Think Carefully About What To Say

王秀鳳

Long long ago， there lived a couple who had seven sons. But the couple wanted a daughter very much， and finally， they had a girl. She was very pretty and her parents loved her very much. One day the father needed water for the child， so he sent the seven brothers to a well in the forest to get it. Once there， though， the boys began to fight and the water jug （壺） fell into the well. The boys looked into the well and thought of their father. They were afraid to go home.

Hours passed. “Where are those boys？” shouted the angry father. “They are probably playing a game and have forgotten about the water. I wish they were all turned into ravens （烏鴉）！”And when he looked up， he saw seven black birds flying away. The father was shocked. “What have I done？” he thought. But it was too late. He could not take back his words.

Later， the girl grew up and discovered she had brothers. The story of their bad luck influenced her deeply， and she decided to find them. For years， she searched and did not stop. She made up her mind to find them. Finally， she found their home. To enter， she needed a special key made from a bone， which she did not have. The girl thought for a moment， and then took a knife and cut off one of her fingers. With it， she opened the front door and went inside. On a table， there were seven plates and seven cups. She ate and drank a little from each of them. In the last cup， she accidentally dropped a ring that her parents had given her.

Later that day， the ravens returned for their meal. The girl hid behind the door and watched. When the seventh raven drank from his cup， something hit his mouth. The raven recognized it at once — it was his parents’ ring. “I wish our sister were here，” he said， “and then we could be free.” At that moment， their sister ran to them， and suddenly the ravens were human again. The brothers kissed their sister， and all eight of them went home together happily.

精彩譯文

仔細(xì)想想該說(shuō)什么

很久以前，有一對(duì)夫妻，他們有七個(gè)兒子。但是他們非常想要一個(gè)女兒。最后，他們生了一個(gè)女兒。女兒很漂亮，父母非常愛(ài)她。一天，父親需要打水給孩子們喝，于是他讓七個(gè)兄弟到森林里的一口井里去取水。然而，一到那里，男孩們就開(kāi)始打架，水壺掉進(jìn)了井里。孩子們望著井，想到了他們的父親。他們害怕不敢回家。

幾個(gè)小時(shí)過(guò)去了?！昂⒆觽?nèi)ツ牧?？”憤怒的父親喊道?！八麄兛赡茉谕嬗螒?，忘記了打水。我希望他們都變成烏鴉！”這時(shí)，他抬頭一看，看見(jiàn)七只黑鳥(niǎo)飛走了。父親很震驚?！拔易隽耸裁?？”他想著，但為時(shí)已晚。他無(wú)法收回他的話。

后來(lái)，女孩長(zhǎng)大了，發(fā)現(xiàn)自己有兄弟。兄弟們不幸的故事深深地影響了女孩，她決定找到他們。多年來(lái)，女孩一直在尋找，沒(méi)有停止。女孩下定決心要找到他們。最后，她找到了他們的家。要進(jìn)去，女孩需要一把用骨頭做的特殊鑰匙，但她沒(méi)有。女孩想了一會(huì)兒，然后拿起一把刀砍掉了她的一個(gè)手指做成一把鑰匙。用這把鑰匙，女孩打開(kāi)前門(mén)走了進(jìn)去。在一張桌子上，有七個(gè)盤(pán)子和七個(gè)杯子。女孩吃了一點(diǎn)，喝了一點(diǎn)。在最后一個(gè)杯子里，女孩不小心把父母給她的戒指掉到了里面。

那天晚些時(shí)候，烏鴉們回來(lái)吃飯。女孩躲在門(mén)后看著。當(dāng)?shù)谄咧粸貘f從他的杯子里喝水時(shí)，有東西碰到了他的嘴。烏鴉立刻認(rèn)出了那是他父母的戒指?！拔蚁Ｍ覀兊拿妹迷谶@里，”他說(shuō)，“然后我們就可以自由了?！本驮谀且豢?，他們的妹妹跑了出來(lái)，突然烏鴉又變成了人。兄弟們親了親妹妹，八個(gè)人一起快樂(lè)地回家了。

難點(diǎn)解析

1. They were afraid to go home.

afraid是形容詞，意為“擔(dān)心的;害怕的”。如：

Robert was too afraid to move away from the bench. 羅伯特太害怕了不敢離開(kāi)板凳。

常見(jiàn)搭配： be afraid of… 和be afraid to結(jié)構(gòu)。

◆be afraid of sb. or sth. （doing sth.）“害怕某人、某物或某事”，只是陳述事實(shí)，不帶感情色彩。如：That girl is afraid of dogs. 那位女孩害怕狗。

◆be afraid to do sth. 側(cè)重表示“因?yàn)閾?dān)心后果嚴(yán)重而不敢或不愿做某事”，也表示“由于缺少信心和勇氣不敢去做”。如：

She is afraid to go out alone at night.

夜晚她不敢獨(dú)自出門(mén)。

2. I wish our sister were here.

wish和hope辨析：

（1） hope與wish都可以跟動(dòng)詞不定式形式（hope/wish to do sth）。

（2） wish還有搭配：wish sb. to do sth.，而hope不行。如：

I wish my friends to be happy every day.

希望我的朋友們開(kāi)心每一天。

（3） hope與wish都可以跟從句。hope之后的賓語(yǔ)從句謂語(yǔ)動(dòng)詞要使用陳述語(yǔ)氣的一般將來(lái)時(shí)或一般現(xiàn)在時(shí)。hope所表達(dá)的希望是能夠?qū)崿F(xiàn)的。

wish之后的賓語(yǔ)從句謂語(yǔ)動(dòng)詞則只能使用虛擬語(yǔ)氣，要用一般過(guò)去時(shí)或過(guò)去完成時(shí)，而所表達(dá)的愿望是無(wú)法實(shí)現(xiàn)的。如：

I wish I could go to the moon for vacation one day.我希望有朝一日能到月球上度假。

（4） wish可用在wish+間賓+直賓結(jié)構(gòu)中，而hope卻不能。如：

They wished him good luck.

他們祝他好運(yùn)氣。