狼和七只小山羊

　　The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids

　　There was once upon a time an old goat who had seven little kids, and loved them with all the love of a mother for her children. One day she wanted to go into the forest and fetch some food. So she called all seven to her and said, dear children, I have to go into the forest, be on your guard against the wolf, if he comes in, he will devour you all - skin, hair, and everything.

　　The wretch often disguises himself, but you will know him at once by his rough voice and his black feet.

　　The kids said, dear mother, we will take good care of ourselves, you may go away without any anxiety.

　　Then the old one bleated, and went on her way with an easy mind.

　　It was not long before some one knocked at the house-door and called, open the door, dear children, your mother is here, and has brought something back with her for each of you.

　　But the little kids knew that it was the wolf, by the rough voice.

　　We will not open the door, cried they, you are not our mother.

　　She has a soft, pleasant voice, but your voice is rough, you are the wolf.

　　Then the wolf went away to a shopkeeper and bought himself a great lump of chalk, ate this and made his voice soft with it. The he came back, knocked at the door of the house, and called, open the door, dear children, your mother is here and has brought something back with her for each of you.

　　But the wolf had laid his black paws against the window, and the children saw them and cried, we will not open the door, our mother has not black feet like you, you are the wolf.

　　Then the wolf ran to a baker and said, I have hurt my feet, rub some dough over them for me.

　　And when the baker had rubbed his feet over, he ran to the miller and said, strew some white meal over my feet for me.

　　The miller thought to himself, the wolf wants to deceive someone, and refused, but the wolf said, if you will not do it, I will devour you. Then the miller was afraid, and made his paws white for him. Truly, this the way of mankind.

　　So now the wretch went for the third time to the house-door, knocked at it and said, open the door for me, children, your dear little mother has come home, and has brought every one of you something back from the forest with her.

　　The little kids cried, first show us your paws that we may know if you are our dear little mother.

　　Then he put his paws in through the window, and when the kids saw that they were white, they believed that all he said was true, and opened the door. But who should come in but the wolf they were terrified and wanted to hide themselves.

　　One sprang under the table, the second into the bed, the third into the stove, the fourth into the kitchen, the fifth into the cupboard, the sixth under the

　　washing-bowl, and the seventh into the clock-case.

　　But the wolf found them all, and used no great ceremony, one after the other he swallowed them down his throat.

　　The youngest, who was in the clock-case, was the only one he did not find. When the wolf had satisfied his appetite he took himself off, laid himself down under a tree in the green meadow outside, and began to sleep.

　　Soon afterwards the old goat came home again from the forest.

　　Ah.

　　What a sight she saw there.

　　The house-door stood wide open.

　　The table, chairs, and benches were thrown down, the washing-bowl lay broken to pieces, and the quilts and pillows were pulled off the bed.

　　She sought her children, but they were nowhere to be found.

　　She called them one after another by name, but no one answered.

　　At last, when she came to the youngest, a soft voice cried, dear mother, I am in the clock-case.

　　She took the kid out,

　　and it told her that the wolf had come and had eaten all the others. Then you may imagine how she wept over her poor children.

　　At length in her grief she went out, and the youngest kid ran with her.

　　When they came to the meadow, there lay the wolf by the tree and snored so loud that the branches shook.

　　She looked at him on every side and saw that something was moving and struggling in his gorged belly.

　　Ah, heavens, she said, is it possible that my poor children whom he has swallowed down for his supper, can be still alive.

　　Then the kid had to run home and fetch scissors, and a needle and thread and the goat cut open the monster's stomach, and hardly had she make one cut, than one little kid thrust its head out, and when she cut farther, all six sprang out one after another, and were all still alive, and had suffered no injury whatever, for in his greediness the monster had swallowed them down whole.

　　What rejoicing there was.

　　They embraced their dear mother, and jumped like a sailor at his wedding.

　　The mother, however, said, now go and look for some big stones, and we will fill the wicked beast's stomach with them while he is still asleep.

　　Then the seven kids dragged the stones thither with all speed, and put as many of them into his stomach as they could get in, and the mother sewed him up again in the greatest haste, so that he was not aware of anything and never once stirred.

　　When the wolf at length had had his fill of sleep, he got on his legs, and as the stones in his stomach made him very thirsty, he wanted to go to a well to drink.

　　But when he began to walk and move about, the stones in his stomach knocked against each other and rattled.

　　Then cried he,

　　what rumbles and tumbles against my poor

　　bones.

　　I thought 'twas six kids,

　　but it feels like big stones. And when he got to the

　　well and stooped over the water to drink, the heavy stones made him fall in, and he had to drown miserably.

　　When the seven kids saw that, they came running to the spot and cried aloud, the wolf is dead.

　　The wolf is dead, and danced for joy round about the well with their mother.

　　从前有只老山羊。它生了七只小山羊，并且像所有母亲爱孩子一样爱它们。一天，它要到森林里去取食物，便把七个孩子全叫过来，对它们说："亲爱的孩子们，我要到森林里去一下，你们一定要提防狼。要是让狼进屋，它会把你们全部吃掉的--连皮带毛通通吃光。这个坏蛋常常把自己化装成别的样子，但是，你们只要一听到他那粗哑的声音、一看到它那黑黑的爪子，就能认出它来。"小山羊们说："好妈妈，我们会当心的。你去吧，不用担心。"老山羊咩咩地叫了几声，便放心地去了。

　　没过多久，有人敲门，而且大声说："开门哪，我的好孩子。你们的妈妈回来了，还给你们每个人带来了一点东西。"可是，小山羊们听到粗哑的声音，立刻知道是狼来了。"我们不开门，"它们大声说，"你不是我们的妈妈。我们的妈妈说话时声音又软又好听，而你的声音非常粗哑，你是狼！"于是，狼跑到杂货商那里，买了一大块白垩土，吃了下去，结果嗓子变细了。然后它又回来敲山羊家的门，喊道："开门哪，我的好孩子。你们的妈妈回来了，给你们每个人都带了点东西。"可是狼把它的黑爪子搭在了窗户上，小山羊们看到黑爪子便一起叫道："我们不开门。我们的妈妈没有你这样的黑爪子。你是狼！"于是狼跑到面包师那里，对他说："我的脚受了点伤，给我用面团揉一揉。"等面包师用面团给它揉过之后，狼又跑到磨坊主那里，对他说："在我的脚上洒点白面粉。"磨坊主想："狼肯定是想去骗什么人"，便拒绝了它的要求。可是狼说："要是你不给我洒面粉，我就把你吃掉。"磨坊主害怕了，只好洒了点面粉，把狼的爪子弄成了白色。人就是这个德行！

　　这个坏蛋第三次跑到山羊家，一面敲门一面说："开门哪，孩子们。你们的好妈妈回来了，还从森林里给你们每个人带回来一些东西。"小山羊们叫道："你先把脚给我们看看，好让我们知道你是不是我们的妈妈。"狼把爪子伸进窗户，小山羊们看到爪子是白的，便相信它说的是真话，打开了屋门。然而进来的是狼！小山羊们吓坏了，一个个都想躲起来。第一只小山羊跳到了桌子下，第二只钻进了被子，第三只躲到了炉子里，第四只跑进了厨房，第五只藏在柜子里，第六只挤在洗脸盆下，第七只爬进了钟盒里。狼把它们一个个都找了出来，毫不客气地把它们全都吞进了肚子。只有躲在钟盒里的那只最小的山羊没有被狼发现。狼吃饱了之后，心满意足地离开了山羊家，来到绿草地上的一棵大树下，躺下身子开始呼呼大睡起来。

　　没过多久，老山羊从森林里回来了。啊！它都看到了些什么呀！屋门敞开着，桌子、椅子和凳子倒在地上，洗脸盆摔成了碎片，被子和枕头掉到了地上。它找它的孩子，可哪里也找不到。它一个个地叫它们的名字，可是没有一个出来答应它。最后，当它叫到最小的山羊的名字时，一个细细的声音喊叫道："好妈妈，我在钟盒里。"老山羊把它抱了出来，它告诉妈妈狼来过了，并且把哥哥姐姐们都吃掉了。大家可以想象出老山羊失去孩子后哭得多么伤心！

　　老山羊最后伤心地哭着走了出去，最小的山羊也跟着跑了出去。当它们来到草地上时，狼还躺在大树下睡觉，呼噜声震得树枝直抖。老山羊从前后左右打量着狼，看到那家伙鼓得老高的肚子里有什么东西在动个不停。"天哪，"它说，"我的那些被它吞进肚子里当晚餐的可怜的孩子，难道它们还活着吗？"最小的山羊跑回家，拿来了剪刀和针线。老山羊剪开那恶魔的肚子，刚剪了第一刀，一只小羊就把头探了出来。它继续剪下去，六只小羊一个个都跳了出来，全都活着，而且一点也没有受伤，因为那贪婪的坏蛋是把它们整个吞下去的。

　　这是多么令人开心的事啊！它们拥抱自己的妈妈，像当新娘的裁缝一样高兴得又蹦又跳。可是羊妈妈说："你们去找些大石头来。我们趁这坏蛋还没有醒过来，把石头装到它的肚子里去。"七只小山羊飞快地拖来很多石头，拼命地往狼肚子里塞；然后山羊妈妈飞快地把狼肚皮缝好，结果狼一点也没有发觉，它根本都没有动弹。

　　狼终于睡醒了。它站起身，想到井边去喝水，因为肚子里装着的石头使它口渴得要死。可它刚一迈脚，肚子里的石头便互相碰撞，发出哗啦哗啦的响声。它叫道："是什么东西，在碰撞我的骨头？我以为是六只小羊，可怎么感觉像是石头？"它到了井边，弯腰去喝水，可沉重的石头压得它掉进了井里，淹死了。七只小山羊看到后，全跑到这里来叫道："狼死了！狼死了！"它们高兴地和妈妈一起围着水井跳起舞来。

　　New Words and Expressions 生词和词组

　　1. devour v. 吞食

　　2. disguise v. 假装

　　3. chalk n. 白垩,粉笔

　　4. dough n. 生面团

　　5. meadow n. 草地,牧场

　　6. quilt n. 棉被

　　7. gorged a. 塞饱的

　　8. rejoicing n. 欣喜，欢欣之事

　　9. stoop v. 弯腰