從前,有一位國王非常喜歡穿新衣服,他把所有的錢都花在新衣服上。事實上,他每天每個小時都穿不同的外衣!
There once lived an emperor who was so excessively fond of grand new clothes that he spent all of his money on them. In fact, he had a different coat for every hour of the day.
從前,有一位國王非常喜歡穿新衣服,他把所有的錢都花在新衣服上。事實上,他每天每個小時都穿不同的外衣!
One day, two swindlers came to the emperor’s city. They said that they were weavers and knew how to make the finest cloth imaginable. Not only were the colors and the patterns extraordinarily beautiful, but the material was special in that it was invisible to whoever was incompetent or incorrigibly stupid.
有一天,兩個騙子來到國王的城市。他們說自己是織布工人,又說任何你想得到的好衣服,他們都做得出來。不但顏色和圖案非常漂亮,而且這種布料有驚人的特色,沒有能力的人或是無可救藥的笨蛋是看不到的。
“If I wore those, I would be able to find out which men in my empire are not fit for the positions they have. I could tell the clever from the stupid,” thought the emperor. He immediately gave the two swindlers a lot of money to weave the cloth for him.
國王心想:「這種衣服真是太棒了!如果我穿了這些衣服,我應該就能看出,在我的國家裡誰不適合他們的職位。我就可以分辨得出聰明人和笨蛋。」於是,他立即給了兩個騙子很多錢幫他織布。
They set up their looms, pretending to go to work, but in fact there was nothing at all on the looms. They demanded the finest silk and the purest gold, all of which they hid away, going on to work on the empty looms, often late into the night.
他們成立了自己的織布坊,假裝在工作,但實際上那裡什麼都沒有。他們要求最好的絲綢和最純的黃金,他們把所有的東西都藏起來,他們常常對著空的織布機工作到深夜。
繼續閱讀 國王的新衣 The Emperor’s New Clothes(下)
emperor (n.) 國王
An emperor is a man who rules an empire.
國王是統治帝國的人。
excessively (adv.) 非常地,極度地
The price of houses downtown is excessively high.
市中心的房價非常高。
swindler (n.) 詐騙犯
Swindlers have cheated them out of one million dollars.
詐騙犯騙了他們一百萬元。
imaginable (adj.) 可想像的
They tried every imaginable solution.
他們嘗試各種想像得到的解決方案。
extraordinarily (adv.) 非常
He is an extraordinarily intelligent person.
他是個非常聰明的人。
invisible (adj.) 看不見的
Sound waves are invisible.
聲波是看不見的。
incompetent (adj.) 不勝任的無能力者
He is too incompetent to be trusted.
他因為不勝任而不被信任。
incorrigibly (adv.) 無法矯正地
He is incorrigibly obstinate.
他非常固執,難以糾正。
loom (n.) 織布機
The old woman was weaving on her loom.
老婦人在織布機上織布。
pretend (v.) 假裝
She pretended to make a phone call.
她假裝在打電話。
親子共讀英文說故事,正是把豐富多彩的英文帶到家,透過適當的繪本、故事書,孩子可以接觸到大量的、豐富的、可以傳遞資訊的英文。當今全球雙語浪潮,鼓勵培養孩子與世界溝通的能力,擺脫傳統學習模式,強調以科技智慧輔助,營造全英文的學習環境,進而提升學習效果。全球擁有超過 30,000 名雙認證外師的 tutorJr,以輕鬆快樂的方式,增進口說對話能力,上課時間可彈性安排,節省家長的寶貴時間,每天只要 25 分鐘,沉浸在母語式的環境當中,自然而然提升學習興趣與個人信心。