Nathaniel Hawthorne 作者：纳撒尼尔·霍桑

Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of our first great American story-tellers, was born and lived in the old town of Salem, Massachusetts. 纳撒尼尔·霍桑是最早的伟大的美国小说家之一，他出生在马萨诸塞州的塞勒姆老城区。

He loved boys and girls and liked to tell them stories. 他喜欢男孩和女孩，喜欢给他们讲故事。

One summer he wrote a book in which he retold some old stories. 有一年夏天，他写了一本书，在书中他讲述了一些古老的故事。

Even before the book was printed, his three children knew the stories by heart. 甚至在这本书出版之前，他的三个孩子就已经把这些故事背熟了。

“The Golden Touch,” which you will now read, is taken from this book. 你们现在要读的《点金术》，是从这本书里摘录的。

KING MIDAS AND HIS LOVE FOR GOLD 迈达斯国王和他对黄金的热爱

Once upon a time there lived a very rich king whose name was Midas. 从前，有一位非常富有的国王，他的名字叫迈达斯。

He had a little daughter, whom nobody but myself ever heard of, and whose name I either never knew, or have entirely forgotten. 他有一个小女儿，除了我自己，谁也没有听说过她的名字，我不知道她的名字，或者完全忘记了她的名字。

So, because I love odd names for little girls, I shall choose to call her Marygold. 所以，因为我喜欢给小女孩起奇怪的名字，我将选择叫她玛丽戈尔德。