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拇指汤姆的故事

侯永正

The Story of Tom Thumb （ in WPE ）

  One day ，when a famous magician traveling the country disguised as a begar （beggar），steped（stepped）at the cottage of a poor plowman （BrE：ploughman）to ask for food . The plowman had just come in from work and was very tired ，but he welcomed the stranger，even though this was only a raged （ragged ）begar man；The plowman’s wife said he could sit down and share their supper .

  Now the magician noticed that the old man and his wife ,though they had a beautiful cottage , did not seem happy.

  “What is the matter ?” he asked .”What is it you lack ?”

   “ My husband and I  have lived here happily for nearly twenty years,” said the plowman’s wife .”but we have no child .This is a great sorrow to us . How I should love to have a son-----yes, even a little son no biger than my husband’s thumb. “

  After supper, the magician left . Thinking over what the poor woman had said , he said to himself . “I’ll help them .”

  The next day a little boy only 20 centimeters tall ran into the cottage .

  “Hello mama , hello papa [注1]” he said .

  They loved him very much .

  “You are very small . We will call you Tom Thumb .” said the old man .

  “And I will make you very small clothes . “

  “I will make furniture especially for you . “ said the old man .

  Tom Thumb and his parents are very happy .

  “Play in the garden , Tom ,” said his mother . “Don’t go into the woods . The man-eating giant lives there . “

  One day Tom was in the garden with his black and white dog Scotty .The dog ran into the woods and Tom Thumb followed it .

  BOOM , BOOM , BOOM , BOOM.

  “What’s that ?” thought Tom .

  The earth and the trees tremble. “Oh no ,” said Tom. “ It’s the giant !”

  “I’m going to eat you , Tom Thumb,” said the giant .

  Tom Thumb was terrified and started to run .

  In a second , Tom Thumb was in the giant’s hand .

  “Let me go !” shouted Tom .

  “Ha! Ha!” said the giant . “ When we are at the castle , I will have you for my dinner !”

  “I’m too small and thin !” said Tom .

  “But you are nice and tender .” said the giant .

  In the castle kitchen the giant put on a pot of water to boil . He put Tom Thumb in a cage .

  “Potatoes! Carrots ! Onions !” said the giant . “ A few peas…and Tom Thumb ! Perfect !”

   “I must escape,” Tom said to himself and squeezes thru[2] the bars of the cage .

  Tom ran across the room and crawled under the door .

  “I’m out of the castle , “ shouted Tom .

   “Come back ,” shouted the giant . He ran after Tom .Scotty ran between the giant’s feet .

  With a crash , the giant fell down . Happily , Tom jumped on the Scotty’s back and they rode back to the cottage together .

简化说明： 词形变化中出现双写的beggar ,stepped ,bigger等都改成了单写。WPE目前处于探索、创新与逐步完善阶段，文章中出现的简化形式，除了在你所学课本中也出现的以外，一般的在考试中不要采用，以免扣分。

[注1] 用mama papa 这样的英语旧有的形式是因为这类词也为说其他语言的人们所熟悉。

[注2] 把through简化成 thru在AmE中是较常见的,这种简化形式写起来便捷读起来容易。