Information About The Ugly Duckling

Author: Hans Christian Andersen

“The Ugly Duckling” is a story about the troubles and sufferings of a young swan that got hatched from an egg in a duck’s nest. He was marked as different and there all of his troubles started. He was humiliated in many ways and abused which ended up with him not trusting himself. He thought that he was worthless and he left the ducks.

《丑小鸭》讲述的是一只年轻的天鹅在鸭窝里从蛋里孵出的烦恼和痛苦。他被打上了与众不同的标签，所有的麻烦都源于此。他在许多方面受到羞辱和虐待，结果他不信任自己。他认为自己一文不值，就离开了鸭子。

There is an obvious link between the people relations and this story. People don’t often look at others inner virtues because they base their opinion on somebody’s looks. Everything that is different is wrong and it is hard to function in a world where nobody understands those who are different in some way.

人们之间的关系和这个故事有着明显的联系。人们不常看别人的内在美德，因为他们的观点是以别人的外表为基础的。所有不同的东西都是错误的，在一个没有人理解那些在某种程度上不同的人的世界里，很难发挥作用。

Anderson showed the rejection (拒绝) from others in different ways. Here he shows it off through the behavior of the ducks towards the swan.

安德森以不同的方式展示了别人的拒绝。在这里，他通过鸭子对天鹅的行为来展示它。

The plot is set near a house surrounded by meadow and lakes. There is a small house with a grandma, chickens and a cat living in it and there we get introduced into the duckling’s childhood. All of it last roughly a year. The story contains some autobiographical elements.

该情节设定在一所房子附近，周围环绕着草地和湖泊。有一个小房子，里面住着一位奶奶、几只鸡和一只猫。在那里，我们被介绍到了小鸭的童年时代。所有这些都将持续大约一年的时间。这个故事包含了一些自传体的元素。

Genre (/'ʒɑnrə/体裁；流派): fairytale

Time: once upon a time

Place: old ladies house, lake

Book Summary

Finally, the beautiful summer has arrived and the reader can see the woods and the lakes inside the woods. On a sunny meadow, we have a house that can remind us of a fortress. Between the water and the walls is some burdock and in between the burdock is a duck’s nest.

终于，美丽的夏天来了，读者可以看到树林里的树林和湖泊。在一片阳光明媚的草地上，我们有一座房子，它能让我们想起一座堡垒。在水和墙之间是一些牛蒡，在牛蒡之间是一个鸭窝。

The goose hid her nest from curious people and she sat and sat on her eggs. It was a long and boring job but it was worth it when she heard her ducks coming out of their eggs. At the beginning, they thought that it was a huge world but soon the mother goose explained to them that the view in front of them wasn’t the whole world.

母鹅把巢藏起来，不让好奇的人看到，她坐在蛋上，一坐再坐。这是一项漫长而枯燥的工作，但当她听到她的鸭子破壳而出时，这是值得的。起初，他们以为这是一个巨大的世界，但很快鹅妈妈向他们解释说，他们面前的景色并不是整个世界。

All of the ducks hatched but one egg stayed still and it was the biggest one. At that moment, an old goose appeared and told the mother goose that the biggest egg was a turkey egg and that she should leave it because little turkeys only cause trouble. Mothers are well known for they love and dedication so she decided to wait for the last egg to open up.

所有的鸭子都孵出来了，只有一只蛋一动不动，这是最大的一只。这时，一只老鹅出现了，它告诉鹅妈妈，最大的蛋是火鸡蛋，她应该把它留下，因为小火鸡只会惹麻烦。妈妈们以她们的爱和奉献精神而闻名，所以她决定等到最后一个蛋打开的时候。

Mother goose was surprised that the duck in the egg was young but very ugly. Despite that, the duck entered the water and started swimming. That made mother goose happy because she knew that turkeys couldn’t swim. Mother goose took her ducklings to the older goose because they had to bow down to her to get their highest honor which is a red patch tied around the leg. It was a sign that the ducks did not want to lose their new member and it made them stand out (突出；站出来) between the animals and the plants.

鹅妈妈很惊讶，蛋里的鸭子很年轻，但是很丑。尽管如此，鸭子还是下水开始游泳。鹅妈妈很高兴，因为她知道火鸡不会游泳。鹅妈妈带着她的小鸭子们去找老鹅，因为它们必须向她鞠躬，以获得它们的最高荣誉——腿上系着一块红色的补丁。这是一个迹象，鸭子不想失去他们的新成员，这使他们站在动物和植物之间。

While the little ducklings were approaching (接近) the old goose many of them started to complain about the ugly duckling. One duck even bit him but the mother goose protected him. Soon other started to pick on him and not only the ducks but also the chickens and the turkeys. The duckling did not have it easy and as the days passed by it got harder. They even started calling him a freak (/friːk/怪人).

当小鸭子们走近老鹅时，他们中的许多人开始抱怨丑小鸭。一只鸭子甚至咬了它，但是母鹅保护着它。不久，其他人开始欺负他，不仅是鸭子，还有鸡和火鸡。小鸭过得并不容易，日子一天天过去，他的日子过得越来越艰难。他们甚至开始叫他怪胎。

The ugly duckling finally stepped up and decided to run away from the humiliation (丢脸，耻辱；蒙羞；谦卑) and the sufferings (受难；苦难的经历). Soon he realized (意识到) that loneliness (寂寞、孤独) wasn’t easy either. He got hungry, thirsty and soon he confronted (面对) some hunters and their dogs. He spent (spend 度过，消磨时光；花费) some time at an old ladies house but they were also expecting for the duck eggs to hatch so he was called unnecessary (不必要的，多余的) there. That made him run away again.

丑小鸭终于站了起来，决定逃离羞辱和痛苦。不久，他意识到孤独也不容易。他又饿又渴，很快就遇到了一些猎人和他们的狗。他在一家老人院住了一段时间，但他们也在等着鸭蛋孵出来，所以他在那里被认为是多余的。这使他又逃跑了。

A year passed by (逝去，经过) and the duckling turned into (变成) a wonderful swan. He was the most beautiful between the swans. He finally experienced (体验，经历) happiness after all those troubles.

一年过去了，小鸭变成了一只美丽的天鹅。他是天鹅中最漂亮的。在经历了所有这些烦恼之后，他终于体验到了幸福。

Characters (角色): ugly duckling, little ducks, mother goose, cat, chickens, other ducks, swans

Characters Analysis

The Ugly Duckling – he is the main character. He was born ugly and everybody was scared of him. He felt lonely because he had no friends and he felt scared, rejected, unloved and misunderstood. When he saw the swans he was amazed by their beauty but he did not envy them. He just wanted to be around somebody who understood him and when he turned into a swan he did not become a stuck up. He just became happy.

他是主角。他生下来就丑，大家都怕他。他感到孤独，因为他没有朋友，他感到害怕，被拒绝，不被爱和误解。当他看到天鹅的时候，他被它们的美丽惊呆了，但是他并不嫉妒它们。他只是想和一个理解他的人在一起，当他变成一只天鹅的时候，他并没有变得傲慢自大。他高兴极了。

Mother Goose – she loved the ugly duckling no matter what. She was caring and loving towards him and always defended him.

无论如何，她爱这只丑小鸭。她对他关怀备至，总是为他辩护。

Duck – she was a stuck up and wanted to get rid of the duckling because he was big and ugly.

她很高傲，想把这只小鸭赶走，因为他又大又丑。

Hans Christian Andersen Biography

Biography (/baɪ'ɑɡrəfi/传记；档案；个人简介)

Hans Christian Andersen was born April 2nd, 1805 in Odense. He was born into a poor family. His father was a shoemaker and his mother did not have a job. Even though they did not have much Hans was happy for growing up next to a father who recognized his love for adventures and stories. Since he was a boy his father told him many stories and helped him build a puppet theater.

汉斯·克里斯蒂安·安徒生于1805年4月2日出生在欧登塞。他出生在一个贫穷的家庭。他的父亲是个鞋匠，母亲没有工作。尽管他们的家境并不富裕，但汉斯很高兴能在父亲的陪伴下长大，他的父亲认识到他对冒险和故事的热爱。当他还是个孩子的时候，他的父亲给他讲了很多故事，帮助他建造了一个木偶剧院。

His life got hard when his father died. His mother had to clean other people’s laundry in order to provide food, shelter and clothes for herself and her son. Even though she wanted to send him to a school to study something he wanted to go into a big city and make something out of himself.

他父亲去世后，他的生活变得很艰难。为了给自己和儿子提供食物、住所和衣服，他的母亲不得不给别人洗衣服。尽管她想送他去学校学习一些东西，但他想去大城市，让自己有所成就。

He had only 14 years when he came to Copenhagen. He lived in an attic and worked a lot to make it. He even danced for a short time. When he was 17 he decided to go to school so he sat in school with 12-years old. He even went to a university.

他来到哥本哈根时只有14年。他住在阁楼上，做了很多工作。他甚至跳了一会儿舞。17岁时，他决定去上学，所以他和12岁的孩子一起坐在学校里。他甚至上过大学。

He wrote and studied at the same time. He wrote many fairy tales and “The ugly Duckling” is considered to contain elements of his life. Some of his other famous fairy tales are: “The little Mermaid”, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, “The Snow Queen”…

他一边写作一边学习。他写了许多童话，《丑小鸭》被认为是他生活的一部分。他的其他一些著名的童话是:“小美人鱼”，“皇帝的新衣服”，“白雪皇后”……

He died in Copenhagen August 4th, 1875.

他于1875年8月4日在哥本哈根去世。