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经典少儿英语故事
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卖火柴的小女孩
It was terribly cold and nearly
dark on the last evening of the old year, and the
snow
was
falling
fast.
In
the
cold
and
the
darkness,
a
poor
little
girl,
with
bare
head
and
naked feet, roamed through the streets.
It is true she had on a pair of slippers when she
left home, but they were not of much
use. They were very large, so large, indeed, that
they had belonged to her mother, and
the poor little creature had lost them in running
across the street to avoid two
carriages that were rolling along at a terrible
rate. One of
the slippers she could not
find, and a boy seized upon the other and ran away
with it,
saying that he could use it as
a cradle, when he had children of his own. So the
little
girl went on with her little
naked feet, which were quite red and blue with the
cold. In
an old apron she carried a
number of matches, and had a bundle of them in her
hands.
No one had bought anything of
her the whole day, nor had anyone given her even a
penny. Shivering with cold and hunger,
she crept along; poor little child, she looked
the picture of misery. The snowflakes
fell on her long, fair hair, which hung in curls
on
her shoulders, but she regarded them
not.
天冷极了，下着雪，又快黑了。这是一年的最后一天
—
大年
夜。在这又冷又
黑的晚上，一个光着头赤着脚的小女孩在街上走着。她从家里出来的时候
还穿着
一双拖鞋，
但是有什么用呢？那是一双很大的拖鞋
—
那么大，
一向是她妈妈穿的。
她穿过马路的时候，两辆马车飞快地冲过来，吓得她把鞋都跑掉了。一只怎么也
找不着，另一只叫一个男孩捡起来拿着跑了。他说，将来他有了孩子可以拿它当
摇篮。
小女孩只好赤着脚走，一双小脚冻得红一块青一块的。她的旧围裙里兜着
许多火柴，手里
还拿着一把。这一整天，谁也没买过她一根火柴，谁也没给过她
一个钱。可怜的小女孩！
她又冷又饿，哆哆嗦嗦地向前走。雪花落在她的金黄的
长头发上，那头发打成卷儿披在肩
上，看上去很美丽，不过她没注意这些。
Lights
were
shining
from
every
window,
and
there
was
a
savory
smell
of
roast
goose, for it was
New-
year’s eve—
yes, she
remembered that. In a corner, between two
houses, one of which projected beyond
the other, she sank down and huddled herself
together. She had drawn her little feet
under her, but she could not keep off the cold;
and she dared not go home, for she had
sold no matches, and could not take home even
a penny of money. Her father would
certainly beat her; besides, it was almost as cold
at
home
as
here,
for
they
had
only
the
roof
to
cover
them,
through
which
the
wind
howled, although the largest holes had
been stopped up with straw and rags. Her little
hands were almost frozen with the cold.
Ah!
她又擦了一根。火柴燃起来了，发出亮光来了。亮光落在墙上，那儿忽然变
得像薄纱那
么透明，她可以一直看到屋里。桌上铺着雪白的台布，摆着精致的盘
子和碗，肚子里填满
了苹果和梅子的烤鹅正冒着香气。更妙的是这只鹅从盘子里
跳下来，背上插着刀和叉，摇
摇摆摆地在地板上走着，一直向这个穷苦的小女孩
走来。这时候，火柴又灭了，她面前只
有一堵又厚又冷的墙。
She
lighted
another
match,
and
then
she
found
herself
sitting
under
a
beautiful
Christmas-tree. It
was larger and more beautifully decorated than the
one
which she
had
seen
through
the
glass
door
at
the
rich
merchant’s.
Thousands
of
tapers
were
burning upon the green branches, and
colored pictures, like those she had seen in the
show-windows, looked down upon it all.
The little one stretched out her hand towards
them, and the match went out.
她又擦
着了一根火柴。这一回，她坐在美丽的圣诞树下。这棵圣诞树，比她
去年圣诞节透过富商
家的玻璃门看到的还要大，还要美。翠绿的树枝上点着几千
支明晃晃的蜡烛，许多幅美丽
的彩色画片，跟挂在商店橱窗里的一个样，在向她
眨眼睛。小女孩向画片伸出手去。这时
候，火柴又灭了。
The Christmas lights rose
higher and higher, till they looked to her like
the stars in
the sky. Then she saw a
star fall, leaving behind it a bright streak of
fire. “Someone is
dying,”
thought
the
little
girl,
for
her
old
grandmother,
the
only
one
who
had
ever
loved
her, and who was now dead, had told her that when
a star falls, a soul was going
up to
God.
只见圣诞树上的烛光越升越高，最后成了在天空中闪烁的星星。有一颗星星
落下来了
，在天空中划出了一道细长的红光。
“
有一个什么人快要死了。
”
小女
孩说
。疼她的奶奶活着的时候告诉过她∶一颗星星落下来，就有一个灵魂要到上
帝那儿去了。
She
again
rubbed
a
match
on
the
wall,
and
the
light
shone
round
her;
in
the
brightness
stood
her
old
grandmother,
clear
and
shining,
yet
mild
and
loving
in
her
appearance. “Grandmother,” cried the
little one, “O take me with you; I know you will
go
away
when
the
match
burns
out;
you
will
vanish
like
the
warm
stove,
the
roast
goose, and the large,
glorious Christmas-tree.
” And she made
haste to light the whole
bundle
of
matches,
for
she
wished
to
keep
her
grandmother
there.
And
the
matches
glowed
with
a
light
that
was
brighter
than
the
noon-day,
and
her
grandmother
had
never appeared so large or so
beautiful. She took the
little girl in
her arms, and they
both flew upwards in
brightness and joy far above the earth, where
there was neither
cold nor hunger nor
pain, for they were with God.
她在墙上又擦着了一根火柴。这一
回，火柴把周围全照亮了。奶奶出现在亮
光里，是那么温和，那么慈爱。
“
奶奶！
”
小女孩叫起来，<
/p>
“
啊！请把我带走吧！我
知道，火柴一灭
，您就会不见的，像那暖和的火炉，喷香的烤鹅，美丽的圣诞树
一个样，就会不见的！<
/p>
”
她赶紧擦着了一大把火柴，要把奶奶留住。一大把火柴
发出强烈的光，
照得跟白天一样明亮。
奶奶从
来没有像现在这样高大，
这样美丽。