Who Stole the Tarts?

    Who Stole the Tarts¹?
    The King and Queen² of Hearts were sitting down, and the trial³ was ready to begin when Alice went into the courtroom. Alice had never been in a courtroom, but she had seen pictures of courts, and she knew something about them from books.
    The Knave⁴ of Hearts was standing⁵ in front of the King and Queen. His head was down, and there was a soldier on each side of him. It was his trial.
    Alice found a place, and then she looked round her. She saw a lot of the animals and birds that she knew. And there were some tarts on a table on the court. They looked very good.
    When everybody was ready, the King called out: "Read the paper!"The White Rabbit stood up. From a very big paper he read out:
    "The Queen of Hearts. she made some tarts,All on a summer day.
    The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts,And took them all away.""Off with his head!" cried the Queen.
    Alice could see that the White Rabbit was afraid, but he said, "Not yet, not yet! We must have witnesses⁷.
    "Call a witness⁶," said the King.
    The Hatter came into the court as a witness. He had his tea in one hand and some bread-and-butter in the other hand.
    "I was having my tea when they called me," he said.
    Why?" asked the King. "When did you begin your tea?"The Hatter thought. He looked at the March Hare⁸ and the Dormouse, who had come into court with him. Then he said, "March 14th, I think.""15th," said the March Hare.
    "16th," added⁹ the Dormouse.
    "Write that down," said the King. Then he said to the Hatter, "Take off your hat.""It isn't mine," said the Hatter.
    "You stole it?" The King looked angry.
    The Hatter was so afraid that he began to shake. "No, no! I sell them. I'm a poor man. I haven't any hats of my own. I'm a hatter!""Don't be afraid," the King said, " or I'll tell them to cut your head off. What did you see?""I'm a poor man," the Hatter said, still shaking. "I was having my tea when the March Hare said--""I didn't!" the March Hare cried quickly.
    "Well, the Dormouse said--" The Hatter waited for the Dormouse to say " I didn't" but the Dormouse was asleep.
    "After that," the Hatter said, "I cut some more bread-and-butter.""But what did the Dormouse say?""I can't remember," the Hatter said.
    "You must remember," the King said, "or I'll have your head cut off."The unhappy hatter was shaking more and more. "I'm a poor man--" he began.
    The King wanted to hear the next witness. "You may go," he said to the Hatter.
    The Hatter ran out of the court as the Queen said, "And cut his head off outside!" But he was running so quickly that the axeman could not catch him.
    Alice was wondering why the court room was becoming smaller. She thought about it. "Perhaps I am growing bigger," she told herself.
    "Call the next witness," said the King.
    Alice did not know who the next witness was.
    But people at the door began to sneeze, and then everybody in the court sneezed, as the Duchess's cook came in with her pepper¹⁰ pot.
    The King looked at her. "Are you the next witness?" he asked.
    There was no answer.
    " Tell us everything that you know," said the King.
    "No!" said the cook.
    "You must ask her some questions," the White Rabbit told the King.
    "Oh!" the King said. He thought hard, and then he asked, "What are tarts made of?""Pepper, mostly," the cook said, and she shook her pepper pot.
    When everybody had stopped sneezing, they looked for the cook, but she had disappeared¹¹.
    "Call the next witness," said the King.
    Alice wondered who the next witness would be. The witnesses haven't said anything yet," she thought.
    The White Rabbit looked at his paper. He read out the next name: "Alice!"

1 tarts   

n.果馅饼( tart的名词复数 )；轻佻的女人；妓女；小妞

参考例句：

• I decided to make some tarts for tea. 我决定做些吃茶点时吃的果馅饼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They ate raspberry tarts and ice cream. 大家吃着木莓馅饼和冰淇淋。 来自辞典例句

2 queen   

n.女王，皇后；(纸牌、国际象棋中的)王后

参考例句：

• She sounds like a queen!她听起来像是一个王后！
• The evil queen is very angry.邪恶的皇后非常生气。

3 trial   

n.审判，试验，艰苦，麻烦事，考验；adj.尝试的，试验性的

参考例句：

• We shall put the machine to further trial.我们将进一步试验这部机器。
• He appeared as a witness in the trial.在审判中他出庭作证。

4 knave   

n.流氓；（纸牌中的）杰克

参考例句：

• Better be a fool than a knave.宁做傻瓜，不做无赖。
• Once a knave,ever a knave.一次成无赖，永远是无赖。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 witness   

n.证人，目击者，证据，证明，证词；vt.目击，作证，证明，表明，经历；vi.作证人

参考例句：

• She was a witness of the incident.她是事件的目击者。
• A witness was examined by him in a court of law.他在法庭上质问一个证人。

7 witnesses   

n.目击者( witness的名词复数 )；证词；见证（以言行证实信仰）；见证人v.作证( witness的第三人称单数 )；表示；（摆证据）…就是证据；是…的迹象

参考例句：

• The evidence was corroborated by two independent witnesses. 此证据由两名独立证人提供。
• Police have appealed for witnesses to the accident. 警方呼吁这起事故的目击者出来作证。

8 hare   

n.野兔

参考例句：

• The tortoise wins the race while the hare is sleeping.兔子正睡觉时，乌龟赢得了比赛。
• I saw a hare in my backyard this morning.今天早晨我看见后院有一只野兔。

9 added   

adj.更多的，附加的，额外的

参考例句：

• They have added a new scene at the beginning.在开头他们又增加了一场戏。
• The pop music added to our enjoyment of the film.片中的流行音乐使我们对这部电影更加喜爱。

10 pepper   

n.胡椒(粉)；辣椒(粉)

参考例句：

• He put some pepper in the bowl.他放了一些胡椒粉在碗里。
• This pepper is really hot.这辣椒真够劲儿。

11 disappeared   

v.不见，消失( disappear的过去式和过去分词 )；不复存在；奭

参考例句：

• The plane disappeared behind a cloud. 飞机消失在云层里。
• He double-crossed the rest of the gang and disappeared with all the money. 他骗了其他同伙，携款潜逃了。