THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA(豌豆和公主)

Whatisarealprincess?whatcanyoulearnfromthisstory？...



ONCE upon a time there was a prince who wanted a marry a princess; but she would have to be a real princess. He travelled all over the wolrd to fine one, but nowhere could he get what he wanted. There were princesses enough, but it was difficult to find out whether they were real ones. There was always something about them that was not as it should be, so he came home again and was sad, for he would have liked very much to have a real princess.

从前，有一位王子，想要娶一位公主为妻，但是她必须得是一位真正的公主。他环游世界，想要找到一位公主，结果却不如人意。遇到的公主有很多，但是很难辨别她们是否是真正的公主，总觉得她们身上缺乏公主应有的气质。所以，他回到自己的王国，很是沮丧，因为他太想要一位真正的公主了。

One evening a terrible storm came on; there was thunder and lightening, and the rain poured down in torrents. Suddenly a knocking was heard at the city gate, and the old king went to open it.

在一个暴风雨的晚上，雷雨交加，下着倾盆大雨。突然从城门外传来一阵敲门声，老国王过去开门。

It was a princess standing out there in front of the gate. But, good gracious! what a sight the rain and the wind had made her look. The water ran down from her hair and clothes; it ran down into the toes of her shoes and out again at the heels. And yet she said that she was a real princess.

有一位公主站在城门口外，但是，天哪！门外的她是多么狼狈不堪啊！雨水顺着她的头发和衣服流下来，一直流到鞋子里，从脚后跟溢出来。她却说自己是一位真正的公主。

"Well, we'll soon find that out," thought the old queen. But she said nothing, went into the bedroom, took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea on the buttom; then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on the coat, and then twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattreses.

“好吧，用不了一会儿我们就会知道真相。”老王后心里想。她什么也没说，径直走进卧室，把床上的被褥移开，在床架上放了一粒豌豆，然后在上面铺了二十张床垫，上面又盖了二十张鸭绒被。

On this the princess had to lie all night. In the morning she was asked how she had slept.

这位公主躺在上面睡了一晚上，第二天早晨人们问她睡得如何。

"Oh, very badly!" said she. "I have scarcely closed my eyes all night. Heaven only know what was in the bed, but I was lying on something hard, so that i am black and blue all over my body. It's horrible!"

“哦，太难受了，我一晚上几乎没合眼。天知道床上有什么硬东西，硌得我难受，浑身青一块紫一块，太可怕了！”她说。

Now they knew that she was a real princess because she had flet the pea right through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds.

现在他们知道她就是一位真正的公主了，因为她睡着二十层的床垫和二十层的羽绒被，都感觉到了豌豆的存在。

Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that.

没有人比一位真正的公主更皮肤娇嫩了。

So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he had a real princess; and the pea was put in the museum, where it may still be seen, if no one has stolen it.

因此，王子娶了这位公主，因为他知道自己拥有了一位真正的公主。后来这粒豌豆被保存在博物馆，如果没有人偷走的话，现在博物馆还能看见。

There, that is a true story.

请注意，这是一个真实的故事。

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