《愛麗絲夢游仙境》不僅編織了一個奇妙荒誕，充滿想象力的地下世界，還制造了很多英語流行語，down the rabbit hole（進入未知的天地），mad as a hatter（瘋瘋癲癲）以及jabberwocky（胡說八道）等常用語的流行都和這個童話有關(guān)。

1. DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
進入未知的天地

Down the rabbit hole is a metaphor for adventure into the unknown. This phrase “started appearing almost immediately after the book was first published” in 1865, says Carolyn Vega, curator of the Morgan Library’s exhibit "Alice: 150 Years of Wonderland".
Down the rabbit hole（掉進兔子洞）指一場未知的冒險。摩根圖書館《愛麗絲：150年的仙境》展覽的策展人卡洛琳?韋加表示，在1865年《愛麗絲夢游仙境》出版之后，down the rabbit hole這種說法幾乎立刻出現(xiàn)了。

Down the Rabbit Hole實際上是書中第一章節(jié)的標題。主人公愛麗絲因為追趕一只揣著懷表、會說話的白兔，掉進了一個兔子洞，由此墜入了神奇的地下世界。

2. MAD AS A HATTER
瘋瘋癲癲

Mad as a hatter is to suggest that a person is suffering from insanity. The phrase had been in use since 1835 to describe an unusual medical condition affecting hat manufacturers.
Mad as a hatter指一個人出現(xiàn)精神錯亂。從1835年起，這個短語就用來形容一種帽子制作者身上患有的病癥。

In 18th and 19th century England mercury was used in the production of felt, which was used in the manufacturing of hats common of the time.
在18世紀和19世紀時期，英國人通常會使用含有汞的毛氈布料制作帽子。

一些帽子手工匠因長期接觸含汞織物而發(fā)生汞中毒，口齒不清、戰(zhàn)栗、步履蹣跚、甚至失去意識，而人們就用mad as a hatter來形容出現(xiàn)這類癥狀的人。

這種說法流傳至今離不開卡羅爾這個營銷天才。Hatter是《愛麗絲夢游仙境》中的一個角色，擅長制帽與剪裁。由于他性格怪誕、瘋癲，也被書迷稱為Mad Hatter，“瘋帽子”。

“He was the first children’s book author to license his characters for use on other products, so the characters had individual lives,” says Vega, “The characters become familiar to a group of people wider than the readership of the book.”
韋加稱，“卡羅爾是第一個將自己的角色授權(quán)給其他商品使用的兒童文學作家。這些角色因此有了各自的人生。除了原著讀者之外，他們能被更多人所熟知?！?/p>

3. CHESHIRE CAT GRIN
咧嘴壞笑

Much as with our buddy the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat has been ingrained in the membrane. The adjectival phrase is, once again, associated with a specific character. So whenever someone describes a person as grinning like a Cheshire cat, we can picture that huge, mischievous—and slightly unsettling—smile.
和“瘋帽子”一樣，“柴郡貓”（Cheshire Cat）的形象也已深入人心。Cheshire Cat grin的含義也和書中角色有關(guān)。所以，每當有人用Cheshire Cat grin來形容一個人的笑容時，我們可以想象一張戲謔而略顯陰森的巨大笑臉。

4. OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!
砍掉他們的頭！

“紅心王后”性格跋扈殘暴，統(tǒng)治殘暴，成天叫嚷著“砍掉他們的腦袋”（Off with their heads!）。

Sure, Shakespeare scribbled it first—but Carroll’s Queen of Hearts certainly popularized the imperative.
雖然這句臺詞出自莎士比亞，但卡羅爾筆下的“紅心王后”確實讓它流行起來了。

現(xiàn)在，人們經(jīng)常用這句話開玩笑，表示想要除掉那些有問題的人。

5. TWEEDLEDEE AND TWEEDLEDUM
半斤八兩

From the 1871 sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, this one’s particularly useful for playground battles, presidential campaigns, and Halloween.
自從1871年《愛麗絲夢游仙境》的續(xù)集《愛麗絲鏡中奇遇記》出版后，Tweedledee和 Tweedledum就經(jīng)常用來形容操場斗毆、總統(tǒng)大選以及萬圣節(jié)。

Tweedle-Dee和Tweedle-Dum實際上是《愛麗絲鏡中奇遇記》中的一對雙胞胎。

6. JABBERWOCKY
胡說八道

Prior to its 1871 print debut, jabberwocky was a nonsense word that served as the nonsense title of a nonsense poem in Through the Looking-Glass. Now, it’s a real entry in the real dictionary that really means “meaningless speech.”
在1871年《愛麗絲鏡中奇遇記》面世之前，jabberwocky就是故事中一首毫無意義的詩歌的毫無意義的標題中的一個毫無意義的單詞?，F(xiàn)在jabberwocky已經(jīng)被收錄進字典，用來表示“毫無意義的廢話”。

英文來源：mentalfloss.com
翻譯&編輯：董靜
審校：yaning