Many years ago ,in a city in Arabia, there was¹ a boy called Aladdin. He lived with his mother in a little house near the marker, and they were very poor. Aladdin's mother worked all day, and sometimes half the night, but Aladdin never helped her.

He was a lazy² boy and he did³ not like to work. He only wanted to play all the time. Every morning he ran⁴ through the streets to the market⁵. There, he talked and laughed and played with his friends all day. Then in the evening he went home for his dinner. And every night his mother said⁶ to him: ‘Oh, Aladdin, Aladdin! You are a lazy boy － a good － for-nothing! When are you going⁷ to do some work, my son?'

But Aladdin never listened to his mother.

One day in the market there was an old man in a long black coat. Aladdin did not see him, but the old man watched Aladdin very carefully⁸. After some minutes he went up to an orange-seller and asked:

‘That boy in the green coat — who is he?'

‘Aladdin, son of Mustafa,' was the answer.

The old man moved away. ‘Yes,' he said quietly⁹. ‘Yes, that is the boy. The right name and the right father.'

Then he called out to Aladdin: ‘Boy! Come here for a minute. Is your name Aladdin? Aladdin, son of Mustafa?'

Aladdin left his friends and came¹⁰ to the old man. ‘Yes,' he said, ‘I am Aladdin, son of Mustafa. But my father is dead¹¹. He died¹² five years ago.'

‘Dead!' said the old man. ‘ Oh, no!' He put his face in his hands and began to cry.

‘Why are you crying?' asked Aladdin. ‘Did you know my father?'

很多年以前，在一个阿拉伯城市里，有一个男孩儿叫阿拉丁。他和他的母亲住在市场附近一个很小的屋子里，过着穷苦的日子。阿拉丁的母亲整天都在辛勤地劳作，有时甚至忙碌到深夜，但阿拉丁从来都不帮助她。

他很懒惰，不喜欢劳动，只想整天玩耍。每天早晨他都穿过街道跑到市场上， 一整天都和伙伴们在那儿说笑嬉戏，傍晚时分才回家吃饭。

每天晚上他的母亲都对他说：“唉，阿拉丁，阿拉丁！你这个懒惰的孩子——真是没用！你什么时候才能做点儿事呢？儿子？”

但阿拉丁从来都不听母亲的话。

一天，市场上来了一个身穿黑色长袍的老头儿。阿拉丁并没有注意到他，老头儿却在仔细地观察着阿拉丁。过了好一会儿他走到一个卖橘子的摊贩前问道：

“那个穿绿衣服的男孩子——他是谁啊？”

“阿拉丁，穆斯塔法的儿子。”摊贩答道。

老头儿随即走开了。“是的，”他低声地自言自语道，“是的，就是这个男孩儿。就是这个名字，他父亲的名字也对。”

然后他冲阿拉丁喊道：“孩子！过来一下。你是叫阿拉丁吗？阿拉丁，穆斯塔法的儿子？”

阿拉丁离开他的伙伴们来到老头儿面前。“是的，”他说，“我是阿拉丁，穆斯塔法的儿子。但我父亲已经死了，他五年前就死了。”

“死了！”老头儿说，“哦，不！”他用手蒙着脸哭了起来。

“你为什么哭？”阿拉丁问道，“你认识我父亲吗？”