双语格林童话:夏娃的孩子们
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Eve's Unequal Children

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

  When Adam and Eve were driven from paradise, they were forced to build a house for themselves on barren ground, and eat their bread by the sweat of their brow. Adam hoed the field, and Eve spun1 the wool. Every year Eve brought a child into the world, but the children were unlike each other. Some were good looking, and some ugly.

  After a considerable time had gone by, God sent an angel to them to announce that he himself was coming to inspect their household. Eve, delighted that the Lord should be so gracious, cleaned her house diligently2, decorated it with flowers, and spread rushes on the floor. Then she brought in her children, but only the good-looking ones. She washed and bathed them, combed their hair, put freshly laundered3 shirts on them, and cautioned them to be polite and well-behaved in the presence of the Lord. They were to bow down before him courteously4, offer to shake hands, and to answer his questions modestly and intelligently.

  The ugly children, however, were not to let themselves be seen. She hid one of them beneath the hay, another in the attic5, the third in the straw, the fourth in the stove, the fifth in the cellar, the sixth under a tub, the seventh beneath the wine barrel, the eighth under an old pelt6, the ninth and tenth beneath the cloth from which she made their clothes, and the eleventh and twelfth under the leather from which she cut their shoes.

  She had just finished when someone knocked at the front door. Adam looked through a crack, and saw that it was the Lord. He opened the door reverently7, and the Heavenly Father entered. There stood the good-looking children all in a row. They bowed before him, offered to shake hands, and knelt down.

  The Lord began to bless them. He laid his hands on the first, saying, "You shall be a powerful king," did the same thing to the second, saying, "You a prince," to the third, "You a count," to the fourth, "You a knight," to the fifth, "You a nobleman," to the sixth, "You a burgher," to the seventh, "You a merchant," to the eighth, "You a scholar." Thus he bestowed9 his richest blessings10 upon them all.

  When Eve saw that the Lord was so mild and gracious, she thought, "I will bring forth11 my ugly children as well. Perhaps he will bestow8 his blessings on them too." So she ran and fetched them from the hay, the straw, the stove, and wherever else they were hidden away. In they came, the whole coarse, dirty, scabby, sooty lot of them.

  The Lord smiled, looked at them all, and said, "I will bless these as well."

  He laid his hands on the first and said to him, "You shall be a peasant," to the second, "You a fisherman," to the third, "You a smith," to the fourth, "You a tanner," to the fifth, "You a weaver," to the sixth, "You a shoemaker," to the seventh, "You a tailor," to the eighth, "You a potter," to the ninth, "You a teamster," to the tenth, "You a sailor," to the eleventh, "You a messenger," to the twelfth, "You a household servant, all the days of your life."

  When Eve had heard all this she said, "Lord, how unequally you divide your blessings. All of them are my children, whom I have brought into the world. You should favor them all equally."

  But God replied, "Eve, you do not understand. It is right and necessary that the entire world should be served by your children. If they were all princes and lords, who would plant grain, thresh it, grind and bake it? Who would forge iron, weave cloth, build houses, plant crops, dig ditches, and cut out and sew clothing? Each shall stay in his own place, so that one shall support the other, and all shall be fed like the parts of a body."

  Then Eve answered, "Oh, Lord, forgive me, I spoke12 too quickly to you. Let your divine will be done with my children as well."

        亚当和夏娃被赶出乐园后,被迫在贫瘠的土地上建造自己的家园,躬耕劳作,养家糊口,亚当种地,夏娃纺织。他们每年都会有一个孩子降临人世,但这些孩子都各不相同,有的漂亮,有的难看。过了相当长的一段时间,上帝派了一名天使到人间,告诉他们自己将去看亚当全家。而夏娃呢,看到上帝如此宽厚仁慈,心情格外高兴,赶紧把房间打扫乾净,饰以花朵,铺以花毯。然后她把孩子们引进来,他们全是那些漂亮的娃娃。她给他们洗澡、梳头、穿衣,还教他们在上帝面前讲礼貌、懂规矩;学会在上帝面前彬彬有礼地鞠躬行礼,伸出双手谦虚谨慎地回答他提出的问题。然而那些难看的孩子们却不让出来见人,一个被藏在乾草下,一个躲在屋簷下,一个藏在草垛里,一个躲在壁炉中,一个藏在地窖里,一个躲在浴盆下,一个在酒桶下,一个在旧毛衣柜里,两个蒙在作衣服用的布料下,还有两个藏在夏娃做鞋用的皮革底下。她刚准备就绪,就听到了一阵敲门声。亚当从门缝里往外望去,一看来者正是上帝,便赶紧恭恭敬敬地开门,把上帝请了进来。上帝一进门就看见一排漂亮的娃娃在他面前又是鞠躬,又是伸手,又是下跪。於是上帝便开始赐福他们,他把手放在一个孩子的头上说:“你会成为一个统治四方的国王。”

  接着又对另一个说:“你会成为一个王子。”“你会成为一个伯爵。”“你会成为一个骑士。”“你将成为一个贵族。”“你将成为一个镇民。”“你是个商人。”“你是一名学者。”……如此这般地把最好的祝福都给了那些漂亮的孩子们。夏娃看到上帝是如此地仁慈宽厚,便想:“如果我把那些丑娃娃也带出来,上帝可能也会赐福他们呢!”於是她赶紧把那些孩子找出来,只见他们从草堆里、茅草丛中、壁炉里还有其它地方纷纷钻了出来,一个个又髒、又破、又丑。上帝见了他们笑着说:“我会赐福这些孩子的。”

  他又把手放在第一个孩子的头上说:“你会成为一名农夫。”“你会成为一名打鱼的。”“你会成为一名铁匠。”“你将是制革的。”“你是一名织工。”“你是一个鞋匠。”“你是一个裁缝。”“你是一名陶工。”“你是一个赶车的。”“你是一名海员。”“你是一名信差。”“你将有干不完的家务活。”……。夏娃听到这些赶紧说:“主啊!你的这些赏赐多么不公平!他们毕竟都是我的孩子,都是我把他们带到这个世界,你给予他们的恩赐应该相等才对呀!”但上帝回答说:“夏娃你可不懂。这些孩子们将世世代代生息繁衍下去,应该是这样,必须是这样。

  如果他们都是皇亲国舅,那谁来种穀、打麦、磨面、做麵包呢?谁又是铁匠、织工、木匠、苦力和裁缝呢?每个人都有他自己的位置,这样才能互帮互助,就像大家都是一个身体里的胁骨互相支持着彼此一样。“夏娃忙说:”主啊,原谅我出口不逊吧,神祐我儿。



点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 spun kvjwT     
v.纺,杜撰,急转身
参考例句:
  • His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
  • Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。
2 diligently gueze5     
ad.industriously;carefully
参考例句:
  • He applied himself diligently to learning French. 他孜孜不倦地学法语。
  • He had studied diligently at college. 他在大学里勤奋学习。
3 laundered 95074eccc0837ff352682b72828e8414     
v.洗(衣服等),洗烫(衣服等)( launder的过去式和过去分词 );洗(黑钱)(把非法收入改头换面,变为貌似合法的收入)
参考例句:
  • Send these sheets to be laundered. 把这些床单送去洗熨。 来自辞典例句
  • The air seems freshly laundered. Sydney thinks of good drying weather. 空气似乎被清洗过,让悉妮想起晴朗干爽适合晒衣服的好天气。 来自互联网
4 courteously 4v2z8O     
adv.有礼貌地,亲切地
参考例句:
  • He courteously opened the door for me.他谦恭有礼地为我开门。
  • Presently he rose courteously and released her.过了一会,他就很客气地站起来,让她走开。
5 attic Hv4zZ     
n.顶楼,屋顶室
参考例句:
  • Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
  • What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理?
6 pelt A3vzi     
v.投掷,剥皮,抨击,开火
参考例句:
  • The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。
  • Crowds started to pelt police cars with stones.人群开始向警车扔石块。
7 reverently FjPzwr     
adv.虔诚地
参考例句:
  • He gazed reverently at the handiwork. 他满怀敬意地凝视着这件手工艺品。
  • Pork gazed at it reverently and slowly delight spread over his face. 波克怀着愉快的心情看着这只表,脸上慢慢显出十分崇敬的神色。
8 bestow 9t3zo     
v.把…赠与,把…授予;花费
参考例句:
  • He wished to bestow great honors upon the hero.他希望将那些伟大的荣誉授予这位英雄。
  • What great inspiration wiII you bestow on me?你有什么伟大的灵感能馈赠给我?
9 bestowed 12e1d67c73811aa19bdfe3ae4a8c2c28     
赠给,授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • It was a title bestowed upon him by the king. 那是国王赐给他的头衔。
  • He considered himself unworthy of the honour they had bestowed on him. 他认为自己不配得到大家赋予他的荣誉。
10 blessings 52a399b218b9208cade790a26255db6b     
n.(上帝的)祝福( blessing的名词复数 );好事;福分;因祸得福
参考例句:
  • Afflictions are sometimes blessings in disguise. 塞翁失马,焉知非福。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • We don't rely on blessings from Heaven. 我们不靠老天保佑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
11 forth Hzdz2     
adv.向前;向外,往外
参考例句:
  • The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
  • He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
12 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
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