中级 王尔德的故事

THE YOUNG KING

Part One: The Old King's Secret

There was once an old King.

He had no son to be King when he died.

His people were very worried.

"Who will be the next King?" they asked.

But before the King died he revealed a secret: his only daughter, the Princess, had a child.

In secret,she married an ordinary man and they had a son.

Some people said her husband was an artist and some people said he was a musician.

But his identity was a mystery and nobody knew about their secret son.

When the baby was a week old some men took him while his mother was sleeping.

The Princess died immediately.

Some people said for sadness.

Other people said someone gave her poison in a cup of wine.

The men left the baby with a very poor family.

This poor family lived in the forest and the boy became a shepherd.

He looked after goats all day.

The old King made an important decision:

"The boy must be the new King when I die," he said.

He sent his servants into the forest.

"Find the boy and bring him here."

The servants found the boy and brought him to the palace.

When the boy arrived he was very happy.

He immediately fell in love with all the beautiful things around him.

He took off his old leather tunic and put on his fine new clothes.

Then he began to explore the castle. He ran from room to room admiring all the beautiful statues, paintings and jewels in the palace.

The people of the city talked about him:

"The young King spends all his time admiring statues," they said.

"Beauty and art are the most important things for him."

In fact the young King was so fascinated with beautiful objects that he wanted more of them.

He sent merchants to India to buy ivory and jade.

He sent men to Persia for silk carpets, and others to find amber in the north.

He sent servants to look for green turquoise in the magic tombs of the Egyptian kings.

The young King thought about all these things but most of all he thought about his coronation robe.

He was sixteen and it was his coronation day the next day.

He was very happy because he had a beautiful coronation robe of gold, a crown of rubies and a scepter of pearls.

He ordered men to work night and day to prepare his coronation robes.

"Search the whole world for the biggest rubies for my crown and the most beautiful pearl for my scepter," he said.

The young King was in his beautiful bedroom and he was thinking about his coronation robes.

It was night time and he looked around him.

The room was full of silver and gold and beautiful colors.

Through the window he could smell the perfume of jasmine,

he could hear a nightingale singing and he could see the moon shining.

Servants arrived and put flower petals on his pillow.

He was  very happy.

Tomorrow was his coronation day.

He played beautiful music on his lute and at midnight  he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

That night the young King had a dream.

化身博士 完结篇

Part Eight: The Sad Conclusion 

Mr Jekyll's letter continued:

I was Edward Hyde, and the police in London were looking everywhere for me! London was dangerous for Edward Hyde the murderer. I needed the powders from the laboratory. But how to get them? I did not trust the servants.

Then I had an idea. I remembered Dr Lanyon. He could go to the laboratory for me! I went to a hotel, and I wrote a letter to Dr Lanyon. I asked him to go to the laboratory, and to bring the powders to his house.

The doctor did what I asked.

As soon as I took the powders in the doctor's house, I was Dr Jekyll once more. When Dr Lanyon saw what happened when I took the powders, he was shocked. My old friend was frightened of me.

I went back to the laboratory. Now a terrible time began for me. Hyde was strong now, and he often came back. If I slept, I woke up to discover that I was Hyde. At the same time Dr Jekyll became ill and weak.

Sometimes the powders did not work.

Hyde and I lived together in the laboratory. We hated each other, and we feared each other. I feared him because he was evil. He feared me because I wanted to be good. Hyde wanted to live, and he was afraid of the police. I wanted to die, and Hyde was afraid that I would kill myself. He needed my body to live.

Then I used the last of the powders. I sent Poole to the chemist to buy more. The new powders did not work. I sent him to another chemist, but they still did not work. Again and again I sent Poole to look for the powders, but the result was always the same. Perhaps the original powders contained an impurity —and it was the impurity that made them work.

I know the end is close. I will soon become Edward Hyde again.

Without the powders, I will be Edward Hyde forever. He will sit here in my laboratory, and he will be afraid of the police. He, too, knows that the end is close. If the police find him, he will die in prison. Or will he find the courage to kill himself? I, Henry Jekyll, do not know. It is not important to me. These are the last moments of the life of your old friend.

Now I will put down my pen and put an end to the unhappy life of Henry Jekyll.