於是她向老祖母請教，老祖母對上面的世界瞭如指掌，她非常正確地稱之為海面上的陸地。

then she applied to her old grandmother, who knew all about the upper world, which she very rightly called the lands above the sea.

“如果人類不被淹死，” 小美人魚問道，“他們能永遠活著嗎？他們是否像我們在海里一樣永遠不死呢？”

“If human beings are not drowned,” asked the little mermaid, “can they live forever? do they never die as we do here in the sea?”

“是的，” 老婦人回答說，“他們也必須死，而且他們的壽命甚至比我們的還短。”

“Yes,” replied the old lady, “they must also die, and their term of life is even shorter than ours.

我們有時能活到三百歲，但當我們在這裡不復存在時，我們只會變成水面上的泡沫，而且我們在海底甚至連一個埋葬我們所愛的人的墳墓都沒有。

we sometimes live to three hundred years, but when we cease to exist here we only bee the foam on the surface of the water, and we have not even a grave down here of those we love.

我們沒有不朽的靈魂，我們永遠不會再活過來；

we have not immortal souls, we shall never live again;

但是，就像綠色的海藻一樣，一旦被割掉，就再也不能茁壯成長。

but, like the green sea - weed, when once it has been cut off, we can never flourish more.

相反，人類有一個永遠活著的靈魂，在肉體化為塵土之後仍然活著。

human beings, on the contrary, have a soul which lives forever, lives after the body has been turned to dust.

它穿過清澈純淨、繁星閃爍之上的空氣飛昇。

It rises up through the clear, pure air beyond the glittering stars.

就像我們浮出水面，看到地球上所有的陸地一樣，他們也會飛昇向我們永遠無法看到的未知而榮耀的地方。

As we rise out of the water, and behold all the land of the earth, so do they rise to unknown and glorious regions which we shall never see.”

“為什麼我們沒有不朽的靈魂呢