英语绘本 ▏每日一读之《拇指姑娘 Thumbelina》
从前，有一个女人，她很想要一个乖巧的孩子，她去请巫婆帮忙。
Once upon a time, there was a woman who wanted a well-behaved child. She asked a witch for help.
巫婆说：“这很容易，我给你一个大麦粒，你把它埋在花盆里，不久你就会得到你想要的，”
The witch said, "It's easy. I'll give you a barley grain. You bury it in a flowerpot, and soon you'll get what you want."
女人照做了。很快，花盆里长出一朵大红花，女人吻了花一下，花苞突然裂开了，里面坐着一位白嫩娇小的可爱的姑娘。
The woman did it. Soon, a big red flower grew in the flowerpot. The woman kissed the flower, and the bud suddenly split open. Inside sat a white, tender, petite and lovely girl.
女人决定叫她拇指姑娘。
The woman decided to call her Thumbelina.
一天晚上，一只难看的癞蛤蟆偷偷地背走了在摇篮里熟睡的拇指姑娘。它想让美丽的姑娘做它的儿媳妇。
One night, an ugly toad secretly carried away Thumbelina, who was sleeping in the cradle. It wanted the beautiful girl to be its daughter-in-law.
癞蛤蟆的儿子和它长得一样难看，而且只会呱呱叫。
The toad's son looked as ugly as it did, and could only quack.
癞蛤蟆的儿子看见美丽可爱的拇指姑娘高兴的叫了起来：“呱呱呱”。癞蛤蟆对儿子说：“小点声，你会把她吵醒的。”
The toad's son saw the beautiful and lovely Thumbelina and shouted happily: "Quack, quack." The toad said to his son, "Be quiet, you will wake her up."
它们怕拇指姑娘会逃走，就把她放在水中央一片很大的睡莲叶子上。拇指姑娘醒来后伤心的哭了起来。
They were afraid that Thumbelina would run away, so they put her on a large water lily leaf in the middle of the water. Thumbelina cried sadly after waking up.
小鱼们非常同情她，咬断了睡莲叶子的梗，叶子带着拇指姑娘飘走了。
The little fish felt sorry for her and bit off the stem of the water lily leaf, and the leaf floated away with Thumbelina.
飘荡着的拇指姑娘被一只金龟子抓到树上，可是金龟子小姐们觉得她长得很丑，就把拇指姑娘放到一朵向日葵上面。
Thumbelina was caught by a beetle and put on a tree, but the beetles thought she was ugly, so they put her on a sunflower.
拇指姑娘孤单的过了一个夏天，饿了就采花蜜吃，渴了就喝叶子上的露珠。
Thumbelina spent a lonely summer, eating nectar when hungry and drinking dew on leaves when thirsty.
冬天来了，拇指姑娘没有可以吃的东西了，好心的田鼠收留了她。
Winter came, and Thumbelina had nothing to eat, so the kind field mouse took her in.
鼹鼠来拜访田鼠，它一看到拇指姑娘就很喜欢她。田鼠对拇指姑娘说：“你要是嫁给鼹鼠，你一定会很幸福的。”
The mole came to visit the field mouse, and he liked Thumbelina as soon as he saw her. The field mouse said to Thumbelina: "If you marry the mole, you will be very happy."
鼹鼠告诉拇指姑娘，地道里有一只冻死的鸟。
The mole told Thumbelina that there was a frozen bird in the tunnel.
拇指姑娘一看，发现是一只燕子。她用干草编了一张毯子，盖在燕子身上。过了一会，燕子醒了过来，原来它只是被冻晕了。
Thumbelina looked and found it was a swallow. She made a blanket with hay and covered the swallow. After a while, the swallow woke up, and it turned out that it was just frozen.
离结婚的日子越来越近，拇指姑娘哭得非常伤心，因为她不想住在没有阳光和花朵的地洞里。
As the wedding day approached, Thumbelina cried very sadly because she didn't want to live in a cave without sunshine and flowers.
“叮叮叮”拇指姑娘忽然听见头顶有一个声音，是那只燕子飞回来了。
"Ding ding ding "Thumbelina suddenly heard a sound above her head. It was the swallow flying back.
拇指姑娘对燕子说：“亲爱的燕子，我不想嫁给鼹鼠，你带我离开这里吧！”
Thumbelina said to the swallow: "Dear swallow, I don't want to marry a mole. Take me away from here!"
拇指姑娘坐在燕子的后背上，燕子带着她来到了一个温暖的国度。
Thumbelina sat on the back of the swallow, and the swallow took her to a warm country.
燕子把拇指姑娘放在了一朵白色的鲜花上，对她说：“这里很温暖，你可以安心地住在这里了。”
The swallow put Thumbelina on a white flower and said to her: "It's warm here. You can live here with peace of mind."
拇指姑娘惊讶的看着花的中央，那儿坐着一个小小的男子，个子和拇指姑娘差不多。
Thumbelina looked at the center of the flower in surprise. There sat a small man, about the same height as Thumbelina.
原来他是花王子，他对拇指姑娘一见钟情并向她求婚。拇指姑娘高兴地答应了。
It turned out that he was the flower prince. He fell in love with Thumbelina at first sight and proposed to her. Thumbelina happily agreed.
从此他们幸福地生活在了一起。
From then on, they lived happily together.