100个儿童英语小故事: The Flying Trunk 飞行的箱子

 

038 The Flying Trunk

There once was a rich merchant. He had a son who didn't want to do anything except play and waste money.  The rich merchant died and left his money to his son, but he wasted it and soon, he had nothing left in his pocket.

 The Flying Trunk

When he had no money, no one welcomed him. Even his closest friends avoided him. The son was so sad that he decided¹ to move to another town.

One of his friends gave him a big old trunk. But he had nothing to put in the trunk. The only things he had were a pair of wooden shoes and stripped² pajama. When he had nothing more to put in the trunk, he put himself in. 

"Wow, what is wrong with this trunk?" The trunk was closed by itself and rose slowly up to the sky ."Where am I going?"

He floated in the sky for a while, and when the trunk opened its zipper³ a little, he carefully looked down. He saw the round rooves of the towers. He arrived at the country where Trook people live. The trunk slowly landed next to a small pond in a forest. He hid the trunk and came out of the forest.

He went place to place and found the tallest tower of the area.  He asked about the tower to one of the people on the road. "Who lives in the tallest tower?" "A princess is living there, but she can only meet her king and queen." "Why?" "A fairy told them that the princess will be very miserable⁴ because of a young man."

The son rode in the trunk and went to the princess' room. She was sleeping peacefully. The sleeping princess was very beautiful. She woke up from the noise that the son made. "Who are you? How did you get in here?" "I came here to send you a message from the God of the Trooks." He lied and pretended⁵ as if he was the messenger⁶ from the God.' The princess was happy and talked with him.

He told a funny story to the king and queen when they came to see the princess. He said that he was 'the messenger of the God'. The king and queen were happy and they decided to make him the groom⁷ of the prince.

"People say the princess has a partner to marry. He is a messenger from the God." The Trook people crowded into the streets and had a big party. They danced and enjoyed fireworks all night long. The son rode in the trunk and enjoyed the fireworks.

When it was dawn, he hid the trunk again and went into the street. He wanted to know what people said about him. The Trook people were all saying, "Did you see those fireworks in the sky? He must be a messenger of the God." He was happy and went back to the pond.

When he got back to the woods, his flying trunk was badly burned and only a pile of ashes was left. A small spark⁸ was in the trunk, and it had started the fire. Unfortunately, he could never fly again, and he could not be the son-in-law of the king.

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 stripped   

adj. 剥夺的, 拆除的 动词strip的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• I stripped and washed myself all over. 我脱掉衣服，把全身洗了洗。
• a stripped-down version of the song 这首歌的精简版

3 zipper   

n.拉链；v.拉上拉链

参考例句：

• The zipper is red.这条拉链是红色的。
• The zipper is a wonderful invention.拉链是个了不起的发明。

4 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

5 pretended   

adj.假装的；徒有外表的；传说的；号称的v.假装( pretend的过去式和过去分词 )；伪装；（尤指儿童）（在游戏中）装扮；自诩

参考例句：

• He pretended that resigning was part of his long-term career strategy. 他假装辞职是他长远事业规划的一部分。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He politely pretended not to have heard this remark. 他有礼貌地假装没有听到这句话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 messenger   

n.报信者，先驱

参考例句：

• By the time the messenger reached him,the damage had been done.送信人赶到他那儿时，损失已经造成了。
• I'll order a special messenger to deliver the document.我会派专人把文件送去。

7 groom   

vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁

参考例句：

• His father was a groom.他父亲曾是个马夫。
• George was already being groomed for the top job.为承担这份高级工作，乔治已在接受专门的培训。

8 spark   

n.火花，朝气，情人，俗丽的年轻人；vi.闪烁，冒火花，热情回应；vt.激发，引起，追求

参考例句：

• A single spark can start a prairie fire.星星之火，可以燎原。
• What made the electric wire spark?电线冒火花是什么原因？