高級英語教材第40課

先讀課文﹕
Adventures of Pinocchio 木偶奇遇記
by Carlo Collodi

Geppetto, a poor old wood carver, was making a puppet from a tree branch.
"You shall be my little boy," he said to the puppet, "and I shall call you
'Pinocchio'." He worked for hours, carefully carving each detail. When he
reached the mouth, the puppet started making faces at Geppetto. "Stop that,
you naughty boy," Geppetto scolded, "Stop that at once !"
"I won't stop !" cried Pinocchio.
"You can talk !" exclaimed Geppetto.
"Of course I can, silly," said the puppet. "You've given me a mouth to talk
with." Pinocchio rose to his feet and danced on the table top. "Look what
I can do !" he squealed.
"Pinocchio, this is not the time to dance," Geppetto explained. "You must
get a good night's rest. Tomorrow you will start going to school with the
real boys. You will learn many things, including how to behave."
On his way to school the next morning, Pinocchio stopped to see a puppet
show. "I can dance and sing better than those puppets and I don't need strings,
" boasted Pinocchio. He climbed onto the stage.
"Get off my stage," roared the Puppet Master. Then he noticed how much the
crowd liked Pinocchio. He did not say anything and let Pinocchio stay. "Here,
 you've earned five copper coins," the Puppet Master told Pinocchio.
"Take these coins and go straight home," said the Puppet Master. Pinocchio
put the coins into his sack.
He did not go very far before he met a lame Fox and a blind Cat. Knowing
that Pinocchio had money, they pretended to be his friends. "Come with us.
We'll teach you how to turn those copper pieces into gold," coaxed the sneaky
Cat.
"We want to help you get rich. Plant your coins under this magic tree. In
a few hours they'll turn to gold," said the Fox.
"Show me where," said Pinocchio excitedly. The Cat and Fox pointed to a
patch of loose dirt. Pinocchio dug a hole and put the sack in it, marking
the spot with a stone.
"Splendid !" exclaimed the Cat. "Now let's go to the inn for supper." After
supper, the Fox and Cat, who weren't really lame or blind, quickly snuck
away and disguised themselves as thieves. They hid by the tree waiting for
Pinocchio to come back and dig up the money. After Pinocchio dug up the
coins they pounced on him.
"Give us your money !" they ordered. But Pinocchio held the sack between
his teeth and resisted to give the sack to them. Again they demanded, "Give
us your money !"
Pinocchio's Guardian Fairy, who was dressed all in blue and had blue hair,
sent her dog, Rufus, to chase the Fox and Cat away. She ordered Rufus to
bring Pinocchio back to her castle. "Please sit down," she told Pinocchio.
Rufus kept one eye open to watch what was going on.
"Why didn't you go to school today?" she asked Pinocchio in a sweet voice.
"I did," answered Pinocchio. Just then, his nose shot out like a tree branch.
 "What's happening to my nose?" he cried.
"Every time you tell a lie, your nose will grow. When you tell the truth,
it will shrink," said the Blue Fairy. "Pinocchio, you can only become a
real boy if you learn how to be brave, honest and generous."
The Blue Fairy told Pinocchio to go home and not to stop for any reason.
Pinocchio tried to remember what the Blue Fairy told him.
On the way to home he met some boys. "Come with us," said the boys. "We
know a wonderful place filled with games, giant cakes, pretty candies, and
circuses." The boys didn't know that if you were bad, you were turned into
donkeys and trained for the circus.
It was not very long before the boys began changing into donkeys. "That's
what happens to bad boys," snarled the Circus Master as he made Pinocchio
jump through a hoop.
Pinocchio could only grow a donkey's ears, feet, and tail, because he was
made of wood. The Circus Master couldn't sell him to any circus. He threw
Pinocchio into the sea. The instant Pinocchio hit the water, the donkey
tail fell off and his own ears and feet came back. He swam for a very long
time. Just when he couldn't swim any longer, he was swallowed by a great
whale. "It's dark here," scared Pinocchio said.
Pinocchio kept floating deep into the whale's stomach. "Who's there by the
light?" called Pinocchio, his voice echoing.
"Pinocchio, is that you?" asked a tired voice.
"Father, you're alive !" Pinocchio shouted with joy. He wasn't scared anymore.
 Pinocchio helped Geppetto build a big raft that would hold both of them.
When the raft was finished, Pinocchio tickled the whale. "Hold tight, Father.
 When he sneezes, he'll blow us out of here !" cried Pinocchio.
Home at last, Geppetto tucked Pinocchio into his bed. "Pinocchio, today
you were brave, honest and generous," Geppetto said. "You are my son and
I love you."
Pinocchio remembered what the Blue Fairy told him. "Father, now that I've
proven myself, I'm waiting for something to happen," he whispered as he
drifted off to sleep.
The next morning Pinocchio came running down the steps, jumping and waving
his arms. He ran to Geppetto shouting, "Look Father, I'm a real boy !"

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕Carlo Lorenzini (November 24, 1826 -- October 26, 1890), better
known by the pen name Carlo Collodi, was an Italian children's writer known
for the world-renowned fairy tale novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio.
Collodi was born in Florence. During the Wars of Independence in 1848 and
1860 Collodi served as a volunteer with the Tuscan army. In 1875, he entered
the domain of children's literatur. In 1880 he began writing Storia di un
burattino ("The story of a marionette"), also called Le avventure di Pinocchio,
 which was published weekly in Il Giornale dei Bambini (the first Italian
newspaper for children).
3) “木偶奇遇記”是有名的兒童故事。我小時候就讀過連環畫。不知現在還有多少
中國兒童知道這個故事。讀一讀可以增加文學知識。

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• Thanks! -冲浪潜水员- ♂ (0 bytes) () 07/01/2012 postreply 12:27:57

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