文字难度：★★★
Monday morning. English 154: Introduction to Fairytales. Why, oh why, did I 1)sign up for this class? Just because I spent most of my childhood reading and re-enacting them does not make me an expert—or at least that’s our professor’s opinion. At the moment he’s 2)droning on and on about the lessons that fairytales are meant to 3)impart. It seems silly at first, but as his voice begins to 4)coax my eyelids closed, my mind starts to remember…
周一早上,英语课程编号154:童话入门。噢,为何,我为何会选修这门课?尽管我童年沉迷于童话,还一而再地扮演童话里的角色,但仅仅这样并不会使我成为童话故事方面的专家——至少我们教授是这么认为的。此刻,他正喋喋不休地讲解着这个那个童话故事告诉了我们什么道理。一开始,似乎很无聊,但当他那说话声开始让我昏昏欲睡时,我闭上眼,开始坠入回忆之中……
We were kids, me and Ben, my best friend in the universe. Our moms had been baking all day, and even though Ben and I had been good all day, neither of them would let us 5)sample anything! It was unjust! 6)Outrageous! So, we were running away to a place where mothers were not so mean to their children, and good kids (like us) were able to have pie and cake and cookies whenever they wanted.
本是我在这世上最好的朋友,那时我们都还小。我们的母亲一天到晚只知道烘烤糕饼,而且尽管我和本一整天都很乖,但她们谁也不让我们一尝那些糕点。这太不公道了!太过分了!于是,我们打算离家出走,去某个地方——在那里,母亲们不会对她们的孩子那么苛刻,而且像我们这么乖的孩子可以随心所欲地吃馅饼、蛋糕和曲奇饼。
Like most kids who run away, we thought of the forest first. We walked down to City Park, which was right next to the larger national park—a perfect place to get lost and stay lost. Pretty soon, though, we were exactly that: lost. But there! On the path ahead! A small house. We rushed up to the house, eager to explore.
像大多离家出走的孩子一样,我们首先想到的是森林。我们沿着那条路一直走到城市公园——就在这个大型的国家公园旁边有个适合迷途放逐和迷失匿迹的绝佳去处。 然而很快,我们真的迷途不知返了。但就在那头!在路的前方!有间小屋。我们急匆匆地走到那间屋子,急切地想一探究竟。
And what a house! It was painted like a7)gingerbread castle at Christmas. We began to8)drool just looking at it. Then we realized that it wasn’t just our eyes making us drool, it was our noses too. Where was that delicious smell coming from?
噢,这是一间怎样的房子啊!它的外表涂得跟圣诞节时大家做的姜饼城堡似的。只是看着它,我们的口水就流下来了。接着,我们意识到,我们不仅“眼馋”,鼻子也“馋”。那可口的香味从何而来?
From out of the house stepped a little old woman, cookies held in front of her like an9)edible 10)welcome mat. She took one look at us and invited us in for snacks. Now this was more like it—this was how good kids like us should have been treated. In we went. And oh what a wonderful place! Pies, cookies, cakes, breads, everything you could think of, she had it. We were in heaven! She excused herself to go 11)wash up.
屋里走出了一个身材矮小的老妇,她捧着一盘曲奇饼,那盘曲奇饼摆放得就像一块可以吃的迎宾垫。她看了看我们,就邀请我们进屋品尝一些小吃。此刻更加像样了——像我们这么乖的孩子就该获得如此优待。我们走进屋,噢,多么奇妙的地方啊!馅饼、曲奇饼、蛋糕、面包,你能想到的她都有。我们仿佛置身于天堂!她说她要去洗刷洗刷,于是走开了。
That’s when Ben stopped. He had been looking around in a curious way, and now he looked horror-stricken.
“Kate,” he whispered, “why does this woman have so much food?”
I looked around but couldn’t find any signs that there was anyone else living in the house.
“I don’t know,” I 12)mumbled back.
“Remember that story your Dad told us the other day,” his whispering was becoming 13)frantic now, “the German one about Hansel and Gretel? Remember the old witch in the woods who tries to eat them? We gotta get out of here Kate, NOW!”
这时,本停下了脚步。他一直在好奇地环顾四周,一脸的恐惧。
“凯特,”他低声说道,“这女人怎么有这么多的食物?”
我四处看了看,没看到还有其他人住在这间屋里的迹象。
“我不知道,”我咕哝了一句。
“记得你爸爸那天给我们讲的那个故事吗?”他尽量压低声音,但显得急躁起来,“那个德国童话里面的汉塞尔和格莱特尔,记得吗?住在森林里的那个老巫婆想要吃了他们俩。凯特,我们得离开这里,马上!”
Suddenly, I understood. That’s why she was feeding us—she was 14)fattening us up for her dinner! Ben was right, but I could already hear her coming back. I 15)motioned to Ben to hide behind the door. As she came through, I knocked the chair in front of her. Down she went! Ben and I were out of there in a flash, running back down the path (turns out we weren’t so lost), straight back in to City Park, and all the way home.
突然,我明白了。她给我们东西吃,就是想把我们养得肥肥胖胖的,好做她的大餐!本说的没错,但我已经听到她走回来的脚步声了。我示意本藏到门后。当她走过来,我把一张椅子踢倒在她前面。她跌倒在地上!我和本马上冲出去,沿着小路一直往前跑回城市公园(原来我们其实没怎么迷路),一路狂奔回家。
When we arrived, my Mom said she was on her way to the baker, and we could join her for a snack. Great, we thought, at least the bakery won’t try to eat us.
当我们到家时,我母亲说她正要去那个面包师那里,说我们可以和她一道去品尝一些小吃。太棒了,我们想,至少面包店不会想要吃了我们。
At the bakery my Mom was amazed by all the new 16)pastries and breads they had. She asked them where they’d found all the wonderful recipes, and whether they would mind sharing. What the girl said next had Ben and me laughing so hard that my mother thought we were going crazy.
在面包店里,看到所有新鲜出炉的点心和面包,我母亲很是惊讶。她问他们从哪得知所有这些这么棒的烹饪方法,还问他们是否介意和她分享一下。那个女孩接下来说的话令我和本哈哈大笑起来,以致我母亲感觉我们快疯了。
“Well Ma’am, we actually just hired a new baker. But she’s a little older and has trouble getting around, so she bakes everything at her house and we go pick it up. Maybe you’ve met her already; her name is Gloria and she’s living in that old cabin in the woods. You should go introduce yourselves, she loves company.”
…
All of a sudden I became aware that someone was calling my name.
“Kate…Katie…Katrina Graves!” my professor shouted, startling me out of my half-sleep. “Mind telling us what lesson we can learn from this fairytale?”
“Uh,” I 17)stammered, “Don’t 18)judge a book by its cover?”
The whole class burst into peals of laughter.
“That’s a fascinating insight Miss Graves. You mind telling me how Snow White taught you not to judge a book by its cover? In fact, don’t tell me, just read the book and pay attention.”
Our professor turned away and resumed class amid a few giggles at my expense. I didn’t mind. I looked over at Ben and he grinned, a twinkle in his eye—I think he knew exactly which lesson I’d been remembering.
“噢,太太,事实上,我们刚刚新雇佣了一个面包师。但她年纪稍大,不方便到处走动,所以她在她那间屋里烘烤好所有食物,我们去拿就是了。也许你已见过她;她名叫格洛里亚,就住在森林里的那间老屋里。你可以去认识一下她,她很好客的。”
……
突然,我意识到有人在喊我的名字。
“凯特……凯蒂……卡特里娜·格雷夫斯!”我的教授大声喊道,把我从浅睡中惊醒。“你可以给我们讲讲我们在这个童话里学到了什么吗?”
“嗯,”我结结巴巴地说道,“人不可貌相?”
全班同学顿时哄堂大笑。
“洞察力挺不错的啊,格雷夫斯小姐。能告诉我《白雪公主》这个童话是如何教导你不要以貌取人的吗?其实,不用告诉我了,好好看书、留心就行了。”
我们的教授回过头,在嘲笑我的咯咯声中继续讲课。我不介意。我看了看本,他咧开嘴笑了,眼里泛出光芒——我想他很清楚那个令我难忘的教训。
Hansel and Gretel 《糖果屋》
该童话又译为《汉塞尔和格莱特尔》，是一则由格林兄弟收录在其《格林童话》里面的德国童话。
汉塞尔与格莱特尔是一对生活在贫穷家庭里的兄妹。由于害怕食物不足，两人的继母说服自己的丈夫将他们遗弃在森林里。汉塞尔和格莱特尔无意得知了该计划，于是他们事先收集了小石头，这样他们就能顺着沿路放置的小石头找到回家的路。因为第一次计划失败，继母再度说服丈夫将他们丢在森林；不过这次，他们沿路放置的是面包屑，而面包屑被森林中的动物吃掉了，于是汉塞尔和格莱特尔迷路了。
在森林中，他们发现了一个用面包做的小屋。屋子的主人是一个老妇人，她邀请他们进屋内并盛宴款待他们。不过，那老妇人其实是一个巫婆，她建小屋就是为了引诱小孩子，这样她就可以把小孩子养胖，并宰来吃掉。她把汉塞尔关起来，并要格莱特尔伺候她。当她准备把汉塞尔煮来吃时，她要格莱特尔爬进炉中去确认。格莱特尔知道巫婆的诡计，于是她用巧计骗巫婆爬进炉中，并把巫婆活活烫死。
带着巫婆屋里所有的珠宝，他们找到了回家的路，并与自己的父亲重聚，这时继母已经死了，从此他们一
家过着幸福快乐的生活。
