介绍:
感谢收听,期待你对本期节目的评论留言哦～Chapter One The four hungry children (I)
ONE WARM NIGHT four children stood in front of a bakery. No one knew them. No one knew where they had come from.
The baker’s wife saw them first, as they stood looking in at the window of her store. The little boy was looking at the cakes, the big boy was looking at the loaves of bread, and the two girls were looking at the cookies.
Now the baker’s wife did not like children. She did not like boys at all. So she came to the front of the bakery and listened, looking very cross.
“The cake is good, Jessie,” the little boy said. He was about five years old.
“Yes, Benny,” said the big girl. “But bread is better for you. Isn’t it, Henry?”
“Oh, yes,” said Henry. “We must have some bread, and cake is not good for Benny and Violet.”
“I like bread best, anyway,” said Violet. She was about ten years old, and she had pretty brown hair and brown eyes.
“That is just like you, Violet,” said Henry, smiling at her. “Let’s go into the bakery. Maybe they will let us stay here for the night.”
The baker’s wife looked at them as they came in.
“I want three loaves of bread, please,” said Jessie.
She smiled politely at the woman, but the woman did not smile. She looked at Henry as he put his hand in his pocket for the money. She looked cross, but she sold him the bread.
Jessie was looking around, too, and she saw a long red bench under each window of the bakery. The benches had flat red pillows on them.
“Will you let us stay here for the night?” Jessie asked. “We could sleep on those benches, and tomorrow we would help you wash the dishes and do things for you.”
Now the woman liked this. She did not like to wash dishes very well. She would like to have a big boy to help her with her work.
“Where are your father and mother?” she asked.
“They are dead,” said Henry.
“We have a grandfather in Greenfield, but we don’t like him,” said Benny.
Jessie put her hand over the little boy’s mouth before he could say more.
“Oh, Benny, keep still!” she said.
“Why don’t you like your grandfather?” asked the woman.
“He is our father’s father, and he didn’t like our mother,” said Henry. “So we don’t think he would like us. We are afraid he would be mean to us.”
“Did you ever see him?” asked the woman.
“No,” answered Henry.
“Then why do you think he would be mean to you?” asked the woman.
“Well, he never came to see us,” said Henry. “He doesn’t like us at all.”
“Where did you live before you came here?” asked the woman.
But not one of the four children would tell her.
“We’ll get along all right,” said Jessie. “We want to stay here for only one night.”
“You may stay here tonight,” said the woman at last. “And tomorrow we’ll see what we can do.”
Henry thanked her politely.
一个暖和的傍晚，面包房门前站着四个孩子——没有人认识他们，也没有人知道他们从哪儿来。
面包师的妻子最先发现了这四个孩子，因为他们一直站在她家的面包店外，盯着橱窗里的东西。最小的男孩眼睛直勾勾地盯着蛋糕，大男孩看着一条条的面包出神，两个女孩则凝视着饼干。
面包师的妻子不喜欢小孩子，更加不喜欢男孩。她走到面包房的门口，一 脸厌烦地听着几个孩子的对话。
“蛋糕看起来真好吃，杰西姐姐。”说话的小男孩叫班尼，大约五岁。
“蛋糕是好吃，班尼,”杰西说，“可面包更适合你，对吧，亨利？”
“没错，”亨利说，“我们要多吃点面包，蛋糕不利于班尼和维莉长身体。”
“反正我最爱吃面包啦！”维莉说。她十岁左右，有着一头漂売的掠色头发和一&`&双灵动的掠色眼睛。
“你总是那么懂事，维莉！ ”亨利对她笑了笑，“咱们进去吧，说不定他们能同意我们在店里住上一晚呢！”
孩子们走进面包店。面包师的妻子站在那儿，一言不发地看着他们。
“请给我们三条面包。”杰西说。
杰西很有礼貌地朝老板娘微笑，可那女人并没有笑，她只 是盯着亨利从兜里掏出钱来。她看上去很不耐烦，但还是把 面包卖给了亨利。
杰西环顾四周，发现面包房的每扇窗户下面都有一条红 色的长凳，凳子上铺了几张红色的垫子。
“您能让我们在这里过夜吗？”杰西问，“我们睡在凳子上 就行了！明天还可以帮您洗洗盘子，做些杂活。”
那女人暗自高兴——她很讨厌洗盘子。现在好了，她可 以让大男孩帮她干这些活儿了。
“你们的父母呢？”她问。
“都去世了。”亨利答道。
“我们的爷爷住在绿野镇，但是我们都不喜欢他。”班尼说。
杰西赶紧伸手捂住小班尼的嘴，以防他接着说。
“班尼，别说话！”杰西叮嘱道。
“你们为什么不喜欢爷爷？ ”那女人追问道。
“他不喜欢我们的妈妈，”亨利说，“所以也不会喜欢我们， 说不定还会虐待我们呢！”
“你们从没见过他吗？”那女人又问。
“没有！ ”亨利答道。
“那么，你们怎么会认为他要虐待你们？”那女人问道。
“他从没来看过我们，”亨利回答，“可见他一点儿都不喜
欢我们。”
“来这儿之前，你们在哪儿住？”那女人又问。
四个孩子都没吭声。
“请放心，我们会老老实实待着的，”杰西说，“我们住一个 晚上就走。”
“你们今晚可以住在这里，”那女人终于答应了，“至于明 天，我们再看看怎么办吧！”
亨利很有礼貌地向她道了谢。
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