至连一个埋葬我们所爱的人的坟墓都没有。

we sometimes live to three hundred years, but when we cease to exist here we only bee the foam on the surface of the water, and we have not even a grave down here of those we love.

我们没有不朽的灵魂，我们永远不会再活过来；

we have not immortal souls, we shall never live again;

但是，就像绿色的海藻一样，一旦被割掉，就再也不能茁壮成长。

but, like the green sea - weed, when once it has been cut off, we can never flourish more.

相反，人类有一个永远活着的灵魂，在肉体化为尘土之后仍然活着。

human beings, on the contrary, have a soul which lives forever, lives after the body has been turned to dust.

它穿过清澈纯净、繁星闪烁之上的空气飞升。

It rises up through the clear, pure air beyond the glittering stars.

就像我们浮出水面，看到地球上所有的陆地一样，他们也会飞升向我们永远无法看到的未知而荣耀的地方。

As we rise out of the water, and behold all the land of the earth, so do they rise to unknown and glorious regions which we shall never see.”

“为什么我们没有不朽的灵魂呢