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在一座城市里，人们都在称赞快乐王子的雕像。一只燕子因为爱上了芦苇而没有在秋天跟随小伙伴飞往埃及。燕子和芦苇吵架后飞到了这座城市，落在雕像脚下休息。然而接连落下了三滴水珠，到底发生了什么？
The eyes of the Happy Prince were filled with tears, and tears were running down his golden cheeks. His face was so beautiful in the moonlight that the little Swallow was filled with pity.
"Who are you?" he said.
"I am the Happy Prince."
"Why are you weeping then?" asked the Swallow; "you have quite drenched（使湿透，使浸透） me."
"When I was alive and had a human heart," answered the statue, "I did not know what tears were, for I lived in the Palace of Sans- Souci（无忧宫）, where sorrow is not allowed to enter. In the daytime I played with my companions in the garden, and in the evening I led the dance in the Great Hall.
Round the garden ran a very lofty wall, but I never cared to ask what lay beyond it, everything about me was so beautiful. My courtiers（朝臣） called me the Happy Prince, and happy indeed I was, if pleasure be happiness. So I lived, and so I died.
And now that I am dead they have set me up here so high that I can see all the ugliness and all the misery of my city, and though my heart is made of lead（铅） yet I cannot chose but weep."
"What! Is he not solid gold?" said the Swallow to himself. He was too polite to make any personal remarks out loud.
"Far away," continued the statue in a low musical voice, "far away in a little street there is a poor house. One of the windows is open, and through it I can see a woman seated at a table. Her face is thin and worn, and she has coarse（粗糙的）, red hands, all pricked by the needle, for she is a seamstress.
She is embroidering passion- flowers on a satin（缎子） gown for the loveliest of the Queen's maids-of- honour to wear at the next Court-ball. In a bed in the corner of the room her little boy is lying ill. He has a fever, and is asking for oranges.
His mother has nothing to give him but river water, so he is crying. Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow, will you not bring her the ruby out of my sword-hilt（刀柄）? My feet are fastened to this pedestal（底座） and I cannot move."
"I am waited for in Egypt," said the Swallow. "My friends are flying up and down the Nile（尼罗河）, and talking to the large lotus- flowers（荷花）.
Soon they will go to sleep in the tomb of the great King. The King is there himself in his painted coffin. He is wrapped in yellow linen（亚麻布）, and embalmed with spices. Round his neck is a chain of pale green jade, and his hands are like withered（枯萎的） leaves."
"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "will you not stay with me for one night, and be my messenger? The boy is so thirsty, and the mother so sad."
"I don't think I like boys," answered the Swallow. "Last summer, when I was staying on the river, there were two rude boys, the miller's sons, who were always throwing stones at me.
They never hit me, of course; we swallows fly far too well for that, and besides, I come of a family famous for its agility（敏捷）; but still, it was a mark of disrespect."
But the Happy Prince looked so sad that the little Swallow was sorry. "It is very cold here," he said; "but I will stay with you for one night, and be your messenger."
"Thank you, little Swallow," said the Prince.
So the Swallow picked out the great ruby from the Prince's sword, and flew away with it in his beak over the roofs of the town.
He passed by the cathedral（大教堂） tower, where the white marble angels were sculptured. He passed by the palace and heard the sound of dancing.
A beautiful girl came out on the balcony with her lover. "How wonderful the stars are," he said to her, "and how wonderful is the power of love!"
"I hope my dress will be ready in time for the State-ball," she answered; "I have ordered passion-flowers（西番莲） to be embroidered on it; but the seamstresses are so lazy."
He passed over the river, and saw the lanterns hanging to the masts（桅杆） of the ships. He passed over the Ghetto（犹太居民区）, and saw the merchants bargaining with each other, and weighing out money in copper（铜） scales.
At last he came to the poor house and looked in. The boy was tossing feverishly on his bed, and the mother had fallen asleep, she was so tired. In he hopped, and laid the great ruby on the table beside the woman's thimble（缝纫用的顶针）.
Then he flew gently round the bed, fanning the boy's forehead with his wings. "How cool I feel," said the boy, "I must be getting better"; and he sank into a delicious slumber（熟睡）.
The Swallow flew back to the Happy Prince, and told him what he had done. "It is curious," he remarked, "but I feel quite warm now, although it is so cold."
"That is because you have done a good action," said the Prince. And the little Swallow began to think, and then he fell asleep. Thinking always made him sleepy.
（866 words）
-今日短语-
1. bargain with 讨价还价
2. sink into陷入
3. fall asleep 入睡
4. be allowed to do允许做……
5. be wrapped in被……包裹着
6. lie beyond超过；在…之外有
7. cannot choose but do 只好；不得不
8. pick out啄出，摘出
9. too…to… 太…而不能…
10. be wrapped in 被……包裹着
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