''Then I shall have to die and to float as foam on the water, and never hear the music of the waves or see the beautiful flowers or the red sun!

“那么我就只有死去，变成在水上飘浮的泡沫了了。我将再也听不见浪涛的奏鸣，看不见美丽的花朵和鲜红的太阳了吗？

Is there nothing I can do to gain an immortal soul?''

难道我没有办法得到一个永恒的灵魂吗？”

''No,'' said the grandmother; ''only if a human being so loved you that you were more to him than father or mother,

“没有！”老祖母说。“只有当一个人爱你，把你当做比他父母还要亲爱的人的时候;

if all his thoughts and all his love were so centred in you that he would let the priest join your hands and would vow to be faithful to you here, and to all eternity;

只有当他把他全部的思想和爱情都放在你身上的时候;只有当他让牧师把他的右手放在你的手里、答应现在和将来永远对你忠诚的时候，

then your body would become infused with his soul.

他的灵魂才会转移到你的身上去，

Thus, and only thus, could you gain a share in the felicity of mankind.

而你就会得到一份人类的快乐。

He would give you a soul while yet keeping his own.

他就会分给你一个灵魂，同时他自己的灵魂又能保持不灭。

But that can never happen!

但是这类的事情是从来不会有的！

That which is your greatest beauty in the sea, your fish's tail, is thought hideous up on earth,

我们在这儿海底所认为美丽的东西——你的那条鱼尾——他们在陆地上却认为非常难看，

so little do they understand about it; to be pretty there you must have two clumsy supports which they call legs!''

他们不知道什么叫做美丑。在他们那儿，一个人想要显得漂亮，必须生有两根呆笨的支柱——他们把这叫做腿！”