【超值魔法锦囊包】童话故事“老鼠亚瑟”

这是一篇非常好玩的寓言故事，说的是一只犹豫不决的老鼠亚瑟的倒霉经历。这篇文章的练习重点在于大段落的语音语调和节奏变化。

练习方法：

1. 仔细看一遍文章，根据自己的习惯先念一遍。

2. 听我的录音，找出和自己的不同，特别关注语音语调和节奏变化。

3. 再次根据我的版本来尝试重塑自己的语音面貌。

（特别提示：我用的是标准英式发音）

Arthur The Rat

There was once a young rat named Arthur, who can never take the trouble to make up his mind. Whenever his friends asked him if he would like to go out with them, he would only answer, ‘I don’t know.’ He wouldn’t say ‘yes’ and he wouldn’t say ‘no’ either. He could never learn to make a choice.

His aunt Helen said to him, ‘ No one will ever care for you if you carry on like this. You have no more mind than a blade of grass.’ Arthur looked wise, but stupidly said nothing.

One rainy day, the rats heard a great noise in the loft where they lived. The pine rafters were all rotten, and at last one of the joists had given way and fallen to the ground. The walls shook and all the rats’ hair stood on end with fear and horror. ‘This won’t do,’ said the old rat who was chief, ‘I’ll send out scouts to search for a new home.’

Three hours later the seven tired scouts came back and said, ‘We have found a stone house, which is just what we wanted; there is room and good food for us all. There is a kindly horse named Nelly, a cow, a calf, and a garden with flowers and an elm tree.’ Just then the old rat caught sight of young Arthur. ‘Are you coming with us?’ he asked. ‘ I don’t know,’ Arthur sighed. ‘ The roof may not come down just yet.’ ‘Well,’ said the old rat angrily, ‘we can’t wait all day for you to make up your mind. Right about face! March!’ And then they went straight off. 

Arthur stood and watched the other little rats hurry away. The idea of an immediate decision was too much for him. ‘I’m going back to my hole for a bit,’ he said to himself dreamily, ‘ just to make up my mind.’ That Tuesday night there was a great crash that shook the earth and down came the whole roof. Next day some men rode up and looked at the ruins. One of them moved a board and hidden under it they saw a young rat lying on his side, quite dead, half in and half out of his hole. 

译文：

从前有一直老鼠叫亚瑟。他万事总是模棱两可下不了决定。每当他朋友找他出去，他总是说“我不知道啊”。他不说“是”也不说“不”，他就是有选择困难综合症。

他阿姨海伦对他说：“你再这样下去没有人会在乎你的。你真的连一根草都不如啊。” 亚瑟傻傻地什么都没说。

一个下雨天，老鼠们听到他们住的阁楼里传来了一声巨响。松橼都已经腐烂了。其中的一根梁托移了位，最终砸落到了地上。巨响让墙面都颤动了。老鼠们吓得寒毛倒立。“这不是个办法。”，老老鼠说道：“我要派侦查员外出找寻一个新家。“ 

三小时后，疲惫不堪的七个侦查员都回来了。他们汇报说：”我们找到了一个石头屋子。就是我们要的那种。里面空间很大，而且还有够我们吃的食物。那里有一匹友好的马叫Nelly，另外还有一头奶牛、一头小牛以及一个长满鲜花和一棵榆树的花园。“ 说道这里，老老鼠看到了亚瑟，便问：”你和我们一起去吗？” “我不知道啊”，亚瑟回答：“说不定这个屋顶暂时还不会掉下来呢。”“好！“ 老老鼠生气地说：”我们可不会浪费一整天来等你下决定。向后转！踏步走！“ 于是，他们都径直大踏步的离开了。

亚瑟站在原地，看着其他的老鼠们匆匆离开。要让他当机立断的下一个决定实在是太难了。“我还是先回洞里待一会，考虑一下吧。” 亚瑟喃喃自语的说。那个星期二的晚上，伴随着震撼大地的轰鸣声，整个房顶都垮塌了下来。第二天，有些人跑来检查废墟。有个人翻开了一块木板，发现了这只年轻的小老鼠侧趴着，奄奄一息，身子的一半在洞里，还有一半刚刚爬出洞口。

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