100个儿童英语小故事: Nightingale 夜莺

 

005 Nightingale

A long time ago in China there lived an emperor. The emperor loved to read books. One day, in the book he was reading, it wrote, "The most beautiful precious¹ treasure is the bird nightingale."

The emperor had never seen or heard of nightingale. "What is nightingale?" No one has ever seen or heard of it.

The emperor was very curious as to what nightingale was. "Bring nightingale to me at once". The servants were worried by the emperor's command. They looked here and there.

One day a little girl said that she knew of nightingale. She said that the bird she had was nightingale. It was a small cute bird. At once nightingale was brought to the emperor.

The emperor was very happy. "Ah ~ is this bird called nightingale?" For the first time in his life, he heard the beautiful voice and was impressed and deeply² moved.

"Please give me nightingale and I will reward³ you handsomely." So nightingale came to live in the palace. Everyday Nightingale sang for the emperor.

Emperor was happy every time he heard Nightingale sing. He was so proud of Nightingale that he allowed the servants to hear it too. However, Nightingale was not happy. Nightingale felt trapped⁴ and had no freedom.

One day the neighboring country sent a gift to the emperor. It was a nightingale doll made of jewels and gold. Every time the doll was wound⁵ up it sang beautifully. Furthermore⁶, the emperor if wanted could hear it everyday.

"It's really amazing. It's beauty is the finest in the world." The real Nightingale was sad. The real Nightingale decided⁷ to leave. It flew off into the forest of freedom.

The Nightingale doll kept on singing. One day the doll broke. No body was able to fix it. The emperor was heart broken.

The emperor became ill. He just laid there waiting to die. Just then, from the window, a beautiful song came flowing in. Everyone looked.

Sitting by the window, Nightingale began singing. Shortly⁸ after, the emperor became better. Nightingale was happy. Soon, the emperor's face was filled with happiness once again.

1 precious   

adj.宝贵的，珍贵的，过于精致的，珍爱的

参考例句：

• Each life is precious.生命都是宝贵的。
• Spring rain is as precious as oil.春雨贵如油。

2 deeply   

adv.深刻地，在深处，深沉地

参考例句：

• I do feel deeply the strength of the collective.我确实深深地感到了集体的力量。
• We're deeply honoured that you should agree to join us.您能同意加入我们，我们感到很荣幸。

3 reward   

n.报酬，酬谢，赏金；vt.奖赏，酬谢，报应

参考例句：

• He will expect some reward after working so hard.他工作很努力，会得到报偿的。
• I didn't do it for reward;I did it for love.我做这件事不是为了报酬，而是出于爱好。

4 trapped   

adj. 捕获的，被困的，截留的 动词trap的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• Two passengers are still trapped in the wreck. 有两名乘客仍被困在失事的车辆里。
• The thief was trapped by the police in an old house. 小偷被警察困在一所旧房子里。

5 wound   

n.创伤，伤口，伤疤，伤害，痛苦；vt.伤害，损害，使受伤；vi.打伤，伤害；wind的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• There was a gush of blood from the wound.血从伤口流出。
• The nurse gently mopped the blood from the wound.护士轻轻地抹去伤口上的血。

6 furthermore   

adv.而且，此外

参考例句：

• I don't like her because she is too tall and furthermore she smokes too much.我不喜欢她，因为她太高，另外她抽烟太厉害。
• I don't want to go there,furthermore,I have no time to do so.我不想去那里，而且我也没时间去。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 shortly   

adv.立即，不久；简略地，简言之

参考例句：

• You go along with him. I'll come shortly.你陪陪他，我马上就来。
• He answered my questions rather shortly.他相当简慢地回答我的问题。