第3章 小美人鱼 The Little Mermaid 续 (第2/27页)

？”

“why have not we an immortal soul?”

小美人鱼悲伤地问道；

asked the little mermaid mournfully;

“我愿意欣然放弃我能活的数百年时光，只为做一天的人类，并且有希望了解星空之上那个荣耀世界的幸福。”

“I would give gladly all the hundreds of years that I have to live, to be a human being only for one day, and to have the hope of knowing the happiness of that glorious world above the stars.”

“你可不能那样想，” 老妇人说；

“You must not think of that,” said the old woman;

“我们觉得自己比人类幸福得多，也富裕得多。”

“we feel ourselves to be much happier and much better off than human beings.”

“那么我将会死去，” 小美人鱼说，“并且我将作为海的泡沫四处飘荡，再也听不到海浪的音乐，看不到美丽的花朵，也看不到红日了。有没有什么办法能让我获得一个不朽的灵魂呢？”

“So I shall die,” said the little mermaid, “and as the foam of the sea I shall be driven about never again to hear the music of the waves, or to see the pretty flowers nor the red sun. Is there anything I can do to win an immortal soul?”

“没有，” 老妇人说，“除非一个男人如此爱你，以至于你对他来说比他的父亲或母亲还重要；

“No,” said the old woman, “unless a man were to love you so much that you were more to him than his father or mother;

并且如果他所有的思想和全部的爱都集中在你身上，牧师将他的右手放在你的手里，而且他承诺今生来世都对你忠诚，那么他的灵魂就会溜进你的身体，你就会获得一份人类未来的幸福。

and if all his thoughts and all his love were fixed upon you, and the priest placed his right hand in yours, and he promised to be true to you here and hereafter, then his soul would glide into your body and you would obtain a share in the future happiness of mankind.

他会给你一个灵魂，同时自己也保留灵魂；

he would give a soul to you