100个儿童英语小故事: Children's Prattle 孩子们的闲谈

 

054 Children's Prattle¹

One day, some children got together and were talking to each other. They all lived in wealthy families.

One girl spoke² confidently, "My family is very rich. My parents studied a lot."

One boy was listening to the girl and said, " 'If your name ends with '-sen', you will be miserable³.' Well, I feel lucky I have no '-sen' at the end of my name."

Then, the girl spoke again. "You're right. I have a friend whose name is 'Martsen', and his family is so poor."

Another boy said holding up his head confidently, "My father is in a high position. Everybody is afraid of him."

At that moment, one boy was listening to this conversation behind a door. He was poor, and his name ended with '-sen'. He could not mix with the children because he was so poor.

'This is so sad. I can never be a great man.' He envied all the children in the room.

As time went by, the children all grew up. A millionaire was living in the town. A lot of people wanted to visit his house. "This is such a wonderful house. Whose house is this?"

The owner of the house was the poor boy. The boy grew up to be a great sculptor⁴. Even though he was not born rich, and his name ended with '-sen', the boy became a great man. The children in the room were all wrong.

1 prattle   

n.闲谈；v.（小孩般）天真无邪地说话；发出连续而无意义的声音

参考例句：

• Amy's happy prattle became intolerable.艾美兴高采烈地叽叽喳喳说个不停，汤姆感到无法忍受。
• Flowing water and green grass witness your lover's endless prattle.流水缠绕，小草依依，都是你诉不尽的情话。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

4 sculptor   

n.雕刻家，雕刻家

参考例句：

• A sculptor forms her material.雕塑家把材料塑造成雕塑品。
• The sculptor rounded the clay into a sphere.那位雕塑家把黏土做成了一个球状。