小学英语故事阅读：The Ugly Duckling[1]

the ugly duckling a mother duck wasbroodingon her eggs near the margin of a pond. a flock of lovely baby ducks was soon born, making sweet peeping sounds when the eggs were broken. but one egg remained unbroken. "it is strange. why has this egg not broken?" the mother duck continued her brooding. at last, the egg was broken and a baby duck was born. however that baby duck was very ugly compared to the other baby ducks. the mother duck was worried, but still she took the baby ducks near the water and taught them how to swim. the ugly duckling also swam with his brothers and sisters, moving his legs eagerly. "it is lucky though. that baby swims well." still his brothers pecked at the ugly duckling with their bills. "howhideous this baby duck is. we don't want to see you. go to a cat." his brothers gave a very hard time to the poor duckling. "stop it, don't do that!" the mother duck sighed and said, "ah! i wish that this baby could live happily at another place." the baby duck heard what his mother said and dropped tears of sorrow saying, "mom, i will leave. good-bye." the ugly duckling left his nest beyond the pond. when he entered the forest, other birds were frightened by the baby duck and ran away. "why do they run away? is it because i am so awful?" the baby duck became sadder and plodded along the field. near the water beside the field, two wild ducks were playing around. "yah, what is that ugly duck? let's make fun of him." the two wild ducks flew up in the air and threw stones at the baby duck. "bang! bang!" at that time, a hunter shot his gun. the two wild ducks fell down dead to the ground. "uh? what is this small bird?" the hunter took home the awkwardlittle baby duck along with the two wild ducks. "dad, what is this poor-looking bird?" "i took it with me in order to give it to you, my son. it was trembling with fear in the water." the children gave a hard time to the baby duck by pulling its wings and tail. "that hurts! ow!" the baby duck spilled a jug of m