天方夜谭英文故事：Sindbad The Sailor

Once there lived a young man. His name was Sindbad. He was a good merchant. He sailed around the world and sold his goods. On each voyage¹ he had some wonderful and thrilling² adventures. 

 

On one of the voyages³ he went to China by a ship with dates from Arabia. When he was returning home, he was caught in a storm and his ship was swallowed by the waves. But to his luck, he saw a broken wood from the wrecked⁴ ship near him. He held on to the wood and got fainted⁵. When he woke up he was in a strange land. On all sides of him. there were huge white colored rocks, smooth and shiny⁶. He wondered and went near the stones. He examined and found that they were the eggs of giant eagles. 

 

Suddenly a huge eagle landed near him. He was only the size of its toes. He was frightened and wondered how he could he escape from the huge bird. Just then some more birds also alighted near the eggs. He saw some birds flying away. So he found an idea to escape. He slowly went near a bird and tied himself to the toes of a bird by a rope. 

 

Soon the huge bird carried him away After sometime⁷ later it landed in a valley. It was the valley of diamonds. He quickly released⁸ himself from the bird. 

 

He saw diamonds and other precious⁹ stones all around. Just then a piece of meat fell beside him. Soon a huge bird picked the meat with Its beak¹⁰. Sindbad then remembered the story of the valley. People used to throw meat pieces in to the valley. 

 

The precious stones got stuck on them. Then the birds carried the meat to their nest. The people frightened the birds by beating drums. The people collected the diamonds from its nest and became rich. 

 

Sindbad packed up as many diamonds as he could. Then he waited for another eagle. As soon as it landed he tied himself to its toes. Then the bird flew its nest. Soon he freed himself. The people were frightened to see him in the birds nest. Sindbad told what had happened to him. 

 

When they heard the story of his adventure they brought him to their chief. He was honoured by the chief. Sindbad boarded a ship passing by. He went to Arabia and made arrangements for his next voyage.  

1 voyage   

n.航行，航海，航程，旅行，航空；vi./vt.航海，航行；渡过，飞过

参考例句：

• Life is compared to a voyage.人生好比航海。
• The December weather favoured our voyage.12月的天气使我们的航行顺利。

2 thrilling   

adj.令人兴奋的；毛骨悚然的；颤动的；震颤的v.“thrill”的现在分词

参考例句：

• Her voice had a strange and thrilling resonance. 她的声音洪亮，有一种奇特的震撼人心的效果。
• It's a thrilling movie even though it lacks subtlety. 这部电影虽说不算精巧，但还是扣人心弦的。

3 voyages   

航行，航海，航天( voyage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were voyages in Japanese-built ships to India and Peru. 日本人建造的船曾经航行到印度、秘鲁。
• His successful voyages showed what great advances had been made. 他的航行成功说明航海业又前进了一大步。

4 wrecked   

adj.失事的，遇难的

参考例句：

• the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
• the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞

5 fainted   

v.晕倒，昏倒( faint的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Facer has fainted; this bucket of water should fetch him round. 费塞昏过去了，这桶水可以使他苏醒过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She all but fainted when she heard the news. 听到那消息，她差点晕过去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 shiny   

adj.有光泽的，发光的，辉煌的

参考例句：

• What shiny shoes you're wearing!你穿的鞋子擦得真亮啊！
• All the cups are clean and shiny.所有的杯子都很干净明亮。

7 sometime   

adv.将来某一时候；改天

参考例句：

• He came sometime last month.上个月某个时候他曾经来过。
• It will happen sometime and somewhere.有朝一日这总会在什么地方发生的。

8 released   

v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。

9 precious   

adj.宝贵的，珍贵的，过于精致的，珍爱的

参考例句：

• Each life is precious.生命都是宝贵的。
• Spring rain is as precious as oil.春雨贵如油。

10 beak   

n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻

参考例句：

• The bird had a worm in its beak.鸟儿嘴里叼着一条虫。
• This bird employs its beak as a weapon.这种鸟用嘴作武器。