The Ugly Duckling

丑小鴨

One evening, the sun was just setting in with true splendor when a flock of beautiful large birds appeared out of the bushes. The duckling had never seen anything so beautiful.They were dazzlingly white with long waving necks. They were swans and uttering a peculiar cry. They spread out their magnificent broad wings and flew away from the cold regions toward warmer lands and open seas.

一天晚上，太陽正在下山，夕陽輝煌絢爛，一群漂亮的大鳥灌術叢中飛過來。丑小鴨從未看到過如此美麗的東西，他們長著彎曲的長頸，羽毛自得耀眼。他們是天鵝，發出一種奇特的叫聲。他們展開美麗的寬闊的翅膀，離開寒冷的地區，向溫暖的陸地和廣闊的海洋飛去。

They mounted so high, so very high, and the ugly little duckling became strangely uneasy. He circled around and around in the water like a wheel, craning his neck out into the air after them. Then he uttered the shriek so piercing and so strange that he was quite frightened by himself. Oh, he could not forget those beautiful birds, those happy birds.And
as soon as they were out of sight, he ducked right down to the bottom and when he came up again, he was quite beside himself. He did not know what the birds were or where'd they flew. But all the same, he was more drawn towards them than he had ever been by any creatures before. He did not envy them in the least.e How could it occur to him even to
wish to be such a remarkable beauty'? How thankful he would be if only the ducks would have tolerated him among them, poor ugly creature.

他們飛得那么高，那么高遠，丑小鴨變得莫名地不安。他像輪子一樣在水面上轉著圈，跟他們一樣把脖子伸到空中。然后，他發出一聲尖叫，聲音如此清澈，如此陌生，他被自己嚇了一大跳。哦，他忘不了那些美麗的鳥兒，那些快樂的鳥兒。等他們在視野中消失，他迅速俯沖到水底，當他再探出水面的時候，他感到異常地激動。他不知道那些是什么鳥，或者他們要飛向哪里。但是，他深深地被他們吸引，這種吸引力超過了他以前見過的任何生物。他一點也不嫉妒他們。他甚至希望自己變得那樣美麗，他怎么莫名其妙地會有這種想法呢？只要鴨子們會容忍他，接受他，他就感激不盡了，可憐的丑東西。

Early in the morning, a peasant came along and saw him. he went out onto the ice and hammered a hole in it with his heavy wooden shoe, and carried the duckling home to his wife. There, it soon revived. The children wanted to play with it. But the duckling thought they were going to ill use him and rushed in and he frightened to the milk-pan, and the milk spurted out all over the room. The woman shrieked and threw up her hands. Then it flew to the butter-cask and down into the meal-tub and out again. Oh, just imagine what it looked like by this time. The woman screamed and tried to hit it with the tongs, and the children tumbled over one another in trying to catch it, and they screamed with laughter.

清晨，一個農民走過來看見了他，他走到冰面上，用厚重的木鞋在冰面上砸了一個洞，把小鴨子帶回家給他的妻子。在那里，丑小鴨很快蘇醒了。孩子們想和他玩耍，但他以為他們要傷害自己，惶恐不已，沖進了牛奶盤里，牛奶濺得滿屋子都是。女主人尖叫著，把她的手高高舉起。之后小鴨飛進了黃油罐和面粉桶，又躥了出來。噢，想象一下這時他的模樣吧。女主人驚叫著，試圖用鉗子打他，孩子們想捉住他，結果絆倒在一起，他們大笑著，大叫著。

By good luck, the door stood open and the duckling flew out among the bushes and the new fallen snow. And it lay there, extremely exhausted, but it would be too sad to mention all the privation he had to go through during that hard winter. When the sun began to shine warmly again, the duckling was in a marsh, lying among the rushes. The birds were singing, and the beautiful spring had come. Then all at once, he raised his wings and they flapped with much greater strength than before and bore him off.Before he knew where he was, he found himself in a large garden with the apple trees in full blossom. And the air was scented with lilacs, the long branches of which overhung the shores.Oh, the spring freshness was so pleasant. Just in front of him, he saw three beautiful white swans advancing towards him from a thicket. With rustling feathers, they swam lightly over the water. The duckling recognized the majestic birds, and he was overcome by a strange melancholy.

很幸運，門是開著的，小鴨飛出去躥進了灌木叢，又一場雪花飄落。他躺在那里，筋疲力盡，提起這個嚴冬里他所經歷的一切困苦，他傷心不已。當太陽又開始溫暖地照耀，小鴨在一片沼澤中，躺在蘆葦里。鳥兒在歌唱，美麗的春天已經來了。忽然，他高舉起翅膀，用盡前所未有的力氣使勁扇動著，他飛起來了。在他知道身在何處之前，他發現自己正在一個大花園里，蘋果樹開滿了花。空氣中彌漫著紫丁花的香味，長長的枝條垂落在湖岸邊。哦，春天的氣息如此沁人心脾。就在他的面前，他看到三只美麗的白天鵝從灌木叢中向他游來。他們輕輕地在水中滑行，羽毛沙沙作響。小鴨認出了這些莊嚴的鳥兒，他被一種奇怪的憂郁所籠罩。

"I will fly to them, the royal birds, and they will hack me to pieces because I who am so ugly venture to approach them. But it won't matter." So he flew into the water and swam towards the stately swans. They saw him and darted toward him with ruffled feathers."Kill me ,oh, kill me." said the poor creature. And bowing his head towards the water, he awaited his death. But what did he see? Reflected in the water, he saw below him his own images, but he was no longer an ugly clumsy dark gray bird.He was himself, a swan.

“我要向他們飛去，高貴的鳥兒，他們將把我劈成碎片，因為我這么丑，不敢接近他們。但這不要緊。”于是他飛入水中，向莊嚴的天鵝游去。他們看到他，豎起羽毛，飛快地朝他游來。“殺了我，哦，殺了我。”可憐的家伙說道。他把頭埋向水面，等待著死亡。但是他看見了什么？他看到了水中倒映著的自己的模樣，但是他不再是一只丑陋的、笨拙的灰色的鳥兒。他自己是一只——天鵝。

課堂筆記：
1.“beside oneself”用于指由于極為憤怒或激動而引起的情緒失控，丑小鴨看到美麗高貴的白天鵝后情緒無法平靜，這個短語非常逼真地描繪了他激動萬分的心情。
2"not...in the least"表示“毫不.一點也不”.同義詞組有"not at all"。
3."if only"用于表示希望境遇有所變化，意思是“但愿，真希望”，句子使用了虛擬語氣.
4.此句包含一個由“which”引導的定語從句，修飾先行詞“lilacs”.
5.過去分詞短語“reflected in the water”前置，表示強調，用來修飾名詞“image”.
6.當多個形容詞修飾一個名詞時，幫助記憶的口訣為：限定描繪大長高，形狀年齡和新老，顏色國籍跟材料，作用類別往后靠。

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