童話通過豐富的想象、幻想和夸張來塑造形象、反映生活，對兒童進行思想教育。一般故事情節(jié)神奇曲折，生動淺顯，對自然物往往作擬人化的描寫，能適應兒童的接受能力。

　　男孩和青蛙

　　Some mischievous1 boys were playing on the edge of a pond, and, catching2 sight of some frogs swimming about in the shallow water, they began to amuse themselves by pelting3 them with stones, and they killed several of them. At last one of the frogs put his head out of the water and said, "Oh, stop! stop! I beg you: what is sport to you is death to us."

　　幾個淘氣的孩子在水池邊玩耍，淺水中正在游泳的幾只青蛙映入他們的眼簾，他們便用石頭去打青蛙，以此作為消遣娛樂。甚至于，他們還打死了幾只青蛙。最后，一只青蛙從水中伸出頭來，說：“住手!住手!求你們不要再打了。對你們來說，這是一個活動，可是對于我們來說，卻是致命一擊啊。“

　　鸚雀笑鵬

　　As the legend goes, during ancient times, in the expansive open country of North China, there was a kind of birds called "rocs".

　　The roc was very huge, with its back like a big mountain, and its wings like a stretch of cloud which could cover the sky. When it spread its wings, it could break through a storm and soar at a height of 90,000 li (1/2 kilometre) in the sky towards the sea in the south.

　　A small bird called the quail1 bounced on the ground, free and happy. It looked up at the roc soaring in the sky and couldn't help laughing: "Hey, see how cocky you are! Look at me, one jump can take me over 10 chi. How delightful2! Every day I come and go amid these weeds and thickets3 and fly freely. Don't I fly quite well too? But, where can you fly to anyway?"

　　傳說，古時候中國北方的原野上有一種鳥，它的名字叫“鵬”。

　　鵬長得很大，背脊像一座大山，翅膀像一大片云，能把天空遮住。它張開翅膀能沖破風暴，在九萬里高的天空中飛翔，一直飛向南方的大海。

　　有一只叫鸚雀的小鳥，在地上蹦蹦跳跳，自由自在，非常快活。它望著天空中展翅飛翔的大鵬，忍不住發(fā)笑，說：“咳，看你神氣活現(xiàn)的!我呀，一蹦一跳，就有十幾尺，多么痛快啊!我每天在這些雜草和樹叢里，來來去去，自由飛翔，不也飛得挺好嗎?可是，你又能飛到哪里去呢?”

　　與眾不同的螃蟹

　　A male crab1 met a female crab and asked her to marry him.

　　She noticed that he was walking straight instead of sideways. Wow, she thought, this crab is really special. I can’t let him get away. So they got married immediately.

　　The next day she noticed her new husband walking sideways like all the other crabs2, and got upset. "What happened?" she asked. "You used to walk straight before we were married."

　　"Oh, honey," he replied, "I can't drink that much every day."

　　一只雄蟹遇到了一只雌蟹，便向她求婚。

　　雌蟹發(fā)現(xiàn)他是直著走路，而不是橫著走。她心想，這只雄蟹真是與眾不同，我可不能讓他跑了。于是他們很快就結婚了。

　　第二天，雌蟹發(fā)現(xiàn)她的新郎走起路來和普通螃蟹一樣。她便疑惑重重。“你怎么了?”她問，“我們結婚之前你可是直著走路的。”

　　“哦，寶貝，”他回答說，“我不可能每天都喝那么多啊。”