安徒生童话(英文版)有声读物系列之——拇指姑娘（四）

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《拇指姑娘》（四）

Little Tiny or Thumbelina (Part 4)

前情提要：

拇指姑娘在地道中见到了一只被冻死的燕子，她想着夏天为她歌唱的燕子而心存感激，遂带了一条自己用稻草织成的毯子去盖在燕子身上，想跟燕子告别。然而当她把头放在燕子的胸膛上的时候，她听到了燕子微弱的心跳。原来，燕子只是翅膀受伤了，在寒冷的天气中被冻僵了，被拇指姑娘的毯子温暖了之后又醒过来了。在之后的日子里，拇指姑娘背着田鼠和鼹鼠偷偷照顾着燕子。春天来了，燕子恢复了健康。在他即将离开之际，他问拇指姑娘要不要跟他一起去到温暖的南方，拇指姑娘不想伤田鼠的心，拒绝了燕子留了下来。接下来的整个夏天和秋天，拇指姑娘都在准备自己出嫁的衣服，等冬天到来，她就要嫁给鼹鼠，从此不见天日。终于，拇指姑娘告诉田鼠她不想嫁给鼹鼠，却换来一顿斥责。拇指姑娘很不开心。在出嫁前夕，她征得田鼠同意后走到玉米地中，向太阳做最后的告别。。。

可怜的拇指姑娘真的就要从此过着不见天日的生活了吗？请听《拇指姑娘》第四集。

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以下是《拇指姑娘》第四集的英文。

Little Tiny or Thumbelina

by

Hans Christian Andersen

(1835)

Translation by Mrs. H.B. Paull (1872)

Narration by Alexandria (Alex) Wood

Part 4

“Farewell bright sun,” she cried, stretching out her arm towards it; and then she walked a short distance from the house; for the corn had been cut, and only the dry stubble (['stʌbl], n. 残株) remained in the fields. “Farewell, farewell,” she repeated, twining (动词原形为twine [twaɪn]，vi. 缠绕)  her arm round a little red flower that grew just by her side. “Greet the little swallow from me, if you should see him again.”

“Tweet, tweet,” sounded over her head suddenly. She looked up, and there was the swallow himself flying close by. As soon as he spied (动词原形为spy, vt. 发现) Tiny, he was delighted; and then she told him how unwilling she felt to marry the ugly mole, and to live always beneath the earth, and never to see the bright sun any more. And as she told him she wept (v. 哭泣, weep的过去式).

“Cold winter is coming,” said the swallow, “and I am going to fly away into warmer countries. Will you go with me? You can sit on my back, and fasten (['fæsən], vt. 使固定) yourself on with your sash ([sæʃ], n. 腰带). Then we can fly away from the ugly mole and his gloomy (['ɡlumi], adj. 黑暗的; 沮丧的;阴郁的) rooms,—far away, over the mountains, into warmer countries, where the sun shines more brightly—than here; where it is always summer, and the flowers bloom ([blum], vi. 开花; 茂盛) in greater beauty. Fly now with me, dear little Tiny; you saved my life when I lay frozen in that dark passage.”

“Yes, I will go with you,” said Tiny; and she seated herself on the bird’s back, with her feet on his outstretched (['aʊt'strɛtʃt], adj. 伸开的) wings, and tied her girdle (['gɝdl], n. 腰带) to one of his strongest feathers.

Then the swallow rose in the air, and flew over forest and over sea, high above the highest mountains, covered with eternal ([ɪ'tɝnl], adj. 永恒的) snow. Tiny would have been frozen in the cold air, but she crept ([krɛpt], v. 匍匐爬行, creep的过去式) under the bird’s warm feathers, keeping her little head uncovered, so that she might admire ([ədˈmaɪr], vt. 欣赏; 赞美) the beautiful lands over which they passed. At length they reached the warm countries, where the sun shines brightly, and the sky seems so much higher above the earth. Here, on the hedges ([hɛdʒ], n. 树篱), and by the wayside, grew purple, green, and white grapes; lemons and oranges hung from trees in the woods; and the air was fragrant (['freigrənt],adj. 芳香的) with myrtles (['mətəl], n. [植物]桃金娘) and orange blossoms (['blɒsəm], n. 花; 花开的状态). Beautiful children ran along the country lanes, playing with large gay (adj. 快乐的) butterflies; and as the swallow flew farther and farther, every place appeared still more lovely.

At last they came to a blue lake, and by the side of it, shaded by trees of the deepest green, stood a palace of dazzling(['dæzliŋ], adj. 耀眼的; 眼花缭乱的) white marble (['mɑrbl],n. 大理石), built in the olden (['əʊldən], adj. 古时的, 往昔的) times. Vines ([vaɪn], n. 藤; 葡萄树) clustered round its lofty (['lɔfti],adj. 高的) pillars, and at the top were many swallows’ nests, and one of these was the home of the swallow who carried Tiny.

“This is my house,” said the swallow; “but it would not do good for you to live there—you would not becomfortable ([ˈkʌmfɚtəbl], adj. 舒适的，舒服的). You must choose for yourself one of those lovely flowers, and I will put you down upon it, and then you shall have everything that you can wish to make you happy.”

“That will be delightful,” she said, and clapped her little hands for joy.

A large marble pillar lay on the ground, which, in falling, had been broken into three pieces. Between these pieces grew the most beautiful large white flowers; so the swallow flew down with Tiny, and placed her on one of the broad leaves. But how surprised she was to see in the middle of the flower, a tiny little man, as white and transparent([træns'pærənt], adj. 透明的) as if he had been made of crystal (['krɪstl], n. 水晶)! He had a gold crown on his head, and delicate wings at his shoulders, and was not much larger than Tiny herself. He was the angel of the flower; for a tiny man and a tiny woman dwell in every flower; and this was the king of them all.

“Oh, how beautiful he is!” whispered Tiny to the swallow.

The little prince was at first quite frightened at the bird, who was like a giant (n. 巨人), compared to such a delicate little creature as himself; but when he saw Tiny, he was delighted, and thought her the prettiest little maiden he had ever seen. He took the gold crown from his head, and placed it on hers, and asked her name, and if she would be his wife, and queen over all the flowers.

This certainly was a very different sort of husband to the son of a toad (n. 癞蛤蟆), or the mole (n. 鼹鼠), with the black velvet and fur; so she said, “Yes,” to the handsome prince. Then all the flowers opened, and out of each came a little lady or a tiny lord, all so pretty it was quite a pleasure to look at them. Each of them brought Tiny a present; but the best gift was a pair of beautiful wings, which had belonged to a large white fly (n. 苍蝇; 两翼昆虫) and they fastened them to Tiny’s shoulders, so that she might fly from flower to flower. Then there was much rejoicing ([rɪ'dʒɔɪsɪŋ], n. 高兴；欣喜；庆祝), and the little swallow who sat above them, in his nest, was asked to sing a wedding song, which he did as well as he could; but in his heart he felt sad for he was very fond of Tiny, and would have liked never to part from her again.

“You must not be called Tiny any more,” said the spirit (['spɪrɪt], n. 精灵) of the flower to her. “It is an ugly name, and you are so very pretty. We will call you Maia.”

“Farewell, farewell,” said the swallow, with a heavy heart as he left the warm countries to fly back into Denmark (['denma:k]，丹麦). There he had a nest over the window of a house in which dwelt the writer of fairy tales. The swallow sang, “Tweet, tweet,” and from his song came the whole story.

The End

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