英语故事:一只特立独行的青蛙

Wanda, the neighborhood witch, was a good witch and had been one for about 221 years. Her fondest dream was to become a fairy godmother. She had been going to the Fairy Godmother Academy for 103 years, learning fairy godmother magic: how to turn pumpkins into coaches, how to make things vanish in clouds of smoke, even how to change mice into horses and footmen.

Just that very morning the principal of the Academy had said Wanda was ready for her final test. She was to change the first animal she met into something else. The animal was to be so happy at becoming whatever it became that it would say, “Oh, happy day! I’m a ____.” If it did, Wanda would pass the test. She would become a fairy godmother, with a sparkling pink dress, a golden crown, and a magic wand tipped with a shining star.

However, if she failed, she would have to start school all over again—all 103 years of it.

“Good luck,” the principal said as Wanda left the Academy.

旺达是附近镇上一位善良的巫婆，她干着一行已经整整221年了。旺达最大的梦想就是有朝一日能成为一位仙女教母。为了实现理想，她花费了103年的时间，在仙女教母学院刻苦学习，掌握了不少仙女教母的魔法，比如：如何将南瓜变成南瓜车；如何让东西化作一缕青烟神奇地消失，甚至还学会了如何将老鼠变成马或者仆人。

就在学业全部结束的最后一个早晨，校长通知旺达准备迎接最后一项测试。在这项测试里，旺达被要求对今天出门后，所遇到的第一个动物施加魔法，无论这只动物被变成什么，这只动物必须说一句：“啊哈！真是一个开心的日子，我是一个——”，如果它真的说了，旺达就算通过了测试，她将能穿上粉红闪光的裙子，戴上一顶金色的皇冠，拿着一根镶着水晶星的魔法棒，成为一名仙女教母。

相反，如果失败了，一切就得重新开始——旺达将回到学校再学习103年。

“祝你好运！”校长对正准备离开学院的旺达说。

The very first animal Wanda bumped into was Charley, a little green frog who sat in a pond by the side of the road catching bugs with his long, sticky tongue and croaking “Baroomp! Baroomp!”

When Charley saw Wanda he jumped onto a lily pad. “Hi,” he cried. “Witch way are you going? Ha, ha. That’s a joke, Wanda. ‘Witch way are you going?’ Get it?”

“I get it, Charley,” replied Wanda, “but it’s not much of a joke. Anyway, I'm glad you’re here. I have a surprise for you. You’ll be so happy.“ Then, without even an“if you please,” Wanda waved her wand, said a magic word, and poof! Charley, the little green frog, turned into a prince!

He was a handsome prince but a wet one. The lily pad had collapsed under his weight and dumped him into the water. Charley-turned-prince stood up and looked at his reflection in the water. “Hey!” he cried. “You turned me into a prince! It’s a surprise all right, but I don’t want to be a prince. I want to be a frog! Change me back right now!”

“Oh, dear,” Wanda said. “You know I don’t like to be yelled at, Charley. Now you’ve made me forget the reverse spell. But who wouldn’t rather be a prince than a frog?”

旺达遇到的第一只动物正好是查理，一只绿色的小青蛙，它正坐在路边的池塘里，一边伸出长长的舌头粘住虫子卷进嘴里，一边唱着歌：呱呱呱，呱呱呱

查理看见了旺达，它跳到一片荷叶上，跟她打招呼：“嗨！你要去巫婆家吗①？哈哈哈，开玩笑的，旺达，‘你准备去哪里？’听明白了吧！”

“我明白你的意思，查理，”旺达回答道，“但是这并不怎么好笑，不管怎么样，我很高兴遇到你，我有一个惊喜要送给你，你会更开心的。”也不问查理是否愿意接受，旺达已经挥动手中的魔法棒，念了一句咒语，然后只听“噗”的一声，查理，那只绿色的小青蛙，竟然变成了一位王子。

这是一位英俊的王子，只是全身都湿漉漉的，因为他的身体太重了，压垮了荷叶，掉到了池塘的水中。“查理王子”站起来，看着自己在水中的倒影，他大叫起来：“嘿！你把我变成了王子，没错，这是一个惊喜，但是我根本不想做王子，我只想做一只青蛙。快把我变回去！”

“噢！亲爱的，”旺达温和地说，“你知道我不喜欢别人在我面前大喊大叫，你瞧，现在你让我忘记了变回去的咒语。还有，查理，我一点也不明白，有谁不愿意成为王子，而甘心做一只青蛙呢？

“I wouldn’t!” cried Charley. “I want to be a frog!” He stuck out his tongue, missing a bug flying by the end of his nose. “Look at that, Wanda! I was such a good fly catcher. And I had eyes on top of my head, too. I could see forward and backward and sideways all at once, but look at me now. With my eyes in front of my face, I can only see one direction at a time. I don’t even have a castle, Wanda. What kind of prince is that? I’d really rather be a frog. Please change me back!”

“I can’t, Charley. But you’ll learn to be happy as a prince. As for a castle, I can take care of that.” She waved her wand, and suddenly a castle appeared by the banks of the pond. It had stone walls, oaken doors, and pennants waving from its turrets. “Your very own palace, Charley! You’ll have servants, eat fancy foods and ice cream. . . .”

“Bah!”Charley interrupted. “Who wants servants, or ice cream and fancy foods? I want bugs!” He stuck out his tongue and looked down his nose at it, cross-eyed. “This tongue is no good—it’s too short!” he cried. “I can’t even see it.”

Again Wanda waved her wand. “Look, Charley, musicians,” he said. Out of the castle marched dozens of musicians blowing trumpets, tootling flutes, and banging drums. “See? Your own band. They’ll play music, and you can sing and dance and snap your fingers to your heart’s content.”

“I don’t want to sing and dance!” Charley cried.“And why would I do something as silly as snapping my fingers?”

“我不愿意，我宁愿做一只青蛙，”查理嚷道，一只虫子从他鼻尖飞过，他伸出舌头，却没抓住。“瞧瞧，旺达，我曾经是一个捉虫好手，而且我的眼睛高高地长在头顶，这样前后左右我都能一下子看得一清二楚，可是看看现在的我，眼睛长在脸上，我一次只能朝一个方向看。我也没有城堡，旺达，什么王子会像我这样。我真的宁愿是一只青蛙，请把我变回去吧。”

“查理，我变不回了。但是你可以学着做一位快乐的王子，至于城堡，我替你准备好了。”她挥动魔法棒，池塘的对岸马上出现了一座城堡：石头城墙，橡木城门，城堡顶上飘着无数的旗帜。“查理，这是属于你的宫殿，你还会有仆人、可口的食物、美味冰淇淋......”

“哈！”查理打断了她的话，“谁需要什么仆人、可口的食物、美味冰淇淋？我只要虫子！”他使劲伸出舌头，眼睛像斗鸡眼一样朝下看，可是只看见了鼻子。“这舌头一点都不好，太短了，我都看不见它！”

旺达没有办法，她又挥动她的魔法棒，“看啊，查理，乐师”她说。只见由数十个乐师形成的队伍正吹着喇叭、长笛，敲着鼓在城堡外盘旋着，“看见没，这是属于你自己的乐队，你可以尽情地唱歌跳舞，尽情地舞动你的指尖。”

“我不想唱歌跳舞！”查理又嚷道：“而且我为什么要去做一些打响指那么傻的事呢?"

"Snapping fingers!" exclaimed Wanda. “That’s it, Charley. That’s what I forgot!” She snapped her fingers, cried “Upsi-doodle!” and poof! the castle and musicians disappeared and the prince became a little green frog.

Charley hopped onto a lily pad. He looked at himself in the water. “You did it, Wanda. Oh, happy day! I’m a frog.”

Wanda smiled and thought to herself, “So I have to go back to school for another 103 years. Who cares? Charley’s happy, and that’s what really counts.”

Well, it wasn’t exactly ‘Oh, happy day! I’m a prince,’but the principal of the Fairy Godmother Academy decided that ‘Oh, happy day! I’m a frog’ was close enough. Wanda hadn’t thought about herself. She had only wanted to make Charley happy. Thinking about others was the most important thing fairy godmothers had to do.

The principal waved her magic wand. Lo and behold, Wanda the Witch became Wanda the Fairy Godmother . . . sparkling pink dress, magic wand with a star, and all.

“打响指！”旺达猛叫一声，“就是它了，查理，这就是我忘记的东西！”她打了响指，跟着大叫道：“阿普斯——嘟嘟！”，只听“噗”的一生，城堡和乐队都消失了，王子也变回了一只绿色的小青蛙。

查理跳到一片荷叶上，他看着水中的自己的倒影，说：“旺达，你成功了，啊哈！真是一个开心的日子，我是一只青蛙。”

旺达微笑着对自己说：“看来我必须准备在学校度过下一个103年了，有什么要紧呢？只要查理开心，其他的都不重要。”

后来，虽然查理说出来的不是“啊哈！真是一个开心的日子，我是一位王子！”但是，学院校长最终决定“啊哈！真是一个开心的日子，我是一只青蛙。”也足够接近了。旺达没有替自己考虑，她一心想着让查理开心。“为他人着想”是作为一位仙女教母所须具备的最重要的品质。

校长挥动着他手中的魔法棒，你瞧，巫婆旺达变成了仙女教母旺达：粉红闪亮的长裙，镶着水晶星的魔法棒.......