短小的英語童話故事

　　 找朋友

　　Sam is a little fish. He lives in the sea. He is very lonely. He wants to have a friend. The friend looks like him. Sam sees an ink fish. The ink fish has eight legs. He doesn't look like Sam. So Sam goes away.

　　Sam meets a shark. He wants to say hello to the shark. The shark opens his big mouth. Sam runs away quickly.

　　Sam is tired and hungry. He wants to have a rest. Then he sees a round fish. She says to him. "Hello! Would you like to be my friend?"

　　Sam answers: "Of course! But you are round. I am flat." The round fish days: "But we are both fishes."

　　Sam thinks and says, "You are right. Let's be friends." They become good friends.

　　塞姆是一條小魚，他在海里。他生在海里。他很孤獨，想要找一個朋友，那個朋友看起來要想他。 塞姆看見一條墨魚。墨魚有8條腿，看上去不像塞姆。因此塞姆遊走了。

　　塞姆遇見一條鯊魚。他想跟鯊魚問好。鯊魚張開大嘴，塞姆又迅速地逃走了。

　　塞姆又累又餓，他要休息一會兒。這時他看見一條圓魚，圓魚對他說：“你好!你願意做我的朋友嗎?”

　　塞姆回答：“好哇!可你是圓形的，我是扁的。”圓魚說：“但是我們倆都是魚啊!”

　　塞姆思考後說：“你講得對，讓我們做朋友吧。”他們就成為好朋友了。

　　 螞蚱和貓頭鷹

　　An owl1, who lived in a hollow tree, was in the habit of feeding by night and sleeping by day, but her slumbers2 were greatly disturbed by the chirping3 of a grasshopper4, who had taken up his abode5 in the branches. She begged him repeatedly to have some consideration for her comfort, but the grasshopper, if anything, only chirped6 the louder. At last the owl could stand it no longer, but determined7 to rid herself of the pest by means of a trick. Addressing herself to the grasshopper, she said in her pleasantest manner, "As I cannot sleep for your song, which, believe me, is as sweet as the notes of Apollo's lyr., I have a mind to taste some nectar, which Minerva gave me the other day. Won't you come in and join me?" The grasshopper was flattered by the praise of his song, and his mouth, too, watered at the mention of the delicious drink, so he said he would be delighted. No sooner had he got inside the hollow where the owl was sitting than shepounced8 upon him and ate him up.

　　棲息在一棵樹上的貓頭鷹，習慣於晚上覓食，白天睡覺。可是，她白天卻也睡不好，一隻早已在樹叢間坐窩的螞蚱總髮出啁啾聲，吵得她無法入睡。貓頭鷹不斷地請求螞蚱考慮一下她的情況，可螞蚱卻仍然大聲叫個不停。最後，貓頭鷹再也受不了了，決定設計除掉螞蚱。於是，貓頭鷹裝出一副高興樣，對螞蚱說：“儘管我被你的歌聲驚擾，睡不著覺，但是請相信我，你的歌聲如同阿波羅神的七絃琴一樣動聽。我正想喝一杯美味瓊漿，這可是密涅瓦送給我的。你要不要上來和我一起享用呢?”螞蚱正得意於貓頭鷹對自己歌聲的奉承，一聽到有瓊漿玉液，嘴巴里就開始流口水了，所以，他很高興地接受了邀請，待他剛一飛上去，貓頭鷹就從樹洞中衝出來，撲過去抓住螞蚱，吃掉了他。

　　 螞蚱和螞蟻

　　One fine day in winter some ants were busy drying their store of corn, which had got rather damp during a long spell of rain. Presently1 up came a grasshopper2 and begged them to spare her a few grains, "For," she said, "I'm simply starving." The ants stopped work for a moment, though this was against their principles. "May we ask," said they, "what you were doing with yourself all last summer? Why didn't you collect a store of food for the winter?" "The fact is," replied the grasshopper, "I was so busy singing that I hadn't the time." "If you spent the summer singing," replied the ants, "you can't do better than spend the winter dancing." And they chuckled3 and went on with their work.

　　冬天一個溫暖如春的日子裡，螞蟻們正忙著晒乾自己儲存的糧食。由於下來很長時間的雨，糧食已經非常潮溼了。這時，來了一隻螞蚱，向他們乞討一點糧食。“因為，”螞蚱說，“我實在是餓壞了。”儘管有點違背原則，但螞蟻們還是停下了手頭的工作。“我們能問一下嗎?”他們說，“整個夏天你都在做些什麼呢?為什麼不為冬天儲存一些糧食呢?”“實際上，”螞蚱回答道，“我一直在忙著唱歌，根本沒有時間儲存糧食。”“如果你整個夏天都在唱歌，”螞蟻們回答道，“那麼，你最好在冬天就忙著跳舞吧。”他們哈哈大笑起來，繼續忙於各自的工作。