整个宫廷的人出席了，厨房里的那个小女佣人也得到许可站在门后侍候——因为她现在得到了一个真正“厨仆”的称号。大家都穿上了最好的衣服。所有人都把目光集中在这只灰色小鸟身上，皇帝在对它点头。于是这夜莺唱了——唱得那么美妙，连皇帝都流出眼泪来，一直流到脸上。当夜莺唱得更美妙的时候，它的歌声就触动了每个人的心弦。皇帝显得那么高兴，他甚至还下了一道命令，叫把他的金拖鞋挂在这只鸟儿的脖颈上。不过夜莺谢绝了，说它所得到的报酬已经够多了。
“I have seen tears in an emperors eyes，”she said，“that is my richest reward.An emperors tears have wonderful power，and are quite sufficient honor for me.”and then she sang again more enchantingly than ever.
“我看到了皇上眼里的泪珠——这对于我来说是最宝贵的东西。皇上的眼泪有一种特别的力量。这于我是最大的荣誉！”于是它用更加甜蜜幸福的声音又唱了一次。
“That singing is a lovely gift.”said the ladies of the court to each other，and then they took water in their mouths to make them utter the gurgling sounds of the nightingale when they spoke to any one，so thay they might fancy themselves nightingales.And the footmen and chambermaids(chambermaid n.女仆，清理房间的女服务员)also expressed their satisfaction，which is saying a great deal，for they are very difficult to please.In fact the nightingales visit was most successful.
“这样的歌唱是最动人的礼物！”在场的一些宫女们说。当有人跟她们讲话的时候，她们自己就故意把水倒到嘴里，弄出咯咯的响声来：她们可以幻想她们也是夜莺。小厮和丫环们也发表意见，说他们也很满意——这种评语是很不简单的，因为他们是最不容易得到满足的一些人物。一句话：夜莺取得了极大的成功。
She was now to remain at court，to have her own cage，with liberty to go out twice a day，and once during the night.Twelve servants were appointed to attend her on these occasions，who each held her by a silken string fastened to her leg.There was certainly not much pleasure in this kind of flying.
夜莺现在要在宫里住下来，要有它自己的笼子了——它现在只有白天出去两次和夜间出去一次散步的自由。每次总有十二个仆人跟着。他们紧紧地牵着系在它腿上的一根丝线。像这样的出游并不是一件轻松愉快的事情。
The whole city spoke of the wonderful bird，and when two people met，one said“nightin”，and the other said“gale”，and they understood what was meant，for nothing else was talked of.Eleven peddlerspeddler n.小贩，传播者children were named after her，but not of them could sing a note.
整个京城里的人都在谈论着这只奇异的鸟儿，当两个人遇见的时候，只要一个说：“夜”，另一个就接着说“莺”，于是他们就不再说什么，彼此心照不宣。有十一个做小贩的孩子都起了“夜莺”这个名字，不过他们谁也唱不出一个调子来。
One day the emperor received a large packet on which was written“The Nightingale”.“Here is no doubt a new book about our celebrated bird，”said the emperor.But instead of a book，it was a work of art contained in a casket，an artificial nightingale made to look like a living one，and covered all over with diamonds，rubies，and sapphires(sapphire n.兰宝石).As soon as the artificial(artificial adj.人造的，假的，非原产地的)bird was wound up，it could sing like the real one，and could move its tail up and down，which sparkled with silver and gold.Round its neck hung a piece of ribbon，on which was written“The Emperor of Chinas nightingale is poor compared with that of the Emperor of Japans.”
有一天皇帝收到了一个写着“夜莺”两上字的大包裹，“这又是一本关于我们这只名鸟的书！”皇帝说。不过这并不是一本书，而是一件装在盒子里的工艺品———只人造的夜莺。它跟天生的夜莺一模一样，不过它全身装满了钻石、红玉和青玉。这只人造的鸟儿，只要上好它的发条，就能唱出一曲那只真夜莺所唱的歌；它的尾巴上上下下地动着，射出金色和银色的光来。它的脖颈上挂有一根小丝带，上面写道：“日本国皇帝的夜莺，跟中国皇帝的夜莺比起来，自然稍逊一筹。”
“This is very beautiful，”exclaimed all who saw it，and he who had brought the artificial bird received the title of“Imperial nightingalebringerinchief.”
“它真是美极了！”所有人都说。送来这只人造夜莺的那人马上就获得了一个称号：“皇家首席夜莺使者”。
“Now they must sing together，”said the court，“and what a duet it will be.”But they did not get on well，for the real nightingale sang in its own natural way，but the artificial bird sang only waltzes.
“现在让它们在一起唱吧，那将是最动听的双重奏！”不过这个办法却行不通，因为那只真正的夜莺只是按照自己的方式随意唱，而这只人造的鸟儿只能唱“华尔兹舞曲”那个老调。
“That is not a fault，”said the musicmaster，“it is quite perfect to my taste，”so then it had to sing alone，and was as successful as the real bird，besides，it was so much prettier to look at，for it sparkled like braceletsbracelet n.手镯and breastpins.Three and thirty times did it sing the same tunes without being tired，the people would gladly have heard it again，but the emperor said the living nightingale ought to sing something.But where was she？No one had noticed her when she flew out at the open window，back to her own green woods.
“没错”，乐师说，“它非常符合我的胃口。”现在这只人造的鸟儿只好单独唱了。它和那只真正的夜莺一样出色；此外，它的外表更加漂亮——它闪耀得如同金手钏和金领扣。它把同样的调子唱了三十三次，而且还不觉得疲倦。大家都愿意继续听下去，不过皇帝说那只活的夜莺也应该唱点儿什么东西才好——可是它到什么地方去了呢？谁也没有注意到它已经飞出了窗子，回到它的青翠的树林里面去了。
“What strange conduct.”said the emperor，when her flight had been discovered，and all the courtiers blamed her，and said she was a very ungratefulungrateful adj.不领情的creature.
“这是什么意思呢？”皇帝说，当它的出走被人发现时，所有的朝臣们都咒骂它，说它是一个忘恩负义的东西。
“But we have the best bird after all.”said one，and then they would have the bird sing again，although it was the thirtyfourth time they had listened to the same piece，and even then they had not learnt it，for it was rather difficult.But the musicmaster praised the bird in the highest degree，and even asserted that it was better than a real nightingale，not only in its dress and the beautiful diamonds，but also in its musical power.“For you must perceive，my chief lord and emperor，that with a real nightingale we can never tell what is going to be sung，but with this bird everything is settled.It can be opened and explained，so that people may understand how the waltzes are formed，and why one note follows upon another.”
“毕竟我们是有了一只最好的鸟了。”有人说。因此那只人造的鸟儿又得唱起来了。尽管这是他们听过的同样的曲调的第三十四次。然而，他们还是记不住它，因为这是一个很难的曲调。乐师把这只鸟儿大大地称赞了一番。认为它比那只真的夜莺要好得多！不仅就它的羽毛和许多钻石来说，即使就它的内部来说，也是如此。“淑女和绅士们，特别是皇上陛下，你们各位要知道，你们永远也猜不到一只真的夜莺会唱出什么歌来；然而在这只人造夜莺的身体里，一切早就安排好了，要它唱什么曲调，它就唱什么曲调！你可以把它拆开，可以看出它的内部活动：它的“华尔兹舞曲”是从什么地方起，到什么地方止，会有什么别的曲调接上来。”