井边的牧鹅女
There was once upon a time a very old woman， who lived with her flock of geese in a remote clearingclearing n.空旷地 in the mountains， and there had a little house. The clearing was surrounded by a large forest， and every morning the old woman took her crutchcrutch n.(跛子用的)拐杖， 支撑， 帮助 and hobbledhobble v.蹒跚 into it. There， however， she was quite active， more so than any one would have thought， considering her age， and collected grass for her geese， picked all the wild fruit she could reach， and carried everything home on her back. Anyone would have thought that the heavy load would have weighed her to the ground， but she always brought it safely home. If anyone met her， she greeted him quite courteouslycourteously adv.有礼貌地， 亲切地. “Good day， dear countryman， it is a fine day.”“Ah， you wonder that I should drag grass about， but everyone must take his burden on his back.” Nevertheless， people did not like to meet her if they could help it， and took by preference a roundabout way， and when a father with his boys passed her， he whispered to them， “Beware of the old woman. She has claws beneath her gloves. She is a witch.”
从前有个老婆婆，她和一群鹅住在大山之间的荒野里，那儿有她的一座小房子。荒野四周环绕着一片大森林里，每天早晨，老婆婆都拄着拐杖，晃晃悠悠地去森林，她在那儿不停地忙啊忙啊，真叫人无法相信她这么大年纪还能做那么多的事，她给她的鹅割草，采摘能摘到的野果，还把所有这些东西背回家去。别人一定认为这么重的东西一定会把她压倒在地，可她却总是安全地把它背回去。如果有谁碰见她，她都十分和蔼地打招呼：“你好，亲爱的乡亲，今天天气不错。哦，你觉得我应该拖着这么多草，可每个人都得背起他自己的负担啊。”不过人们不愿遇见她，宁可绕弯路，要是一位父亲带着儿子走过她身边，便会小声对儿子说：“小心这个老婆婆，她狡猾极了。她是个女巫。”
One morning， a handsome young man was going through the forest. The sun shone bright， the birds sang， a cool breeze crept through the leaves， and he was full of joy and gladness. He had as yet met no one， when he suddenly perceived the old witch kneeling on the ground cutting grass with a sicklesickle n.镰刀. She had already thrust a whole load into her bundlebundle n.捆， 束， 包， and near it stood two baskets， which were filled with wild apples and pears. “But， good little mother，”said he， “how can you carry all that away？”“I must carry it， dear sir，”answered she， “rich folks children have no need to do such things， but with the peasant folk the saying goes， dont look behind you， you will only see how crooked your back is.”
一天早晨，一个英俊的青年将要穿过森林。这时阳光明媚，鸟儿歌唱，凉风轻拂着树叶，青年满心喜悦和欢乐。就在他一个人都遇不到时，突然看见那个老巫婆，她正跪在地上用镰刀割草。她已经割好整整一捆草，旁边还放着两个装满野梨和野苹果的篮子。“嗨，老太太，”青年说，“你怎么搬得动这么多东西呀？”“亲爱的，我必须得搬，”她回答说，“有钱人家的孩子不用干这个。可是在农民中有句谚语叫做：别再东张西望，只管埋头干。”