英语博客：Thumbelina.

　　Thumbelina.
There was once a woman who lived in a tiny cottage which had a beautiful garden. She was very happy tending her garden, but over time she became sad. She had no children who could share her garden with her. She decided¹ to ask the old witch in her village for her help. When the woman explained that she wanted a child, the old witch thought for a moment. Then she pulled a tiny bag out of a pocket in her cloak. "Plant these wildflower seeds and look after them. Soon you will have your wish." The woman was overjoyed that the witch had given her a solution to her problem. She took the seeds home with her. The next day, she planted them in a sunny corner of her garden. It was the prettiest spot that she could find. She watered and watched over the seeds every day. Soon, tiny green sprouts² began to poke³ up out of the ground. Before long, the sprouts grew and blossomed into a beautiful patch of wildflowers. In the corner of the wildflower patch grew a single, beautiful tulip. Its deep pink petals⁵ were closed up tightly. The flower was so lovely that the woman could not resist bending down to smell it. As she knelt in front of the flower, its petals suddenly opened. The woman was amazed to find a tiny girl sitting inside. She wore a tulip petal⁴ for a dress and had long, gleaming hair. "You are the most beautiful child I have ever seen! And you are hardly even as big as my thumb. Would you like to stay with me in my garden? asked the woman. "Oh, yes!" replied the girl. "I will call you Thumbelina," said the woman. At home, she made Thumbelina a tiny bed out of an acorn⁶ shell. Thumbelina slept soundly under rose petal blankets. She and her mother lived very happily in the garden the whole summer long. She loved to play in the little pond in the middle of the garden, so her mother made her a tiny boat out of a maple⁷ leaf. She rowed around the pond using two blades of grass for oars⁸. Her mother sat by the side of the pond and read stories to her while she played. Sometimes, Thumbelina sang as she rowed. She had the most beautiful, silvery voice that her mother always loved to hear. One day, a frog was hopping⁹ by the garden pond. Her heard Thumbelinas's beautiful voice. When he saw the tiny girl rowing her maple leaf boat, he said, "What a lovely creature! I must take her away to my lily pad to be my wife

1 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。

2 sprouts   

n.新芽，嫩枝( sprout的名词复数 )v.发芽( sprout的第三人称单数 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出

参考例句：

• The wheat sprouts grew perceptibly after the rain. 下了一场雨，麦苗立刻见长。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The sprouts have pushed up the earth. 嫩芽把土顶起来了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 poke   

n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
• Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。

4 petal   

n.花瓣

参考例句：

• Each white petal had a stripe of red.每一片白色的花瓣上都有一条红色的条纹。
• A petal fluttered to the ground.一片花瓣飘落到地上。

5 petals   

n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
• The petals of many flowers expand in the sunshine. 许多花瓣在阳光下开放。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 acorn   

n.橡实，橡子

参考例句：

• The oak is implicit in the acorn.橡树孕育于橡子之中。
• The tree grew from a small acorn.橡树从一粒小橡子生长而来。

7 maple   

n.槭树，枫树，槭木

参考例句：

• Maple sugar is made from the sap of maple trees.枫糖是由枫树的树液制成的。
• The maple leaves are tinge with autumn red.枫叶染上了秋天的红色。

8 oars   

n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He pulled as hard as he could on the oars. 他拼命地划桨。
• The sailors are bending to the oars. 水手们在拼命地划桨。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。