为你读英语美文 · 第484期 
主播：潇雨，坐标：湖南 ·长沙


‘Far out in the ocean, where the water is as blue as the prettiest cornflower, and as clear as crystal, it is very, very deep; so deep, indeed, that no cable could fathom it: many church steeples, piled one upon another, would not reach from the ground beneath to the surface of the water above. There dwell the Sea King and his subjects.’


“在海的远处，水是那么蓝，像最美丽的矢车菊花瓣，同时又是那么清，像最明亮的玻璃。然而它是很深很深，深得任何锚链都达不到底。要想从海底一直达到水面，必须有许多许多教堂尖塔一个接着一个地联起来才成。海底的人就住在这下面。”


听众朋友你们好，欢迎收听为你读英语美文，好久不见，我是你们的老朋友-潇雨。有多少人和我一样熟悉这优美得如同诗歌一般的开头，这是丹麦著名作家安徒生为我们创造的海底童话世界。


这个童话有很多缩减版或者改编版，最简单残忍的莫过于小人鱼选择了灭亡，变成了海面上的一簇泡沫。因此，有人说《海的女儿》是一个悲伤的童话，孩子们听了，总是遗憾人鱼的爱没有圆满的结局，或者为失去生命的小人鱼感到痛惜。曾经我也如此。后来，随着年纪的增长，我很多次重读《海的女儿》，越来越感觉到，这不是一个爱而不得牺牲自我的故事。


小人鱼最爱听的故事便是人类世界的事。地面上的花儿能散发出香气，森林里的草地是绿色的，树枝间有没见过的鸟儿唱歌，还有来来往往的船只和热闹的城市。她在海底默默等待自己15岁的生日，因为到了15岁时，祖母就允许她浮到海面上去看一看。浮上海面的那一天，她遇到了王子的船，接下来的事你们都知道了。小人鱼开始向往人类的世界，她知道，人类只有死亡才能到达海底宫殿，不禁对人类的生命产生了好奇，于是她问自己的祖母：


“If human beings are not drowned, can they live forever? do they never die as we do here in the sea ?”


"如果人类不淹死的话，"小人鱼问，“他们会永远活下去么？他们会不会像我们住在海里的人们一样地死去呢？”


“Yes.” replied the old lady,“ they must also die, and their term of life is even shorter than ours. We sometimes live to three hundred years, but when we cease to exist here we only become the foam on the surface of the water, and we have not even a grave down here of those we love. We have not immortal souls, we shall never live again; but, like the green seaweed, when once it has been cut off, we can never flourish more. Human beings, on the contrary, have a soul which lives forever, lives after the body has been turned to dust. It rises up through the clear, pure air beyond the glittering stars. As we rise out of the water, and behold all the land of the earth, so do they rise to unknown and glorious regions which we shall never see.”


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