井下世界The land down the well(1)

I love this fairy-tale very much, so I try to translate it into Chinese step by step.

The story of "The land down the well" was created by a great Steemian @tinypaleokitchen, combined with a beautiful style of writting--Japanese Haiku. I wish she doesn't mind that I cite/translate her blog without prior notice.

What's more, this story struck a sympathetic cord in my heart. Because I know well how the kindhearted and helpless people are fooled and tortured to death by the hypocritical "benefactors" as well as the so-called family members.

The Land Down the Well, Part 1
井下世界
( written by @tinypaleokitchen )

One more bundle of flax to spin and she had to get it done tonight. Last week, she’d failed, needing an extra day to complete her task. A shiver ran down her spine at the memory. Mama expected her requests to be fulfilled. Liesl rolled her shoulders to relieve the ache from hours spent in an unnatural position and turned her face to catch the last warmth from the setting sun.

今晚她必须再多纺一捆纱才行。上周的工作需要额外的一天才能完成。想到Mama的要求，她打了个冷颤。这时，Liesl耸了一耸肩来舒缓数小时固定姿势带来的酸痛，又把脸伸向落日余晖，感受最后的温暖。

Sunlight turns red
flooding the ground
at my feet
红红的阳光
投射地面
到我的脚上

Her hands ached as she wrapped more fibers around the distaff. The burning in her fingertips lessened as she dipped her hand in the water bucket at her side. If this wasn’t ready by nightfall, she’d have only candlelight to work by. She pushed the whorl to send it spinning between her knees and twisted the fibre into the thinnest, most even yarn she could, wetting the flax with more well water to keep it smooth.

当她把更多的纱缠绕到纺纱杆上时，手疼得厉害。必须把手伸进身边的水桶里来缓解指尖火辣辣的痛。如果夜幕降临，她还没有如期完成工作，只能借用烛光来照明了。她一边推拉着两腿之间的锭盘绕纱，尽最大努力捻成又细又匀的纱线，一边用更多的井水把纱打湿弄滑顺。

Neither the callouses on her fingers nor the coolness of the water was enough to protect her skin. The pain in her hands intensified as she rushed to finish in the fading sunlight. Her eyelids heavy, she struggled to stay awake, but her hands knew the task well enough to keep spinning.

手指的老茧和井水的冰凉都不足以保护她的皮肤。当她在暗淡的落日余晖下加速完成工作时，手指的疼痛愈加严重了。她的眼皮发沉，努力保持不睡过去，但是她的手依然很好地绕着纱。

The kitchen door slammed shut behind her and Liesl snapped awake. The heavy footsteps of her stepmother set her pulse racing and she quickly wet her fingers again. She spun another length of thread but it turned first pink, then red as she twisted it.

厨房的门在她身后砰地关上了。Liesl一下被惊醒了。继母重重的脚步声令她血脉喷张，她又赶紧沾湿了手指，去纺另一股纱线，但是纱线变成了粉红色，继而变成了红色。

Torn fingertips
red stains
on pale linen
受伤的手指
血红的斑点
在雪白的纱线上

The spindle clattered as it hit the ground. A hand grabbed her shoulder, pinching so hard that tears sprung into Liesl’s eyes. She looked up into her stepmother’s cold, hard face.

纺锤哐啷落在地上。一只手抓住了她的肩膀，狠劲地拧着她，疼得她眼泪簌簌地掉。她抬头看到了继母一张冰冷僵硬的脸。

“Stupid girl! How dare you get blood and dirt all over my good flax?”
"蠢丫头!你胆敢用血弄脏我的上等纺纱上？"

Liesl ran to pick up the fallen spindle, careful not to touch it with her injured hand. “It’s alright, Mama. I can wash it. It will turn out fine.” In her hurry to rinse the blood off the spool of thread, she tripped over the bucket, spilling water over the hem of her stepmother’s dress.

Liesl跑着去捡起地上的纺锤，小心翼翼地不让受伤的手指触碰到它。"它没事，Mama,我能把它洗干净，一切都好好的。"她急急地去冲洗线轴上的血污，被水桶绊了一下，水溅到了继母的裙裾上。

“I…” Liesl swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. “I’m sorry, Mama.” She cringed at her stepmother’s feet.
"我..."Liesl咽了口水，她的嘴唇突然变得干涩起来。"我抱歉，Mama."她在继母跟前瑟缩着。

“It’s bad enough that your worthless father had to die and leave us to fend for ourselves. But that he saddled me with a lazy, incompetent wretch like you…” An ugly red blush crept up the woman's rounded cheeks as she narrowed her eyes at Liesl. “You had better get all of those bloodstains out.”

"你不中用的父亲死了，留下我们自己照料生活，已经糟透了。但是他还加给我一个你这样又懒又笨的小坏蛋..."当她眯起眼睛盯着Liesl时，脸颊涌起一抹令人厌恶的红晕。"你最好把全部血渍清理掉。"

The empty bucket in one hand and the spindle in the other, Liesl walked over to the well and set her spinning tools on the edge.

一手拎着空桶，一手拿着纺锤，Liesl走到井边，把纺纱用具放到井沿上。

Shivering in her thin, soaked dress, Liesl lowered the bucket. Gravel crunched behind her and a pudgy arm in a blue silk sleeve appeared to her right, pushing the spindle and distaff down into the depths of the well.

穿着单薄浸湿的衣服，Liesl哆嗦着把水桶放低到井里。身后碎石路咯咯吱吱响着，蓝色绸缎衣袖里一条粗短胳膊从她身子右侧伸出来，猛得把纺锤和纺纱杆推到了井里。

Spinning down
out of sight
out of reach
旋转下沉
看不见
够不到

Else, her half sister, peeked over the edge of the well, a smirk on her lips. “Oops.” She turned to Liesl and shrugged. “Better get that spindle back, or Mama won’t be happy.”

Else--她的同父异母妹妹瞥着井沿，嘴角露出幸灾乐祸的笑容。"哦，"她转向Liesl,耸着肩膀。"你最好把纺锤取回来，否则Mama不高兴。"

Biting back more tears, Liesl looked down the well. The welts on her back from the last time she angered her stepmother still stung. As she climbed over the edge, she looked back at the house. Maybe she’d be able to retrieve her tools before Mama noticed.
强忍着新涌出的泪水，Liesl朝井下观望。上次惹怒继母后背上被鞭打的伤痕仍旧刺痛。她爬上井沿，回看了一下身后的房子。也许在Mama知道这些前，她能取回她的纺纱器具。

Struggling for any sort of leverage with her feet, she lowered herself down as far as she could. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and let go, bracing herself for the impact with the water at the bottom of the well.
挣扎着站稳脚跟，她极力俯下身躯。闭上眼睛，深呼吸一口，放开，做好井底水带来的冲击力准备。

The shock of the cold was more than she’d expected and she gasped as it constricted her chest. Coughing up as much water as she could, she desperately kicked her legs to keep from getting tangled in her skirt and petticoats but the weight of her wet clothing dragged her down below the surface. She came up one more time, spluttering, fighting for air and trying to scream. Her nails scraped at the side of the well as, layers of cloth trapped her legs and pulled her under.
井水的冰冷所带来的震颤远超出了她的想象，她喘息着，胸口收紧。使劲咳出被呛着的水，她绝望地踢着腿，不使衣服和衬裙粘连在一起。但是她的湿衣服把她拽到水下。她又一次起立，晃着身躯，挣扎着呼吸，试图尖叫。她的手指甲刮住了井壁，层层叠叠的衣物缚住了她的腿，整个人掉到了水下。

Water closes
above my head
a cruel glass ceiling
井水四合
在她的头顶
一个残酷的玻璃天花板