美国小学英语教材3:第1课 向故事乐园进发!（在线收听）

 　　　Off to Story-Land!  向故事乐园进发！

　　Many years ago people had no books at all, and so the boys and girls could never read interesting stories such as you read today. 许多年前，人们根本就没有书籍，所以那时的男孩和女孩不能像你们今天这样读到有趣的故事。

　　But they knew many stories, even if they could not read them out of books. 虽然他们没有书可读，但他们知道许多故事。

　　For in those days there were men who went from town to town, and from country to country, telling wonderful tales. 因为在那个时候，说书人会游走于城镇和乡村之间，讲述精彩的故事。

　　These tales the people would tell over and over again to each other after the story-teller was gone. 说书人离开后，人们还会一遍又一遍地互相传诵这些故事。

　　This book is like one of the old story-tellers, because its tales, too, come from everywhere. 本书就像一位老说书人，因为这里面的故事也来自世界各地。

　　Some of them are stories that boys and girls have loved for many years, and perhaps you will find one or two that are your very best friends.  其中，一些故事是一代代孩子们都很喜欢的，可能你会特别喜欢其中的一两篇。

　　Others are new stories, and we hope you will learn to love them, too. 另一些则是新故事，希望你通过学习也会喜欢上它们。

　　And now you are ready to read the first tales in your book, which will take you from animal-town to kings' castles. 现在，准备阅读书中第一部分的故事吧，它们将带你从动物小镇走到国王城堡。