It was summer in the country. The corn-fields were surrounded by large forests. There were deep pools in these forests. A duck was sitting on her nest. She was waiting for her young brood to hatch.

　　surround v. 围绕

　　nest n. 窝

　　brood n. (家禽的)一窝

　　hatch v. 孵化

　　At last one shell cracked, and then another, and from each egg came a little duck. They lifted their heads and cried, “Peep, peep.” But the largest egg lay there still. The duck sat on the nest again,“Since I have sat so long already, a few more days will be nothing.”

　　crack v. 破裂

　　peep n. 幼鸟发出吱

　　吱啾啾的叫声

　　still adj. 静寂的

　　since conj. 既然

　　Finally the large egg broke. A young one came out and cried,“Peep.” It was very large and ugly. The duck stared at it and exclaimed,“It is very large and not like the others . I wonder if it really is a turkey. We shall soon find it out when we go to the water.”

　　stare v. 盯着看

　　exclaim v. 惊叫

　　wonder v. 想知道

　　turkey n. 火鸡

　　On the next day the weather was delightful, so the mother duck took her children to the water. The little ducklings jumped in one after another. They swam around quite prettily with their legs. The ugly duckling was also swimming with them.

　　delightful adj. 令人

　　愉快的

　　duckling n. 小鸭子

　　prettily adv. 漂亮地

　　There was an old hen on the farm. She had Spanish blood, so she was the noblest of them all. There was a red flag on her leg, and she was quite proud of it. The poor ugly ducking was quite miserable because he was so ugly, and was laughed at by the whole farm.

　　Spanish adj. 西班牙的

　　noble adj. 高贵的

　　miserable adj. 悲惨的

　　laugh at 嘲笑

　　The turkey cock was born with spurs, so he fancied himself a king. He often bit the ugly ducking, and became quite red in the head.

　　spur n. 鸟腿上的针刺状的突起

　　fancy v. 想像

　　bite v. 咬 As time went on, it became worse and worse for the poor ugly duckling. He was driven around by everyone; even his brothers and sisters were unkind to him. His mother said she wished he had never been born. The ducks pecked him, the chickens beat him, and even the girl on the farm kicked him with her feet.

　　drive v. 驱赶

　　peck v. 啄