Ugly Duckling
The countryside was lovely. It was summer. The wheat was golden and the oats were still green. The hay was stacked in the low-lying meadows. There lay great woods around the fields and meadows. There were deep lakes in the midst of the woods. In the sunniest spot stood an old mansion surrounded by a deep moat. Great leaves grew from the vines on the walls of the house right down to the water's edge. Some of the leaves were so big that a child could use them as an umbrella.
In the depths of a forest a duck was sitting in her nest. Her little ducklings were about to be hatched.
At last one egg after another began to crack." Cheep, cheep!" the ducklings said." Quack, quack!" said the duck. " How big the world is!" said all the young ones.
But the biggest egg was still there. And then she settled herself on the nest again.
"Well, how are you getting on?" said an old duck who came to pay her a visit." This egg is taking such a long time," answered the sitting duck."
The shell will not crack, but the others are the finest ducklings. They are like their father."
"let me look at the egg which won't crack," said the old duck." You may be sitting on a turkey's egg! I have been cheated like that once. Yes. it's a turkey's egg! You had better leave it alone and teach the other children to swim."
"I will sit on it a little longer."
At last the big egg cracked. How big and ugly the baby was! " That is a very big duckling." she said, " None of the others look like that. Can he be a turkey's chick? I will soon find out. I will make him go into water."
The next day the mother duck with her family went down to the moat. She said, and one duckling jumped in after another.
The big ugly one swam about with them." No, that is no turkey," she said," Quack, quack! Now come with me and I will take you into the world. Keep close to me all the time. Be careful of the cat!" The first day passed, and everything was fine.
Afterwards, matters grew worse and worse. The poor duckling was chased and harassed by all the ducklings because he was very ugly.The ducks bit him, the hens pecked him. and the girl who fed them kicked him aside. Then he ran off and soon came to a great marsh where the wild ducks lived.
He was so tired and miserable that he stayed there the whole night.
In the morning the wild ducks flew up to see their new friend." You are very ugly," said the wild ducks," but that does not matter to us." He stayed there two whole days . And then two wild geese came. Just at that moment the sound of "Bang! Bang!" was heard, and both the wild geese fell dead among the reeds.
It was a terrible shock to the poor duckling.
A big dog appeared close beside him. He showed his sharp teeth and went on without touching him.
"Oh, thank Heaven! I am so ugly that even the dog won't bite me!" sighed the duckling.
In the evening he reached a little cottage where an old woman lived with her cat and her hen. Her eyesight was not good, and she thought the duckling was a fat duck. will be rich if I have duck eggs," she said. So she took in the duckling for three weeks, but he laid no eggs.
The cat was the master of the house and the hen was the mistress.
"Can you lay eggs?" asked the hen.
"No," answered the duckling.
"Then you had better go out into the wide world," said the cat. So away went the duckling.
One evening the sun was just setting when a flock of beautiful large birds appeared out of the bushes.
The duckling thought," I've never seen anything so beautiful."
They were dazzlingly white with long necks. They were swans. He did not know what the birds were.
The winter was so bitterly cold that the duckling swam about in the water to keep himself from freezing.
The sun began to shine warmly again. The larks were singing and beautiful spring had come. Then, all at once, the duckling raised his wings and they flapped with much greater strength than before. Before he knew it, he found himself in a large garden where the apple trees were in full blossom and long branches of lilacs overhung the shores of the lake.
Just in front of him he saw three beautiful white swans swimming towards him.
"I will fly to them and they will hack me to pieces because I am so ugly. But it doesn't matter. I would rather be killed by them than be bitten by the ducks or pecked by the hens." So he flew into the water and swam towards the swans. They saw him and darted towards him.
"Kill me! Oh, kill me!" said the poor duckling, and he waited for his death bowing his head towards the water.
But what did he see in the clear water? He was no longer a dark gray ugly bird. He was himself a swan!
Some children came into the garden with corn and pieces of bread, which they threw into the water.
The smallest child shouted with joy," There is a new one." The other children shouted, "Yes, a new one has come."
He said to himself, " I never dreamed that I could be so happy when I was the ugly duckling!"
拓展资料：
作者简介：
汉斯·克里斯蒂安·安徒生(HeinzChristianAndersen1805—1875)丹麦作家。1805年4月2日生于丹麦菲英岛欧登塞的贫民区。父亲是个穷鞋匠，曾志愿服役，抗击拿破仑·波拿巴的侵略，退伍后于1816年病故。
当洗衣工的母亲不久即改嫁。安徒生从小就为贫困所折磨，先后在几家店铺里做学徒，没有受过正规教育。少年时代即对舞台发生兴趣，幻想当一名歌唱家、演员或剧作家。1819年在哥本哈根皇家剧院当了一名小配角。后因嗓子失润被解雇。从此开始学习写作，但写的剧本完全不适宜于演出，没有为剧院所采用。
1822年得到剧院导演约纳斯·科林的资助，就读于斯莱厄尔瑟的一所文法学校。这一年他写了《青年的尝试》一书，以威廉·克里斯蒂安·瓦尔特的笔名发表。这个笔名包括了威廉·莎士比亚、安徒生自己和司各特的名字。
1827年发表第一首诗《垂死的小孩》 ，1829年，他进入哥本哈根大学学习。他的第一部重要作品《1828和1829年从霍尔门运河至阿迈厄岛东角步行记》于1829年问世。这是一部富于幽默感的游记，颇有德国作家霍夫曼的文风。这部游记的出版使安徒生得到了社会的初步承认。此后他继续从事戏剧创作。
1831年他去德国旅行，归途中写了旅游札记。1833年去意大利，创作了一部诗剧《埃格内特和美人鱼》和一部以意大利为背景的长篇小说《即兴诗人》(1835)。小说出版后不久，就被翻译成德文和英文，标志着作者开始享有国际声誉。
寓意：比喻不被关注的小孩子或年轻人，有时也指刚刚出现、不为人注意的事物。丑小鸭历经千辛万苦、重重磨难之后变成了白天鹅，那是因为它心中有着梦想，梦想支撑着它。是金子早晚会发光。命运其实没有轨迹，关键在于对美好境界、美好理想的追求。人生中的挫折和痛苦是不可避免的，要学会把它们踩在脚下，每个孩子都会有一份属于自己的梦想，只要他们学会树立生活目标，在自信、自强、自立中成长，通过拼搏他们会真正的认识到自己原来也可以变成“白天鹅”，也可以像丑小鸭一样实现心中的梦想，人只要有了梦想，那么，困难也不再是困难了。
原创：
The Ugly Duckling
It was summer. A duck was sitting in her nest. Her little ducklings were about to hatched.
One egg after another began to crack,but the biggest one was still there. At last, it cracked.The baby was big and ugly.
The next day,the mother duck with her family went down to the moat. One duckling jumped in after another. The big ugly one swam about with them.But the poor duckling was chased and harassed by all the ducklings because he was very ugly.The ducks bit him,the hens pecked him. And the girl who fed them kicked him aside.
Then he ran off and soon came to a great marsh where the wild ducks lived. He stayed there for two whole days.A big dog appeared close beside him,but he did not touch the duckling. "Oh,I am so ugly that even the dog won`t bite me." Sighed the duckling.
In the evening,he reached a little cottage. Because he could not lay eggs,he was driven away by the hen.
one evening,he saw some swans.He flew into the water and swam towards them. What did he see in the clear water? He was no longer a dark grey ugly bird. He wa s himself a swan.
He said to himself,"I never dreamed that I could be so happy when I was the ugly duckling."
译文：夏天到了，一只鸭子正坐在它的窝里。它的小宝宝们就要孵出来了。
一只又一只的蛋开始裂开，但是最大的蛋仍然在那里。最后，它破裂了。宝宝又大又丑。第二天，鸭妈妈带着一家去河沟里去了。一只又一只的小鸭子跳了进去。这个又大又丑的鸭子在别的鸭子边上游泳。但因为它长得很丑，不但没有被鸭群接受，还挨啄、被排挤、被讪笑。而且在鸡群中也是这样。他因此觉得很自卑。无奈之下，丑小鸭飞过篱笆逃走了。有一次，他遇到了一只猎狗，但那只猎狗只是闻闻他，并没有把他抓住。他暗自庆幸，“我丑得连猎狗也不敢咬我了！”他为自己逃生而庆幸，同时为自己长得丑而懊丧。在这以后，丑小鸭遇到了很多磨难。后来，对美好大自然、美好生活的向往与追求驱使着丑小鸭不再依靠别人生活。有一天，三只美丽的白天鹅从树阴里一直游到他面前来，小鸭认出了这些美丽的动物，于是心里感到一种说不出的难过。小鸭感到自己要游向他们，就算他们把自己弄死也没关系，因为他有一颗追求美的心。但他在水里看到的是什么呢，不再是那只丑陋的小鸭了，而是——一只美丽的天鹅！
One evening, the sun was just setting in with true splendor when 1)a flock of beautiful large birds appeared out of the bushes. The duckling had never seen anything so beautiful. They were dazzlingly white with long waving necks. They were swans and uttering a peculiar cry. They spread out their magnificent broad wings and flew away from the cold regions toward warmer lands and open seas.
They 2)mounted so high, so very high, and the ugly little duckling became strangely uneasy. He circled around and around in the water like a wheel, 3)craning his neck out into the air after them. Then he uttered the shriek so 4)piercing and so strange that he was quite frightened by himself. Oh, he could not forget those beautiful birds, those happy birds and as soon as they were out of sight. He 5)ducked right down to the bottom and when he came up again, he was quite beside himself. He did not know what the birds were or where’d they flew. But all the same, he was more drawn towards them than he had ever been by any creatures before. He did not envy them in the least. How could it occur to him even to wish to be such a marvelous beauty? He wouldn’t be thankful if only the ducks would have tolerated him among them, the poor ugly creature.
Early in the morning, a peasant came along and saw him, he went out onto the ice and hammered a hole in it with his heavy wooden shoe, and carried the duckling home to his wife. There, it soon 6)revived. The children wanted to play with it. But the duckling thought they were going to ill use him and rushed in and he frightened to the milk-pan, and the milk 7)spurted out all over the room. The woman shrieked and threw up her hands. Then it flew to the butter-cask and down into the meal-tub and out again. Oh, just imagine what it looked like by this time. The woman screamed and tried to hit it with the 8)tongs, and the children 9)tumbled over one another in trying to catch it, and they screamed with laughter.
By good luck, the door stood open and the duckling flew out among the bushes and the new fallen snow. And it lay there, thoroughly exhausted, but it would be too sad to mention all the privation and misery had to go through during that hard winter. When the sun began to shine warmly again, the duckling was in a marsh, lying among the rushes. The larks were singing, and the beautiful spring had come. Then all at once, it raised its wings and they flapped with much greater strength than before and bore him off vigorously. Before he knew where he was, he found himself in a large garden with the apple trees were in full blossom. And the air was scentedly with lilacs, the long branches of which overhung the indented shores of the lake. Oh, the spring freshness was so delicious. Just in front of him, he saw three beautiful white swans advancing towards him from a 10)thicket. With 11)rustling feathers, they swam lightly over the water. The duckling recognized the majestic birds, and he was overcome by a strange melancholy.
“I will fly to them, the royal birds, and they will hack me to pieces because I who am so ugly venture to approach them. But it won’t matter. Better to be killed by them than be snacked up by the ducks, 12)pecked by the hens, or 13)spurned by the hen wife, or suffer so much misery in the winter.” So he flew into the water and swam towards the stately swans. They saw him and darted toward him with ruffled feathers. “Kill me, oh, kill me.” said the poor creature. And bowing his head towards the water, he awaited his death. But what did he see? Reflected in the transparent water, he saw below him his own image, but he was no longer a clumsy dark gray bird, ugly and ungainly. He was himself, a swan.
丑小鸭
一天晚上，当太阳正在美丽的霞光中落下去的时候，有一群漂亮的大鸟从灌木林里飞出来，小鸭从来没有看到过这样美丽的东西。他们白得发亮，颈项又长又柔软。这就是天鹅。他们发出一种奇异的叫声，展开美丽的长翅膀，从寒冷的地带飞向温暖的国度，飞向不结冰的湖上去。
他们飞得很高--那么高，丑小鸭不禁感到一种无名的兴奋。他在水上像一个车轮似地不停地旋转着，同时，把自己的颈项高高地向他们伸着，发出一种响亮的怪叫声，连他自己也吓着了。啊！他再也忘不了那些美丽的鸟儿，那些幸福的鸟儿。当他看不见他们的时候，就沉入水底；但是当他再冒到水面上来的时候，却感到非常寂寞。他不知道那些鸟儿的名字，也不知道他们要飞去什么地方。不过他爱他们，好像他从来还没有爱过什么东西似的。他并不嫉妒他们。他怎能梦想有他们那样的美丽呢？只要别的鸭儿准许他跟他们生活在一起，他就已经很欣慰了--可怜的丑东西。
大清早，有一个农民在这儿经过。他看到了这只小鸭，就走过去用木屐把冰块锤破，然后把它抱回家，送给他的妻子。它这时才渐渐地恢复了知觉。小孩子们都想跟它玩，不过小鸭以为他们想要伤害他。他一害怕就跳到牛奶盘里去了，把牛奶溅得满屋子都是。女人惊叫起来，拍着双手。这么一来，小鸭就飞到黄油盆里去了，然后飞进面粉桶里去了，最后才爬出来。这时它的样子才好看呢！女人尖声地叫起来，拿着火钳要打它。小孩们挤做一团，想抓住这小鸭。他们又是笑，又是叫！
幸好大门是开着的。他钻进灌木林中新下的雪里面去。他躺在那里，彻底地筋疲力尽。要是只讲他在这严冬所受到困苦和灾难，那么这个故事也就太悲惨了。当太阳又开始温暖地照着的时候，他正躺在沼泽地的芦苇里。百灵鸟唱起歌来了--美丽的春天已经来了。忽然间他举起翅膀：翅膀拍起来比以前有力得多，马上就把他托起来飞走了。他不知不觉地已经飞进了一座大花园。这儿苹果树开满了花；空气里飘着丁香怡人的香气，一根长长的枝条垂到弯弯曲曲的湖岸边。啊，这儿充满了醉人的初春的气息！三只美丽的白天鹅从树荫里一直游到他面前来。他们轻飘飘地浮在水上，羽毛发出飕飕的响声。小鸭认出这些高贵的鸟儿，于是心里感到一种说不出的难过。
“我要飞向他们，飞向这些高贵的鸟儿！可是他们会把我劈碎的，因为我是这样丑，居然敢接近他们。不过这没有什么关系！被他们杀死，要比被鸭子咬、被鸡群啄，被看管养鸡场的那个女佣人踢和在冬天受苦好得多！”于是他飞到水里，向这些高贵优雅的天鹅游去：这些动物看到他，马上就竖起羽毛向他游来。“请你们弄死我吧！”这只可怜的家伙说。他把头低低地垂到水上，只等待着死。但是他在这清澈的水上看到了什么呢？他看到了自己的倒影。但那不再是一只粗笨的、深灰色的、又丑又令人讨厌的鸭子，而却是--一只天鹅！
In the depths of a forest a duck was sitting in her nest. Her little ducklings were about to be hatched
At last one egg after another began to crack." Cheep, cheep!" the ducklings said." Quack, quack!" said the duck. " How big the world is!" said all the young ones.
But the biggest egg was still there. And then she settled herself on the nest again.
"Well, how are you getting on?" said an old duck who came to pay her a visit." This egg is taking such a long time," answered the sitting duck."
The shell will not crack, but the others are the finest ducklings. They are like their father."
"let me look at the egg which won't crack," said the old duck." You may be sitting on a turkey's egg! I have been cheated like that once. Yes. it's a turkey's egg!
You had better leave it alone and teach the other children to swim."
"I will sit on it a little longer."
At last the big egg cracked. How big and ugly the baby was! " That is a very big duckling." she said, " None of the others look like that. Can he be a turkey's chick? I will soon find out. I will make him go into water."
The next day the mother duck with her family went down to the moat. She said, and one duckling jumped in after another.
The big ugly one swam about with them." No, that is no turkey," she said," Quack, quack! Now come with me and I will take you into the world. Keep close to me all the time. Be careful of the cat!" The first day passed, and everything was fine.
Afterwards, matters grew worse and worse. The poor duckling was chased and harassed by all the ducklings because he was very ugly.The ducks bit him, the hens pecked him. and the girl who fed them kicked him aside. Then he ran off and soon came to a great marsh where the wild ducks lived.
He was so tired and miserable that he stayed there the whole night.
In the morning the wild ducks flew up to see their new friend." You are very ugly," said the wild ducks," but that does not matter to us." He stayed there two whole days . And then two wild geese came. Just at that moment the sound of "Bang! Bang!" was heard, and both the wild geese fell dead among the reeds.
It was a terrible shock to the poor duckling.
A big dog appeared close beside him. He showed his sharp teeth and went on without touching him.
"Oh, thank Heaven! I am so ugly that even the dog won't bite me!" sighed the duckling.
In the evening he reached a little cottage where an old woman lived with her cat and her hen. Her eyesight was not good, and she thought the duckling was a fat duck. will be rich if I have duck eggs," she said. So she took in the duckling for three weeks, but he laid no eggs.
The cat was the master of the house and the hen was the mistress.
"Can you lay eggs?" asked the hen.
"No," answered the duckling.
"Then you had better go out into the wide world," said the cat. So away went the duckling.
One evening the sun was just setting when a flock of beautiful large birds appeared out of the bushes.
The duckling thought," I've never seen anything so beautiful."
They were dazzlingly white with long necks. They were swans. He did not know what the birds were.
The winter was so bitterly cold that the duckling swam about in the water to keep himself from freezing.
The sun began to shine warmly again. The larks were singing and beautiful spring had come. Then, all at once, the duckling raised his wings and they flapped with much greater strength than before. Before he knew it, he found himself in a large garden where the apple trees were in full blossom and long branches of lilacs overhung the shores of the lake.
Just in front of him he saw three beautiful white swans swimming towards him.
"I will fly to them and they will hack me to pieces because I am so ugly. But it doesn't matter. I would rather be killed by them than be bitten by the ducks or pecked by the hens." So he flew into the water and swam towards the swans. They saw him and darted towards him.
"Kill me! Oh, kill me!" said the poor duckling, and he waited for his death bowing his head towards the water.
But what did he see in the clear water? He was no longer a dark gray ugly bird. He was himself a swan!
Some children came into the garden with corn and pieces of bread, which they threw into the water.
The smallest child shouted with joy," There is a new one." The other children shouted, "Yes, a new one has come."
He said to himself, " I never dreamed that I could be so happy when I was the ugly duckling!"
They 2)mounted so high, so very high, and the ugly little duckling became strangely uneasy. He circled around and around in the water like a wheel, 3)craning his neck out into the air after them. Then he uttered the shriek so 4)piercing and so strange that he was quite frightened by himself. Oh, he could not forget those beautiful birds, those happy birds and as soon as they were out of sight. He 5)ducked right down to the bottom and when he came up again, he was quite beside himself. He did not know what the birds were or where’
d they flew. But all the same, he was more drawn towards them than he had ever been by any creatures before. He did not envy them in the least. How could it occur to him even to wish to be such a marvelous beauty? He wouldn’t be thankful if only the ducks would have tolerated him among them, the poor ugly creature.
Early in the morning, a peasant came along and saw him, he went out onto the ice and hammered a hole in it with his heavy wooden shoe, and carried the duckling home to his wife. There, it soon 6)revived. The children wanted to play with it. But the duckling thought they were going to ill use him and rushed in and he frightened to the milk-pan, and the milk 7)spurted out all over the room. The woman shrieked and threw up her hands. Then it flew to the butter-cask and down into the meal-tub and out again. Oh, just imagine what it looked like by this time. The woman screamed and tried to hit it with the 8)tongs, and the children 9)tumbled over one another in trying to catch it, and they screamed with laughter.
By good luck, the door stood open and the duckling flew out among the bushes and the new fallen snow. And it lay there, thoroughly exhausted, but it would be too sad to mention all the privation and misery had to go through during that hard winter. When the sun began to shine warmly again, the duckling was in a marsh, lying among the rushes. The larks were singing, and the beautiful spring had come. Then all at once, it raised its wings and they flapped with much greater strength than before and bore him off vigorously. Before he knew where he was, he found himself in a large garden with the apple trees were in full blossom. And the air was scentedly with lilacs, the long branches of which overhung the indented shores of the lake. Oh, the spring freshness was so delicious. Just in front of him, he saw three beautiful white swans advancing towards him from a 10)thicket. With 11)rustling feathers, they swam lightly over the water. The duckling recognized the majestic birds, and he was overcome by a strange melancholy.
“I will fly to them, the royal birds, and they will hack me to pieces because I who am so ugly venture to approach them. But it won’t matter. Better to be killed by them than be snacked up by the ducks, 12)pecked by the hens, or 13)spurned by the hen wife, or suffer so much misery in the winter.” So he flew into the water and swam towards the stately swans. They saw him and darted toward him with ruffled feathers. “Kill me, oh, kill me.” said the poor creature. And bowing his head towards the water, he awaited his death. But what did he see? Reflected in the transparent water, he saw below him his own image, but he was no longer a clumsy dark gray bird, ugly and ungainly. He was himself, a swan.