Of the inhabitants of Lilliput; their learning, laws, and customs; the manner of educating their children. The author's way of living in that country. His vindication of a great lady. 本章介绍一下小人国居民的情况，他们的学术、法律、风情，怎样教育儿童；作者在该国的生活方式；他为一位贵妇人辩护。
Although I intend to leave the description of this empire to a particular treatise, yet, in the mean time, I am content to gratify the curious reader with some general ideas. As the common size of the natives is somewhat under six inches high, so there is an exact proportion in all other animals, as well as plants and trees: for instance, the tallest horses and oxen are between four and five inches in height, the sheep an inch and half, more or less, their geese about the bigness of a sparrow, and so the several gradations downwards till you come to the smallest, which to my sight, were almost invisible; but nature has adapted the eyes of the Lilliputians to all objects proper for their view: they see with great exactness, but at no great distance. And, to show the sharpness of their sight towards objects that are near, I have been much pleased with observing a cook pulling a lark, which was not so large as a common fly; and a young girl threading an invisible needle with invisible silk. Their tallest trees are about seven feet high: I mean some of those in the great royal park, the tops whereof I could but just reach with my fist clenched. The other vegetables are in the same proportion; but this I leave to the reader's imagination. 尽管我打算写一篇专门的文章来描述这个帝国形形色色的事情，不过现在我倒也乐意先介绍一点大概的情况来满足读者们的好奇心。由于当地人一般身高不超过六英寸，所以其他的动物、植物都有严格的与之相称的比例。例如：最高的马和牛身高是四五英寸；绵羊大约一英寸半；鹅大概就只有麻雀那么大；依次往下推，一直到最小的种类，我几乎很难看见。不过大自然使小人国国民的眼睛已经适应了他们眼前一切的东西，他们能看得非常清楚，只是看不太远。为了显示他们眼睛对近处物体的敏锐程度，我饶有兴致地看到一位厨师在一只不及普通苍蝇大小的百灵鸟身上找寻毛，也曾看到一位年轻姑娘拿着根细得看不见的丝线在穿一枚小得看不见的针。在他们那里，最高的树木大约有七英尺——我指的是皇家公园里的那几棵，我举起握紧的拳头刚好与树顶齐平。其他蔬菜之类同样也可以用这样的比例推算出来，那些就留给读者自己去想象吧。
I shall say but little at present of their learning, which, for many ages, has flourished in all its branches among them; but their manner of writing is very peculiar, being neither from the left to the right, like the Europeans, nor from the right to the left, like the Arabians, nor from up to down, like the Chinese, but aslant, from one corner of the paper to the other, like ladies in England. 关于他们的学术我现在只说一点，他们历经许多代，学术已经发展出了所有的分支学科。不过他们写字的方法很特别，既不像欧洲人那样从左到右，又不像阿拉伯人那样从右到左；既不像中国人那样自上而下，也不像卡斯卡吉人那样自下而上；而是从纸的一角斜着写到另一角，和英国的淑女们一样。
They bury their dead with their heads directly downward, because they hold an opinion, that in eleven thousand moons they are all to rise again; in which period the earth (which they conceive to be flat) will turn upside down, and by this means they shall, at their resurrection, be found ready standing on their feet. The learned among them confess the absurdity of this doctrine; but the practice still continues, in compliance to the vulgar. 他们埋葬死人时是将死人的头直接朝下，因为他们持这么一种观点：一万零一千个月之后死人全都要复活，那时的地球（他们以为是扁平的）会上下翻个个儿；按照这样的埋法，死人到复活的时候，就该是稳稳当当地站在地上了。当然，他们中有见识的人也都承认这种说法荒诞不经，但为了沿袭世俗的习惯，这种做法仍在沿用。
There are some laws and customs in this empire very peculiar; and if they were not so directly contrary to those of my own dear country, I should be tempted to say a little in their justification. It is only to be wished they were as well executed. The first I shall mention relates to informers. All crimes against the state are punished here with the utmost severity; but, if the person accused makes his innocence plainly to appear upon his trial, the accuser is immediately put to an ignominious death; and out of his goods or lands the innocent person is quadruply recompensed for the loss of his time, for the danger he underwent, for the hardship of his imprisonment, and for all the charges he has been at in making his defence; or, if that fund be deficient, it is largely supplied by the crown. The emperor also confers on him some public mark of his favour, and proclamation is made of his innocence through the whole city. 这个帝国有些非常奇特的法律和风俗，要不是它们与我亲爱的祖国的法律和风俗完全相反的话，我真想替他们说几句辩解的话。但愿它们也能被好好实行。首先我要提到的是关于告密者的法律。一切背叛国家的罪行在该国均会受到最严厉的惩罚。但如果被告能在开庭审判时表明自己清白无罪，则原告将被立即处死，落个可耻的下场；同时无辜的被告还可以从原告的财产或土地中获得四项赔偿，这四项赔偿包括损失的时间、经历的危险、监禁的痛苦以及全部的辩护费用。假如原告的财产不够赔偿的费用，则多半由皇家负担。皇帝还要公开对被告有所恩赐，同时颁发通告，向全城宣布被告无罪。
They look upon fraud as a greater crime than theft, and therefore seldom fail to punish it with death; for they allege, that care and vigilance, with a very common understanding, may preserve a man's goods from thieves, but honesty has no defence against superior cunning; and, since it is necessary that there should be a perpetual intercourse of buying and selling, and dealing upon credit, where fraud is permitted and connived at, or has no law to punish it, the honest dealer is always undone, and the knave gets the advantage. I remember, when I was once interceding with the emperor for a criminal who had wronged his master of a great sum of money, which he had received by order and ran away with; and happening to tell his majesty, by way of extenuation, that it was only a breach of trust, the emperor thought it monstrous in me to offer as a defence the greatest aggravation of the crime; and truly I had little to say in return, farther than the common answer, that different nations had different customs; for, I confess, I was heartily ashamed. 他们把欺诈看作比偷窃更为严重的犯罪，因此欺诈的人没有不被处死的。因为他们认为，一个人只要小心谨慎、提高警惕，再加上有点常识，自己的东西就不会被偷，可是诚实抵挡不住高超的诡诈。而且，既然人们需要不断地买卖，信用交易，如果我们允许和纵容欺诈行为，或者没有相应的法律对其进行制裁，那么诚实的生意人就永远吃亏，流氓无赖反倒大发其财。我记得，有一次我曾在国王面前替一个拐骗了主人一大笔钱的罪犯说情，那人奉主人之命去收款，随后竟携款潜逃。我对皇帝说这只是一种背信弃义的行为，希望能减轻对他的量刑。皇帝觉得我很荒谬，竟会将最能加重其罪行的理由提出来替他辩护。说真的，我当时无言以对，只好泛泛地回答说也许是各国有各国不同的习俗吧。因为，我承认那时自己极其惭愧。
Although we usually call reward and punishment the two hinges upon which all government turns, yet I could never observe this maxim to be put in practice by any nation except that of Lilliput. Whoever can there bring sufficient proof, that he has strictly observed the laws of his country for seventy-three moons, has a claim to certain privileges, according to his quality or condition of life, with a proportionable sum of money out of a fund appropriated for that use; he likewise acquires the title of snilpall, or legal, which is added to his name, but does not descend to his posterity. 不论是谁，只要能拿出充分证据，证明自己在七十三个月内一直严格遵守国家法律，就可以请求享受某种特权，按照其地位及生活条件的高下，从专用基金中领取相应的一笔钱，同时还可以获得“斯尼尔普尔”或“守法者”的称号，不过这种称号不能传给后代。
And these people thought it a prodigious defect of policy among us, when I told them that our laws were enforced only by penalties, without any mention of reward. It is upon this account that the image of Justice, in their courts of judicature, is formed with six eyes, two before, as many behind, and on each side one, to signify circumspection; with a bag of gold open in her right hand, and a sword sheathed in her left, to show she is more disposed to reward than to punish. 当我告诉他们，我们的法律只有刑罚没有奖赏，他们认为这是我们政策上的一大缺点。也正是如此，他们法院里的正义女神像塑有六只眼睛，两只在前，两只在后，左右还各有一只，表示正义女神谨慎周全。女神右手拿一袋金子，袋口开着，左手持一柄宝剑，剑插在鞘中，这表示她倾向于奖赏而不是责罚。
In choosing persons for all employments, they have more regard to good morals than to great abilities; for, since government is necessary to mankind, they believe, that the common size of human understanding is fitted to some station or other;and that Providence never intended to make the management of public affairs a mystery to be comprehended only by a few persons of sublime genius, of which there seldom are three born in an age; 在选人任职方面，他们更注重优良的品德而非卓越的才能。因为，他们认为既然政府对于人类是必不可少的，那么人类的一般才能就可以胜任各种职务；上天从来就没有想到要把公共事务的管理弄得非常神秘，好像只有极少数杰出的天才才能了解，而这样的天才一个时代也难得有那么三个。
but they suppose truth, justice, temperance, and the like, to be in every man's power; the practice of which virtues, assisted by experience and a good intention, would qualify any man for the service of his country, except where a course of study is required. 相反，他们认为每个人身上都有诚实、正义、节制等美德。大家实践这些美德，加上经验和善良的意图，就都能为国服务，只不过还需经过一段时间的学习罢了。
But they thought the want of moral virtues was so far from being supplied by superior endowments of the mind, that employments could never be put into such dangerous hands as those of persons so qualified; and, at least, that the mistakes committed by ignorance, in a virtuous disposition, would never be of such fatal consequence to the public weal, as the practices of a man, whose inclinations led him to be corrupt, and who had great abilities to manage, to multiply, and defend his corruptions. 但是他们认为，如果一个人没有德行，那么他的才能再高也是没有用的，任何事务都绝对不能交给那些有才无德的危险分子去办。一个品行端正的人如果由于无知而犯错，至少也不会像那些存心腐败的人那样给社会利益造成致命的后果。那些有才无德的人有能力去处理事情，去加倍地营私舞弊，同时还能掩饰自己的腐败行径。
In like manner, the disbelief of a Divine Providence renders a man incapable of holding any public station; for, since kings avow themselves to be the deputies of Providence, the Lilliputians think nothing can be more absurd than for a prince to employ such men as disown the authority under which he acts. 同样，他们不相信上帝会使一个人没有能力承担任何一项公共职责，因为既然国王们宣称自己是上帝的代表，小人国的人认为国王所任用的人不尊重国王本人的权威，那就再荒唐不过了。
In relating these and the following laws, I would only be understood to mean the original institutions, and not the most scandalous corruptions, into which these people are fallen by the degenerate nature of man. For, as to that infamous practice of acquiring great employments by dancing on the ropes, or badges of favour and distinction by leaping over sticks and creeping under them, the reader is to observe, that they were first introduced by the grandfather of the emperor now reigning, and grew to the present height by the gradual increase of party and faction. 在谈到这些法律以及下面的法律时，读者应该明白我指的只是他们原先的那些制度，而并不是后来骇人听闻的腐败。由于人类堕落的本性而导致这些人已经陷入腐败之中去了。读者要注意，那些凭借在绳子上跳舞而获取高位，或是在御杖上下跳跃或爬行以赢得恩宠和荣誉勋章等无耻做法，最初是由当今皇上的祖父开始的，随着党派纷争的愈演愈烈，这些劣迹逐渐发展到了目前的地步。
Ingratitude is among them a capital crime, as we read it to have been in some other countries, for they reason thus: that whoever makes ill returns to his benefactor, must needs be a common enemy to the rest of mankind, from whom he has received no obligation, and therefore such a man is not fit to live. 以他们的做法来看，忘恩负义该判死罪，我们在书上读到其他一些国家也有这样的法律。他们的理由是这样的：无论是谁，如果以怨报德，就应该是人类的公敌，他没有履行人类的义务，所以这样的人根本不配活在世上。
Their notions relating to the duties of parents and children differ extremely from ours. For, since the conjunction of male and female is founded upon the great law of nature, in order to propagate and continue the species, the Lilliputians will needs have it, that men and women are joined together, like other animals, by the motives of concupiscence; and that their tenderness towards their young proceeds from the like natural principle: for which reason they will never allow that a child is under any obligation to his father for begetting him, or to his mother for bringing him into the world; 他们关于父母亲和子女责任的一些观念也和我们的观念完全不同。男女结合是建立在伟大的自然法则基础上的，为的是传宗接代，小人国的人也该有这样一种结合。他们认为，和别的动物一样，男女结合的动机在于性欲，而对其儿女的怜爱呵护也是出于同样的自然法则。根据这一道理，他们绝对不认为一个孩子因为父母亲把他带到了这个世上而必须对他们尽什么义务。
which, considering the miseries of human life, was neither a benefit in itself, nor intended so by his parents, whose thoughts, in their love encounters, were otherwise employed. Upon these, and the like reasonings, their opinion is, that parents are the last of all others to be trusted with the education of their own children; and therefore they have in every town public nurseries, where all parents, except cottagers and labourers, are obliged to send their infants of both sexes to be reared and educated, when they come to the age of twenty moons, at which time they are supposed to have some rudiments of docility. These schools are of several kinds, suited to different qualities, and both sexes. They have certain professors well skilled in preparing children for such a condition of life as befits the rank of their parents, and their own capacities, as well as inclinations. I shall first say something of the male nurseries, and then of the female. 想想人生的悲惨，生儿育女本身也没有什么好处，做父母的也没有想到要生儿育女，相遇相爱时，心思还用在别的上面呢。根据这些还有其他一些相似的理由，他们认为最不应该让父母亲来教育他们的子女，因此他们每个城镇都有公办幼儿园，儿女们在一到二十个月之内如果具备一定受教条件时，除村民和劳工以外，所有父母有义务将他们送去学校接受培养和教育。学校有好多种，用以适应不同等级与性别。他们有一些善于教导的教师训练孩子们养成一种与其父母亲地位相符，同时又符合自身能力及爱好的生活方式。我先来谈谈男校的情况，然后再谈女校。
The nurseries for males of noble or eminent birth, are provided with grave and learned professors, and their several deputies. The clothes and food of the children are plain and simple. They are bred up in the principles of honour, justice, courage, modesty, clemency, religion, and love of their country; they are always employed in some business, except in the times of eating and sleeping, which are very short, and two hours for diversions consisting of bodily exercises. They are dressed by men till four years of age, and then are obliged to dress themselves, although their quality be ever so great; and the women attendant, who are aged proportionably to ours at fifty, perform only the most menial offices. They are never suffered to converse with servants, but go together in smaller or greater numbers to take their diversions, and always in the presence of a professor, or one of his deputies; whereby they avoid those early bad impressions of folly and vice, to which our children are subject. Their parents are suffered to see them only twice a year; the visit is to last but an hour; they are allowed to kiss the child at meeting and parting; but a professor, who always stands by on those occasions, will not suffer them to whisper, or use any fondling expressions, or bring any presents of toys, sweetmeats, and the like. 接收名门贵族子弟的男学校配有庄重威严而又博才多学的教师，他们手下还有几名助教。孩子们的衣食简单朴素。他们受到荣誉、正义、勇敢、谦虚、仁慈、宗教、爱国等等方面原则性的培养教育，除了十分短暂的吃饭、睡觉时间以及包括身体锻炼在内的两小时娱乐活动之外，他们总有些事情要做。四岁以前，男仆给他们穿衣服；四岁之后则不管身份多么高贵，都必须自己穿衣。女仆们年纪相当于我们的五十岁上下，只做那最粗贱的活儿。孩子们绝不准许同仆人交谈，只许一小伙或一大群地在一块儿玩耍，还总得有一位教师或者助教在旁边，这样他们就不会像我们的孩子那样幼年时染上愚笨和恶行。他们的父母一年中只准看望孩子们两次，每次看望的时间也只有一小时，它们允许见面和分别时吻一下自己的子女，但那种时候总有一位教师在旁边，他们不允许做父母的窃窃私语或对孩子表示爱抚，也不允许他们带进玩具、糖果之类的礼物，这对父母来说都是很痛苦的事。
The pension from each family for the education and entertainment of a child, upon failure of due payment, is levied by the emperor's officers. 每家必须交付子女教育及娱乐的费用，若过期不缴则由朝廷官吏征收。
The nurseries for children of ordinary gentlemen, merchants, traders, and handicrafts, are managed proportionably after the same manner; only those designed for trades are put out apprentices at eleven years old, whereas those of persons of quality continue in their exercises till fifteen, which answers to twenty-one with us: but the confinement is gradually lessened for the last three years. 在接收一般绅士、商人、做小买卖和手艺人子弟的学校里，也按照同样的方法进行管理。不过那些预备要做生意的孩子十一岁就得放出去当学徒，而贵族子弟则继续在校学习到十五岁（相当于我们的二十一岁），只是最后三年的管教才渐渐放松一些。
In the female nurseries, the young girls of quality are educated much like the males, only they are dressed by orderly servants of their own sex; but always in the presence of a professor or deputy, till they come to dress themselves, which is at five years old. And if it be found that these nurses ever presume to entertain the girls with frightful or foolish stories, or the common follies practised by chambermaids among us, they are publicly whipped thrice about the city, imprisoned for a year, and banished for life to the most desolate part of the country. Thus the young ladies are as much ashamed of being cowards and fools as the men, and despise all personal ornaments, beyond decency and cleanliness; neither did I perceive any difference in their education made by their difference of sex, only that the exercises of the females were not altogether so robust; and that some rules were given them relating to domestic life, and a smaller compass of learning was enjoined them: for their maxim is, that among peoples of quality, a wife should be always a reasonable and agreeable companion, because she cannot always be young. When the girls are twelve years old, which among them is the marriageable age, their parents or guardians take them home, with great expressions of gratitude to the professors, and seldom without tears of the young lady and her companions. 在女子学校里，贵族出身的女孩子所受的教育大致和男孩子差不多，不过替她们穿衣服的是行为举止整齐端庄的女仆，同时有一位教师或助教在场，一直到五岁她们可以自己穿衣服为止。如果发现这些女仆违反纪律擅自给女孩子讲一些恐怖、愚蠢的故事，或者用那些我们的女仆惯用的愚蠢把戏给姑娘们取乐，就在众目睽睽之下鞭打她们并沿街游行，再监禁一年，最后终身流放到这个国家最荒凉的地方。所以那里的女孩子和男孩子一样，都耻于成为懦夫和呆子，也鄙视一切不端庄、不洁净的个人打扮。我并没有发现她们的教育因为性别的不同而有什么差别，只是女子的运动大体来说不像男孩子们的那么剧烈罢了。还有，她们要学一些家政方面的规则，研究学问的范围也较小些，因为这里人的信条是——女人不可能永远年轻，贵族人家的主妇却应该永远做一个通情达理、赞赏又支持丈夫的伴侣。在他们看来，女孩子到了十二岁就是出嫁的年龄了，父母或监护人把她们领回家去，同时向老师表示万分的感激；姑娘与同伴离别时也几乎都是泪流满面的。
In the nurseries of females of the meaner sort, the children are instructed in all kinds of works proper for their sex, and their several degrees: those intended for apprentices are dismissed at seven years old, the rest are kept to eleven. 在较为低等一级的女子学校里，孩子们学习各种符合她们性别和不同身份等级的工作。那些打算当学徒的七岁退学，其余的留到十一岁。
The meaner families who have children at these nurseries, are obliged, besides their annual pension, which is as low as possible, to return to the steward of the nursery a small monthly share of their gettings, to be a portion for the child; and therefore all parents are limited in their expenses by the law. For the Lilliputians think nothing can be more unjust, than for people, in subservience to their own appetites, to bring children into the world, and leave the burthen of supporting them on the public. As to persons of quality, they give security to appropriate a certain sum for each child, suitable to their condition; and these funds are always managed with good husbandry and the most exact justice. 有孩子在这些学校里上学的小户人家，除每年要交低得不能再低的学费之外，还得将每月所得缴一小部分给学校的管理人员，作为分给孩子的一份财产，所以父母的开支是受法律限制的。因为小人国的人认为，人们为了满足自己一时的欲望，把小孩子生到这个世上，却要公众来负担教养，没有比这再不公平的事了。至于有身份的人，也要根据各人的情况，保证拨一笔一定数量的资产留给每个孩子。这部分基金将永远得到合理的管理和绝对公平的使用。
The cottagers and labourers keep their children at home, their business being only to till and cultivate the earth, and therefore their education is of little consequence to the public; but the old and diseased among them, are supported by hospitals, for begging is a trade unknown in this empire. 村民和劳工们则把孩子养在家里，他们的本分就是耕种田地，因此他们的教育对公众来说就显得无足轻重了。不过其中年老多病的人由医院来抚养，因为这个国家中没有乞丐这种行业。
And here it may, perhaps, divert the curious reader, to give some account of my domestics, and my manner of living in this country, during a residence of nine months and thirteen days. Having a head mechanically turned, and being likewise forced by necessity, I had made for myself a table and chair convenient enough, out of the largest trees in the royal park. Two hundred sempstresses were employed to make me shirts, and linen for my bed and table, all of the strongest and coarsest kind they could get; which, however, they were forced to quilt together in several folds, for the thickest was some degrees finer than lawn. Their linen is usually three inches wide, and three feet make a piece. The sempstresses took my measure as I lay on the ground, one standing at my neck, and another at my mid-leg, with a strong cord extended, that each held by the end, while a third measured the length of the cord with a rule of an inch long. Then they measured my right thumb, and desired no more; for by a mathematical computation, that twice round the thumb is once round the wrist, and so on to the neck and the waist, and by the help of my old shirt, which I displayed on the ground before them for a pattern, they fitted me exactly. Three hundred tailors were employed in the same manner to make me clothes; but they had another contrivance for taking my measure. I kneeled down, and they raised a ladder from the ground to my neck; upon this ladder one of them mounted, and let fall a plumb-line from my collar to the floor, which just answered the length of my coat; but my waist and arms I measured myself. When my clothes were finished, which was done in my house (for the largest of theirs would not have been able to hold them), they looked like the patch-work made by the ladies in England, only that mine were all of a colour. 我想能使好奇的读者娱乐一下的就是描述一下我的佣人和我在这个国家生活了九个月零十三天的生活方式。我天生长有一个具有机械才能的脑袋，同时也被生活需要所迫，所以我用皇家公园里最大的树木给自己做了一套相当方便实用的桌椅。两百名女裁缝受雇给我制作衬衫、床单和台布，用的是最结实最粗的料，却还得几层相叠缝到一起，因为他们最厚的布比纱还要细上好几倍。亚麻布在他们那里通常是三英寸宽、三英尺长算一匹。我躺在地上让女裁缝们量尺寸，一个站在我脖子那儿，一个站在我腿肚那儿，她们两人各执一端拉直一根粗线，再由第三个人拿一根一英寸长的尺子来丈量粗线的长度。量过我右手的大拇指后，她们就不再要量什么了，因为按照数学的方法来计算，大拇指的两周就等于手腕的一周。依此类推，她们又算出了脖子和腰围的粗细；我再把一件旧衬衫摊在地上给她们做样子参考，结果她们做出的衬衣非常合身。他们又雇了三百名裁缝师给我做外衣，不过用的是另一种方法来量尺寸。我跪在地上，他们竖起一架梯子靠在我脖子上，一人爬上梯子将一根铅锤线从我的衣领处垂直放到地面，这恰好就是我外衣的长度，但腰身和手臂是我自己量的。这些衣服全是在我的屋子里做的，因为他们最大的房子也放不下这么大的衣服。衣服做成之后看上去就像英国太太们做的百袖衣一样，只是我的衣服全身只有一种颜色罢了。
I had three hundred cooks to dress my victuals, in little convenient huts built about my house, where they and their families lived, and prepared me two dishes a-piece. I took up twenty waiters in my hand, and placed them on the table: a hundred more attended below on the ground, some with dishes of meat, and some with barrels of wine and other liquors slung on their shoulders; all which the waiters above drew up, as I wanted, in a very ingenious manner, by certain cords, as we draw the bucket up a well in Europe. A dish of their meat was a good mouthful, and a barrel of their liquor a reasonable draught. Their mutton yields to ours, but their beef is excellent. I have had a sirloin so large, that I have been forced to make three bites of it; but this is rare. My servants were astonished to see me eat it, bones and all, as in our country we do the leg of a lark. Their geese and turkeys I usually ate at a mouthful, and I confess they far exceed ours. Of their smaller fowl I could take up twenty or thirty at the end of my knife. 给我做饭的有三百位厨师，他们带了家眷住在我房子附近很小的茅屋里。每位厨师给我做两种菜。我一手拿起二十名服务员把他们放到桌上，另外的一百名在地面上侍候，有的端着一盘盘的肉，有的肩上扛着一桶桶的葡萄酒和其他酒类。我说要吃，在上面的服务员就用绳索以一种很巧妙的方法将这些食物往上吊，就像我们欧洲人从井里往上拉水桶一样。他们的一盘肉够我吃一大口，一桶酒也够我喝一口的。他们的羊肉没有我们的好，但做出来的牛肉味道却好极了。我曾吃到一块牛腰肉，非常大，以至咬了三口才吃完，不过这种情况很少见。就像在我们国家吃百灵鸟的腿肉一样，我将小人国百灵鸟的骨头连肉一股脑吞了下去，我的仆人见此万分惊讶。他们的鹅和火鸡我通常是一口一只。应该承认，它们的味道远比我们的要好。至于他们的小家禽，我用刀尖一挑就是二三十只。
One day his imperial majesty, being informed of my way of living, desired "that himself and his royal consort, with the young princes of the blood of both sexes, might have the happiness," as he was pleased to call it, "of dining with me." They came accordingly, and I placed them in chairs of state, upon my table, just over against me, with their guards about them. Flimnap, the lord high treasurer, attended there likewise with his white staff; and I observed he often looked on me with a sour countenance, which I would not seem to regard, but ate more than usual, in honour to my dear country, as well as to fill the court with admiration. I have some private reasons to believe, that this visit from his majesty gave Flimnap an opportunity of doing me ill offices to his master. That minister had always been my secret enemy, though he outwardly caressed me more than was usual to the moroseness of his nature. He represented to the emperor "the low condition of his treasury; that he was forced to take up money at a great discount; that exchequer bills would not circulate under nine per cent below par; that I had cost his majesty above a million and a half of sprugs" (their greatest gold coin, about the bigness of a spangle) "and, upon the whole, that it would be advisable in the emperor to take the first fair occasion of dismissing me. " 皇帝陛下听说我生活的情形后，想他自己和皇后以及拥有皇室血统的年轻的王子、公主们来同我一起共享吃饭的快乐（他喜欢这么说）。他们真的还就来了。我把他们放在饭桌的御椅上和我面对着面。在他们四周站着侍卫。财政大臣佛利姆奈浦手里拿着他那根白色权杖也在一旁伺候。我发觉他时常酸溜溜地看我，对此我装作没看见的样子，反而吃得比平常还要多，一来为了向我亲爱的祖国致敬，二来也是让朝廷惊叹一下。我私下里总感觉皇帝的这一次驾临又给了佛利姆奈浦在他的主子面前算计我的机会。这位大臣一向暗地里与我为敌，表面上却又表示关心我，但是依他阴暗乖僻的本性来看，这种关心是很不正常的。他向皇帝报告说目前的财政状况很不景气，往下拨款都得打折扣，国库券的价值比票面价值低百分之九才能流通。总之，我已经花掉皇帝陛下一百五十多万“斯普鲁格”了（这是他们最大的金币，大约有我们缝在衣服上作装饰用的小金属片那么大小）；从全局考虑，皇帝应该一有适当的机会就把我打发走。
I am here obliged to vindicate the reputation of an excellent lady, who was an innocent sufferer upon my account. The treasurer took a fancy to be jealous of his wife, from the malice of some evil tongues, who informed him that her grace had taken a violent affection for my person; and the court scandal ran for some time, that she once came privately to my lodging. This I solemnly declare to be a most infamous falsehood, without any grounds, further than that her grace was pleased to treat me with all innocent marks of freedom and friendship. I own she came often to my house, but always publicly, nor ever without three more in the coach, who were usually her sister and young daughter, and some particular acquaintance; but this was common to many other ladies of the court. And I still appeal to my servants round, whether they at any time saw a coach at my door, without knowing what persons were in it. On those occasions, when a servant had given me notice, my custom was to go immediately to the door, and, after paying my respects, to take up the coach and two horses very carefully in my hands (for, if there were six horses, the postillion always unharnessed four), and place them on a table, where I had fixed a movable rim quite round, of five inches high, to prevent accidents. And I have often had four coaches and horses at once on my table, full of company, while I sat in my chair, leaning my face towards them; and when I was engaged with one set, the coachmen would gently drive the others round my table. I have passed many an afternoon very agreeably in these conversations. But I defy the treasurer, or his two informers (I will name them, and let them make the best of it) Clustril and Drunlo, to prove that any person ever came to me incognito, except the secretary Reldresal, who was sent by express command of his imperial majesty, as I have before related. I should not have dwelt so long upon this particular, if it had not been a point wherein the reputation of a great lady is so nearly concerned, to say nothing of my own; though I then had the honour to be a nardac, which the treasurer himself is not; for all the world knows, that he is only a glumglum, a title inferior by one degree, as that of a marquis is to a duke in England; yet I allow he preceded me in right of his post. These false informations, which I afterwards came to the knowledge of by an accident not proper to mention, made the treasurer show his lady for some time an ill countenance, and me a worse; and although he was at last undeceived and reconciled to her, yet I lost all credit with him, and found my interest decline very fast with the emperor himself, who was, indeed, too much governed by that favourite. 在这里，我必须为一位品质高尚的夫人的名誉辩护一下，她因为我蒙受了不白之冤。谁想到财政大臣竟会猜忌到自己妻子身上。从一些心怀叵测的人口中传出他的夫人疯狂地爱上了我，这个丑闻一时在朝廷里传播开来，说她有一次曾秘密到过我的住处。我郑重声明这事毫无根据，纯属造谣，只不过是夫人喜欢用天真无邪的坦诚和友谊善待我罢了。我承认她常到我家来，但每次都是公开的，马车里也总是另外带着三个人，多半是她的姐妹、年轻的女儿和某个特殊的相识，可这在朝廷的其他贵夫人身上也是司空见惯的呀！而且我还要请我身边的仆人作证，他们什么时候看到我门口停着辆马车，却不知道里面坐的是什么人了？每次有人来，总是先由仆人通报，我则照例立刻到门口迎接。施过礼之后，我非常小心地拿起马车和两匹马（如果是六匹马，车夫总要解下其中的四匹）放到桌子上；为了防止出事，我在桌子周围安了五英寸高的活动桌边。我常常有四辆马车和马同时在我的桌子上，里边全坐满了人，这时我就在椅子里坐好，脸朝向他们。当我和一辆马车中的客人交谈时，马车夫就驾着其余几辆车在桌子上慢慢兜圈子。我就在这样的交谈中度过了许多愉快的下午。可是我要向财政大臣或者向他告密的那两个人挑战（我要说出他俩的名字，让他们看着办好了），这两个人就是克拉斯特利尔和德隆洛。我要他们拿出证据来，除了我以前说到过的瑞尔德里沙内务大臣曾奉皇帝陛下特遣来过以外，还有什么人隐瞒真实身份私下来找过我。要不是这件事和一位贵夫人的名誉密切相关，我是不会絮絮叨叨说这么多的，我自己的名誉受损也就算了。尽管当时我的爵位是“那达克”，而财政大臣却不是，大家都知道他只是一个“克拉姆格拉姆”，比我要低一级，就像在英国侯爵比公爵要低一级一样,但是我承认他在朝廷的地位比我的要高。这些虚假的谣言是后来一次偶然的机会得知的，至于怎么得知的，最好还是不要提了；使佛利姆奈浦一度尽给他太太脸色看，对我就更坏了。尽管他最终还是醒悟了，并与太太重归于好，但我却永远失去了他的信任。不久皇帝对我的恩宠也日渐疏远，因为皇帝陛下实在太受制于他那位宠臣了。