1872FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE STORY OF A MOTHERby Hans Christian AndersenA MOTHER sat by her little child; she was very sad, for she fearedit would die. It was quite pale, and its little eyes were closed,and sometimes it drew a heavy deep breath, almost like a sigh; andthen the mother gazed more sadly than ever on the poor littlecreature. Some one knocked at the door, and a poor old man walkedin. He was wrapped in something that looked like a greathorse-cloth; and he required it truly to keep him warm, for it wascold winter; the country everywhere lay covered with snow and ice　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE SNOW MANby Hans Christian Andersen"IT is so delightfully cold," said the Snow Man, "that it makes mywhole body crackle. This is just the kind of wind to blow life intoone. How that great red thing up there is staring at me!" He meant thesun, who was just setting. "It shall not make me wink. I shallmanage to keep the pieces."He had two triangular pieces of tile in his head, instead of eyes;his mouth was made of an old broken rake, and was, of course,...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE BELLby Hans Christian AndersenIN the narrow streets of a large town people often heard in theevening, when the sun was setting, and his last rays gave a goldentint to the chimney-pots, a strange noise which resembled the sound ofa church bell; it only lasted an instant, for it was lost in thecontinual roar of traffic and hum of voices which rose from thetown. "The evening bell is ringing," people used to say; "the sun issetting!" Those who walked outside the town, where the houses were...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE ELF OF THE ROSEby Hans Christian AndersenIN the midst of a garden grew a rose-tree, in full blossom, and inthe prettiest of all the roses lived an elf. He was such a littlewee thing, that no human eye could see him. Behind each leaf of therose he had a sleeping chamber. He was as well formed and as beautifulas a little child could be, and had wings that reached from hisshoulders to his feet. Oh, what sweet fragrance there was in hischambers! and how clean and beautiful were the walls! for they were...　

CHAPTER IIIA Caucus-Race and a Long TaleThey were indeed a queer-looking party that assembled on thebankthe birds with draggled feathers, the animals with theirfur clinging close to them, and all dripping wet, cross, anduncomfortable.The first question of course was, how to get dry again: theyhad a consultation about this, and after a few minutes it seemedquite natural to Alice to find herself talking familiarly withthem, as if she had known them all her life. Indeed, she hadquite a long argument with the Lory, who at last turned sulky,...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE STORKSby Hans Christian AndersenON the last house in a little village the storks had built a nest,and the mother stork sat in it with her four young ones, who stretchedout their necks and pointed their black beaks, which had not yetturned red like those of the parent birds. A little way off, on theedge of the roof, stood the father stork, quite upright and stiff; notliking to be quite idle, he drew up one leg, and stood on the other,so still that it seemed almost as if he were carved in wood. "It...　

BLUE BEARDTHERE was a man who had fine houses, both in townand country, a deal of silver and gold plate, embroideredfurniture, and coaches gilded all over with gold. Butthis man was so unlucky as to have a blue beard, whichmade him so frightfully ugly that all the women andgirls ran away from him.One of his neighbors, a lady of quality, had twodaughters who were perfect beauties. He desired ofher one of them in marriage, leaving to her choice whichof the two she would bestow on him. They wouldneither of them have him, and sent him backward and...　

DRAKESTAILDRAKESTAIL was very little, that is why he was called Drakestail;but tiny as he was he had brains, and he knew what hewas about, for having begun with nothing he ended by amassing ahundred crowns. Now the King of the country, who was veryextravagant and never kept any money, having heard that Drakestailhad some, went one day in his own person to borrow his hoard, and,my word, in those days Drakestail was not a little proud of havinglent money to the King. But after the first and second year, seeingthat they never even dreamed of paying the interest, he became...　

PREFACE OF WILLIAM CAXTONAFTER that I had accomplished and finished divers histories, aswell of contemplation as of other historial and worldly acts ofgreat conquerors and princes, and also certain books of ensamplesand doctrine, many noble and divers gentlemen of this realm ofEngland came and demanded me many and oft times, wherefore that Ihave not do made and imprint the noble history of the SaintGreal, and of the most renowned Christian king, first and chiefof the three best Christian, and worthy, King Arthur, which oughtmost to be remembered among us Englishmen to-fore all other...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE JEWISH MAIDENby Hans Christian AndersenIN a charity school, among the children, sat a little Jewish girl.She was a good, intelligent child, and very quick at her lessons;but the Scripture-lesson class she was not allowed to join, for thiswas a Christian school. During the hour of this lesson, the Jewishgirl was allowed to learn her geography, or to work her sum for thenext day; and when her geography lesson was perfect, the book remainedopen before her, but she read not another word, for she sat silently...　

不管张三李四。Every Tom, Dick and Harry. *举出常用的男孩名，表示“不论谁都……”、“不管张三还是李四”。虽然没有女孩名，但男女都可用。My daughter had a homestay in America. (我女儿为体验当地生活，去美国了。)So did every Tom, Dick and Harry. (不管谁都能去啊。)I like sexy girls. (我喜欢性感的女人。)So does every Tom, Dick and Harry. (无论谁都是这样的。)一波未平一波又起。Out of the frying pan into the fire. *frying pan “平底炒菜锅”，直译是菜从锅里炒出来又掉进了火里。舍名求实。I live to eat.Pudding rather than praise. *不太常用的说法。瞎猫碰上了死耗子。Every dog has his day....　

THE WITCH IN THE STONE BOAT[31][31] From the Icelandic.There were once a King and a Queen, and they had a son calledSigurd, who was very strong and active, and good-looking. Whenthe King came to be bowed down with the weight of years he spoketo his son, and said that now it was time for him to look out fora fitting match for himself, for he did not know how long hemight last now, and he would like to see him married before hedied.Sigurd was not averse to this, and asked his father where hethought it best to look for a wife. The King answered that in a...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE SILVER SHILLINGby Hans Christian AndersenTHERE was once a shilling, which came forth from the mintspringing and shouting, "Hurrah! now I am going out into the wideworld." And truly it did go out into the wide world. The children heldit with warm hands, the miser with a cold and convulsive grasp, andthe old people turned it about, goodness knows how many times, whilethe young people soon allowed it to roll away from them. Theshilling was made of silver, it contained very little copper, and...　

A SIMPLIFIED ALPHABET(This article, written during the autumn of 1899, was aboutthe last writing done by Mark Twain on any impersonal subject.)I have had a kindly feeling, a friendly feeling, a cousinlyfeeling toward Simplified Spelling, from the beginning of themovement three years ago, but nothing more inflamed than that.It seemed to me to merely propose to substitute one inadequacyfor another; a sort of patching and plugging poor old dentalrelics with cement and gold and porcelain paste; what was reallyneeded was a new set of teeth. That is to say, a new ALPHABET....　

1872FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE STORKSby Hans Christian AndersenON the last house in a little village the storks had built a nest,and the mother stork sat in it with her four young ones, who stretchedout their necks and pointed their black beaks, which had not yetturned red like those of the parent birds. A little way off, on theedge of the roof, stood the father stork, quite upright and stiff; notliking to be quite idle, he drew up one leg, and stood on the other,so still that it seemed almost as if he were carved in wood. "Itmust look very grand," thought he, "for my wife to h　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE CHILD IN THE GRAVEby Hans Christian AndersenIT was a very sad day, and every heart in the house felt thedeepest grief; for the youngest child, a boy of four years old, thejoy and hope of his parents, was dead. Two daughters, the elder ofwhom was going to be confirmed, still remained: they were both good,charming girls; but the lost child always seems the dearest; andwhen it is youngest, and a son, it makes the trial still more heavy.The sisters mourned as young hearts can mourn, and were especially...