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安徒生童話故事第88篇：賽跑者The Races
引導語：安徒生出生于丹麥一個鞋匠家庭，年輕時當過學徒，學過裁縫，也曾在濟貧學校上過學，1828年進哥本哈根大學學習。下面是小編收集他的安徒生童話故事《賽跑者》，有中英文版本，歡迎大家閱讀!
有人貢獻出一個獎品——也可以說是兩個獎品吧：一大一小——來獎勵速度最快的賽跑者。但這不是指在一次競賽中所達到的最快的速度，而是在全年的賽跑中所達到的速度。
“我得到了頭獎!”野兔說。“有人在評獎委員會中有親戚和朋友，所以我們必須主持公道。蝸牛居然得到了二等獎!我不禁要認為這是對我的一種侮辱。”
“不對!”親眼看到過發獎的籬笆樁說，“熱忱和毅力也必須考慮進去。許多有地位的人都這樣說過，我也懂得這話的意義。蝸牛的確要花半年的時間才能走過門口。而且因為他要趕時間，還把大腿骨折斷了。他是全心全意地賽跑!而且背上還要背著自己的屋子!這都是值得獎勵的!因此他得到了二等獎!”
“你們也應該把我考慮進去呀!”燕子說。“我相信，在飛翔方面，誰也沒有我快。我什么地方都去過：我飛得才遠呢，遠呢，遠呢!”
“對，這正是你的不幸!”籬笆樁說。“你太喜歡流浪了。天氣一冷，你就老不在家，跑到外國去了。你一點兒愛國心也沒有。你沒有被考慮的資格!”
“不過整個冬天我是住在沼澤地里呀!”燕子說。“假如我把這段時間都睡過去，我值不值得考慮呢?”
“如果你能從沼澤女人①那兒得到一張證明書，證明你有一半的時間是睡在你的祖國，那么人們就會考慮你的!”
“我應該得到頭獎，而不是二等獎!”蝸牛說。“我知道得很清楚，野兔是因為懦弱才拼命跑。他老是以為他停下來就要碰到危險。相反，我把賽跑作為一種任務，而且在完成這個任務時還掛了彩!如果說有人應該得到頭獎，這個人就是我!不過我不愿意小題大做——我討厭這種做法!”
于是他就吐了一口粘液。
“我可以向你們正式保證，每個獎品都是經過慎重考慮的——至少我投的票是經過慎重考慮的!”作為樹林的界標的那根木樁說;他也是評獎委員會中的一員。“我總是依照次序、經過深思熟慮以后才決定問題的。從前有七次我榮幸地參加過給獎工作，但是今天我才能有機會貫徹我的主張。我每次給獎的時候，總是從一個固定的原則出發。決定第一獎的時候，我總是從頭一個字母朝下順數;決定第二獎的時候，我總是從最后一個字母朝上倒數。如果你注意一下，你就可以看出：從A朝下順數的第八個字母是H。到這兒我們就得到‘野兔’②這個字，因此我就投票贊成把頭獎送給野兔。從最后一個字母向上倒數的第八個字母——我故意漏掉它，因為這個字母的聲調不好聽，而不好聽的字在我看來是不算數的——是S③。因此我投票贊成蝸牛得二等獎。下一次得輪到I得頭獎，R得二等獎!無論什么事情都應該有一個次序;任何人都應該有一個出發點!”
“假如我不是一個評獎人，我一定會投我自己的票，”騾子說;他也是評獎委員之一。“人們不僅應該考慮跑的速度，同時還應該考慮其他的條件。比方說吧：一個人能背多重的擔子。不過這次我不愿著重地把這一點提出來，也不愿意討論野兔在賽跑時所表現的機智，或者他為了迷惑行人的視線而向側路一跳，使人找不出他藏在什么地方的那種狡猾。不，還有別的東西值得人注意，一點也不能忽略，那就是大家所謂的‘美’。我這個人特別喜歡在‘美’這一點上著眼。我喜歡看野兔那一對美麗而豐滿的耳朵。它們該是多么長啊：看看它們真是一樁快事!我好像看到了我自己的兒時一樣。因此我投他的票!”
“噓!”蒼蠅說，“我不愿意發表演說，我只想講一件事情!我可以肯定他說，我不止一次跑在野兔的前面。前不久我還壓斷了一只野兔的后腿呢。那時我是坐在一列火車前面的車頭上——我常常做這樣的事情，因為一個人只有這樣才能看清自己的速度。一只小野兔在前面跑了很久;他一點也沒有想到我就坐在火車頭上。最后他不得不讓開，但是他的后腿卻被火車頭軋斷了。這是因為我在上面呀。野兔倒下來，但是我繼續向前跑。這可算是打垮了他吧!但是我并不需要頭獎!”
“我覺得——”野玫瑰想，但是她卻不說出口來，因為她天生不喜歡多發表意見，雖然即使她發表了也沒有什么關系，“我覺得太陽光應該得到頭等光榮獎和二等獎。他在轉瞬之間就走完一條無法計算的路程;他直接從太陽走向我們，而且到來的時候力量非常大，使整個大自然都醒過來。他具有一種美，我們所有的玫瑰一見到他就紅起來，散發出香氣!我們可尊敬的評獎先生們似乎一點也沒有注意到這件事情!假如我是太陽光，我就要使他們害日射病④。不過這會把他們的頭腦弄糊涂，然而他們可能本來就是糊涂的。我還是不發表意見吧!”野玫瑰想。“但愿樹林里永遠是和平的!開花、散發出香氣、休息、在歌聲和故事聲中生活——這是很美麗的。太陽光的壽命，比我們所有的人都長!”
“頭獎究竟是什么呢?”蚯蚓問。他睡過了時間，到現在才來。
“是免費進入菜園!”騾子說。“這個獎是我建議的。野兔應該得到它。我作為一個有頭腦和活躍的評獎委員，特別考慮到得獎人的福利：現在野兔可以不愁衣食了。蝸牛可以坐在石圍墻上舔青苔和曬太陽光，同時可以得到一個賽跑頭等評判員的職位，因為在人們所謂的委員會中有一個專家總是好的。我可以說，我對于未來的期望很大，我們已經有了一個良好的開端!”
①據丹麥傳說，沼澤地里住著一個巫婆，她一直在熬酒，所以沼澤地里彌漫著霧氣。
②原文是Hare(野兔)。
③原文是sneglen(蝸牛)。
④原文是Solstik，即因曬太陽過久而中暑的意思。
賽跑者英文版：
The Races
APRIZE, or rather two prizes, a great one and a small one, had been awarded for the greatest swiftness in running,—not in a single race, but for the whole year.
“I obtained the first prize,” said the hare. “Justice must still be carried out, even when one has relations and good friends among the prize committee; but that the snail should have received the second prize, I consider almost an insult to myself”
“No,” said the fence-rail, who had been a witness at the distribution of prizes; “there should be some consideration for industry and perseverance. I have heard many respectable people say so, and I can quite understand it. The snail certainly took half a year to get over the threshold of the door; but he injured himself, and broke his collar-bone by the haste he made. He gave himself up entirely to the race, and ran with his house on his back, which was all, of course, very praiseworthy; and therefore he obtained the second prize.”
“I think I ought to have had some consideration too,” said the swallow. “I should imagine no one can be swifter in soaring and flight than I am; and how far I have been! far, far away.”
“Yes, that is your misfortune,” said the fence-rail; “you are so fickle, so unsettled; you must always be travelling about into foreign lands when the cold commences here. You have no love of fatherland in you. There can be no consideration for you.”
“But now, if I have been lying the whole winter in the moor,” said the swallow, “and suppose I slept the whole time, would that be taken into account?”
“Bring a certificate from the old moor-hen,” said he, “that you have slept away half your time in fatherland; then you will be treated with some consideration.”
“I deserved the first prize, and not the second,” said the snail. “I know so much, at least, that the hare only ran from cowardice, and because he thought there was danger in delay. I, on the other hand, made running the business of my life, and have become a cripple in the service. If any one had a first prize, it ought to have been myself. But I do not understand chattering and boasting; on the contrary, I despise it.” And the snail spat at them with contempt.
“I am able to affirm with word of oath, that each prize—at least, those for which I voted—was given with just and proper consideration,” said the old boundary post in the wood, who was a member of the committee of judges. “I always act with due order, consideration, and calculation. Seven times have I already had the honor to be present at the distribution of the prizes, and to vote; but to-day is the first time I have been able to carry out my will. I always reckon the first prize by going through the alphabet from the beginning, and the second by going through from the end. Be so kind as to give me your attention, and I will explain to you how I reckon from the beginning. The eighth letter from A is H, and there we have H for hare; therefore I awarded to the hare the first prize. The eighth letter from the end of the alphabet is S, and therefore the snail received the second prize. Next year, the letter I will have its turn for the first prize, and the letter R for the second.”
“I should really have voted for myself,” said the mule, “if I had not been one of the judges on the committee. Not only the rapidity with which advance is made, but every other quality should have due consideration; as, for instance, how much weight a candidate is able to draw; but I have not brought this quality forward now, nor the sagacity of the hare in his flight, nor the cunning with which he suddenly springs aside and doubles, to lead people on a false track, thinking he has concealed himself. No; there is something else on which more stress should be laid, and which ought not be left unnoticed. I mean that which mankind call the beautiful. It is on the beautiful that I particularly fix my eyes. I observed the well-grown ears of the hare; it is a pleasure to me to observe how long they are. It seemed as if I saw myself again in the days of my childhood; and so I voted for the hare.”
“Buz,” said the fly; “there, I’m not going to make a long speech; but I wish to say something about hares. I have really overtaken more than one hare, when I have been seated on the engine in front of a railway train. I often do so. One can then so easily judge of one’s own swiftness. Not long ago, I crushed the hind legs of a young hare. He had been running a long time before the engine; he had no idea that I was travelling there. At last he had to stop in his career, and the engine ran over his hind legs, and crushed them; for I set upon it. I left him lying there, and rode on farther. I call that conquering him; but I do not want the prize.”
“It really seems to me,” thought the wild rose, though she did not express her opinion aloud—it is not in her nature to do so,—though it would have been quite as well if she had; “it certainly seems to me that the sunbeam ought to have had the honor of receiving the first prize. The sunbeam flies in a few minutes along the immeasurable path from the sun to us. It arrives in such strength, that all nature awakes to loveliness and beauty; we roses blush and exhale fragrance in its presence. Our worshipful judges don’t appear to have noticed this at all. Were I the sunbeam, I would give each one of them a sun stroke; but that would only make them mad, and they are mad enough already. I only hope,” continued the rose, “that peace may reign in the wood. It is glorious to bloom, to be fragrant, and to live; to live in story and in song. The sunbeam will outlive us all.”
“What is the first prize?” asked the earthworm, who had overslept the time, and only now came up.
“It contains a free admission to a cabbage-garden,” replied the mule. “I proposed that as one of the prizes. The hare most decidedly must have it; and I, as an active and thoughtful member of the committee, took especial care that the prize should be one of advantage to him; so now he is provided for. The snail can now sit on the fence, and lick up moss and sunshine. He has also been appointed one of the first judges of swiftness in racing. It is worth much to know that one of the members is a man of talent in the thing men call a ‘committee.’ I must say I expect much in the future; we have already made such a good beginning.”
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