Then a little black animal came up; it was a dog, but she had never seen one before;

但是一个小小的黑色动物走了过来——这是一条小狗，她从来没有见过的小狗。

it barked so furiously at her that she was frightened and made for the open sea.

它向小公主狂吠，吓得小公主赶紧逃回了海里。

She could never forget the beautiful woods,

可是她永远忘记不了那壮丽的森林，

the green hills and the lovely children who could swim in the water although they had no fishes' tails.

那绿色的山，那些能够在水里游泳的可爱的小宝宝——虽然他们没有像鱼那样的尾巴。

The fourth sister was not so brave; she stayed in the remotest part of the ocean, and, according to her account, that was the most beautiful spot.

第四个姐姐可不是那么大胆了。她停留在荒凉的大海上面。她说，最美丽的事儿就是停在海上：

You could see for miles and miles around you, and the sky above was like a great glass dome.

因为你可以从这儿向四周眺望，海上的天空像一个巨大的玻璃悬钟。

She had seen ships, but only far away, so that they looked like sea-gulls.

远远看去，船只看起来像一只只海鸥。

There were grotesque dolphins turning somersaults,

她看到过快乐的海豚翻着筋斗，

and gigantic whales squirting water through their nostrils like hundreds of fountains on every side.

庞大的鲸鱼从鼻孔里喷出水来，好像有无数的喷泉在围绕着它们一样。

Now the fifth sister's turn came. Her birthday fell in the winter, so that she saw sights that the others had not seen on their first trips.

现在临到那第五个姐姐了。她的生日恰恰是在冬天，所以她能看到其他的姐姐们在第一次浮出海面时所没有看到过的东西。

The sea looked quite green, and large icebergs were floating about,

海染上了一片绿色;巨大的冰山在四周移动。

each one of which looked like a pearl, she said, but was much bigger than the church towers built by men.

她说每一座冰山看起来像一颗珍珠，然而比人类所建造的教堂塔要大得多。

They took the most wonderful shapes, and sparkled like diamonds.

它们以种种奇奇怪怪的形状出现，它们像钻石似的折射出奇光异彩。

She had seated herself on one of the largest,

那时她坐在一座最大的冰山上，让海风吹着她细长的头发，