Snow-white

Once there was a Queen. She was sitting at the window. There was snow outside in the garden-snow on the hill and in the lane¹, snow on the hunts and on the trees: all things were white with snow.

The Queen was making a coat for a little child. She said, "I want my child to be white as this cloth, white as the snow. And I shall call her Snow-white."

Some days after that the Queen had a child. The child was white as snow. The Queen called her Snow-white.

But the Queen was very ill, and after some days she died. Snow-white lived, and was a very happy and beautiful child.

One year after that, the King married another Queen. The new Queen was very beautiful; but she was not a good woman.

A wizard² had given this Queen a glass. The glass could speak. It was on the wall in the Queen's room. Every day the queen looked in the glass to see how beautiful she was. As she looked in the glass, she asked: "Tell me, glass upon the wall, who is most beautiful of all?" And the glass spoke³ and said: "The Queen is most beautiful of all."

Year went by. Snow-white grew up and became a little girl. every day the Queen looked in the glass and said, "Tell me, glass upon the wall, who is most beautiful of all?" And the glass said, "Snow-white is most beautiful of all."

When the Queen heard this, she was very angry. She said, "Snow-white is not more beautiful than I am. There is no one who is more beautiful than I am."

Then the Queen sat on her bed and cried.

After one hour the Queen went out of her room. She called one of the servants, and said, "Take Snow-white into the forest and kill her."

The servant took Snow-white to the forest, but he did not kill her, because she was so beautiful and so good. He said, "I shall not kill you; but do not go to the King's house, because the Queen is angry and she will see you. If the Queen sees you, she will make some other man kill you. Wait here in the forest; some friends will help you." Then he went away.

Poor Snow-white sat at the foot of a tree and cried. Then she saw that night was coming. She said, "I will not cry. I will find some house where I can sleep tonight. I cannot wait here: the bears will eat me."

She went far into the forest. Then she saw a little hut⁴. She opened the door of the hut, and went in. In the hut she saw seven little beds. There was a table, and on the table there were seven little loaves and seven little glasses. She ate one of the loaves. Then she said, "I want some water to drink." So she drank some water out of one of the glasses. Then she fell asleep on one of the seven little beds.

The hut was the home of seven Little Men. When it was night, the seven Little Men came to the hut. Each Little Man had a big beard, and a little blue coat. Each Little Man came into the hut, and took his little lamp. Then each Little Man sat down, and ate his little loaf, and drank his little glass of water.

But one Little Man said, "Someone has eaten my little loaf." And another Little Man said, "Someone has drunk⁵ my little glass of water." Then the seven Little Men went to bed, but one Little Man said, "Someone is sleeping on my little bed." All the seven Little Men came to look at Snow-white as she slept on the Little Men's bed. They said, "She is very beautiful."

Snow-white awoke, and saw the seven Little Men with their big beards standing⁶ near her bed. She was afraid. The Little men said, "Do not be afraid. We are your friends. Tell us how you came here." Snow-white said, "I will tell you." Then she told them her story.

They said, "Do not be afraid. Live here with us. But see that the door shut when we are not in the house with you. Do not go out. If you go out, the bad Queen will find you. Then she will know that you are not dead, and will tell someone to kill you." So Snow-white lived in the hut with the seven Little Men.

After some days Snow-white went into the garden. One of the Queen's servants was going through the forest, and he saw her. He went and told the Queen, "Snow-white is in a hut in the forest." The Queen was very angry when she heard that Snow-white was not dead.

The Queen took an apple. She made a hole in the red side of the apple, and put some powder into the hole. Then she put on old clothes and went to the hut. She called, "Is any one there?" Snow-white opened the door, and came out to her. The Queen said, "I have some pretty apples. Eat one of my pretty apples." Snow-white took the apple and said, "Is it good?" The Queen said, "See, I will eat this white side of the apple; you eat the red side. Then you will know that it is good."

Snow-white ate the red side of the apple. When the powder was in her mouth, she fell down dead. The Queen went back to her house. She went into her room. she looked into the glass and said, "Tell me, glass upon the wall, who is most beautiful of all?" The glass said, "The Queen is most beautiful of all." Then the Queen know that Snow-white was dead.

The Little Men came back to the hut. When they saw that Snow-white was dead, the poor Little Men cried. Then they put Snow-white in a box made of glass. They took the glass box to a hill and put it there, and said, "Everyone who goes by will see how beautiful she was." Then each Little Man put one white flower on the box, and they went away.

Just as they were going away, a Prince came by. He saw the glass box and said, "What is that?" Then he saw Snow-white in the box. He said, "She was very beautiful: but do not put her there. There is a hall in the garden of my father's house. It is all made of white stone. We will take the glass box and put it in the hall of beautiful white stone."

The Little Men said, "Take her." Then the Prince told his servants to take up the box. They took up the box. Just then one of the servants fell down. The box fell, and Snow-white fell with the box. The bit of apple fell out of her mouth: she awoke, and sat up, and said, "Where am I?"

The Prince said, "You are with me. I never saw anyone as beautiful as you. Come with me and be my Queen."

The Prince married Snow-white, and she became his Queen.

A man went and told this to the bad Queen. When she heard it she was so angry that she fell down dead.

Snow-white lived and was very happy ever after. And the Little Men came to see her every year.

I. Translation for Reference(参考译文)


白雪公主

从前，有一个王后，她坐在窗户旁。窗外的花园里积满了雪，山上是雪，小路上是雪，树上和屋顶上也积着雪，万物一片白茫茫。她手中拿着些布和一枚针，她手中的不就像雪一样洁白。王后正在为小孩做一件上衣，她说：“我想我的孩子能够像这布一样白，想雪一样白，我要叫她'白雪公主'。”

几天之后，王后生了个小孩，这个孩子白得像雪一样，王后给她取名为“白雪公主”。但是，王后得了重病，几天以后就去世了。白雪公主活了下来，她是一个十分幸福和美丽的孩子。

王后去世一年以后，国王又娶了一位王后。新王后十分漂亮，但是，她不是一个善良的女人。一个巫师给了新王后一面镜子，这面镜子会说话，它挂在王后房间的墙上，每天王后照着镜子，欣赏自己多么漂亮。当她照镜子的时候，她问：“告诉我，墙上的魔镜，谁是世界上最漂亮的人？”于是魔镜开口说道：“王后是世界上最漂亮的。”

过了数年，白雪公主长成大人了。当白雪公主是一个年轻姑娘时，有一天，王后照着镜子说：“告诉我，墙上的魔镜，谁是世界上最漂亮的？”魔镜说：“白雪公主是世界上最漂亮的。”

当王后听到这些话时，非常恼怒，她说：“白雪公主没有我漂亮，没有一个人比我更漂亮。”然后，王后坐在床上哭了。一小时后，王后从她的房间走出来，她叫来一个仆人说：“把白雪公主带到森林中杀掉。”

仆人带着白雪公主到了森林，但他没有杀死她，因为她太美丽太善良了。他说：“我不会杀死你的，但是，你不能回王宫，因为，王后很生气，她会看到你的。如果王后发现你，她会让别人杀死你的。你就呆在森林里，会有朋友来帮助你的。”然后，他走了。

可怜的白雪公主坐在一棵树底下哭了，这时，她看到天快黑了，她说：“我不哭了，我要找所房子今晚好睡觉，我不能呆在这儿了，熊会吃了我的。”她往森林深处走去，这时，她发现了一座小屋，她打开小屋的门，走了进去。在小屋里，她看到七张小床，还有一张桌子，桌子上有七块小面包和七个小杯子。她吃了其中一块面包，然后说：“我想喝点水。”于是，她又喝了一个杯子中的一些水。之后，她躺在一张小床上睡着了。

这座小屋是七个小矮人的家。当天黑下来的时候，七个小矮人回到小屋。每个小矮人都留着一副大胡子，穿一件小蓝上衣。小矮人进了小屋，每个人都点上他们的小灯，然后，小矮人都坐下，开始吃面包，喝小杯里的水。

但是，一个小矮人说：“有人把我小面包吃了。”另一个小矮人说：“有人把我的小杯子里的水喝了。”然后，七个小矮人去睡觉。可是一个小矮人说：“有人正睡在我的小床上。”七个小矮人都过来看睡在小矮人床上的白雪公主。他们说：“她真漂亮。”

白雪公主醒了，发现七个留着大胡子的小矮人正站在她床旁，她很害怕。小矮人们说：“别害怕，我们是你的好朋友，告诉我们你是怎么来这儿的。”白雪公主说：“我告诉你们。”接着她就给他们讲述了自己的经历。他们说：“不要害怕。就在这儿和我们住在一起，但是，我们不在家的时候，你一定要关上门，千万别出去。如果你出去了，坏王后会发现你，这样，她知道你没有死，会让人来杀死你。”于是，白雪公主和七个小矮人在这座小屋里生活着。

几天以后，白雪公主去了一趟花园。王后的一个仆人正经过这片森林，他发现了阿。他回去告诉了王后：“白雪公主在森林的一座小屋里。”王后听说白雪公主没有死，十分恼火。

王后拿来一个苹果，她在苹果红的一边挖了一个洞，把一些毒的粉末放在这个洞里。然后，她穿上一身旧衣服，去了小屋。她喊：“屋里有人吗？”白雪公主打开门，出来见她。王后说：“我有一些漂亮的苹果，吃一个尝尝吧？”白雪公主拿着苹果说：“这好吃吗？”王后说：“瞧，我吃苹果白的一半，你吃红的一半，你会知道它味道不错。”白雪公主吃了苹果红的一半，当粉末进入她嘴里时，她倒下去死了。

王后回到家，进了自己的房间，对着镜子说：“告诉我，墙上的魔镜，谁是世界上最漂亮的。”魔镜说：“王后是世界上最漂亮的。”于是，王后知道白雪公主已经死了。

小矮人们回到小屋，发现白雪公主死了。可怜的小矮人们全都哭了。然后，他们把白雪公主放进玻璃棺材里，并把它抬到山坡上，安放在那里，说：“每位经过这里的人都会看见她是多么美丽。”接着每个小矮人在棺材上放了一朵白花，然后离开了。

他们刚刚要离开，一位王子从此经过，他看着玻璃棺材说：“那是什么？”这时，他发现白雪公主躺在里面，他说：“她太美丽了，把能把她放在这里，在父亲的王宫里有一座大厅，整个大厅都是用白石头砌成，我们把玻璃棺材搬到那所漂亮的白石大厅里。”小矮人们说：“抬走她吧。”

然后，王子告诉他的仆人抬起棺材。他们抬起它时，不巧一个仆人跌倒了。把棺材也摔到地上，白雪公主随同棺材跌了下来，那块苹果从她嘴里掉了出来，她醒了过来，坐起来说：“我这是在哪儿？”王子说：“你跟我在一起，我从来没有见过一位像你这么美丽的人，跟我来，做我的王后吧。”王子和白雪公主结婚了，她成了王后。

一个人去把这些消息告诉了坏王后，当她听到这些，气得倒下死去了。从那以后，白雪公主一直生活得很幸福。每年小矮人们都来看她。

　

II. Exercise Choose the correct answer to the following questions.

1. The glass which the Queen got from a wizard _______.
A.could make the Queen beautiful
B.could tell who was the most beautiful of all
C.was on the wall of the King's room
D.could make the Queen happy

2. When the Queen heard she wasn't the most beautiful of all, she _______.
A.became very angry at this
B.didn't want to believe this
C.decided⁷ to kill Snow-white
D.All of the above.

3. The servant didn't kill Snow-white, because _______.
A.she was kind and beautiful
B.he knew that the Queen will send another person to kill Snow-white
C.the Queen told him to do so
D.he wanted bears to eat her

4. Why didn't Snow-white go out of the forest?
A.because she lost her way
B.because the Queen would find and kill her if she did so
C.she loved seven Little Men
D.she could enjoy herself in the forest

5. How did the Queen know that Snow-white was still alive?
A.She knew it from her glass.
B.She knew it from one of her servants.
C.She knew it from the seven Little Men.
D.She knew it by herself.

6. What did the Queen do after knowing that Snow-white was alive?
A.She decided to kill her in person.
B.She decided to send a servant to kill her.
C.She decided to send her some pretty apples.
D.None of the above.

7. The Queen knew the death of Snow-white from _______.
A.a servant
B.the seven Little Men
C.her glass
D.the Prince

8. From the story, we know that those Little Men put _______ white flowers on Snow-white's box in total.
A.one
B.seven
C.more than seven
D.countless

9. What happened to Snow-white after her death?
A.She was put into a box and was buried by the seven Little Men .
B.A Prince took her into his hall of beautiful white stones.
C.She came back to life and married the Prince.
D.Both A and C.

10. _______ made the bad Queen dead at last.
A.The Prince
B.Her anger
C.Her envy
D.h B and C


III. New Words and Expressions 生词和词组

wizard n. 男巫

hut n. 茅舍，小屋

　

Key to Exercise(练习答案)

1:B 2:D 3:A 4:B 5:B 6:A 7:A 8:B 9:C 10:D