儿童故事集：The Beauty at the Last Ball

 We have reached the final episode of our Waking Beauty series about the mysterious Princess Talia, and her friends Basil and Sally. They have travelled back and forth¹ in time and confronted their arch enemy. Now the sleeping city of Oxford² is waking up. The three friends must return to the ‘real’ world. But is there a future for Talia at Westerly College, Oxford?

 

 

 

Story by Bertie.

 

Read by Elizabeth.

 

Proofread³ by Jana Elizabeth.

 

Illustrated⁴ by Chiara Civati.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sally’s mum noticed that the digital clock on the oven was reading 17.59. She liked to hear the evening news on the radio while she prepared dinner, and she reached over to switch it on. She heard the six time pips and the announcer, with smooth tones, read the headlines:

 

“Several thousand people in the city of Oxford have temporarily lost consciousness. Emergency services have been overwhelmed by numerous traffic accidents and outbreaks of fire. Officials say they are mystified by the occurrence and are yet to find any credible⁵ explanation.”

 

She could not make head or tail of what she had just heard, but immediately felt a sense of dread⁶, of the sort that only parents can feel when they fear for their child.

 

“Oh my gosh … something terrible has happened to Sally, I just know,” and she rushed to the phone to dial her daughter’s number:

 

“Hello Mum,” came the cheery reply.

 

“Oh Sally, you’re alive. Thank goodness!”

 

“Yes Mum, I’m alive. In fact I’m just fine. A few people banged their heads when they fell asleep, but I’m glad to say I had a soft landing!”

 

Of course Sally could not begin to tell her mother what she had really experienced. For her the trip back through time with Basil had taken several days, but for most people in Oxford the sleeping sickness and the fog had lasted a minute or so at most. Many had woken up bemused and baffled, and quite a few with bumps and bruises⁷. Some had more serious injuries. The cause of the incident was unknown. Government officials were visiting a power plant near the Oxfordshire town of Didcot to see if any poisonous gasses could have leaked into the air. The head of the UFO Society had telephoned Channel 5 News to claim that a giant flying saucer had been sited flying over the city’s dreaming spires⁸. But the truth would never have been widely revealed, for who could have guessed that it was all a slick trick of time played by the famous witch, Morgan Le Fay?

 

After the witch had been sucked through the window of the tower, Princess Talia had fallen into the arms of Basil. It was the way it was meant to be, and it was the fairy tale ending, but Sally could not help feeling a little sharp pang⁹ of jealousy¹⁰. After all, she had been at Basil’s side while he transformed himself from a lanky¹¹, head-in-the clouds Classics student, into a knight¹². Part of her thought she ought to prefer the brainy, funny, peace-loving Basil, but there was another part of her that could not help shuddering¹³ with a certain awe¹⁴ at the steadfast¹⁵, sword-in-hand, fight to the death Sir Basil that she had just witnessed.

 

But then Basil, still tangled¹⁶ up in Talia’s arms, turned his head and said:

 

“Sally, I want to thank you for all that you’ve done over the last few days. It’s so great that you came back in time with me. I mean, you were the one doing the thinking. I would have just been lost on my own.”

 

Then Talia, released Basil from her embrace, and came over to Sally to hug her. And Sally began to feel a little less left out of things.

 

The trio made their way down the dark, winding¹⁷ stairs of Fletcher’s Tower, and out into the bright sunlight of the quad¹⁸. The scene was almost normal with undergraduates and dons milling around and trying to figure out what had happened. What made it just a little bit surreal was the fact that two horses draped in colourful silks were nibbling¹⁹ the grass. These days horses are a rare sight inside Oxford colleges, and of course nobody except Basil, Talia, and Sally understood why there were there. It was a day of strange happenings.

 

Sally could not help noticing that quite a few eyes were directed towards the three friends as they made their way along the path. She began to wonder if people now knew the role they had played. It was only when a third year student, Cynthia Smythe, said to her: “Are you going to a ball?” that she realised that everyone was looking at the way they were dressed. She was still in a medieval gown, and Basil was wearing metal armour²⁰ and carrying a sword.

 

“Ay yes, I mean no, it’s a fancy dress party at Teddy Hall,” stuttered Sally.

 

And quite frankly²¹, there are so many bizarre people wondering around Oxford at any time of day, that it wasn’t that strange to meet people in medieval costume among the sandstone walls and ancient gargoyles²².

 

They went up to Basil’s room to help the poor boy out of his suit of armour. A tall thin Classics student emerged out of his bulky shell. They set up the metal suit in the corner where it looked like an ancestral heirloom. Otherwise the room was pretty empty because, of course, Basil had packed his things and left college shortly before the momentous²³ events. He had pledged to leave with Princess Talia. Basil wore a leather pouch²⁴ around his neck which had been given to him while he was travelling through the past. He checked and found that it still contained his thin sliver²⁵ of a bank card and his mobile phone. The phone unfortunately had taken a blow at some stage, and was dented²⁶ and no longer working.

 

“Well,” said Basil. “This is goodbye Sally.”

 

“What do you mean? You can’t up and leave now.”

 

“I’m afraid we must,” said Talia. “There is no place for me in this college. The authorities sided with her … I mean, the witch. I cannot remain here.”

 

An hour later, Basil and Princess Talia were seated on the bus for Victoria Station in London.

 

Sally came on board to kiss both her friends goodbye. While they waited for the driver to get on board, she said:

 

“What do you think would have happened if she had succeeded – if Morgan Le Fay had destroyed all the university’s knowledge?”

 

“The knowledge would not have mattered that much,” said Basil. “Most of it’s wrong anyway. Modern Science has surpassed it all. But what we would have lost is that sense of connection with the past. I mean, when you read about Rome or Ancient Athens, the people are as real as if they are alive today. You get that feeling that human life continues even if we don’t ourselves. The past is different, but it’s also the same. It’s all part of one big thing. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

 

“Yes,” said Sally. “I do because I’ve been there, in the past I mean.”

 

And Talia leaned her head against Basil’s shoulder and said: “If you leap through time and miss out all the bits in between, you feel totally disjointed. You need a record of the past to connect it all up. We humans need the past as well as the present and the future.”

 

Sally stepped down from the bus. From the pavement, she waved goodbye to her friends. She looked around the Oxford bus station. It was such a drab and dreary²⁷ scene straight out of modern Britain. Nobody had really bothered to make it into anything special. It was no more than a car park of diesel²⁸ fumes²⁹. And yet it was the place where for so many, the Oxford fairy tale began and ended.

 

Sally’s dress, given to her by Queen Guinevere, came in handy for the May Ball which took place, as is the custom in Oxford, in the month of June. She even had the pick of the college men to accompany her, in the form of Jonathan Miles, the English scholar, who was widely considered as totally cool, and she was the envy of many of the other college women who wondered what he saw in her.

 

But what made the night really special, was that Princess Talia and Basil came back for the ball. They were the most beautiful couple who danced the night away, obviously in love with each other. Although they were the same age, or younger than almost all the others there, because they had already left and moved onto a new life, they already seemed so much more mature and grown up. They were almost like film stars. Impossibly glamorous³⁰ and beyond the reach of ordinary mortals, apart from Sally of course.

 

From then on, the many distractions³¹ of life at Oxford, including the parties, the romances, the student politics, the drama societies, the eight weeks, and the balls, no longer seemed quite so important as before to Sally. She had experienced so much, so intensely, that Oxford life all seemed rather trivial. She found that the less she cared about who invited her to what event, the more that everybody wanted to invite her out to every happening. She concentrated on her studies, and at the end of four years she took a first in Classics, or Greats as traditionalists like to call it.

 

And that was the twentieth and final part of Waking Beauty. The story was written by Bertie and read by me Elizabeth Donnelly for Storynory.com.

 

Perhaps, like me, you feel just a little bit sad that the series has come to and end. If you have got this far with it, you probably feel that you know Sally, Talia, and Basil quite well. As they say, parting is always such sweet sorrow. Oh well, excuse me while I wipe a little tear from my eye. But never mind. I’ll be back soon with some more stories, including one that I’ve written myself. That will be a first and I’m feeling rather excited about it.

1 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

2 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

3 proofread   

vt.校正，校对

参考例句：

• I didn't even have the chance to proofread my own report.我甚至没有机会校对自己的报告。
• Before handing in his application to his teacher,he proofread it again.交给老师之前，他又将申请书补正了一遍。

4 illustrated   

adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• His lecture was illustrated with slides taken during the expedition. 他在讲演中使用了探险时拍摄到的幻灯片。
• The manufacturing Methods: Will be illustrated in the next chapter. 制作方法将在下一章说明。

5 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

6 dread   

vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧

参考例句：

• We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
• Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。

7 bruises   

n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was covered with bruises after falling off his bicycle. 他从自行车上摔了下来，摔得浑身伤痕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The pear had bruises of dark spots. 这个梨子有碰伤的黑斑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 spires   

n.（教堂的） 塔尖，尖顶( spire的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her masts leveled with the spires of churches. 船的桅杆和教堂的塔尖一样高。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• White church spires lift above green valleys. 教堂的白色尖顶耸立在绿色山谷中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 pang   

n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷

参考例句：

• She experienced a sharp pang of disappointment.她经历了失望的巨大痛苦。
• She was beginning to know the pang of disappointed love.她开始尝到了失恋的痛苦。

10 jealousy   

n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌

参考例句：

• Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
• I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。

11 lanky   

adj.瘦长的

参考例句：

• He was six feet four,all lanky and leggy.他身高6英尺4英寸，瘦高个儿，大长腿。
• Tom was a lanky boy with long skinny legs.汤姆是一个腿很细的瘦高个儿。

12 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

13 shuddering   

v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动

参考例句：

• 'I am afraid of it,'she answered, shuddering. “我害怕，”她发着抖，说。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• She drew a deep shuddering breath. 她不由得打了个寒噤，深深吸了口气。 来自飘（部分）

14 awe   

n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧

参考例句：

• The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

15 steadfast   

adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的

参考例句：

• Her steadfast belief never left her for one moment.她坚定的信仰从未动摇过。
• He succeeded in his studies by dint of steadfast application.由于坚持不懈的努力他获得了学业上的成功。

16 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

17 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

18 quad   

n.四方院；四胞胎之一；v.在…填补空铅

参考例句：

• His rooms were on the left-hand side of the quad.他的房间位于四方院的左侧。
• She is a 34-year-old mother of quads.她是个生了四胞胎的34岁的母亲。

19 nibbling   

v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的现在分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬

参考例句：

• We sat drinking wine and nibbling olives. 我们坐在那儿，喝着葡萄酒嚼着橄榄。
• He was nibbling on the apple. 他在啃苹果。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

20 armour   

（=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队

参考例句：

• His body was encased in shining armour.他全身披着明晃晃的甲胄。
• Bulletproof cars sheathed in armour.防弹车护有装甲。

21 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

22 gargoyles   

n.怪兽状滴水嘴( gargoyle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Week of Gargoyle: Double growth for Gargoyle and O idia Gargoyles. 石像鬼周：石像鬼产量加倍。 来自互联网
• Fixed a problem that caused Gargoyles to become stuck in Stone Form. 修正了石像鬼在石像形态卡住的问题。 来自互联网

23 momentous   

adj.重要的，重大的

参考例句：

• I am deeply honoured to be invited to this momentous occasion.能应邀出席如此重要的场合，我深感荣幸。
• The momentous news was that war had begun.重大的新闻是战争已经开始。

24 pouch   

n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件

参考例句：

• He was going to make a tobacco pouch out of them. 他要用它们缝制一个烟草袋。
• The old man is always carrying a tobacco pouch with him.这老汉总是随身带着烟袋。

25 sliver   

n.裂片，细片，梳毛；v.纵切，切成长片，剖开

参考例句：

• There was only one sliver of light in the darkness.黑暗中只有一点零星的光亮。
• Then,one night,Monica saw a thin sliver of the moon reappear.之后的一天晚上，莫尼卡看到了一个月牙。

26 dented   

v.使产生凹痕( dent的过去式和过去分词 )；损害；伤害；挫伤（信心、名誉等）

参考例句：

• The back of the car was badly dented in the collision. 汽车尾部被撞后严重凹陷。
• I'm afraid I've dented the car. 恐怕我把车子撞瘪了一些。 来自《简明英汉词典》

27 dreary   

adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的

参考例句：

• They live such dreary lives.他们的生活如此乏味。
• She was tired of hearing the same dreary tale of drunkenness and violence.她听够了那些关于酗酒和暴力的乏味故事。

28 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。

29 fumes   

n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体

参考例句：

• The health of our children is being endangered by exhaust fumes. 我们孩子们的健康正受到排放出的废气的损害。
• Exhaust fumes are bad for your health. 废气对健康有害。

30 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

31 distractions   

n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱

参考例句：

• I find it hard to work at home because there are too many distractions. 我发觉在家里工作很难，因为使人分心的事太多。
• There are too many distractions here to work properly. 这里叫人分心的事太多，使人无法好好工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》