The Ugly Duckling

丑小鸭

One evening, the sun was just setting in with true splendor¹ 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 peculiar² 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，太阳正在下山，夕阳辉煌绚烂，一群漂亮的大鸟灌术丛中飞过来。丑小鸭从未看到过如此美丽的东西，他们长着弯曲的长颈，羽毛自得耀眼。他们是天鹅，发出一种奇特的叫声。他们展开美丽的宽阔的翅膀，离开寒冷的地区，向温暖的陆地和广阔的海洋飞去。

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 shriek³ 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 drawn⁴ 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 remarkable⁵ beauty'? How thankful he would be if only the ducks would have tolerated him among them, poor ugly creature.

他们飞得那么高，那么高远，丑小鸭变得莫名地不安。他像轮子一样在水面上转着圈，跟他们一样把脖子伸到空中。然后，他发出一声尖叫，声音如此清澈，如此陌生，他被自己吓了一大跳。哦，他忘不了那些美丽的鸟儿，那些快乐的鸟儿。等他们在视野中消失，他迅速俯冲到水底，当他再探出水面的时候，他感到异常地激动。他不知道那些是什么鸟，或者他们要飞向哪里。但是，他深深地被他们吸引，这种吸引力超过了他以前见过的任何生物。他一点也不嫉妒他们。他甚至希望自己变得那样美丽，他怎么莫名其妙地会有这种想法呢？只要鸭子们会容忍他，接受他，他就感激不尽了，可怜的丑东西。

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 spurted⁶ out all over the room. The woman shrieked⁷ 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 tongs⁸, and the children tumbled over one another in trying to catch it, and they screamed with laughter.

清晨，一个农民走过来看见了他，他走到冰面上，用厚重的木鞋在冰面上砸了一个洞，把小鸭子带回家给他的妻子。在那里，丑小鸭很快苏醒了。孩子们想和他玩耍，但他以为他们要伤害自己，惶恐不已，冲进了牛奶盘里，牛奶溅得满屋子都是。女主人尖叫着，把她的手高高举起。之后小鸭飞进了黄油罐和面粉桶，又蹿了出来。噢，想象一下这时他的模样吧。女主人惊叫着，试图用钳子打他，孩子们想捉住他，结果绊倒在一起，他们大笑着，大叫着。

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 exhausted⁹, 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 marsh¹⁰, 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 scented¹¹ 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 thicket¹². With rustling¹³ feathers, they swam lightly over the water. The duckling recognized the majestic¹⁴ birds, and he was overcome by a strange melancholy¹⁵.

很幸运，门是开着的，小鸭飞出去蹿进了灌木丛，又一场雪花飘落。他躺在那里，筋疲力尽，提起这个严冬里他所经历的一切困苦，他伤心不已。当太阳又开始温暖地照耀，小鸭在一片沼泽中，躺在芦苇里。鸟儿在歌唱，美丽的春天已经来了。忽然，他高举起翅膀，用尽前所未有的力气使劲扇动着，他飞起来了。在他知道身在何处之前，他发现自己正在一个大花园里，苹果树开满了花。空气中弥漫着紫丁花的香味，长长的枝条垂落在湖岸边。哦，春天的气息如此沁人心脾。就在他的面前，他看到三只美丽的白天鹅从灌木丛中向他游来。他们轻轻地在水中滑行，羽毛沙沙作响。小鸭认出了这些庄严的鸟儿，他被一种奇怪的忧郁所笼罩。

"I will fly to them, the royal birds, and they will hack¹⁶ 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 darted¹⁷ toward him with ruffled¹⁸ 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.

“我要向他们飞去，高贵的鸟儿，他们将把我劈成碎片，因为我这么丑，不敢接近他们。但这不要紧。”于是他飞入水中，向庄严的天鹅游去。他们看到他，竖起羽毛，飞快地朝他游来。“杀了我，哦，杀了我。”可怜的家伙说道。他把头埋向水面，等待着死亡。但是他看见了什么？他看到了水中倒映着的自己的模样，但是他不再是一只丑陋的、笨拙的灰色的鸟儿。他自己是一只——天鹅。