小说搜索     点击排行榜   最新入库
首页 » 儿童英文小说 » 安徒生童话全集 » THE DARNING-NEEDLE
选择底色: 选择字号:【大】【中】【小】
THE DARNING-NEEDLE
关注小说网官方公众号(noveltingroom),原版名著免费领。

THERE was once a Darning-Needle , who thought herself so fine, she imagined she was an embroidering-needle .

“Take care, and mind you hold me tight!” she said to the Fingers which took her out. “Don't let me fall ! If I fall on the ground I shall certainly never be found again , for I am so fine !”

“That' s as it may be,” said the Fingers; and they grasped her round the body .

“See, I' m coming with a train!” said the DarningNeedle, and she drew a long thread after her, but there was no knot in the thread .

The Fingers pointed1 the needle just at the cook' s slipper2, in which the upper leather had burst, and was tobe sewn together.

“That' s vulgar work , ” said the Darning-Needle . “ I shall never get through . I ' m breaking ! I ' m breaking ! ” And she really broke. “Did I not say so?” said the Darning-Needle ; “I' m too fine ! ”

“Now it' s quite useless , ” said the Fingers; ; but they were obliged to hold her fast, all the same; for the cook dropped some sealing-wax upon the needle, and pinned her handkerchief together with it in front.

“So, now I'm a breast-pin !” said the Darning-Needle . “I knew very well that I should come to honour : when one is something, one always comes to something!”

And she laughed inwardly----for no one can ever see outwardly when a darning-needle laughs. There she sat, as proud as if she was in a state coach , and looked all about her.

“May I be permitted to ask if you are of gold?” she inquired of the pin, her neighbour. “You have a very pretty appearance, and a head of your own, but it is only little. You must see that it grows, for it's not every one thathas sealing-wax dropped upon their end.”

And the Darning-Needle drew herself up so proudly that she fell out of the handkerchief right into the sink, which the cook was rinsing3 out .

“Now we're going on a journey,” said the DarningNeedle. ---- “If only I don' t get lost !”

But she really was lost .

“I'm too fine for this world,” she observed, as she lay in the gutter4. “But I know who I am, and there's always something in that !” So the Darning-Needle kept her proud behaviour, and did not lose her good humour. And things of many kinds swam over her, chips and straws and pieces of old newspapers.

“Only look how they sail !” said the Darning-Needle . “They don' t know what is under them ! I' m here , I remain firmly here. See, there goes a chip thinking of nothing in the world but of himself----of a chip! There's astraw going by now. How he turns ! how he twirls about! Don't think so much of yourself, you might easily run up against a stone. There swims a bit of newspaper. What's written upon it has long been forgotten, and yet it gives itself airs. I sit quietly and patiently here. I know who I am, and I shall remain what I am.”

One day something lay close beside her that glittered splendidly; then the Darning-Needle believed that it was a diamond; but it was a Bit of broken Bottle; and because it shone, the Darning-Needle spoke5 to it, introducing herself as a breast-pin.

“I suppose you are a diamond?” she observed.

“Why , yes , something of that kind . ”

And then each believed the other to be a very valuable thing; and they began speaking about the world, and how very conceited6 it was .

“I have been in a lady's box,” said the DarningNeedle, “and this lady was a cook. She had five fingers on each hand, and I never saw anything so conceited as those five fingers . And yet they were only there that they might take me out of the box and put me back into it . ”

“Were they of good birth?” asked the Bit of Bottle .

“No, indeed,” replied the Darning-Needle, “but very haughty7 . There were five brothers , all of the finger family . They kept very proudly together, though they were of different lengths : the outermost8 , the thumbling, was short and fat ; he walked out in front of the ranks , and only had one joint9 in his back, and could only make a single bow; but he said that if he were hacked10 off from a man, that man was useless for service in war. Lick-pot, the second finger, thrust himself into sweet and sour, pointed to sun and moon, and he was the one who held the pen when they wrote . Longman , the third , looked over the heads of the others . Goldborder , the fourth , went about with a golden belt round his waist; and little Peter Playman did nothing at all , and was proud of it . There was nothing but bragging11 among them, and therefore I went away . ”

“And now we sit here and glitter!” said the Bit of Bottle .

At that moment more water came into the gutter, so that it overflowed12, and the Bit of Bottle was carried away.

“So, he is disposed of,” observed the Darning-Nee-dle . “I remain here , I am too fine . But that' s my pride , and my pride is honourable13.” And proudly she sat there, and had many great thoughts .

“I could almost believe I had been born of a sun beam, I' m so fine ! It really appears to me as if the sunbeams were always seeking for me under the water. Ah ! I' m so fine that my mother cannot find me . If I had my old eye , which broke off , I think I should cry ; but , no , I should not do that : it' s not genteel to cry . ”

One day a couple of street boys lay grubbing in the gutter, where they sometimes found old nails, farthings, and similar treasures . It was dirty work , but they took great delight in it .

“Oh !” cried one , who had pricked14 himself with the Darning-Needle , “there' s a fellow for you . ”

“I' m not a fellow, I' m a young lady!” said the Darning-Needle .

But nobody listened to her. The sealing-wax had come off , and she had turned black ; but black makes one look slender, and she thought herself finer even than before .

“Here comes an egg-shell sailing along!” said the boys; and they stuck the Darning-Needle fast in the eggshell .

“White walls, and black myself ! that looks well,” remarked the Darning-Needle. “Now one can see me. I only hope I shall not be sea-sick ! ” But she was not seasick15 at all.

“It is good against sea-sickness, if one has a steel stomach , and does not forget that one is a little more than an ordinary person ! Now my sea-sickness is over. The finer one is, the more one can bear.”

“Crack ! ” went the egg-shell , for a hand-barrow went over her.

“Good heavens, how it crushes one !” said the Darning-Needle . “I' m getting sea-sick now,----I' m quite sick . ”

But she was not really sick, though the hand-barrow, went over her; she lay there at full length, and there she may lie .


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的,直截了当的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
2 slipper px9w0     
n.拖鞋
参考例句:
  • I rescued the remains of my slipper from the dog.我从那狗的口中夺回了我拖鞋的残留部分。
  • The puppy chewed a hole in the slipper.小狗在拖鞋上啃了一个洞。
3 rinsing cc80e70477186de83e96464130c222ba     
n.清水,残渣v.漂洗( rinse的现在分词 );冲洗;用清水漂洗掉(肥皂泡等);(用清水)冲掉
参考例句:
  • Pablo made a swishing noise rinsing wine in his mouth. 巴勃罗用酒漱着口,发出咕噜噜噜的声音。 来自辞典例句
  • The absorption of many molecular layers could be reestablished by rinsing the foils with tap water. 多分子层的吸附作用可用自来水淋洗金属箔而重新实现。 来自辞典例句
4 gutter lexxk     
n.沟,街沟,水槽,檐槽,贫民窟
参考例句:
  • There's a cigarette packet thrown into the gutter.阴沟里有个香烟盒。
  • He picked her out of the gutter and made her a great lady.他使她脱离贫苦生活,并成为贵妇。
5 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
6 conceited Cv0zxi     
adj.自负的,骄傲自满的
参考例句:
  • He could not bear that they should be so conceited.他们这样自高自大他受不了。
  • I'm not as conceited as so many people seem to think.我不像很多人认为的那么自负。
7 haughty 4dKzq     
adj.傲慢的,高傲的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a haughty look and walked away.他向我摆出傲慢的表情后走开。
  • They were displeased with her haughty airs.他们讨厌她高傲的派头。
8 outermost w4fzc     
adj.最外面的,远离中心的
参考例句:
  • He fired and hit the outermost ring of the target.他开枪射中了靶子的最外一环。
  • The outermost electron is shielded from the nucleus.原子核对最外层电子的作用受到屏蔽。
9 joint m3lx4     
adj.联合的,共同的;n.关节,接合处;v.连接,贴合
参考例句:
  • I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤,肩膀脫臼了。
  • We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。
10 hacked FrgzgZ     
生气
参考例句:
  • I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
  • I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。
11 bragging 4a422247fd139463c12f66057bbcffdf     
v.自夸,吹嘘( brag的现在分词 );大话
参考例句:
  • He's always bragging about his prowess as a cricketer. 他总是吹嘘自己板球水平高超。 来自辞典例句
  • Now you're bragging, darling. You know you don't need to brag. 这就是夸口,亲爱的。你明知道你不必吹。 来自辞典例句
12 overflowed 4cc5ae8d4154672c8a8539b5a1f1842f     
溢出的
参考例句:
  • Plates overflowed with party food. 聚会上的食物碟满盘盈。
  • A great throng packed out the theater and overflowed into the corridors. 一大群人坐满剧院并且还有人涌到了走廊上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 honourable honourable     
adj.可敬的;荣誉的,光荣的
参考例句:
  • I don't think I am worthy of such an honourable title.这样的光荣称号,我可担当不起。
  • I hope to find an honourable way of settling difficulties.我希望设法找到一个体面的办法以摆脱困境。
14 pricked 1d0503c50da14dcb6603a2df2c2d4557     
刺,扎,戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 ); 刺伤; 刺痛; 使剧痛
参考例句:
  • The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry. 厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
  • He was pricked by his conscience. 他受到良心的谴责。
15 seasick seasick     
adj.晕船的
参考例句:
  • When I get seasick,I throw up my food.我一晕船就呕吐。
  • He got seasick during the voyage.在航行中他晕船。


欢迎访问英文小说网

©英文小说网 2005-2010

有任何问题,请给我们留言,管理员邮箱:[email protected]  站长QQ :点击发送消息和我们联系56065533