小学英语阅读之第七篇

　　Once upon a time in a kingdom far away, there were eleven Princes and a single Princess, by the name of Elisa. One day, their mother died of a disease.

　　Eventually the King married again. The new Queen hated the twelve children.

　　She said craftily, "Elisa is weak, and it would be good for her to go to the country for recuperation." The King was grateful to the Queen, as she seemed to care for the health of his daughter. Therefore, the Princess was sent off to the remotest corner of the country.

　　The Queen then changed the eleven Princes into swans through her magic power, and sent them away from the royal palace. The Princes flew away crying sadly. "Oh! I feel good. It is my world now."

　　After some time, the King missed Princess Elisa and sent for her. The Queen had Princess Elisa wear a dirty and worn-out dress. The King was very surprised to see the dirty Princess Elisa. "Elisa, how do you dress yourself?" Then the Queen said quickly,

　　"Dear Lord, it seems that Princess Elisa has gone mad." The King was furious and sent the Princess away from him.

　　"Ah! Where are my brothers?" The Princess asked a man passing by, "Have you ever seen eleven Princes?" The man said, "I have not seen eleven Princes but I have seen eleven swans. Strangely the swans wore golden crowns. You may find them near the river."

　　Princess Elisa waited for her brothers near the river hoping to find them. At night, eleven swans swooped down to the ground and were turned into the form of Princes. "My brothers!" "Elisa!" They cried and embraced each other.

　　The brothers were trapped under the spell of the wicked Queen, and were forced to become swans and fly around to look for something to eat during the day. Elisa prayed earnestly, "Dear God, ase release the magic curse from my brothers." In her dreams that night, a fairy appeared and said, "Make mantles for your brothers with hemp and have them wear the mantles. However, you should not speak at all until those mantles are made comtely."

　　The Princes thought that Elisa, who did not speak and merely kept knitting, had become strange. One day, a Prince from a neighboring kingdom saw the knitting Princess when he was out hunting. The Prince took Elisa to his palace saying to himself, "She is a really beautiful lady. I am going to make her happy."

　　But Elisa did not say anything, and only kept knitting eagerly. At nightfall of the next day, the hemp was all used up. Elisa picked some more hemp near a grave but was caught by the Prince. The Prince said, "You dared to go to a grave at night? You must be a witch. Take this witch and burn her at the stake!"

　　Princess Elisa was unable to say anything and was imprisoned. Princess Elisa continued knitting without taking rest even in the prison. Princess Elisa was finally knitting the eleventh mantle, while being carried on a cart going to the burning place. The villagers threw stones at her while shouting, "That witch is still knitting. Burn her at the stake!"

　　At that precise moment, the eleven swans flew in. Princess Elisa threw the finished mantles to the swans. Only then, Princess Elisa opened her mouth. "I now can speak. I am not a witch."

　　They donned the knitted hoods they were turned back into Princes. The Princess told the Prince what had happened up to that time. Thereafter, the Prince and Princess Elisa lived happily together in their kingdom.

　　野天鹅

　　从前，在一个遥远的国度里，有十一个王子和一个公主，名叫埃利莎。有一天，他们的母亲死于一种疾病。

　　 终国王再次结婚。新王后讨厌十二个孩子。

　　她狡猾地说:“埃莉莎很虚弱，她去乡下疗养对她有好处。”国王很感激王后，因为她似乎关心女儿的健康。因此，公主被送到了国家 偏远的角落。

　　然后，女王用她的魔力把11个王子变成了天鹅，并把他们从皇宫中赶走。王子们悲伤地飞走了。“哦!我感觉很好。这是我的世界。”

　　过了一段时间，国王错过了埃莉莎公主并派人去找她。女王让埃莉莎公主穿了一件又脏又破的衣服。国王看到肮脏的公主埃莉莎很惊讶。“埃莉莎，你怎么打扮自己?”王后很快地说，

　　“亲爱的上帝，看来埃莉莎公主已经疯了。国王勃然大怒，把公主赶走了。

　　“啊!我的兄弟在哪里?公主问一个路过的人说:“你见过11位王子吗?”那人说:“我没有见过十一个王子，但我见过十一只天鹅。”奇怪的是天鹅们戴着金王冠。你可以在河边找到他们。”

　　埃莉莎公主在河边等着她的兄弟们，希望能找到他们。晚上，十一只天鹅突然飞向地面，变成了王子的样子。“我的兄弟们!”“Elisa !他们哭着拥抱着对方。

　　兄弟们被困在邪恶的王后的魔咒之下，被迫变成天鹅，飞到周围寻找白天吃的东西。伊利莎恳切地祈祷:“亲爱的上帝，请释放我兄弟们的魔法诅咒。”那天晚上，在梦里，一个仙女出现了，说:“给你的兄弟们用大麻吧，让他们戴上马靴。”然而，你根本不应该说话，直到这些人完全被造出来。

　　王子们认为，没有说话，只织毛衣的埃利莎已经变得很奇怪了。一天，一位来自邻国的王子在外出狩猎时看到了针织公主。王子带伊利莎来到他的宫殿，对自己说:“她真是一位美丽的女士。”我要让她快乐。”

　　但是埃莉莎什么也没说，只是不停地编织。第二天傍晚，麻麻都用光了。埃利莎在一个坟墓附近捡了一些大麻，但被王子逮住了。王子说:“你竟敢在夜里去墓地?”你一定是个女巫。抓住这个女巫，把她烧死在火刑柱上!”

　　埃莉莎公主说不出话来，被监禁了。埃利萨公主继续编织，甚至在监狱里也不休息。埃莉莎公主终于织起了第十一个斗篷，她被抬上一辆车去燃烧的地方。村民们朝她扔石头，喊着:“那个女巫还在织毛衣。”把她烧死在火刑柱上!”

　　在那个精确的时刻，十一只天鹅飞了进来。埃莉莎公主向天鹅们扔完所有的毛衣。只有这样，埃莉莎公主才开口。“我现在可以说话。我不是女巫。”

　　他们戴上针织帽，重新回到王子们的身上。公主告诉王子那时候发生了什么事。此后，王子和公主在他们的王国里幸福地生活在一起。