The Ugly Duckling One evening, the sun was just setting in with true splendor when 1)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.
They 2)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, 3)craning his neck out into the air after them. Then he uttered the shriek so 4)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 5)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. How could it occur to him even to wish to be such a marvelous beauty? He wouldn’t be thankful if only the ducks would have tolerated him among them, the poor ugly creature. 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 6)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 7)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 8)tongs, and the children 9)tumbled over one another in trying to catch it, and they screamed with laughter. By good luck, the door stood open and the duckling flew out among the bushes and the new fallen snow. And it lay there, thoroughly exhausted, but it would be too sad to mention all the privation and misery 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 larks were singing, and the beautiful spring had come. Then all at once, it raised its wings and they flapped with much greater strength than before and bore him off vigorously. Before he knew where he was, he found himself in a large garden with the apple trees were in full blossom. And the air was scentedly with lilacs, the long branches of which overhung the indented shores of the lake. Oh, the spring freshness was so delicious. Just in front of him, he saw three beautiful white swans advancing towards him from a 10)thicket. With 11)rustling feathers, they swam lightly over the water. The duckling recognized the majestic birds, and he was overcome by a strange melancholy. “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. Better to be killed by them than be snacked up by the ducks, 12)pecked by the hens, or 13)spurned by the hen wife, or suffer so much misery in the winter.” 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 transparent water, he saw below him his own image, but he was no longer a clumsy dark gray bird, ugly and ungainly. He was himself, a swan. 醜小鴨 一天晚上，當太陽正在美麗的霞光中落下去的時候，有一羣漂亮的大鳥從灌木林裏飛出來，小鴨從來沒有看到過這樣美麗的東西。他們白得發亮，頸項又長又柔軟。這就是天鵝。他們發出一種奇異的叫聲，展開美麗的長翅膀，從寒冷的地帶飛向溫暖的國度，飛向不結冰的湖上去。 他們飛得很高--那麼高，醜小鴨不禁感到一種無名的興奮。他在水上像一個車輪似地不停地旋轉着，同時，把自己的頸項高高地向他們伸着，發出一種響亮的怪叫聲，連他自己也嚇着了。啊！他再也忘不了那些美麗的鳥兒，那些幸福的鳥兒。當他看不見他們的時候，就沉入水底；但是當他再冒到水面上來的時候，卻感到非常寂寞。他不知道那些鳥兒的名字，也不知道他們要飛去什麼地方。不過他愛他們，好像他從來還沒有愛過什麼東西似的。他並不嫉妒他們。他怎能夢想有他們那樣的美麗呢？只要別的鴨兒准許他跟他們生活在一起，他就已經很欣慰了--可憐的醜東西。 大清早，有一個農民在這兒經過。他看到了這隻小鴨，就走過去用木屐把冰塊錘破，然後把它抱回家，送給他的妻子。它這時才漸漸地恢復了知覺。小孩子們都想跟它玩，不過小鴨以爲他們想要傷害他。他一害怕就跳到牛奶盤裏去了，把牛奶濺得滿屋子都是。女人驚叫起來，拍着雙手。這麼一來，小鴨就飛到黃油盆裏去了，然後飛進麪粉桶裏去了，最後才爬出來。這時它的樣子纔好看呢！女人尖聲地叫起來，拿着火鉗要打它。小孩們擠做一團，想抓住這小鴨。他們又是笑，又是叫！ 幸好大門是開着的。他鑽進灌木林中新下的雪裏面去。他躺在那裏，徹底地筋疲力盡。要是隻講他在這嚴冬所受到困苦和災難，那麼這個故事也就太悲慘了。當太陽又開始溫暖地照着的時候，他正躺在沼澤地的蘆葦裏。百靈鳥唱起歌來了--美麗的春天已經來了。忽然間他舉起翅膀：翅膀拍起來比以前有力得多，馬上就把他托起來飛走了。他不知不覺地已經飛進了一座大花園。這兒蘋果樹開滿了花；空氣裏飄着丁香怡人的香氣，一根長長的枝條垂到彎彎曲曲的湖岸邊。啊，這兒充滿了醉人的初春的氣息！三隻美麗的白天鵝從樹蔭裏一直游到他面前來。他們輕飄飄地浮在水上，羽毛髮出颼颼的響聲。小鴨認出這些高貴的鳥兒，於是心裏感到一種說不出的難過。 “我要飛向他們，飛向這些高貴的鳥兒！可是他們會把我劈碎的，因爲我是這樣醜，居然敢接近他們。不過這沒有什麼關係！被他們殺死，要比被鴨子咬、被雞羣啄，被看管養雞場的那個女傭人踢和在冬天受苦好得多！”於是他飛到水裏，向這些高貴優雅的天鵝游去：這些動物看到他，馬上就豎起羽毛向他游來。“請你們弄死我吧！”這隻可憐的傢伙說。他把頭低低地垂到水上，只等待着死。但是他在這清澈的水上看到了什麼呢？他看到了自己的倒影。但那不再是一隻粗笨的、深灰色的、又醜又令人討厭的鴨子，而卻是--一隻天鵝！1、a flock of 一羣
2、mount [maunt] v. 增長，上升
3、crane [krein] v. 伸（頸） 4、piercing [5piEsiN] a. 刺穿的，尖銳的 5、duck [dQk] v. 突然潛入水中 6、revive [ri5vaiv] v. 甦醒；復活；再生
7、spurt out 噴出；涌出 8、tongs [tCNz] n. 火鉗，夾子
9、tumble [tQmbl] v. 摔倒；滾；亂 10、thicket [5Wikit] n. 樹叢；灌木叢 11、rustling [5rQsliN] n. 沙沙聲 12、peck [pek] v. 啄
