Maximum-assistance view: every word above everyday vocabulary is explained at every appearance; each name is introduced at its first appearance in the chapter.

CHAPTER I.

Down the Rabbit-Hole (Down the hole where a rabbit lives)

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank (sitting beside her sister on the sloping ground by a river), and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book (once or twice she had taken a quick look into the book) her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it (there were no pictures in it and nobody in it talked), “and what is the use of a book,” thought Alice “without pictures or conversations?”

So she was considering in her own mind (So she was turning it over in her head) (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid (the heat of the day made her sleepy and slow in the head)), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up (whether the fun of threading daisies into a chain was worth the trouble of standing up) and picking the daisies (the trouble of standing up and picking the daisies, small white field flowers), when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her (when all at once a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran past her, close by).

There was nothing so very remarkable in that (There was nothing so very unusual about that); nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way (nor did Alice think it so very far outside the ordinary) to hear the Rabbit say to itself, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!” (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this (the thought came to her that she should have found this strange), but at the time it all seemed quite natural (but at that moment it all seemed ordinary enough)); but when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket (took a watch out of the small pocket in its waistcoat, the sleeveless coat worn under a jacket), and looked at it, and then hurried on (and then went quickly on), Alice started to her feet (Alice jumped up onto her feet with a start), for it flashed across her mind (the thought shot through her head) that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity (on fire with the wish to know), she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge (was just in time to see it slip quickly down a large rabbit hole under the row of bushes).

In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again (without once stopping to think how on earth she would get out again).

The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down (then dropped away all at once), so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well (before she found she was falling down a very deep water shaft).

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next (to look around her and to ask herself what would happen next). First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to (she tried to look down and work out what she was falling toward), but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves (they were covered with storage boxes with doors, and shelves for books); here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs (she saw maps and pictures hanging on wooden pins in the wall). She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it was labelled “ORANGE MARMALADE” (it had a paper on it saying ORANGE MARMALADE, a sweet orange spread), but to her great disappointment it was empty (to her great letting-down, there was nothing in it): she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody underneath (she did not want to let the pot fall in case it killed someone below), so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it.

“Well!” thought Alice to herself, “after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs (after a fall like this one, rolling down a staircase will seem like nothing to me)! How brave they’ll all think me at home (How brave they will all think me when I am home)! Why, I wouldn’t say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house (even if I dropped from the roof of the house)!” (Which was very likely true.)

Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end? (Was the falling never going to stop?) “I wonder how many miles I’ve fallen by this time?” she said aloud. “I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth (I must be coming close to the middle of the earth). Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think—” (for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom (Alice had been taught a number of facts like this in her lessons at school), and though this was not a very good opportunity for showing off her knowledge (this was not a very good chance to make a display of what she knew), as there was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over (all the same, saying it again was useful training)) “—yes, that’s about the right distance—but then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I’ve got to? (but I do wonder which line of Latitude or Longitude I have reached, the lines mapmakers draw across the earth)” (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say (thought they were fine important-sounding words to speak).)

Presently she began again (Before long she started again). “I wonder if I shall fall right through the earth! (I wonder whether I shall fall all the way through the earth!) How funny it’ll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downward (the people who walk about upside down)! The Antipathies, I think (The Antipathies, I think, her mistake for Antipodes, people on the far side of the world)—” (she was rather glad there was no one listening, this time, as it didn’t sound at all the right word (because it did not sound like the right word at all)) “—but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. Please, Ma’am, is this New Zealand or Australia? (Please, madam, is this New Zealand or Australia, the two countries on the far side of the world from England?)” (and she tried to curtsey as she spoke (and she tried to bend her knees in the polite greeting girls made, as she spoke)—fancy curtseying as you’re falling through the air! (just imagine making that polite bend of the knees while dropping through the air!) Do you think you could manage it?) “And what an ignorant little girl she’ll think me for asking (what an unknowing little girl she will think me for asking)! No, it’ll never do to ask (No, asking will not do at all): perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.”

Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again (With nothing else left to do, Alice soon started talking again). “Dinah’ll miss me very much to-night, I should think!” (Dinah was the cat.) (“Dinah will feel my absence badly tonight, I should think!” Dinah was her cat.) “I hope they’ll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time (I hope they will not forget her small dish of milk at afternoon tea). Dinah my dear! I wish you were down here with me! (Dinah, my dear cat! How I wish you were down here with me!) There are no mice in the air, I’m afraid (There are no mice up in the air, I am sorry to say), but you might catch a bat, and that’s very like a mouse, you know (that is much the same as a mouse, you know). But do cats eat bats, I wonder? (But do cats eat bats, I ask myself?)” And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy sort of way (kept saying to herself in a half-asleep way), “Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?” and sometimes, “Do bats eat cats?” for, you see, as she couldn’t answer either question, it didn’t much matter which way she put it (it made little difference which way round she said it). She felt that she was dozing off (She felt herself drifting into sleep), and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah (had only just started dreaming that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah, her cat), and saying to her very earnestly (saying to her in a very serious way), “Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat? (have you ever in your life eaten a bat?)” when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves (when all at once, thump! thump! she landed on a pile of sticks and dry leaves), and the fall was over (and the falling had come to an end).

Alice was not a bit hurt (Alice was not harmed in the smallest way), and she jumped up on to her feet in a moment: she looked up, but it was all dark overhead; before her was another long passage, and the White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it. There was not a moment to be lost (Not one moment could be wasted): away went Alice like the wind (off Alice went as fast as the wind), and was just in time to hear it say, as it turned a corner, “Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it’s getting!” (“Oh my ears and face hairs, the hour is getting so late!”) She was close behind it when she turned the corner, but the Rabbit was no longer to be seen: she found herself in a long, low hall (she found she was in a long room with a low ceiling), which was lit up by a row of lamps hanging from the roof (which was given light by a line of lamps hanging from above).

There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked (Doors stood all around the room, and every one of them was fastened shut); and when Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other (when Alice had gone the whole length of one side and back up the other), trying every door, she walked sadly down the middle (testing every door, she walked unhappily down the centre), wondering how she was ever to get out again (asking herself how she would ever get out of there).

Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, all made of solid glass (a small table on three legs, made throughout of thick glass); there was nothing on it except a tiny golden key, and Alice’s first thought was that it might belong to one of the doors of the hall; but, alas! either the locks were too large, or the key was too small (but sad to say, either the locks were too big or the key was too small), but at any rate it would not open any of them (in any case it opened none of them). However, on the second time round, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before (she found a low hanging cloth she had not seen before), and behind it was a little door about fifteen inches high (a small door about fifteen inches high, roughly the length of your forearm): she tried the little golden key in the lock, and to her great delight it fitted (to her great joy it went in and turned)!

Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not much larger than a rat-hole (hardly bigger than a hole a rat would use): she knelt down and looked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw (she went down on her knees and looked along the narrow way into the most beautiful garden you have ever seen). How she longed to get out of that dark hall (How badly she wanted to get out of that dark room), and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains (walk about among those patches of bright flowers and those cool water springs), but she could not even get her head through the doorway; “and even if my head would go through,” thought poor Alice, “it would be of very little use without my shoulders (it would do me little good with my shoulders left behind). Oh, how I wish I could shut up like a telescope! (Oh, how I wish I could fold down small, the way a viewing tube slides into itself!) I think I could, if I only knew how to begin.” For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately (so many things outside the ordinary had happened of late), that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible (hardly anything at all was truly beyond happening).

There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door (Waiting by the small door seemed to serve no purpose), so she went back to the table, half hoping she might find another key on it (half in hope of finding another key on it), or at any rate a book of rules for shutting people up like telescopes (or at least a book of instructions for folding people down small like viewing tubes): this time she found a little bottle on it (this time there was a small bottle on it), (“which certainly was not here before,” said Alice (“that was most certainly not here before,” said Alice),) and round the neck of the bottle was a paper label (around the narrow top of the bottle was a paper tag), with the words “DRINK ME,” beautifully printed on it in large letters (with the words DRINK ME finely printed on it in big letters).

It was all very well to say “Drink me,” (Saying “Drink me” was easy enough) but the wise little Alice was not going to do that in a hurry (clever little Alice was not going to do that in any rush). “No, I’ll look first,” she said, “and see whether it’s marked ‘poison’ or not (and see whether it is marked poison, meaning it can kill, or not)”; for she had read several nice little histories about children who had got burnt (she had read a number of pleasant little stories about children who had been burned), and eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant things (eaten by wild animals and other things nobody would like), all because they would not remember the simple rules their friends had taught them (all because they insisted on forgetting the plain rules their friends had taught them): such as, that a red-hot poker will burn you if you hold it too long (an iron fire-rod heated until it glows will burn you if you hold it too long); and that if you cut your finger very deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked “poison,” it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later (it will almost surely do you harm, at one time or another).

However, this bottle was not marked “poison,” so Alice ventured to taste it (so Alice took the risk of tasting it), and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast (a mixed taste of cherry pie, sweet egg cream, pineapple, roast turkey, hard boiled sugar, and hot buttered toast),) she very soon finished it off (she drank the whole of it very quickly).

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“What a curious feeling!” said Alice; “I must be shutting up like a telescope (I must be folding down small, the way a viewing tube slides into itself).”

And so it was indeed: she was now only ten inches high (And so it truly was: her height was now only ten inches, about the length of a hand and a half), and her face brightened up at the thought (her face lit up at the thought) that she was now the right size for going through the little door into that lovely garden (she was now just the size needed to pass through the small door into that beautiful garden). First, however, she waited for a few minutes (Before that, though, she waited a few minutes) to see if she was going to shrink any further (she waited a few minutes to see whether she would get any smaller): she felt a little nervous about this (this made her a little uneasy); “for it might end, you know,” said Alice to herself, “in my going out altogether, like a candle. I wonder what I should be like then? (I do wonder what I would be like in that case)” And she tried to fancy what the flame of a candle is like after the candle is blown out (she tried to picture what a candle's flame is like once the candle has been blown out), for she could not remember ever having seen such a thing (because she could not remember ever seeing such a thing).

After a while, finding that nothing more happened (After some time, seeing that nothing further took place), she decided on going into the garden at once (she made up her mind to go into the garden straight away); but, alas for poor Alice! (but sad to say for poor Alice!) when she got to the door, she found she had forgotten the little golden key (when she reached the door she found that the little gold key had been left behind), and when she went back to the table for it, she found she could not possibly reach it (she found there was no way at all for her to reach it): she could see it quite plainly through the glass (she could see it clearly through the glass), and she tried her best to climb up one of the legs of the table (she did her utmost to climb one of the table's legs), but it was too slippery (the surface was too smooth to hold on to); and when she had tired herself out with trying (when she had worn herself out with trying), the poor little thing sat down and cried (the poor little creature sat down and wept).

“Come, there’s no use in crying like that!” said Alice to herself, rather sharply; “I advise you to leave off this minute! (My advice to you is to stop it this very minute!)” She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it (though she hardly ever did what it said)), and sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into her eyes (at times she told herself off so harshly that it brought tears to her eyes); and once she remembered trying to box her own ears (once she remembered trying to smack her own ears) for having cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself (for playing unfairly against herself at croquet, a lawn game of hitting balls through hoops), for this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people (this odd child was very fond of acting as though she were two people). “But it’s no use now,” thought poor Alice, “to pretend to be two people! Why, there’s hardly enough of me left to make one respectable person (there is barely enough of me left to make one proper person)!”

Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table (Before long her eye came to rest on a small glass box lying under the table): she opened it, and found in it a very small cake (she opened it and inside was a very small cake), on which the words “EAT ME” were beautifully marked in currants (the words EAT ME were finely written in small dried grapes). “Well, I’ll eat it,” said Alice, “and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key (if it makes me bigger, the key will be within my reach); and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door (if it makes me smaller, I can crawl under the door); so either way I’ll get into the garden, and I don’t care which happens (so one way or the other I get into the garden, and which of them it is does not matter to me)!”

She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself (said to herself in worry), “Which way? Which way?”, holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was growing (keeping her hand on the top of her head to feel which way she was changing), and she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same size: to be sure, this generally happens when one eats cake (of course, this is what usually happens when a person eats cake), but Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things (Alice had grown so used to looking for nothing but things outside the ordinary) to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way (it seemed flat and foolish for life to carry on in the usual way).

So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake (So she got down to it, and very soon the cake was all gone).

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