有声英语儿童童话故事 海的女儿 第34章
Very soon it was said that the prince was to marry and that the beautiful daughter of a /'neɪbərɪŋ/ king would be his wife, for a fine ship was being fitted out. Although the prince gave out that he intended merely to pay a visit to the king, it was generally /səˈpəʊzd/ that he went to court the princess. A great company were to go with him. The little mermaid smiled and shook her head. She knew the prince’s thoughts better than any of the others.
“I must travel,” he had said to her; “I must see this beautiful princess. My parents desire it, but they will not oblige me to bring her home as my bride. I cannot love her, because she is not like the beautiful maiden in the temple, whom you resemble. If I were forced to choose a bride, I would choose you, my dumb foundling, with those expressive eyes.” Then he kissed her rosy mouth, played with her long, waving hair, and laid his head on her heart, while she dreamed of human happiness and an immortal soul.
“You are not afraid of the sea, my dumb /tʃaɪld/, are you?” he said, as they stood on the deck of the noble ship which was to carry them to the *nation of the /'neɪbərɪŋ/ king. Then he told her of storm and of calm, of strange fishes in the deep beneath them, and of what the divers had seen there. She smiled at his descriptions, for she knew better than any one what wonders were at the bottom of the sea.