Hans Christian Andersen’s Own Fairy Tale (1)

破书一堆

Donald and Louise Peattie

1 Once upon a time there was a poor boy who lived in Denmark. His father, a shoemaker, had died, and his mother had married again.
   
2 One day the boy went to ask a favor of the Prince of Denmark. When the Prince asked himwhat he wanted, the boy said, “I want to write plays in poetry and to act at the Royal Theater.” The Prince looked at the boy, at his big hands and feet, at his big nose and large serious eyes, and gave a sensible answer. “It is one thing to act in plays, another to write them. I tell you this for your own good; learn a useful trade like shoemaking.”
3 So the boy, who was not sensible at all, went home. There he took what littlee money he had, said good – bye to his mother and his stepfather and started out to seek his fortune. He was sure that some day the name Hans Christian Adersen would be known all over Denmark.
4 To believe such a story one would have to believe in fairy tales! Hans Christian knew many such tales. He had heard some of them from his father, who had worked hard at his trade, but liked to read better than to make shoes. In the evenings, he had read aloud from The Arabian Nights. His wife understood very little of the book, but the boy, pretending to sleep, understood every word.
5 By day, Hans Christian went to a house where old women worked as weavers. There he listened to the tales that the women told as they worked at their weaving. In those days, there were almost as tales in Denmark as there were people to tell them.
6 Among the tales told in the town of Odense, where Adersen was born in 1805, was one about a fairy who brought death to those who danced with her. To this tale, Hans Christian later added a story from his own life.
7 Once, when his father was still alive, a young lady ordered a pair of shoes. When she refused to pay for them, unhappiness filled the poor shoemaker’s house. From that small tragedy and the story of the dancing fairy, the shoemaker’s son years later wrote the story that millions of people now know as The Red Shoes. The genius of Adersen is that he put so much of everyday life into the wonder of his fairy tales.
8 When Hans Christian’s mother was a little girl, she was sent out on the streets to beg. She did not want to beg, so she sat out of sight under one of the city bridges. She warmed her cold feet in her hands, for she had no shoes. She was afraid to go home. Years later, her son, in his pity for her and his anger at the world, wrote the angry story She’s No Good and the famous tale The Little Match Girl.

9 Through his genius, he changed every early experience, even his father’s death, into a fairy tale. One cold day the boy had stood looking at the white patterns formed on the window by the frost. His father showed him a white, woman-like figure(人影) among the frost patterns. “That is the Snow Queen,” said the shoemaker. “Soon she will be coming for me.” A few months later he was dead. And years later, Adersen turned that sad experience into a fairy tale, The Snow Queen.
10 After the Prince told him to learn a trade, Hans Christian went to Copenhagen. He was just fourteen years old at the time.
11 When he arried in the city, he went to see as many impotant people as he could find – dancers, writers and theater peoplee of Copenhagen. But none of them lent qa helping hand to the boy with the big hands, the big feet and the big nose. Finally, he had just seven pennies left.
12 The boy had a beautiful high, clear voice. One day a music teacher heard him singing and decided to help him. He collected money from his friends and gave it to the boy so that he could buy food and clothing while he studied singing.
13 Hans Christian was happier than he had ever been in his life. But soon his boy’s voice broke. The beautiful high voice was gone forever.

14 The boy soon found new friends who admired his genius. There was even a princess who gave him a little money from time to time for food and clothes. But Hans Christian bought little food and no clothes. Instead, he bought books and went to the theater.

Word List（单词表）
   
fairy tale   n. 童话，神话   
fairy   n. 小仙子，小精灵   
shoemaker   n. 鞋匠   
shoemaking   n. 制鞋，补鞋  
prince  n.王子
princess n. 公主
poetry n.诗（总称）
act v.表演
royal  adj.王室的，皇家的
sensible  adj.（建议、主意等）合情合理的，明智的；（人）明智的，明白事理的 stepfather  n.继父
weaving  n. 编织
weaver n.织布工
unhappiness n.不幸福，不愉快
tragedy  n.悲剧，悲惨的事
dancer  n.舞蹈演员
genius n.天才；创造力
warm  v.（使……）变暖，暖和
for conj. 因为，由于
frost  n.霜
woman-like  adj.女人似的
figure  n.身影，人影
writer n.作家，作者
helping  adj.帮助的
finally  adv.最后，最终
beautiful美妙动听的
high高音调的，尖声的
break（男孩的嗓音）青春期时变低沉   

Proper Names（专有名词）
   
Donald Peattie唐纳德·皮蒂
Louise Peattie 路易丝·皮蒂
Hans Christian Anderson汉斯·克里斯琴·安徒生
Denmark丹麦
Odense欧登塞（地名）
Copenhagen哥本哈根（地名）

Useful   Expressions(常用短语)
Once upon a time很久以前  
ask a favour of sb. 请某人帮忙
look at看着
believe in 相信，信任  
work hard at在……上下功夫
pay for sth.支付……的费用  
be afraid to do sth. 害怕做某事
change/turn …into…把……改变成……   
arrive in /at到达   
for ever永远   
from time to time不时的，常常  
lend a helping hand to sb.帮某人一把  
pretend to do sth.假装做某事  
not… at all根本不，一点儿也不  
     He doesn’t know the meaning at all .
start out出发，动身  
    They started out to look for the lost boy.  
    We started out at 7 o’clock   
add sth. to sth.加上  
    Please add your name to the list.   
out of sight从视线中消失（变得看不见）  
    The ship was soon out of sight     
    Out of sight, out of mind.（谚语：不见就忘。）
because of由于  
    We didn’t go to the cinema because of the rain.

Hans Christian Anderson’s Own Fairy Tale (1)
很久以前，在丹麦有个可怜的男孩。他的父亲是位鞋匠，已经去世了，他的妈妈改嫁了。
......