100个儿童英语小故事: The Mermaid Princess 人鱼公主

 

001 The Mermaid¹ Princess

In the deep, sea palace, there lived a mermaid princess. Whenever she sang a song with her beautiful voice, everyone envied² her. However, the mermaid princess wanted to go to the outside world. 

"I would like to hear the beautiful sound of birds. "The king promised her. "When you turn 15 years old, you can go and see the life above the sea." "Oh, I can't wait! 

Finally, it was the mermaid princess' 15th birthday. She went up to the sea. The princess saw a great ship. And she saw a handsome prince standing³ on the ship. The princess fell in love with him at first sight. 

However, as thunder and lightning struck, the ship sank on its side. The prince lost his consciousness⁴ and fell deep into the sea. "Oh, no! The prince fell into the water. Let me hurry and save him."

The princess saved the prince and laid him on the sand. The princess took care of him all night. When the prince opened his eyes, the mermaid princess hid from him. She thought he might get scared by her tail. Just then, a princess from a neighbor land came out to see the sea and she saw the prince. 

The princess watched from a far the prince who always came out to the sea at night. The princess was very sad. She wanted to become a human so that she could be with the prince.

She asked the witch⁵. "Okay, I will make you into a human, but you must give me your beautiful voice. If the prince marries someone else, you will become a water bubble⁶. You must marry the prince."

On the sand, she drank the medicine that the witch had given her. With the big sudden⁷ pain, she turned into a human. Just then, the prince who came out to the sea saw the princess.

The prince took the princess who could not speak, to his palace. Although she could not speak, she was happy to be living near the prince. The prince was going to be married to a princess from a neighbor land. 

"I will be marrying the princess that saved my life." 'I am the one that saved your life.' But, her voice could not be heard.

At night, the mermaid princess' older sisters came up to the sea. They gave the mermaid princess a knife and said, "If you stab⁸ the prince with this knife, you can be a mermaid again. If you don't, you will become a water bubble."

On the night of the wedding, the mermaid princess was going to stab the sleeping prince with the knife. But, she could not kill the loving prince. "It's best that I just turn into a water bubble. "When morning came, the mermaid turned into a water bubble and went up to heaven.

1 mermaid   

n.美人鱼

参考例句：

• How popular would that girl be with the only mermaid mom!和人鱼妈妈在一起，那个女孩会有多受欢迎！
• The little mermaid wasn't happy because she didn't want to wait.小美人鱼不太高兴，因为她等不及了。

2 envied   

adj.被人妒忌的，被人羡慕的v.妒忌，羡慕( envy的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He envied your trip to Greece. 他羡慕你能够到希腊去旅行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Better be envied than pitied. 宁可让人妒忌，不可让人怜悯。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 consciousness   

n.意识，觉悟，知觉

参考例句：

• The experience helped to change her social consciousness.这种经验有助于改变她的社会意识。
• He lost consciousness at the first whiff of ether.他一嗅到乙醚便失去了知觉。

5 witch   

n.巫婆，女巫；vt.施巫术，迷惑

参考例句：

• The witch changed the prince into a frog.巫婆把王子变成了青蛙。
• The heartless witch cast a spell on the poor little girl.狠心的女巫对孤苦无助的小女孩施了妖术。

6 bubble   

n.泡，水泡，气泡；泡影，妄想；v.(使)起泡

参考例句：

• The water begins to bubble.水开始起泡了。
• Their hopes of success have burst like a bubble.他们成功的希望已经成了泡影。

7 sudden   

n.突然，忽然；adj.突然的，意外的，快速的

参考例句：

• All of a sudden he turned about and saw me.他突然转过身来看见了我。
• The horse was badly frightened by the sudden noise.那匹马被突然而来的嘈杂声吓坏了。

8 stab   

n.刺，戳，刺伤的伤口，剧痛，尝试；vt.刺伤，中伤；vi.刺，扎

参考例句：

• I found a stab wound on his leg.我在他的腿上发现一处刺伤。
• Can I stab at the meat with my knife to see if it is well cooked.为了看看肉是否煮熟，我可以在肉上戳个洞吗？