英語故事:一隻特立獨行的青蛙

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.

旺達是附近鎮上一位善良的巫婆，她幹着一行已經整整221年了。旺達最大的夢想就是有朝一日能成爲一位仙女教母。爲了實現理想，她花費了103年的時間，在仙女教母學院刻苦學習，掌握了不少仙女教母的魔法，比如：如何將南瓜變成南瓜車；如何讓東西化作一縷青煙神奇地消失，甚至還學會了如何將老鼠變成馬或者僕人。

就在學業全部結束的最後一個早晨，校長通知旺達準備迎接最後一項測試。在這項測試裏，旺達被要求對今天出門後，所遇到的第一個動物施加魔法，無論這隻動物被變成什麼，這隻動物必須說一句：“啊哈！真是一個開心的日子，我是一個——”，如果它真的說了，旺達就算通過了測試，她將能穿上粉紅閃光的裙子，戴上一頂金色的皇冠，拿着一根鑲着水晶星的魔法棒，成爲一名仙女教母。

相反，如果失敗了，一切就得重新開始——旺達將回到學校再學習103年。

“祝你好運！”校長對正準備離開學院的旺達說。

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?”

旺達遇到的第一隻動物正好是查理，一隻綠色的小青蛙，它正坐在路邊的池塘裏，一邊伸出長長的舌頭粘住蟲子捲進嘴裏，一邊唱着歌：呱呱呱，呱呱呱

查理看見了旺達，它跳到一片荷葉上，跟她打招呼：“嗨！你要去巫婆家嗎①？哈哈哈，開玩笑的，旺達，‘你準備去哪裏？’聽明白了吧！”

“我明白你的意思，查理，”旺達回答道，“但是這並不怎麼好笑，不管怎麼樣，我很高興遇到你，我有一個驚喜要送給你，你會更開心的。”也不問查理是否願意接受，旺達已經揮動手中的魔法棒，唸了一句咒語，然後只聽“噗”的一聲，查理，那隻綠色的小青蛙，竟然變成了一位王子。

這是一位英俊的王子，只是全身都溼漉漉的，因爲他的身體太重了，壓垮了荷葉，掉到了池塘的水中。“查理王子”站起來，看着自己在水中的倒影，他大叫起來：“嘿！你把我變成了王子，沒錯，這是一個驚喜，但是我根本不想做王子，我只想做一隻青蛙。快把我變回去！”

“噢！親愛的，”旺達溫和地說，“你知道我不喜歡別人在我面前大喊大叫，你瞧，現在你讓我忘記了變回去的咒語。還有，查理，我一點也不明白，有誰不願意成爲王子，而甘心做一隻青蛙呢？

“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?”

“我不願意，我寧願做一隻青蛙，”查理嚷道，一隻蟲子從他鼻尖飛過，他伸出舌頭，卻沒抓住。“瞧瞧，旺達，我曾經是一個捉蟲好手，而且我的眼睛高高地長在頭頂，這樣前後左右我都能一下子看得一清二楚，可是看看現在的我，眼睛長在臉上，我一次只能朝一個方向看。我也沒有城堡，旺達，什麼王子會像我這樣。我真的寧願是一隻青蛙，請把我變回去吧。”

“查理，我變不回了。但是你可以學着做一位快樂的王子，至於城堡，我替你準備好了。”她揮動魔法棒，池塘的對岸馬上出現了一座城堡：石頭城牆，橡木城門，城堡頂上飄着無數的旗幟。“查理，這是屬於你的宮殿，你還會有僕人、可口的食物、美味冰淇淋......”

“哈！”查理打斷了她的話，“誰需要什麼僕人、可口的食物、美味冰淇淋？我只要蟲子！”他使勁伸出舌頭，眼睛像鬥雞眼一樣朝下看，可是隻看見了鼻子。“這舌頭一點都不好，太短了，我都看不見它！”

旺達沒有辦法，她又揮動她的魔法棒，“看啊，查理，樂師”她說。只見由數十個樂師形成的隊伍正吹着喇叭、長笛，敲着鼓在城堡外盤旋着，“看見沒，這是屬於你自己的樂隊，你可以盡情地唱歌跳舞，盡情地舞動你的指尖。”

“我不想唱歌跳舞！”查理又嚷道：“而且我爲什麼要去做一些打響指那麼傻的事呢?"

"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.

“打響指！”旺達猛叫一聲，“就是它了，查理，這就是我忘記的東西！”她打了響指，跟着大叫道：“阿普斯——嘟嘟！”，只聽“噗”的一生，城堡和樂隊都消失了，王子也變回了一隻綠色的小青蛙。

查理跳到一片荷葉上，他看着水中的自己的倒影，說：“旺達，你成功了，啊哈！真是一個開心的日子，我是一隻青蛙。”

旺達微笑着對自己說：“看來我必須準備在學校度過下一個103年了，有什麼要緊呢？只要查理開心，其他的都不重要。”

後來，雖然查理說出來的不是“啊哈！真是一個開心的日子，我是一位王子！”但是，學院校長最終決定“啊哈！真是一個開心的日子，我是一隻青蛙。”也足夠接近了。旺達沒有替自己考慮，她一心想着讓查理開心。“爲他人着想”是作爲一位仙女教母所須具備的最重要的品質。

校長揮動着他手中的魔法棒，你瞧，巫婆旺達變成了仙女教母旺達：粉紅閃亮的長裙，鑲着水晶星的魔法棒.......