小說中的幻想世界里，有精靈、矮人、巨龍，有會說話的動物、會跳舞的星星以及自成體系的規(guī)則。它與現(xiàn)實世界不同，因為那里可以奇妙得不可思議、夸張得超乎想象、離奇得如夢似幻；它與現(xiàn)實世界其實也相同，因為那里傾注了作者與書中人物的真情實感。

Throughout the history of English literature， hundreds of writers have created fantastic worlds for their plots and characters to play out in. This is sometimes done for reasons of satire1) (under oppressive governments) or just for outright pleasure. This is a selection of the four best fictional lands in English literature.

縱觀英語文學(xué)史，數(shù)百位作家創(chuàng)造了諸多奇幻世界，以供他們的故事情節(jié)在其中鋪開，供他們作品中的各個角色在其間表演。這有時是出于諷刺(當(dāng)作者生活于苛政時代)，有時則純屬娛樂。本文選取了英語文學(xué)史上最著名的四大奇幻世界。

Narnia 納尼亞

Narnia is a fantasy world created by C. S. Lewis as the primary location for his series of seven fantasy novels for children， The Chronicles of Narnia2). The series track the story of Narnia when humans， usually children， enter the Narnian world from \"our world\". Narnia was created by the great lion， Aslan， and is filled with talking animals and mythical creatures. The landscape of Lewis' native Northern Ireland played a large part in the creation of the Narnian landscape. In his essay On Stories， Lewis wrote \"I have seen landscapes， notably3) in the Mourne Mountains and southwards which under a particular light made me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge4).\" The world of Narnia is a flat world in a geocentric5) universe. Its sky is a dome that mortal creatures cannot penetrate6). Narnia's stars are burning humanoid7) beings. Its constellations8) are the result of a mystical dance upon the sky， performed by the stars to announce the works and comings of Aslan. The stars also arrange themselves to allow seers9) to foretell certain future events.

納尼亞是C. S. 劉易斯筆下的奇幻世界，他的奇幻兒童文學(xué)七部曲《納尼亞傳奇》的故事主要就發(fā)生在這里。該系列小說講述了人類(通常是孩子們)從“我們的世界”進入納尼亞世界后發(fā)生的故事。納尼亞由偉大的獅王阿斯蘭所創(chuàng)造，那里都是會說話的動物和神話中的生物。劉易斯的家鄉(xiāng)在北愛爾蘭，那里的風(fēng)光對他描寫納尼亞的風(fēng)光產(chǎn)生了很大的影響。他在散文《論故事》中曾寫道：“我曾看到那些風(fēng)景，特別是在莫恩山及其以南的地方，在某種特定的光線下，那些風(fēng)景讓我覺得有個巨人隨時都會從下一條山脊后探出頭來?！奔{尼亞所在的宇宙以地球為中心，而納尼亞的世界則是平的，其天空如穹廬般籠罩而下，讓凡界的生物無法進入。那里的星星呈人形，在天空閃閃發(fā)光。群星在天空中跳著一種神秘的舞蹈，形成各種星座，用于宣告阿斯蘭的種種偉業(yè)和一次次降臨。星星還自己變換組合，使看到它們的人可以預(yù)見某些未來事件。

Gulliver's World 格列佛的世界

Lilliput and Blefuscu are two fictional island nations that appear in the 1726 novel Gulliver's Travels10) by Jonathan Swift. Both are portrayed11) as being in the South Indian Ocean and are inhabited by tiny people who are \"not six inches high\". A channel separates the two eight hundred yards wide. In the novel， Gulliver washes up on the shore of Lilliput and is \"captured\" by the inhabitants while asleep. He discovers that Lilliput and Blefuscu are permanently at war because of differences over the correct way to eat a boiled egg—from the rounded end according to the Blefuscudians， or from the sharp end according to the Lilliputians. Additionally， Gulliver's Travels also includes the land of Brobdingnag; the people of Brobdingnag are described as giants who are as tall as a church steeple12) and whose stride13) is ten yards. All of the other animals and plants， and even natural features such as rivers and even hail14)， are in proportion.

《格列佛游記》是喬納森·斯威夫特寫于1726年的小說，利立浦特和布雷夫斯古是該小說中兩個虛構(gòu)的島國。據(jù)小說的描繪，這兩個島國都位于南印度洋，其居民都是“身高不足6英寸”的小人兒。一條約800碼(譯注：約728米)寬的海峽橫在這兩個小國之間。在小說中，格列佛被海水沖上利立浦特國的岸邊，在昏迷中被當(dāng)?shù)鼐用瘛安东@”。格列佛發(fā)現(xiàn)利立浦特和布雷夫斯古長期交戰(zhàn)，因為他們在吃煮雞蛋的正確方法上觀點不同——布雷夫斯古人認為應(yīng)該從圓的那頭開始吃，而利立浦特人認為應(yīng)該從尖的那頭開始。另外，《格列佛游記》中還有巨人國。據(jù)小說描述，巨人國的人像巨人一樣，有教堂尖頂那么高，邁一步就有10碼(譯注：約9.1米)。巨人國的動植物乃至自然地貌(如河流)甚至是冰雹也相應(yīng)得都很大。

The Land of Oz 奧茲國

Oz is， in the first book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz15)， distinguished from Dorothy's native Kansas by not being civilized; this explains why Kansas does not have witches and wizards， while Oz does. In the third book， Ozma of Oz， Oz is described as a \"fairy country\". It is roughly rectangular in shape， and divided along the diagonals16) into four countries: Munchkin Country in the East， Winkie Country in the West (sometimes West and East are reversed on maps of Oz)， Gillikin Country in the North， and Quadling Country in the South. In the center of Oz， where the diagonals cross， is the fabled17) Emerald City， capital of the land of Oz and seat to the monarch18) of Oz， Princess Ozma. Oz is completely surrounded on all four sides by a desert， which insulates19) the citizens of Oz from discovery and invasion.

在《綠野仙蹤》系列的第一部里，奧茲國因文明尚未開化而相異于多蘿西的家鄉(xiāng)堪薩斯州。這就是為什么堪薩斯州沒有巫婆和巫師而奧茲國卻有的原因。在該系列的第三部書——《奧茲國的奧茲瑪》中，奧茲國被描繪成一個“童話世界”，其形狀大致呈長方形，沿兩條對角線被分成四個國家：東邊是蠻支金國，西邊是聞綺斯國(有時在奧茲國的地圖上是東西顛倒的)，北邊是吉利金國，南邊是奎德林國。在奧茲國的中心，也就是對角線的交點處，坐落著傳說中的奧茲國首都翡翠城，這里是奧茲國的君主奧茲瑪公主的王宮所在地。奧茲國被一片沙漠包圍，這使其居民與外界隔絕，不會被外界發(fā)現(xiàn)，也不受外界侵略。

Alice's Worlds 愛麗絲的世界

Wonderland (from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland20)) is a strange and seemingly crazy world that is entered by dropping into a rabbit hole. Animals act as normal people. Physical size as well as time is relative. In the story， Wonderland is a dream world. However， thematically， Wonderland is in fact our own world， only seen through the eyes of a child. The Looking-Glass World (from Through the Looking-Glass， and What Alice Found There21)) resembles22) Wonderland. Strange creatures also inhabit it and weird things keep happening. This world can be entered by passing through the mirror above the chimney in Alice's house. Therefore， everything in the Looking-Glass World is reversed; books are in mirror-writing， and when you want to go to a certain place， you have to walk in the opposite direction. The land is laid out like a huge chessboard， with little brooks to mark the edges of the squares. The rules of chess apply when the inhabitants try to move from one square to another. In the end， the Looking-Glass World turns out to be a dream world as well， and can also be seen as a metaphor for adult world.

奇境(出自《愛麗絲奇境歷險記》)是一個古怪而看似瘋狂的世界，掉進兔子洞就會進入這個世界。那里的動物和正常人的舉止一模一樣，東西的大小和時間都是相對而言的。在故事中，奇境是夢中的世界。然而，就主題而言，奇境其實是我們的現(xiàn)實世界，只不過是從孩子的角度來看罷了。鏡中世界(出自《愛麗絲鏡中奇遇記》)與奇境相似，那里也居住著奇怪的生物，發(fā)生著怪異的事情。從愛麗絲家的房子煙囪上方的鏡子中可以進入這個世界。因此，鏡中世界的事物都是顛倒的：書是按鏡像寫的；人們想要去一個地方，必須朝反方向走。那里的土地被條條小溪縱橫分割成一格一格，整體布局就像一個巨大的棋盤，人們要從一格移動到另一格時，必須遵循國際象棋的規(guī)則。據(jù)小說最后揭曉，鏡中世界也是個夢中的世界，同時也可以被視為成人世界的隱喻。

1.satire [?s?ta??(r)] n. 諷刺，譏諷

2.The Chronicles of Narnia:《納尼亞傳奇》，英國作家C. S. 劉易斯所著的一套奇幻兒童文學(xué)作品，共七冊，最先出版于1950～1956年，是英美兒童文學(xué)經(jīng)典著作之一。

3.notably [?n??t?bli] adv. 值得注意地，顯著地

4.ridge [r?d?] n. 山脊；山脈

5.geocentric [?d?i????sentr?k] adj. 以地球為中心的

6.penetrate [?pen?tre?t] vt. 滲入；進入

7.humanoid [?hju?m?n??d] adj. 具人的形狀(或特性)的；類人的

8.constellation [?k?nst??le??n] n. 星座；星座區(qū)域

9.seer [s??(r)] n. 觀看者

10.Gulliver's Travels:《格列佛游記》，是由愛爾蘭作家喬納森·斯威夫特于1726年所著的一本諷刺寓言小說，講述了主人公格列佛在船只失事后在海中幾個島上的奇遇。

11.portray [p???tre?] vt. 描繪，描寫，描述

12.steeple [?sti?pl] n. (教堂等的)尖塔

13.stride [stra?d] n. 步幅

14.hail [he?l] n. 雹，冰雹

15.The Wonderful Wizard of Oz:《綠野仙蹤》，是由美國作家L. 弗蘭克·鮑姆在1900～1920年期間所著的一套奇幻冒險童話故事，共14冊，有“美國的《西游記》”之稱。

16.diagonal [da???ɡ?nl] n. 對角線

17.fabled [?fe?bld] adj. 寓言(或傳說、神話)中的

18.monarch [?m?n?k] n. 君主；國王；女王

19.insulate [??nsjule?t] vt. 隔離，使隔絕(以免受到影響)

20.Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:《愛麗絲奇境歷險記》，英國作家劉易斯·卡羅爾于1865年所著的一部經(jīng)典兒童文學(xué)作品，講述了一個名叫愛麗絲的女孩掉進兔子洞后的一番冒險和奇遇。

21.Through the Looking-Glass， and What Alice Found There:《愛麗絲鏡中奇遇記》，劉易斯·卡羅爾于1871年寫的另一部作品，是《愛麗絲奇境歷險記》的姐妹篇。

22.resemble [r??zembl] vt. 像，與……相似