[睡前故事之轻松学英文]大拇指2

在上期的故事中，我们讲到一对农民夫妇生了一个拇指大小的儿子——“大拇指”，他虽人长得小，但是却很能干，两个外地人想把他买下来用来赚钱。 Thumbling, however, when he heard of the bargain, had crept up the folds of his father's coat, placed himself on his shoulder, and whispered in his ear, "Father do give me away, I will soon come back again." Then the father parted with him to the two men for a handsome bit of money. "Where will you sit?" they said to him. "Oh just set me on the rim of your hat, and then I can walk backwards and forwards and look at the country, and still not fall down." They did as he wished, and when Thumbling had taken leave of his father, they went away with him. They walked until it was dusk, and then the little fellow said, "Do take me down, I want to come down." The man took his hat off, and put the little fellow on the ground by the wayside, and he leapt and crept about a little between the sods, and then he suddenly slipped into a mouse-hole which he had sought out. "Good evening, gentlemen. just go home without me," he cried to them, and mocked them. They ran thither and stuck their sticks into the mouse-hole, but it was all lost labour. Thumbling crept still farther in, and as it soon became quite dark, they were forced to go home with their vexation and their empty purses. 但大拇指听到他们想做的交易后，他顺着父亲的衣服褶子爬到了他的肩膀上，在他的耳朵里小声说：“爸爸，让我跟他们去吧，我很快就会回到你身边的。”于是父亲就把他给了那两个男人，得到了一大笔钱。“你想坐在哪儿？”他们问大拇指。“就让我坐在你的帽沿儿上吧，我可以在上面走动走动，看看周围的风景，也不会掉下来的。”他们满足了他的要求。大拇指和他父亲告别后，他们带着他离开了。他们一直走着，直到天色暗了下来。这时，小家伙说：“快把我弄下来，我要下去。”那人只好摘下帽子，把大拇指放到了路旁的一块庄稼地上。大拇指在土块之间跳来跳去，找到了一个老鼠洞以后钻了进去。“晚安啦，先生们，你们自己回家去吧！”他一边冲他们喊，一边嘲笑他们。他们跑过来，用棍子在老鼠洞里捅，但一切都是徒劳，因为大拇指已经爬到里面去了。天很快完全黑下来，那两个人只好怒气冲冲地带着干瘪的钱袋回家去了。 When Thumbling saw that they were gone, he crept back out of the subterranean passage. "It is so dangerous to walk on the ground in the dark." said he; "how easily a neck or a leg is broken!" Fortunately he knocked against an empty snail- shell. "Thank God!" said he. "In that I can pass the night in safety," and got into it. Not long afterwards, when he was just going to sleep, he heard two men go by, and one of them was saying, “How shall we contrive to get hold of the rich pastor's silver and gold?"“I could tell you that," cried Thumbling, interrupting them. "What was that?" said one of the thieves in fright, “I heard some one speaking." They stood still listening, and Thumbling spoke again, and said, “Take me with you, and I'II help you." 大拇指确定他们已经走了以后，就从地下又钻了出来。 “田野上黑漆漆的，赶路非常危险，”他说，“很容易摔断脖子和腿！”幸运的是他找到了一个空的蜗牛壳。“感谢上帝，”他说，“我可以在里面安全地过夜了。”于是就爬进了蜗牛壳里。没过多久，他正要睡觉的时候，听到了两个人的脚步声，其中一个说：“我们该怎么做，才能把那个有钱的牧师的金银财宝弄到手呢？” “我来告诉你!”大拇指插话道。“谁在那里？”另一个小偷惊恐地问，“我听到有人说话了。”他们停下来留神静听。这时大拇指又说：“带我和你们一起去，我会帮助你们的。” “But where are you?" "Just look on the ground, and observe from whence my voice comes," he replied. There the thieves at length found him, and lifted him up. "You little imp, how will you help us?" they said. "A great deal," said he, "I will creep into the pastor's room through the iron bars, and will reach out to you whatever you want to have."¨Come then," they said, “and we will see what you can do." When they got to the pastor's house, Thumbling crept into the room, but instantly cried out with all his might, "Do you want to have everything that is here?" The thieves were alarmed, and said, “But do speak softly, so as not to waken any one!" Thumbling however, behaved as if he had not understood this, and cried again, "What do you want? Do you want to have everything that is here?" The cook, who slept in the next room, heard this and sat up in bed, and listened. The thieves, however, had in their fright run some distance away, but at last they took courage, and thought, "The little rascal wants to mock us." They came back and whispered to him, "Come, be serious, and reach something out to us." Then Thumbling again cried as loudly as he could, “I really will give you everything, just put your hands in." The maid who was listening, heard this quite distinctly. and jumped out of bed and rushed to the door. The thieves took flight. and ran as if the Wild Huntsman were behind them. but as the maid could not see anything, she went to strike a light. When she came to the place with it, Thumbling, unperceived, betook himself to the granary, and the maid. after she had examined every corner and found nothing, lay down in her bed again, and believed that. after all. she had only been dreaming with open eyes and ears. “可是你在哪儿呢？”“你在地上找一找，顺着声音就能找到我了，”大拇指回答道。最后，他们找到了大拇指．把他举了起来。他们说：“你这个小家伙，你能为我们做什么呢？”“听着，”他说，“我会从牧师住的房子的铁窗栏之间爬进去，把你们想要的东西递出来。”“行啊，”两个小偷说： “那我们就看你的啦。”他们来到了牧师的房子那儿，大拇指爬了进去，然后使出吃奶的劲儿喊道：“这儿所有的东西你们都要吗？”两个小偷吓坏了，忙说：“小点儿声，别把人吵醒了。”可是大拇指就好像什么都没听到似的，还是扯着嗓子喊：“这儿所有的东西你们都要吗？”在旁边小屋里睡觉的女仆听到了喊声，她从床上坐起来，竖起耳朵凝神细听。两个小偷撒腿就往回跑。跑了一段，又觉得有点不甘心，最终还是重新鼓起勇气走了回来，心想：“这个小淘气鬼肯定是跟我们闹着玩儿呢。”于是他们又返回来，小声地说：“现在不是和我们开玩笑的时候，给我们把东西递出来吧。”大拇揩仍然大声喊：“我什么都给你们，快把手伸进来。”正在偷听的女仆听得一清二楚：她马上从床上跳起来，冲过去将门打开。两个小偷见状惊慌地逃跑了，速度之快，就好像有个猎人在后面追着他们似的。女仆在房中什么也没发现，就去点了一盏灯。等她端着灯回来，大拇指早已溜到了外面的谷仓里去了，她丝毫没有察觉。女仆仔细地检查了屋里的每一个角落，什么也没找到，她以为自己是睁着眼睛在做梦，便又回到床上睡觉去了。