提 要

單純善良的人，雖然不斷遭受不幸的磨難，但不含恨、 不氣餒，保持初心、堅持善念，終於否極泰來、 得到幸福。

Once upon a time, a simple and kind-hearted woman lived carrying one desire in her mind. She had only one simple dream, which was to have a baby girl. Days and months passed by, her desire to have a baby girl grew stronger and stronger.

One day, to make her dream come true, she visited a fairy on a cliff, who offered a magic barley grain and asked her to plant it.

Although the woman wasn’t convinced, she planted the magic grain in a flower pot with hope. To her surprise, the very next day, it grew into a beautiful big flower bud, which appeared like a Tulip.

Mesmerized by the beauty of the flower, the woman gently kissed the bud, and it blossomed instantly, inside the flower sat a tiny and cute little girl, who looked as small as a thumb. The woman named her Thumbelina.

Thumbelina became the main part of the woman’s life. The woman provided her everything she needed. She used the walnut shell as her bed, petals of a violet flower as her mattress and roses as her blanket.

Thumbelina played in the pedal boat of the tulip on a river, she used two horse hairs as oars to sail around the lake. She had a beautiful voice, she sang and sung beautifully all day!

After playing for a while, Thumbelina fell asleep in her walnut. A huge frog came by, instantly stunned at her beauty. She thought that Thumbelina would be the right girl for her son and picked her up, and ran away.

Unfortunately, no one noticed Thumbelina snatched by an enormous frog, the frog carried her to the pond where her family lives, and introduced the beautiful Thumbelina to her ugly and fatty son, who was a momma’s boy. Both frogs worried that the beautiful prisoner might escape from them, therefore the huge frog put Thumbelina in a water lily into the pond.

Mama frog and momma’s boy started preparing for the marriage, their bitter talks were heard by two minnows that were playing in the pond. They decided to help Thumbelina, with the help of a butterfly pushed the lily to the shore and she escaped.

The summer approached and Thumbelina wandered in grasslands and across the flowers. She hardly found any food to eat. She ate pollen as her meals and dew as her drink. Soon, the rainy season appeared. It made the places wet and sticky. Even though the tiny girl survived the heavy water drops, the winter was terrible and she had no food.

While she was roaming on the meadows, a big spider offered her food and shelter. The spider took her to a hollow tree and fed her with chestnuts. When the spider called his family to meet his new friend, the beautiful Thumbelina, others discriminated against her as she looked oddly different. She left with tears.

After a few days, she nursed an injured swallow and gave the bird food every day, they became very close. During the onset of spring, the swallow was completely recovered and decided to fly away, she asked her to spend a day in the sky together. Thumbelina climbed up to the bird’s back. The swallow carried her over the hills, through meadows, and plains until they reached the flower country.

The country was full of colorful flowers. The swallow gently placed her on a dahlia, where she met the king of flower fairies. The king was impressed by her beauty and kindness, after a few months getting along, he asked her to marry him and she almost instantly said “ I Do! “ Finally after experienced so many disasters, Thumbelina became the queen of flowers, and they lived happily ever after!



解說

曾經有一個單純善良的女人，全心全意希望實現一個簡單的夢： 那就是生一個寶貝女兒。 日子一天天過去，她想生女兒的念頭愈來愈強。

有一天，為了讓夢想成真，她拜訪了一位峭壁上的仙子，得到了一種神奇的大麥穀粒，仙子要求女人找地方種下麥粒。

儘管她充滿疑慮，這個女人還是滿懷希望地將神奇穀物種在花盆裡。

沒想到，在第二天，它長出了看來像鬱金香的美麗大花蕾。

被漂亮花朵的迷住的女人，溫柔地親吻了花蕾，花隨即綻放，裡面坐著一個小巧可愛的小女孩，她看起來只有拇指般大小。 那個女人給她取名拇指姑娘。

拇指姑娘成為女人生活的重心。 女人提供了小女孩所需要的一切。 她用核桃殼作床，用紫羅蘭色的花瓣當床墊，玫瑰是她的毯子。

拇指姑娘乘著鬱金香踏板船，在河上玩耍，她用兩根馬毛作槳，在湖中航行。她的嗓音優美，整天不停哼唱美麗的歌。

玩了一會兒之後，拇指姑娘在核桃中睡著了。 一隻大青蛙經過，立刻驚為天人。牠認為拇指姑娘是牠兒子的完美伴侶，於是抱起她逃跑了。

不幸的是，沒有人注意拇指姑娘被一隻巨蛙搶走了，這蛙把她帶到了牠家居的池塘，並把美麗的姑娘介紹給了牠醜陋而臃腫的兒子，這傢伙還是個媽寶。 兩隻青蛙都擔心這漂亮的囚犯可能逃脫，因此，那隻巨大的青蛙把拇指姑娘放進了池塘中的睡蓮。

蛙大媽和媽寶開始準備婚禮，池塘裡嬉戲的兩隻小魚聽到他們的尖刻對談，他們決定要幫點忙，在蝴蝶的推波助瀾下，睡蓮靠到岸邊，拇指姑娘逃脫了。

夏天到了，拇指姑娘徘徊在草原和鮮花間，她幾乎找不到東西可吃，她吃了些花粉，喝了些露水。 雨季很快就到了，到處都溼溼黏黏。 即使這袖珍小姑娘倖免於雨滴的轟炸，她卻沒有食物度過嚴寒冬天。

當她在草地上遊蕩時，一隻大蜘蛛願意提供她食宿。 蜘蛛把她帶到一棵空心樹上，餵她吃栗子。

當蜘蛛叫牠的家人去見他的新朋友、 美麗的拇指姑娘時，牠們因她與眾不同而排擠她，小姑娘含著淚離開了。

幾天之後 ，她發現一隻受傷的燕子，每天照顧餵食，她們變得非常親近。 春天來臨時，完全康復的燕子決定飛走，牠邀請小姑娘一起在空中度過一天。 拇指姑娘爬到牠背上，燕子帶她到山上、 飛越草地和平原，直到她們到達鮮花王國。

鮮花王國處處色彩繽紛。 燕子將她輕輕地放在大理花上，她在那裡遇到了花仙子國王。 國王對她的美麗和善良印象深刻，幾個月的相處之後，他要求她嫁給他，而她幾乎立刻就說「我願意！」終於在經歷多災多難之後，拇指姑娘成為鮮花皇后，他們從此過著幸福快樂的生活！

WOW!

原來如此

mesmerized

「mesmerized」是「被……迷住、困惑」，

The children were mesmerized by the flapping bird.（孩子們被那隻上下亂飛的鳥迷惑住了。）

The rabbit stopped by the road, mesmerized by the beam of the car’s headlights.（被車頭燈光束震懾的兔子，在路上停了下來。）

The classmates were mesmerized by her excellent performance.（她的出色表現令同學們著迷。）

roaming

「網際網路漫遊」的英文是「internet roaming」，「roaming」在文中的意思是漫無目的地「閒逛」，例如：

After roaming around nearly half his life, he finally settled down in Canada.（動盪大半生中之後，他終於定居加拿大。）

The situation in Bolivia is still insecure, with many of the rebels roaming the streets.（玻利維亞的局勢仍然不安，街上許多叛亂分子遊走。）

Tourists in Edinburgh love roaming about the old town.（愛丁堡的遊客喜歡逛老城區。）