<愛麗絲漫遊奇境>(Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)這本世界名著，是個在大學教書的數學宅寫給黑色短髮小蘿莉的...(算是什麼呢?想不出適合的名詞)透露出大量想要展現的才學與幽默，看來是盼望討得這個他關愛無比的小女孩的歡心與崇拜。
不過他畢竟是個宅宅，許多埋在故事情節裏頭的梗太深，應該不是一個年僅10歲的小女孩看得懂的，長大後的小女孩愛上的是王子，而這個宅宅在她生命中的分量顯然並不大，著書當時主要目的並沒有達成。
雖然當時主要的目的沒有達成，那些埋在故事情節裏頭的梗，卻成了各方人馬研究的素材，甚至成立許多研究學會，儼然成為一門學問，並影響許多創作，電影駭客任務就是一例。
一般而言，對於母語以外的外文著作，讀者想一窺堂奧，有兩個方法：
一、讀者們精進自己的語言能力，閱讀原文。
二、透過翻譯將原文翻譯成讀者使用的母語。
大部分的情況，都是透過第二種方法讓世界上使用其他語言的讀者認識，也因此，文學類別中，有個"翻譯文學"的類別。
一般而言，無論多麼複雜的情節、多麼抽象的概念，訓練有素的翻譯家都能適切的完成任務。
<愛麗絲漫遊奇境>的原文是以英文寫成，書中大量利用英文的語言特性，玩起雙關語、謎語、遊戲詩、數學、哲學的文字遊戲，而且這些文字遊戲，比起故事情節，在這部作品中擔當更重要，甚至可以說是絕大部分的角色，所以即便是國際上最通用的語言，要如何讓以另一個語言閱讀的讀者，也能體會到原文中的巧思與幽默，從而得到樂趣，構成了翻譯上難以克服的堅壁。
所以閱讀這部作品最好的方式，是找本有英文對照的譯本，在看到翻譯部分有奇怪的地方，便可以立即參照英文的句子。
在眾多版本中，選擇了張華先生的這本<挖開兔子洞>，首先是因為這本書有中英對照外，更重要在於，書裏頭附上大量的註解，除了解釋原文的巧妙之處外，也提出其所選擇的中譯方式的原因，處處展現出譯者對於<愛麗絲漫遊奇境>的愛。
還有令人佩服的一點是，張華先生並非以翻譯為業，其本業為工程師，此書是在工作之餘點滴累積而成的作品。
因此，即便大量的註解稍稍影響閱讀的連續性，且該等註解著重之處在於文字、邏輯遊戲以及愛麗絲身高的變化，加上個人的一些考據，完整度跟深度可能還比不上一些外國研究，卻仍是本誠意滿滿的書。
也因此才能了解故事裏頭下面這些梗，以及翻譯的難處：
Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not get
dry very soon.
"Ahem" said the Mouse with an important air. "Are you all ready? This is the
driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please."
枯燥與乾燥，都是dry，這段還好，畢竟中文環境中，拿冷笑話消暑的這個梗已經不新了。
"What I was going to say," said the Dodo in an offend tone,"was, that the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race."
caucus翻成"預備會議"或"黨團會議"哪個才適當，其實都還好，不過這顯然是大人才看得懂的梗。
倒是要怎麼翻譯才能跟後面那一段一群動物跟人繞圈圈跑步的運動連結，要傷腦筋。
"Mine is a long and a sad tale!"said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing.
"It is a long tail, certainly,"said Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse,s tail;...
...
"You are not attending!"said the Mouse to Alice,severely. "What are you thinking of?"
"I beg your pardon,"said Alice very humbly:"you had got to the fifth bend, I think?"
"I had not!"cried the Mouse, sharply and very angrily.
"A knot!"said Alice, always ready to make herself useful,and looking anxiously about her"Oh, do let me help to undo it!"
故事跟尾巴在英文裡頭的諧音
尾巴跟尾巴詩在書裡彎曲的形狀
詩的彎曲形狀跟對話裏頭的彎(bend)
我還沒到(I had not)跟打結(A knot)的諧音，再跟前面提到很長尾巴的複合雙關
把這一段的趣味性翻出來的難度，恐怕更勝過怎麼用另一種語言讓那首尾巴詩在翻譯過後，意思不變卻仍然有押韻。
Next came an angry voice-the Rabbit's-"Pat! Pat! Where are you?" And then a voice she had never heard before,"Sure then I'm here! Digging for apples, yer honour!"
要不是有考據過，怎知道這裡的apple其實指的是馬鈴薯(Irish Apple)?
"Who's to go down the chimney?"-Nay, I sha,n,t! You do it!-That I wo'n't, then!-Bill's got to go down-Here, Bill! The master says you've got to go down the chinmey!"
要不是註解裡面提示"Let Bill do it"是一句成語，意指"誰都不想做的事，就找個倒楣鬼來做"，怎麼會知道作者在這邊開了個玩笑，蜥蜴是因為名字取不好，才被派去爬煙囪。
"Did you say 'pig', or 'fig'?'said the Cat.
句子雖短，但是要怎麼翻譯，才能讓原文裏頭只差一個子音的兩個字，在中文裡頭也有一樣效果呢?得大膽的把fig換成另一個東西了吧!
"Why is a raven like a writing-desk?"
帽匠的這個謎語，日後卡洛爾有公布答案，非常卡洛爾風格的答案：
答案是：Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it nevar put with the wrong end in the front!
句子裡的錯字nevar，倒過來看(put end in the front)便是烏鴉raven。
Alice sighed wearily. "I think you might do something better with the time,"she said,"then wasting it in asking riddles that have no answers."
"If you knew Time as well as I do,"said the Hatter,"you wouldn't talk about wasting it. It's him."
"I don't know what you mean,"said Alice.
"Of course you don't!"the Hatter said, tossing his head contemptuously."I dare say you never even spoke to Time!"
"Perhaps not,"Alice cautiously replied;"but I know I have to beat time when I learn music."
"Ah! That accounts for it,"said the Hatter. "He wo'n't stand beating. Now, if you only kept on good terms with him, he'd do almost anything you liked with the clock. ..."
...
"Is that the way you manage?"Alice asked.
The Hatter shook his head mournfully. "Not I!"he replied."We quarrelled last March..."
...
"Well, I'd hardly finished the first verse,"said the Hatter, "when the Queen jumped up and bawled out,'He's murdering the time! Off with his head!"
"How dreadfully savage!"exclaimed Alice.
"And ever since that,"the Hatter went on in a mournful tone, "he wo'n't do a thing I ask! It's always six o'clock now."
A bright idea came into Alice's head. "It's that the reason so many tea-things are put out here?"she asked.
"Yes, that's it,"said the Hatter with a sigh:"it's always tea-time,and we've no time to wash the things between whiles."
這一大段有關時間的情節，隱含著對於妥善利用時間的寓意，然後，透過把時間擬人化，用打beat time(打拍子/打時間)跟murdering time(亂了節拍/謀殺時間)玩了一手文字遊戲。
並且首度建立了皇后的暴躁形象，故事裡的女王不知道是暗喻卡洛爾的哪個長官；而按時間死板做事不懂變通的帽匠，又是指現實生活的誰?
"Once upon a time there were three little sisters,"the Dormouse began in a great hurry;"and their names were Elsie, Lacie, and Tille; and they lived at bottom of a well-"
...
"And so these three little sisters-they were learning to
draw, you know-"
"What did they
draw?"said Alice, quite forgetting her promise.
"Treacle,"said the Dormouse, without considering at all, this time.
...
"But they were
in the well,"Alice said to the Dormouse,not choosing to notice this last remark.
"Of course they were,"said the Dormouse:"
well in."
先是Alice三姊妹名字分別被以簡稱、重新排列、小名的方式納入故事，如何把做這這番用意翻出來，應該會讓譯者費了不少心思；"draw"到底該翻成"畫"還是"打"(打水、打糖漿)、"在井中"(in the well)跟"相當深"(well in)這段雙關語，相信也能輕易殺死眾多腦細胞。
遇見紅心皇后後，因為愛麗絲(Alice)是Ace，比國王(K)、皇后(Q)跟傑克(J)大，所以，遇到紅心皇后時，無論在哪個場合，愛麗絲都豪不畏懼。
"It's a mineral, I think,"said Alice.
"Of course it is,"said the Duchess, who seemed ready to agree to everything that Alice said;"there's a large mustard-
mine near here. And the moral of that is-'The more there is of
mine, the less there is of yours.'"
"mine"的"礦"與"我的"兩種意思，也不過是眾多雙關文字遊戲中的又一個。
公爵夫人不知道算是撲克牌裡的哪個花色跟大小，不過看著這裡無論愛麗絲說什麼都同意的情況，肯定比Ace小。
現實生活中那些對比自己階級高的人阿諛奉承，然後硬是擠出一些餿主意的場景，在此被kuso的呈現。
另外，並不是每件事情都有甚麼教訓或寓意，但總有些人為了莫名的理由，一定要講出些什麼，成年人在生活經驗裡應該會遇到，而發出會心的一笑。
再來的文字遊戲，是純粹考驗英文多重子句如何理解的句子：
"Be what you would seem to be"or, if you'd like it put more simply-"Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise."
"When we were little," the Mock Turtle went on at last, more calmly, though still sobbing a little now and then, "we went to school in the sea. The master was an old Turtle-we used to call him Tortoise-"
"Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn't one?"Alice asked.
"We called him
Tortoise because he
taught us,"said the Mock Turtle angrily."Really you are very dull!"
原來陸龜(turtle)只要教了我們(taught us)就可以變成海龜(tortoise)啊~說著可真是順理成章啊!
"I couldn't have wanted it much,"said Alice;"living in the bottom of the sea."
"I couldn't afford to learn it,"said the Mock Turtle with a sigh ."I only took the regular course."
"What was that?"inquired Alice.
"
Reeling and
Writhing, of course, to the begin with,"the Mock Turtle replied;"and then the different branches of Arithmetic--
Ambition,
Distraction,
Uglification, and
Derision."
...
Alice did not feel encouraged to ask any more question about it:so she turned to the Mock Turtle, and said"What else had you to learn?"
"Well, there was
Mystery," the Mock Turtle replied, counting off the subjects on his flappers,-"Mystery, ancient and modern, with
Seaography: then
Drawling-the Drawling-master was an old conger-eel, that used to come once a week: He taught us Drawling,
Stretching, and
Fainting in Coils."
...
"I never went to him."the Mock Turtle said with a sigh. "He taught
Laughing and
Grief, they used to say."
...
"And how many hours a day did you do
lessons?" said Alice, in a hurry to change the subject.
"Ten hours the first day,"said the Mock Turtle:"nine the next, and so on."
"What a curious plan!" exclaimed Alice.
"
That's the reason they're called lessons,"the Gryphon remarked:"
because they lessen from day to day."
假海龜上的這一段亂七八糟的課程，玩的總算不是雙關語的遊戲，而是諧音字。
讀書、寫字 變成 旋轉、扭動
加、減、乘、除 變成 野心、分心、醜法、嘲笑
歷史、地理 變成 秘史、海理
素描、油畫 變成 伸展、蜷曲昏倒
拉丁文、希臘文 變成 大笑、悲慟
換一個語言，同樣也要玩諧音字遊戲的話，有比較容易翻譯嗎?看來也沒有。
這一段最後面的一個謎語，鷹頭獅就比帽匠上道，跟愛麗絲說了答案。
接著，就像上癮似的，鷹頭獅在跳龍蝦方塊舞之餘，繼續提出當冷的冷笑話：
"Thank you," said Alice, "it's very interesting. I never knew so much about a
whiting before."
"I can tell you more than that, if you like," said the Gryphon. "Do you know why it's called a
whiting?"
"I never thought about it," said Alice."Why?"
"It does the boots and shoes," the Gryphon replied very solemnly.
Alice was thoroughly puzzled."Does the boots and shoes!" she repeated in a wondering tone.
"Why, what are your shoes done with?" said the Gryphon. "I mean, what makes them shiny?"
Alice looked down at them, and considered a little before she gave her answer. "They are done with
blacking, I believe."
"Boots and shoes under the sea," the Gryphon went on in a deep voice,"are done with a
whiting. Now you know."
"And what are they made of?"Alice asked in a tone of great curiosity.
"
Soles and
eels, of course," the Gryphon replied, rather impatiently:"any shrimp could have told you that."
就像有些人會用諧音詞來撩妹一樣，卡洛爾似乎也想用這招，但是選的題材顯然不太好，拿擦鞋(blacking，同時也有塗黑的意思)跟鱈魚(whiting，同時也有刷白的意思)來逗女孩子，一般來說應該得不到還能用比目魚(sole，同時也有鞋底的意思)跟鰻魚(eel，跟鞋跟heel發音一樣)來組成冷笑話二連發的機會。這情節應該只會出現在書裡。
假海龜不惶多讓，在此也參了一腳：
"If I'd been the whiting,"said Alice, whose thought were still running on the song,"I'd have said to the
porpoise 'Keep back, please! We don't want you with us!"
"They were obliged to have him with them," the Mock Turtle said. "
No wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise."
Wouldn't it, really?" said Alice, in a tone of great suprise.
"Of course not," said the Mock Turtle. "Why, if a fish come to me, and told me he was going a journey, I should say '
With what porpoise?' "
如此拙劣的手法，連故事裏頭的愛麗絲都聽不下去，直接破梗：
"Don't you mean '
purpose'?" said Alice.
海豚(porpoise)跟理由(purpose)的諧音笑話，失敗。
卡洛爾顯然沒完，假海龜跟鷹頭獅的戲份結束以後，在法庭上，也讓國王各玩了諧音跟歧義的文字遊戲：
"I'm a poor man, your Majesty,"the Hatter began, in a trembling voice,"-and I hadn't
begun my tea-not above a week or so-and what with the bread-and-butter getting so thin-and the
twinkling of the tea-"
"The
twinkling of the what?"said the King.
"It
began with the tea,"the Hatter replied.
"Of course
twinkling begins with a T!"said the King sharply. "Do you take me for a dunce? Go on!"
先是tea跟T的諧音；
"If that's all you know about it, you may
stand down,"continued the King.
"I ca'n't go no
lower," said the Hatter:"I'm on the floor, as it is."
"Then you may
sit down,"the King replied.
再來是stand down(退下)跟sit down(坐下)的歧義；
"Why, there they are!" said the King triumphantly, pointing to the tarts on the table. "Nothing can be clearer than that. Then again-'before she
had this fit-'you never had
fits, my dear, I think?"he said to the Queen.
"Never!"said the Queen, furiously, throwing an inkstand at the Lizard as she spoke.
...
"Then the word don't
fit you,"said the King, looking round the court with a smile. There was a dead slience.
"It's a pun!" the King added in an angry tone, and everybody laughed, ...
好啦好啦，had this fit的fit是生氣，fit you的fit是適合，
但顯然19世紀到現在都一樣，長官的笑話都太高妙，沒人聽得懂，得要國王自己破梗說是雙關語笑話，大家才勉為其難捧場的笑了。
除此之外，書中也整理出來故事情節裏頭安插的邏輯謬誤情節，包括：
思想三律：排中律、矛盾律跟同一律的謬誤、三段論中的中項不周的謬誤
輕率廣推、濫訴權威、複合問題、相似非難、訴諸憐憫、循環論證的謬誤
至於英文詩如何翻成中文詩，仍能維持原意而不失韻律，譯者也花了不少功夫，但實在沒耐心把英文跟中文各朗讀一次，所以閱讀時這部分大都略過，有點對不住他的心思，至於數學那些的...算了吧!
連成年人都要研究後才能得知有哪些梗，拿來討小女孩歡喜當然不容易成功，
不過這個後來終身未娶的數理宅，的確貢獻了一個傑出的故事。
