美国小学英语教材3:第113课 睡美人(1)

 　　The Sleeping Beauty 睡美人

　　Most fairy stories have just one fairy in them. This one has thirteen! 绝大多数的童话故事中只有一个仙女。这个童话里有13个！

　　When the thirteenth was not invited to a party, very strange things happened. 而当第13个仙女没有被邀请参加派对时，非常奇怪的事情发生了。

　　The Wicked¹ Fairy 邪恶的仙女

　　Once upon a time there lived a king and a queen who for many years were very sad because they had no child. 很久很久以前，有个国王和王后因为没有孩子而苦恼了许多年。

　　At last a little daughter came to them, and the king was so happy that he wanted to give a great feast² at the castle. 终于他们有了个小女儿，国王高兴极了，于是想在城堡里举行一场盛大的宴会。

　　Now in his country there were thirteen fairies. 当时在他的国家里有13个仙女。

　　Of course the king wished to invite all of these fairies to the feast, so that each of them might give his dear child a fairy gift. 当然，国王希望能请到所有的仙女参加宴会，这样每个仙女都可以给他的女儿一份礼物。

　　How can you invite them all? asked the queen. "We have only twelve golden³ plates. One of the fairies must stay at home." 你怎么才能请到所有的仙女？王后问道，我们只有12只金盘子，必须在有一个仙女待在家里。

　　So only twelve fairies were invited to the castle. 于是，只有12个仙女受邀来到了城堡。

　　When they came, they brought magic gifts to the baby, and very wonderful gifts they were. 她们来的时候，都给这个小宝贝带来了有魔法的礼物，这些礼物都非常神奇。

　　One fairy said to the child, "You shall be good." Another said, "You shall be wise." 一个仙女对这孩子说：你将会健康。另一个仙女说：你将会聪明。

　　A third promised her beauty, and a fourth, riches; and so on, until she had been given everything in the world that one could wish for. 第3个仙女赋予她美丽，第4个仙女赋予她富有。就这样，她收到了世人都想要得到的所有东西。

　　Eleven of the fairies had named their gifts and the last one was about to speak, when in walked the fairy who had not been invited to the feast. 11个仙女都说出了自己的礼物，就在最后一个仙女要说话的时候，没有受邀参加宴会的仙女走进来了。

　　She was very angry about it. Without even looking at anyone, she cried in a loud voice,  她非常生气，看也不看大家，大声说道：

　　"When the princess is fifteen years old, she shall prick⁴ her hand on a spinning⁵ wheel and die!" 公主在她15岁的时候，会被纺车扎到手面死去！

1 wicked   

adj.邪恶的，恶劣的，缺德的；淘气的

参考例句：

• Let everyone know all the wicked things she has done.把她干的坏事给大家抖搂抖搂。
• The wicked must be wiped out.恶人必须除掉。

2 feast   

n.盛宴，筵席，节日

参考例句：

• After the feast she spent a week dieting to salve her conscience.大吃了一顿之后，她花了一周时间节食以安慰自己。
• You shouldn't have troubled yourself to prepare such a feast!你不该准备这样丰盛的饭菜，这样太麻烦你了！

3 golden   

adj.金的，含金的，可贵的，金色的，贵重的，繁盛的

参考例句：

• My teacher is an Englishman with golden hair.我的老师是一个金黄色头发的英国人。
• It's a balmy evening,the golden time for lovers.这是一个暖和的夜晚，是恋人们的黄金时光。

4 prick   

v.刺伤，刺痛，刺孔；n.刺伤，刺痛

参考例句：

• He felt a sharp prick when he stepped on an upturned nail.当他踩在一个尖朝上的钉子上时，他感到剧烈的疼痛。
• He burst the balloon with a prick of the pin.他用针一戳，气球就爆了。

5 spinning   

n.纺纱v.使…旋转( spin的现在分词 )；纺（线）；杜撰；（使）急转身

参考例句：

• The plane was spinning out of control. 飞机失去控制，不停地旋转。
• The carriage was spinning along at a good speed. 马车以高速飞跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》