191 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
191 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and
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of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister
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was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the
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use of a book,' thought Alice 'without pictures or conversations?'
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So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day
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made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a
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daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies,
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when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.
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There was nothing so VERY remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so VERY
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much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, 'Oh dear! Oh dear! I
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shall be late!' (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that
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she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite
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natural); but when the Rabbit actually TOOK A WATCH OUT OF ITS
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WAISTCOAT-POCKET, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her
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feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit
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with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with
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curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time
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to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.
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In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the
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world she was to get out again.
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The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped
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suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping
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herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well.
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Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of
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time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen
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next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it
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was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and
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noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves; here and there
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she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the
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shelves as she passed; it was labelled 'ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great
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disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear of
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killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell
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past it.
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'Well!' thought Alice to herself, 'after such a fall as this, I shall think
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nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they'll all think me at home! Why, I
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wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!'
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(Which was very likely true.)
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Down, down, down. Would the fall NEVER come to an end! 'I wonder how many miles
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I've fallen by this time?' she said aloud. 'I must be getting somewhere near
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the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I
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think--' (for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her
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lessons in the schoolroom, and though this was not a VERY good opportunity for
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showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it was
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good practice to say it over) '--yes, that's about the right distance--but then
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I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I've got to?' (Alice had no idea what
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Latitude was, or Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to
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say.)
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Presently she began again. 'I wonder if I shall fall right THROUGH the earth!
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How funny it'll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads
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downward! The Antipathies, I think--' (she was rather glad there WAS no one
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listening, this time, as it didn't sound at all the right word) '--but I shall
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have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. Please, Ma'am, is
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this New Zealand or Australia?' (and she tried to curtsey as she spoke--fancy
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CURTSEYING as you're falling through the air! Do you think you could manage
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it?) 'And what an ignorant little girl she'll think me for asking! No, it'll
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never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.'
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Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking
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again. 'Dinah'll miss me very much to-night, I should think!' (Dinah was the
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cat.) 'I hope they'll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah my dear! I
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wish you were down here with me! There are no mice in the air, I'm afraid, but
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you might catch a bat, and that's very like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat
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bats, I wonder?' And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying
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to herself, in a dreamy sort of way, 'Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?' and
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sometimes, 'Do bats eat cats?' for, you see, as she couldn't answer either
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question, it didn't much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was
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dozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with
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Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, 'Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did
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you ever eat a bat?' when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of
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sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.
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Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in a moment: she
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looked up, but it was all dark overhead; before her was another long passage,
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and the White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it. There was not a
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moment to be lost: away went Alice like the wind, and was just in time to hear
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it say, as it turned a corner, 'Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's
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getting!' She was close behind it when she turned the corner, but the Rabbit
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was no longer to be seen: she found herself in a long, low hall, which was lit
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up by a row of lamps hanging from the roof.
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There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked; and when Alice
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had been all the way down one side and up the other, trying every door, she
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walked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever to get out again.
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Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, all made of solid glass;
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there was nothing on it except a tiny golden key, and Alice's first thought was
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that it might belong to one of the doors of the hall; but, alas! either the
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locks were too large, or the key was too small, but at any rate it would not
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open any of them. However, on the second time round, she came upon a low
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curtain she had not noticed before, and behind it was a little door about
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fifteen inches high: she tried the little golden key in the lock, and to her
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great delight it fitted!
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Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not much
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larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage into the
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loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and
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wander about among those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains, but
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she could not even get her head through the doorway; 'and even if my head would
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go through,' thought poor Alice, 'it would be of very little use without my
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shoulders. Oh, how I wish I could shut up like a telescope! I think I could, if
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I only knew how to begin.' For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had
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happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were
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really impossible.
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There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so she went back to
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the table, half hoping she might find another key on it, or at any rate a book
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of rules for shutting people up like telescopes: this time she found a little
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bottle on it, ('which certainly was not here before,' said Alice,) and round
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the neck of the bottle was a paper label, with the words 'DRINK ME' beautifully
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printed on it in large letters.
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It was all very well to say 'Drink me,' but the wise little Alice was not going
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to do THAT in a hurry. 'No, I'll look first,' she said, 'and see whether it's
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marked "poison" or not'; for she had read several nice little histories about
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children who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant
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things, all because they WOULD not remember the simple rules their friends had
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taught them: such as, that a red-hot poker will burn you if you hold it too
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long; and that if you cut your finger VERY deeply with a knife, it usually
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bleeds; and she had never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle
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marked 'poison,' it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later.
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However, this bottle was NOT marked 'poison,' so Alice ventured to taste it,
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and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of
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cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered
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toast,) she very soon finished it off.
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* * * * * * *
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* * * * * *
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* * * * * * *
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'What a curious feeling!' said Alice; 'I must be shutting up like a telescope.'
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And so it was indeed: she was now only ten inches high, and her face brightened
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up at the thought that she was now the right size for going through the little
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door into that lovely garden. First, however, she waited for a few minutes to
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see if she was going to shrink any further: she felt a little nervous about
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this; 'for it might end, you know,' said Alice to herself, 'in my going out
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altogether, like a candle. I wonder what I should be like then?' And she tried
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to fancy what the flame of a candle is like after the candle is blown out, for
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she could not remember ever having seen such a thing.
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After a while, finding that nothing more happened, she decided on going into
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the garden at once; but, alas for poor Alice! when she got to the door, she
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found she had forgotten the little golden key, and when she went back to the
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table for it, she found she could not possibly reach it: she could see it quite
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plainly through the glass, and she tried her best to climb up one of the legs
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of the table, but it was too slippery; and when she had tired herself out with
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trying, the poor little thing sat down and cried.
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'Come, there's no use in crying like that!' said Alice to herself, rather
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sharply; 'I advise you to leave off this minute!' She generally gave herself
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very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it), and sometimes she
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scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into her eyes; and once she
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remembered trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game of
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croquet she was playing against herself, for this curious child was very fond
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of pretending to be two people. 'But it's no use now,' thought poor Alice, 'to
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pretend to be two people! Why, there's hardly enough of me left to make ONE
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respectable person!'
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Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: she
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opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words 'EAT ME' were
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beautifully marked in currants. 'Well, I'll eat it,' said Alice, 'and if it
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makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I
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can creep under the door; so either way I'll get into the garden, and I don't
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care which happens!'
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She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, 'Which way? Which way?',
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holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was growing, and
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she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same size: to be sure,
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this generally happens when one eats cake, but Alice had got so much into the
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way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed
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quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way.
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So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake.
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* * * * * * *
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