英语小故事

The Selfish Giant 自私的巨人

Every afternoon, as the children were coming back from school, they used to go and play in the giant's garden.

One day the giant came back. He saw the children playing in his garden. "What are you doing here?" he cried in a very loud voice. The children ran away.

"My own garden is my own garden," said the giant. He built a high wall round it and put up a notice: Keep out. He was a very selfish giant.

The spring came, and there were flowers and little birds all over the country. But in the garden of the Selfish Giant it was still winter. The birds did not like to sing in it because there were no children, and the trees forgot to bear flowers. Snow covered up the grass, and ice covered all the trees with silver. The north wind came.

"I can't understand why the spring is so late in coming," said the Selfish Giant. He sat at the window of his house and looked out at his cold white garden.

The giant was lying in bed one morning when he heard some beautiful music. It was a little bird singing outside his window. Then the north wind and the rain stopped.

"I believe that spring has come at last!" said the giant. He jumped out of bed and looked out.

What did he see? He saw a most wonderful sight. The children had come in through a hole in the wall and were sitting in the trees. The birds were flying about and singing with joy, and flowers were looking up through the green grass.

"How selfish I have been!" said the giant. "Now I know why the spring would not come here. I'll pull down the wall and my garden shall be a children's playground for ever."

The fox and the stork 狐狸和鹤

One day, a fox invited a stork to dinner. He put nothing on the table except some soup in a very shallow dish.

The fox could easily lap up the soup, but the stork could only wet the end of her long bill in it.

When the stork left the meal, she was still very hungry. "I am sorry," said the fox, "the soup is not to your taste."

"Please do not apologize," said the stork. "I hope you will come to my house, and dine with me soon."

A few days later the fox visited the stork. He found that his food was put in a long bottle, and the mouth of the bottle was very narrow.

He could not insert his big mouth into it, so he ate nothing. " I will not apologize," said the stork. "One bad turn deserves another."

The fox and the goat 狐狸和山羊

An unlucky fox fell into a well. It was quite deep, so he could not get out by himself..

A goat passed by. He asked the fox what he was doing in the well. "Oh, have you not heard?" said the fox. "There is going to be a great drought, so I jumped down to get some water. Why don't you come down here too?"

The goat believed his words, and jumped down into the well.

But the fox immediately jumped on the goat's back and up to the edge of the well. "Good-bye, friend," said the fox. "Remember next time don't trust the advice of a man in difficulties."

Blue Beard 蓝胡子

Once there was a very rich man. He lived in a beautiful house, and had a beautiful garden. The rich man had a blue beard: so he was called "Blue Beard."

Blue Beard had married many wives, but his wives had gone away. No one knew where his other wives had gone.

A girl called Lucy married Blue Beard and went to live in the beautiful house.

Some days went by. Blue Beard said, “I shall go on a journey.” Then he gave Lucy the keys of all the rooms in the house. He said, "This is the key of that little room; do not open the door of it.”

When Blue Beard was away, Lucy went to the door of the little room, and opened it. In the room she saw all Blue Beard’s other wives. They were dead! The key fell from her hand. When she took it up there was a red mark on it. She rubbed the key with a cloth, but the mark did not go away. She washed the key in hot water, but the mark was not washed away.

Blue Beard came back. He called Lucy, and said, "Give me my keys." Lucy gave him the keys and he saw the red mark. “I’ll kill you!” He said and caught Lucy’s arms.

“Help! Help!” cried Lucy.

At this time, Lucy’s three brothers came. They killed Blue beard and saved Lucy!

The City Mouse and the Country Mouse 城里老鼠和乡下老鼠

Once there were two mice. They were friends. One mouse lived in the country; the other mouse lived in the city. After many years the Country mouse saw the City mouse; he said, "Do come and see me at my house in the country." So the City mouse went. The City mouse said, "This food is not good, and your house is not good. Why do you live in a hole in the field? Y ou should come and live in the city. Y ou would live in a nice house made of stone. Y ou would have nice food to eat. Y ou must come and see me at my house in the city."

The Country mouse went to the house of the City mouse. It was a very good house. Nice food was set ready for them to eat. But just as they began to eat they heard a great noise. The City mouse cried, “Run! Run! The cat is coming!" They ran away quickly and hid.

After some time they came out. When they came out, the Country mouse said, "I do not like living in the city. I like living in my hole in the field. For it is nicer to be poor and happy, than to be rich and afraid."

Monkeys and the Moon

One day, a little monkey is playing by the well. He looks in the well and shouts: “Oh! My god! The moon has fallen into the well!” An older monkeys runs over, takes a look, and says, “Goodness me! The moon is really in the water!” And older monkey comes over. He is very surprised as well and cries out: “The moon is in the well.” A group of monkeys run over to the well. They look at the moon in the well and shout: “The moon did fall into the well! Come on! Let’s get it out!”

Then, the oldest monkey hangs on the tree up side down, with his feet on the branch. And he pulls the next monkey’s feet with his hands. All the other monkeys follow his suit. And they join each other one by one down to the moon in the well.

Just before they reach the moon, the oldest monkey raises his head and happens to see the moon in the sky. He yells excitedly “Don’t be so foolish!The moon is still in the sky!”

Lazy Sally

Sally was a lazy girl. She never did anything at home. Her mother was always saying,

“Sally, put the table against the wall.” Sally said,” No, mummy.”

“Sally, put the chair in the corner.” “No, mummy.” replied Sally.

“Sally, put the shelf under the window.” “No, mummy.”

Sally liked singing. “Ah—li—lu—ya—” She thought to herself, “If only I can be a singer.” Suddenly, a magician appeared. He said to Sally, “If you promise me 3 things, you can be a singer.” “OK! No problem.” Said Sally. “First, put the table against the wall.”“OK! No problem.” Sally put the table against the wall. “Second, put the chair in the corner.” “OK! No problem.” Sally put the chair in the corner. “Third, put the shelf under the window.” “OK! No problem.” Sally put the shelf under the window. The magician was very happy. He said to Sally,” Good! Y ou are not a lazy girl now. If you keep this, one day you will be a singer.”

Sally was no longer lazy from then on. So several years later, she became a famous singer.

Three Wishes 三个愿望

A man and his wife were always wishing for luck. One night a fairy came to them and said, “Y ou may have three wishes.” In the morning the woman went to a neighbor’s house to get some bread. She saw a nice pudding there. When she came back, she said, “I wish I had a pudding like that! She did not think of the three wishes, but there was a pudding beside her. “Silly!” cried the man, you have lost one of your wishes, and we have only a pudding. I wish it were on your nose!” At that, the pudding jumped up and grew fast to her nose. “Silly, yourself!” cried the woman, “you have lost another wish. We have only one wish more.” “What shall it be?” asked the man. “We must wish this pudding off,” said the woman. “I can’t have it on my nose.” So they wished it would go away, and away it went. They had had their three wishes, but they were on better off than when the fairy came to them.

If I had three wishes, first I would be the cleverest girl in the world. Then I would grow up in a day and enjoy my life. Last…let me think! I haven’t thought it out!

The North Wind and the Sun 北风和太阳

One day in winter, the cold north wind was blowing hard. Then the sun began to shine from among the clouds. The north wind said to the sun, “I am very strong. I am stronger than you. I am the strongest in the world.” The sun said, “No, no. Y ou are not so strong as I.” “Well, I’ll show you how strong I am,” said the north wind. Just then a traveler came along. He had a thick cloak on. “I can make that man take off his cloak,” said the north wind. And he blew and blew. But the traveler held his cloa k closely about him. Then the sun said, “Now I’ll try.” The s un began to shine upon him. It became warmer and warmer. The traveler said, “How warm it is!” and took off his cloak. “Now you see I am stronger than you, Mr. North Wind,” said the sun.

A little boy with a bad temper 一个坏脾气男孩

There was a little boy with a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, to hammer a nail in the back fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Then it gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all.

He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "Y ou have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same.

Wild Wild Pig

In the wild wild would lived a wild wild pig, and he was very fierce.

There were other animals in the wild wild wood - ponies, deer and squirrels. The ponies and deer liked the grass under the oak trees, the squirrels like the acorns, but Wild Wild Pig drove them away - he wasn't going to share his grass. In fact, he was so fierce that the others left the forest.

After a while Wild Wild Pig set off to find the ponies, the deer, the squirrels and the birds. He came out of the wood and set off down the lane. He hadn't gone far when he saw a bull in a field. Pushing through the hedge Wild Wild Pig went into the field. He snorted, he stamped, he looked very fierce and cried, "I am Wild Wild Pig, I live in the forest!"

"I am Wild Wild Bull and I live in this field!" roared the bull, and lowering his head he tossed Wild Wild Pig back into the lane.

Sadly, Wild Wild Pig went on until he came to a pond. Some geese were by the pond. "I am Wild Wild Pig" He got no further, the geese stretched out their necks, flapped their wings and hissed. They drove Wild Wild Pig away from the pond.

"Oh dear!" he thought. "What nasty creatures," and turning round he went back to the wood, a fierce pig no longer.

The birds and animals soon came back when they found that Wild Wild Pig had learned his lesson. Now they all live happily together.