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当前位置:首页 -> 9级英语阅读 - > 安徒生童话英文版:The Happy Family
安徒生童话英文版:The Happy Family
添加时间:2014-02-26 14:34:35 浏览次数: 作者:Andersen
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  • (1848)

    THE largest green leaf in this country is certainly the burdock-leaf. If you hold it in front of you, it is large enough for an apron1; and if you hold it over your head, it is almost as good as an umbrella, it is so wonderfully large. A burdock never grows alone; where it grows, there are many more, and it is a splendid sight; and all this splendor2 is good for snails3. The great white snails, which grand people in olden times used to have made into fricassees; and when they had eaten them, they would say, “O, what a delicious dish!” for these people really thought them good; and these snails lived on burdock-leaves, and for them the burdock was planted.

    There was once an old estate where no one now lived to require snails; indeed, the owners had all died out, but the burdock still flourished; it grew over all the beds and walks of the garden—its growth had no check—till it became at last quite a forest of burdocks. Here and there stood an apple or a plum-tree; but for this, nobody would have thought the place had ever been a garden. It was burdock from one end to the other; and here lived the last two surviving snails. They knew not themselves how old they were; but they could remember the time when there were a great many more of them, and that they were descended5 from a family which came from foreign lands, and that the whole forest had been planted for them and theirs. They had never been away from the garden; but they knew that another place once existed in the world, called the Duke’s Palace Castle, in which some of their relations had been boiled till they became black, and were then laid on a silver dish; but what was done afterwards they did not know. Besides, they could not imagine exactly how it felt to be boiled and placed on a silver dish; but no doubt it was something very fine and highly genteel. Neither the cockchafer, nor the toad6, nor the earth-worm, whom they questioned about it, would give them the least information; for none of their relations had ever been cooked or served on a silver dish. The old white snails were the most aristocratic race in the world,—they knew that. The forest had been planted for them, and the nobleman’s castle had been built entirely7 that they might be cooked and laid on silver dishes.

    They lived quite retired8 and very happily; and as they had no children of their own, they had adopted a little common snail4, which they brought up as their own child. The little one would not grow, for he was only a common snail; but the old people, particularly the mother-snail, declared that she could easily see how he grew; and when the father said he could not perceive it, she begged him to feel the little snail’s shell, and he did so, and found that the mother was right.

    One day it rained very fast. “Listen, what a drumming there is on the burdock-leaves; turn, turn, turn; turn, turn, turn,” said the father-snail.

    “There come the drops,” said the mother; “they are trickling9 down the stalks. We shall have it very wet here presently. I am very glad we have such good houses, and that the little one has one of his own. There has been really more done for us than for any other creature; it is quite plain that we are the most noble people in the world. We have houses from our birth, and the burdock forest has been planted for us. I should very much like to know how far it extends, and what lies beyond it.”

    “There can be nothing better than we have here,” said the father-snail; “I wish for nothing more.”

    “Yes, but I do,” said the mother; “I should like to be taken to the palace, and boiled, and laid upon a silver dish, as was done to all our ancestors; and you may be sure it must be something very uncommon10.”

    “The nobleman’s castle, perhaps, has fallen to decay,” said the snail-father, “or the burdock wood may have grown out. You need not be in a hurry; you are always so impatient, and the youngster is getting just the same. He has been three days creeping to the top of that stalk. I feel quite giddy when I look at him.”

    “You must not scold him,” said the mother-snail; “he creeps so very carefully. He will be the joy of our home; and we old folks have nothing else to live for. But have you ever thought where we are to get a wife for him? Do you think that farther out in the wood there may be others of our race?”

    “There may be black snails, no doubt,” said the old snail; “black snails without houses; but they are so vulgar and conceited11 too. But we can give the ants a commission; they run here and there, as if they all had so much business to get through. They, most likely, will know of a wife for our youngster.”

    “I certainly know a most beautiful bride,” said one of the ants; “but I fear it would not do, for she is a queen.”

    “That does not matter,” said the old snail; “has she a house?”

    “She has a palace,” replied the ant,—“a most beautiful ant-palace with seven hundred passages.”

    “Thank-you,” said the mother-snail; “but our boy shall not go to live in an ant-hill. If you know of nothing better, we will give the commission to the white gnats12; they fly about in rain and sunshine; they know the burdock wood from one end to the other.”

    “We have a wife for him,” said the gnats; “a hundred man-steps from here there is a little snail with a house, sitting on a gooseberry-bush; she is quite alone, and old enough to be married. It is only a hundred man-steps from here.”

    “Then let her come to him,” said the old people. “He has the whole burdock forest; she has only a bush.”

    So they brought the little lady-snail. She took eight days to perform the journey; but that was just as it ought to be; for it showed her to be one of the right breeding. And then they had a wedding. Six glow-worms gave as much light as they could; but in other respects it was all very quiet; for the old snails could not bear festivities or a crowd. But a beautiful speech was made by the mother-snail. The father could not speak; he was too much overcome. Then they gave the whole burdock forest to the young snails as an inheritance, and repeated what they had so often said, that it was the finest place in the world, and that if they led upright and honorable lives, and their family increased, they and their children might some day be taken to the nobleman’s palace, to be boiled black, and laid on a silver dish. And when they had finished speaking, the old couple crept into their houses, and came out no more; for they slept.

    The young snail pair now ruled in the forest, and had a numerous progeny13. But as the young ones were never boiled or laid in silver dishes, they concluded that the castle had fallen into decay, and that all the people in the world were dead; and as nobody contradicted them, they thought they must be right. And the rain fell upon the burdock-leaves, to play the drum for them, and the sun shone to paint colors on the burdock forest for them, and they were very happy; the whole family were entirely and perfectly14 happy.



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    1 apron [ˈeɪprən] Lvzzo   第7级
    n.围裙;工作裙
    参考例句:
    • We were waited on by a pretty girl in a pink apron. 招待我们的是一位穿粉红色围裙的漂亮姑娘。
    • She stitched a pocket on the new apron. 她在新围裙上缝上一只口袋。
    2 splendor ['splendə] hriy0   第10级
    n.光彩;壮丽,华丽;显赫,辉煌
    参考例句:
    • Never in his life had he gazed on such splendor. 他生平从没有见过如此辉煌壮丽的场面。
    • All the splendor in the world is not worth a good friend. 人世间所有的荣华富贵不如一个好朋友。
    3 snails [sneɪls] 23436a8a3f6bf9f3c4a9f6db000bb173   第8级
    n.蜗牛;迟钝的人;蜗牛( snail的名词复数 )
    参考例句:
    • I think I'll try the snails for lunch—I'm feeling adventurous today. 我想我午餐要尝一下蜗牛——我今天很想冒险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
    • Most snails have shells on their backs. 大多数蜗牛背上有壳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
    4 snail [sneɪl] 8xcwS   第8级
    n.蜗牛
    参考例句:
    • Snail is a small plant-eating creature with a soft body. 蜗牛是一种软体草食动物。
    • Time moved at a snail's pace before the holidays. 放假前的时间过得很慢。
    5 descended [di'sendid] guQzoy   第7级
    a.为...后裔的,出身于...的
    参考例句:
    • A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
    • The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。
    6 toad [təʊd] oJezr   第8级
    n.蟾蜍,癞蛤蟆
    参考例句:
    • Both the toad and frog are amphibian. 蟾蜍和青蛙都是两栖动物。
    • Many kinds of toad hibernate in winter. 许多种蟾蜍在冬天都会冬眠。
    7 entirely [ɪnˈtaɪəli] entirely   第9级
    ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地
    参考例句:
    • The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
    • His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
    8 retired [rɪˈtaɪəd] Njhzyv   第8级
    adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的
    参考例句:
    • The old man retired to the country for rest. 这位老人下乡休息去了。
    • Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby. 许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。
    9 trickling ['trɪklɪŋ] 24aeffc8684b1cc6b8fa417e730cc8dc   第8级
    n.油画底色含油太多而成泡沫状突起v.滴( trickle的现在分词 );淌;使)慢慢走;缓慢移动
    参考例句:
    • Tears were trickling down her cheeks. 眼泪顺着她的面颊流了下来。
    • The engine was trickling oil. 发动机在滴油。 来自《简明英汉词典》
    10 uncommon [ʌnˈkɒmən] AlPwO   第8级
    adj.罕见的,非凡的,不平常的
    参考例句:
    • Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago. 这些看法在30年前很常见。
    • Phil has uncommon intelligence. 菲尔智力超群。
    11 conceited [kənˈsi:tɪd] Cv0zxi   第8级
    adj.自负的,骄傲自满的
    参考例句:
    • He could not bear that they should be so conceited. 他们这样自高自大他受不了。
    • I'm not as conceited as so many people seem to think. 我不像很多人认为的那么自负。
    12 gnats [næts] e62a9272689055f936a8d55ef289d2fb   第12级
    n.叮人小虫( gnat的名词复数 )
    参考例句:
    • He decided that he might fire at all gnats. 他决定索性把鸡毛蒜皮都摊出来。 来自辞典例句
    • The air seemed to grow thick with fine white gnats. 空气似乎由于许多白色的小虫子而变得浑浊不堪。 来自辞典例句
    13 progeny [ˈprɒdʒəni] ZB5yF   第11级
    n.后代,子孙;结果
    参考例句:
    • His numerous progeny are scattered all over the country. 他为数众多的后代散布在全国各地。
    • He was surrounded by his numerous progeny. 众多的子孙簇拥着他。
    14 perfectly [ˈpɜ:fɪktli] 8Mzxb   第8级
    adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地
    参考例句:
    • The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said. 证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
    • Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board. 我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

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