英語故事：丑小鴨

　　鄉村真美。此時正值夏季，田里的小麥都呈現金黃色而燕麥依然青綠。干草被堆放在低洼的草地上，廣闊的樹林圍繞著

　　田野和草地，樹林的中央有多處深邃的湖泊，在陽光最充足的地方矗立著一棟老舊的大宅邸。這棟宅邸被一條深長的壕溝所包圍，茂盛的

　　葉子從這棟房子干部上的藤蔓往下長，延伸到河水的邊緣。其中有一些葉子很大，小孩子可以拿它們來當雨傘。

　　在森林的深處有一只母鴨子坐在她的巢中，她的小鴨子們即將孵出來。

　　終于蛋一個接一個地開始裂了。 “吱，吱！”小鴨們叫著。“呱，呱！”母鴨回道。“這個世界好大啊！”小鴨子異口同聲道。

　　The countryside was lovely. It was summer. The wheat was golden and the oats were still

　　green. The hay was stacked in the low-lying meadows. There lay great woods around the fields and meadows.

　　There were deep lakes in the midst of the woods. In the sunniest spot stood an old mansion surrounded by a deep moat.

　　Great leaves grew from the vines on the walls of the house right down to the water's edge.

　　Some of the leaves were so big that a child could use them as an umbrella.

　　In the depths of a forest a duck was sitting in her nest. Her little ducklings were about to be hatched.

　　At last one egg after another began to crack." Cheep, cheep!" the ducklings said." Quack, quack!" said the duck.

　　" How big the world is!" said all the young ones.

　　但最大的蛋依舊在那兒，于是她又再坐回她的巢中。

　　一只年長的鴨子過來拜訪她說：“喂！你近來可好嗎？”坐著的母鴨回答說：“這枚蛋花了很長的時間，

　　殼偏偏還不裂開，不過其他的小鴨都是最完美的鴨子，他們很像他們的爸爸。”

　　年長的鴨子說：“讓我看看那枚不會裂開的蛋，你或許是坐在一枚火雞的蛋上！我曾經像那樣被騙過一次。不錯，那是火雞的蛋！

　　你最好不要管它，去教其它的小鴨游泳吧。”

　　“我要再多坐一會兒。”

　　But the biggest egg was still there. And then she settled herself on the nest again.

　　"Well, how are you getting on?" said an old duck who came to pay her a visit." This egg is taking such a long time," answered the sitting duck."

　　The shell will not crack, but the others are the finest ducklings. They are like their father."

　　"let me look at the egg which won't crack," said the old duck." You may be sitting on a turkey's egg!

　　I have been cheated like that once. Yes. it's a turkey's egg!

　　You had better leave it alone and teach the other children to swim."

　　"I will sit on it a little longer."

　　終于這枚巨蛋裂開了。這小子可真是又大又丑！她說：“那是一只非常巨大的鴨子，其他的小鴨沒有一只看起來像他一樣。

　　他會是火雞的孩子嗎？我會盡快查清楚，我將叫他下水去。”

　　隔天這只母鴨帶著她的一家人走到壕溝。

　　她跳入水中，“呱，呱，”她說，小鴨們一只接一只地跳進河里。

　　這只又大又丑的鴨子跟著他們一起游來游去，她說：“不是的，那不是火雞。呱，呱！現在跟我來，我將帶你們去參觀這個世界，

　　要一直靠近我并小心貓！”第一天過去了，一切都還順利。

　　At last the big egg cracked. How big and ugly the baby was! " That is a very big duckling." she said,

　　" None of the others look like that. Can he be a turkey's chick?

　　I will soon find out. I will make him go into water."

　　The next day the mother duck with her family went down to the moat. She said, and one duckling jumped in after another.

　　The big ugly one swam about with them." No, that is no turkey," she said," Quack, quack! Now come with me

　　and I will take you into the world. Keep close to me all the time. Be careful of the cat!"

　　The first day passed, and everything was fine.

　　之后，事情愈來愈糟。這只可憐的小鴨被所有的小鴨追逐和騷擾，因為他長得很丑。大鴨們咬他，母雞們啄他，

　　而喂食他們的女孩把他踢到旁邊去。于是他離家出走，不久就來到一片野鴨住的廣闊沼澤。

　　他雙疲倦又痛苦，因此他整晚都在那里。

　　早上這群野鴨們飛來看他們的新朋友。這些野鴨說：“你長得非常丑，但那對我們來說無所謂。”他在那里整整待了兩天，

　　然后有兩只野雁飛過來。就在那個時候，他聽到“砰！砰！”的聲音，那兩只野雁摔落在蘆葦叢中死了。

　　對這只可憐的小鴨子來說，那是一項很可怕的沖擊。

　　Afterwards, matters grew worse and worse. The poor duckling was chased and harassed by all the ducklings because he was very ugly.

　　The ducks bit him, the hens pecked him. and the girl who fed them kicked him aside. Then he ran off and soon came to a great marsh where the wild ducks lived.

　　He was so tired and miserable that he stayed there the whole night.

　　In the morning the wild ducks flew up to see their new friend." You are very ugly," said the wild ducks," but that does not matter to us."

　　He stayed there two whole days . And then two wild geese came.

　　Just at that moment the sound of "Bang! Bang!" was heard, and both the wild geese fell dead among the reeds.

　　It was a terrible shock to the poor duckling.

　　一只巨大的狗出現在他的身邊，離他很近。這只狗露出銳利的牙齒，繼續往前走，沒有碰他。

　　這只小鴨嘆息說：“哦，謝謝老天爺！我是這么丑，因此連狗都不會咬我！”

　　晚上他來到一間小屋。這間小屋住著一位老婆婆和她的貓及母雞。她的視力不好，以為這只小鴨是一只肥鴨。

　　她說：“要是我有了鴨蛋，我就發財了，”因此她留這只小鴨住了3個星期，但他并沒有下蛋。

　　這只貓是這間房子的主人，而這只母雞是女主人。

　　A big dog appeared close beside him. He showed his sharp teeth and went on without touching him.

　　"Oh, thank Heaven! I am so ugly that even the dog won't bite me!"

　　sighed the duckling.

　　In the evening he reached a little cottage where an old woman lived with her cat and her hen.

　　Her eyesight was not good, and she thought the duckling was a fat duck.

　　"I will be rich if I have duck eggs," she said.

　　So she took in the duckling for three weeks, but he laid no eggs.The cat was the master of the house

　　and the hen was the mistress.

　　母雞說：“你能不能下蛋呢？”

　　小鴨回答說：“不能。”

　　這只貓說：“那么你最好離開到外面廣闊的世界去。”就這樣這只小鴨離開了。

　　有一天晚上，太陽剛剛下山，此時有一群漂亮的大鳥從矮樹叢飛出來。

　　小鴨心想：“我從來沒有看過這么漂亮的東西。”

　　"Can you lay eggs?" asked the hen.

　　"No," answered the duckling.

　　"Then you had better go out into the wide world," said the cat. So away went the duckling.

　　One evening the sun was just setting when a flock of beautiful large birds appeared out of the bushes.

　　The duckling thought," I've never seen anything so beautiful."

　　他們有長長的脖子，全身是令人眩目的白色。他們是天鵝，他并不知道這些鳥是什么鳥。

　　冬天非常地寒冷刺骨，因此這只小鴨在水中游來游去以免凍僵了。

　　太陽又開始溫暖地照耀著，云雀在歌唱，美麗的春天已經來臨了。突然這只小鴨舉起他的翅膀， 而翅膀拍動的力氣要比以前大，

　　不知不覺中，他發覺自己已置身在一座巨大的花園里，花園里的蘋果樹開滿了花，紫丁香長長的枝椏垂掛在湖岸邊。

　　就在他的面前，他看到三只美麗的白天鵝向他游過來。

　　They were dazzlingly white with long necks. They were swans.

　　He did not know what the birds were.

　　The winter was so bitterly cold that the duckling swam about in the water to keep himself from freezing.

　　The sun began to shine warmly again. The larks were singing and beautiful spring had come.

　　Then, all at once, the duckling raised his wings and they flapped with much greater strength than before.

　　Before he knew it, he found himself in a large garden where the apple trees were in

　　full blossom and long branches of lilacs overhung the shores of the lake.

　　Just in front of him he saw three beautiful white swans swimming towards him.

　　“我將朝他們飛去而他們將會把我劈成粉碎，因為我長得非常丑。

　　不過沒有關系，我寧愿被他們殺死也不愿被那些鴨子咬或是被那些母雞啄。”

　　因此他飛入水中朝這些天鵝游過去，他們看到他就向他沖過來。

　　“殺死我吧，噢，殺死我吧！”可憐的小鴨說著朝水中低頭，等待死亡的來臨。

　　但他在清澈的水中看到什么樣了呢？

　　"I will fly to them and they will hack me to pieces because I am so ugly.

　　But it doesn't matter. I would rather be killed by them than be bitten by the ducks or pecked by the hens."

　　So he flew into the water and swam towards the swans. They saw him and darted towards him.

　　"Kill me! Oh, kill me!" said the poor duckling,

　　and he waited for his death bowing his head towards the water.

　　But what did he see in the clear water? He was no longer a dark gray ugly bird.

　　他不再是只黑灰丑陋的鳥，他竟然是一只天鵝！

　　有些小孩手拿玉米和面包來到這個花園，將這些東西投入水中。

　　個子最小的那個孩子興高采烈地大叫：“有一只新來的天鵝。”其他的孩子大叫：

　　“對啊！來了一只新的。”

　　他對著自己說：“當我是那只丑小鴨的時候，我從來也沒夢想過我能夠這么快樂！”

　　He was himself a swan!

　　Some children came into the garden with corn and pieces of bread, which they threw into the water.

　　The smallest child shouted with joy," There is a new one."

　　The other children shouted, "Yes, a new one has come."

　　He said to himself,

　　" I never dreamed that I could be so happy when I was the ugly duckling!"