英文來源：SpakNotes

中文翻譯：宋蘋芳、談玉儀

Source: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gulliver/summary.html 

Plot Overview

Gulliver’s Travels recounts the story of Lemuel Gulliver, a practical-minded Englishman trained as a surgeon who takes to the seas when his business fails. In a deadpan first-person narrative that rarely shows any signs of self-reflection or deep emotional response, Gulliver narrates the adventures that befall him on these travels.

《格列佛遊記》敘述格列佛的冒險故事，他是名實事求是的英國外科醫生，因醫科事業不順遂，他當上船醫，周遊列國。透過極少的主觀情感及自我省思的第一人稱口吻，格列佛客觀地敘述了旅遊時歷經的種種冒險。

Gulliver’s adventure in Lilliput begins when he wakes after his shipwreck to find himself bound by innumerable tiny threads and addressed by tiny captors who are in awe of him but fiercely protective of their kingdom. They are not afraid to use violence against Gulliver, though their arrows are little more than pinpricks. But overall, they are hospitable, risking famine in their land by feeding Gulliver, who consumes more food than a thousand Lilliputians combined could. Gulliver is taken into the capital city by a vast wagon the Lilliputians have specially built. He is presented to the emperor, who is entertained by Gulliver, just as Gulliver is flattered by the attention of royalty. Eventually Gulliver becomes a national resource, used by the army in its war against the people of Blefuscu, whom the Lilliputians hate for doctrinal differences concerning the proper way to crack eggs. But things change when Gulliver is convicted of treason for putting out a fire in the royal palace with his urine and is condemned to be shot in the eyes with poisoned arrows. The emperor eventually pardons him and he goes to Blefuscu, where he is able to repair a boat he finds and set sail for England.

格列佛在利立浦特（小人國）的冒險開始於船難，他醒來發現自己被一群小人用無數條細繩綑綁，這些小人對於格列佛十分敬畏，但也極盡所能地保護他們的王國。他們不怕對格列佛動武，哪怕他們的箭比針刺還小。大體上，這些小人們都算好客的，他們冒著鬧饑荒的風險提供格列佛食物，格列佛吃的食物量相當於一千個小人所吃的食物量。格列佛被該國國民特別建造的大型推車載到城市的首都。格列佛引見國王，他娛樂了國王，也震懾於皇室的威嚴。最後，格列佛變成了國家資源，在利立浦特與不列夫斯庫交戰時為前者的軍隊所用。只因為兩方堅持破蛋學說不同，利立浦特的人民之厭惡不列夫斯庫人。然而，當格列佛在用自己的尿水撲滅皇宮的大火而被判叛國罪時，所有事情都改變了，他被毒箭刺眼，最終，國王還是赦免了格列佛，他於是前往不列夫斯庫，在那他可以修復船隻，隨後搭船返回英國。

After staying in England with his wife and family for two months, Gulliver undertakes his next sea voyage, which takes him to a land of giants called Brobdingnag. Here, a farmer discovers him and initially treats him as little more than an animal, keeping him for amusement. The farmer eventually sells Gulliver to the queen, who makes him a courtly diversion and is entertained by his musical talents. Social life is easy for Gulliver after his discovery by the court, but not particularly enjoyable. Gulliver is often repulsed by the physicality of the Brobdingnagians, whose ordinary flaws are many times magnified by their huge size. Thus, when a couple of courtly ladies let him play on their naked bodies, he is not attracted to them but rather disgusted by their enormous skin pores and the sound of their torrential urination. He is generally startled by the ignorance of the people here—even the king knows nothing about politics. More unsettling findings in Brobdingnag come in the form of various animals of the realm that endanger his life. Even Brobdingnagian insects leave slimy trails on his food that make eating difficult. On a trip to the frontier, accompanying the royal couple, Gulliver leaves Brobdingnag when his cage is plucked up by an eagle and dropped into the sea.

格列佛在英國與家人待了兩個月後，便踏上了下一個旅程，這趟旅程他來到了名為布羅卜丁奈格的巨人國。在這，一位農夫發現了格列佛，起初還將格列佛視為動物與以娛樂，但最後，農夫把格列佛賣給皇后。皇后將格列佛當作皇宮的消遣之物，並且欣賞他的音樂長才。格列佛在宮庭裡出現後，社交生活對於他是件容易之事，但卻不能令他陶醉其中，因為格列佛常常被巨人國中大型的人物所擊敗，該國人民的缺點往往隨著體型變大而更明顯。因此，當幾個宮廷婦女讓格列佛玩弄她們的裸體時，格列佛不但沒興趣反而還因為她們皮膚的毛孔、大量的排尿而倒胃口。他對這邊人民的無知感到驚訝，甚至連國王對政治都毫無所知。更多使人不安的建築物外型都採用危害格列佛生命的動物形體，甚至連昆蟲都會在格列佛的食物上留下帶有黏液的足跡，使得食物難以下嚥，在一趟伴隨皇室夫婦前往國境邊陲的路途中，格列佛所居住的屋籠被老鷹叼走，丟入大海，因此離開了巨人國。

Next, Gulliver sets sail again and, after an attack by pirates, ends up in Laputa, where a floating island inhabited by theoreticians and academics oppresses the land below, called Balnibarbi. The scientific research undertaken in Laputa and in Balnibarbi seems totally inane and impractical, and its residents too appear wholly out of touch with reality. Taking a short side trip to Glubbdubdrib, Gulliver is able to witness the conjuring up of figures from history, such as Julius Caesar and other military leaders, whom he finds much less impressive than in books. After visiting the Luggnaggians and the Struldbrugs, the latter of which are senile immortals who prove that age does not bring wisdom, he is able to sail to Japan and from there back to England.

之後，格列佛再次出航，經海盜襲擊後，於飛島國登岸，在那有座名叫巴爾尼巴比的漂浮島嶼，上面居住著理論家與學者。在此從事的科學調查似乎是全然的愚蠢、不切實際，島上的居民完全與現實脫節。在古比達墬比的短暫旅行，格列佛目睹了歷史人物的幻象，例如：凱薩大帝和其他的軍事領導人等，對格列佛而言，這些影像不比書本上來的印象深刻。在拜訪過長壽國之後，格列佛發現他們是冥玩不靈的人，而他們也證明了歲月並不見得會帶來智慧，格列佛便從這裡航行到日本再回去英國。

Finally, on his fourth journey, Gulliver sets out as captain of a ship, but after the mutiny of his crew and a long confinement in his cabin, he arrives in an unknown land. This land is populated by Houyhnhnms, rational-thinking horses who rule, and by Yahoos, brutish humanlike creatures who serve the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver sets about learning their language, and when he can speak he narrates his voyages to them and explains the constitution of England. He is treated with great courtesy and kindness by the horses and is enlightened by his many conversations with them and by his exposure to their noble culture.

He wants to stay with the Houyhnhnms, but his bared body reveals to the horses that he is very much like a Yahoo, and he is banished. Gulliver is grief-stricken but agrees to leave. He fashions a canoe and makes his way to a nearby island, where he is picked up by a Portuguese ship captain who treats him well, though Gulliver cannot help now seeing the captain—and all humans—as shamefully Yahoolike. Gulliver then concludes his narrative with a claim that the lands he has visited belong by rights to England, as her colonies, even though he questions the whole idea of colonialism.

最後，在格列佛的第四趟旅行，他以船長的身分出航，可是在船員叛亂及船艙的監禁後，他來到了慧駰國，島上居住著擁有理性思維的馬群「慧駰」，他們是統治者，除此之外，這兒也住著長相酷似人類的殘忍人面獸「犽猢」，他們的工作是伺候「慧駰」。格列佛開始學習慧駰的語言，當他學會時，他便敘述著他的航海冒險、解釋著英國的憲法，馬兒也很有禮貌且親切地對待格列佛，除此之外，也很開心格列佛能跟牠們溝通及探索牠們的宏偉文化。格列佛想和慧駰待在一起，但他的身體讓這些馬兒覺得他與犽猢是同類，於是便遭到驅逐，格列佛雖感難過、傷心但還是同意離開。他做了艘獨木舟前往鄰近的島嶼，在那格列佛被葡萄籍的船長收留，僅管他對格列佛很好，格列佛忍不住地像犽猢般羞愧地看著船長和所有的人。即使格列佛對殖民一詞抱有極大的疑問，但他總結他所旅遊的島嶼皆隸屬英國。