100个儿童英语小故事: A Silver Shilling's Journey 一枚银先令的旅程

 

043 A Silver Shilling's Journey

"Wow, how exciting! I am coming out into the broad world!" A Silver Shilling that was just made a moment ago shouted for joy tinkling¹ and jingling² herself. Passing through children's warm and moist hands, stingy men's cold and sticky hands, and poor husbands' and wives' hands far and wide, the Silver Shilling's journey went on.

One day, the Silver Shilling happened to enter into one wallet, but the owner didn't even know the Silver Shilling was in his wallet. The owner travels around the world very often. Incidentally, he found the Silver Shilling, and said, "What, it is a shilling from my country. You came this far with me, so let's travel together."

So now, the Silver Shilling came to be with many foreign coins. Other coins were coming in and out of the wallet, but the Silver Shilling stayed. The Silver Shilling started to feel very important.

The Silver Shilling stayed in the wallet for a long time, and she became curious about the outside world. She was looking out of the wallet while the wallet was opened, but then she fell down to the ground. She was no longer able to continue her journey with the owner.

In the end, the Silver Shilling came to a new wallet with unfamiliar³ coins in an unfamiliar country. What she heard as soon as she came out of the new wallet with the other coins was shocking. "This is an imitation. It is forged." When she heard this, her body trembled.

'I was made of pure silver in the Mint Bureau. I am a silver shilling that can tinkle⁴ and jingle⁵! Isn't the seal on my body real?' However, the Silver Shilling was abused as an imitation from that moment on. She was used only in the dark night because the Silver Shilling was a valueless imitation in that country when she would be discovered in the day.

"Even if I am made of silver, and engraved⁶ with the King's portrait, it's no use. Oh, what bad luck!" Whenever she came out of wallets, the Silver Shilling started to be afraid of people's eyes. Then one day, a poor woman laborer⁷ got paid with the Silver Shilling.

As she found out that no one accepted the Silver Shilling, she made a hole in the coin, tied a string to it and gave it to a child of her neighbor as a gift. The child smiled and kissed the Silver Shilling but peace did not last very long.

The mother of the child wanted to test how lucky the Silver Shilling was, to see if the Silver Shilling was the true 'lucky amulet⁸'. The mother put the Silver Shilling into vinegar, which turned it green, closed up the hole of the Silver Shilling, and rubbed it carelessly to make it look as if there was no hole, she waited until it got dark, and than she bought a lottery⁹ ticket in exchange for the Silver Shilling.

There were so many people buying lottery tickets at the ticket box that no one recognized the hole in the Silver Shilling. The next morning, the Silver Shilling was proved as an imitation, and again, the Silver Shilling had to continue her journey deceiving other people. For one year and one day, the Silver Shilling wandered from one hand to another, and one wallet to another.

For that time, the Silver Shilling lost her faith that she was a real coin. One day, she was in one traveler's hand and heard that she was an imitation again. The traveler fingered the Silver Shilling and muttered to himself, "I got this coin as change."

The traveler looked at the Silver Shilling carefully and said with a big bright smile. "What, this is a silver shilling from my country. Someone made a hole on this precious and real silver coin and tried to make it look like an imitation. That's interesting. I will keep this carefully and bring it home."

This traveler was the owner who let the Silver Shilling travel around the world with other foreign coins before. When the Silver Shilling heard that she was a precious and real silver coin, she was very happy. The traveler wrapped the Silver Shilling up with soft and white paper and kept it carefully separate from other foreign coins.

The Silver Shilling came back to her hometown where everybody knows that she was made of pure silver and that the engraving¹⁰ on her body was the portrait of the King. Even though there was a hole in her body, it was not important for the real Silver Shilling. The Silver Shilling's journey of pain and ordeal¹¹ ended there teaching her 'the triumph of justice'.

1 tinkling   

n.丁当作响声

参考例句：

• I could hear bells tinkling in the distance. 我能听到远处叮当铃响。
• To talk to him was like listening to the tinkling of a worn-out musical-box. 跟他说话，犹如听一架老掉牙的八音盒子丁冬响。 来自英汉文学

2 jingling   

叮当声

参考例句：

• A carriage went jingling by with some reclining figure in it. 一辆马车叮当驶过，车上斜倚着一个人。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Melanie did not seem to know, or care, that life was riding by with jingling spurs. 媚兰好像并不知道，或者不关心，生活正马刺丁当地一路驶过去了呢。

3 unfamiliar   

adj.陌生的，不熟悉的

参考例句：

• I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
• The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。

4 tinkle   

vi.叮当作响；n.叮当声

参考例句：

• The wine glass dropped to the floor with a tinkle.酒杯丁零一声掉在地上。
• Give me a tinkle and let me know what time the show starts.给我打个电话，告诉我演出什么时候开始。

5 jingle   

n.叮当声，韵律简单的诗句；v.使叮当作响，叮当响，押韵

参考例句：

• The key fell on the ground with a jingle.钥匙叮当落地。
• The knives and forks set up their regular jingle.刀叉发出常有的叮当声。

6 engraved   

v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• The silver cup was engraved with his name. 银杯上刻有他的名字。
• It was prettily engraved with flowers on the back. 此件雕刻精美，背面有花饰图案。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 laborer   

n.劳动者，劳工

参考例句：

• Her husband had been a farm laborer.她丈夫以前是个农场雇工。
• He worked as a casual laborer and did not earn much.他当临时工，没有赚多少钱。

8 amulet   

n.护身符

参考例句：

• We're down here investigating a stolen amulet.我们来到这里调查一个失窃的护身符。
• This amulet is exclusively made by Father Sum Lee.这个护身符是沙姆.李长老特制的。

9 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

10 engraving   

n.版画；雕刻（作品）；雕刻艺术；镌版术v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的现在分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• He collected an old engraving of London Bridge. 他收藏了一张古老的伦敦桥版画。 来自辞典例句
• Some writing has the precision of a steel engraving. 有的字体严谨如同钢刻。 来自辞典例句

11 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。