Then he came to a great marsh where the wild ducks lived; he was so tired and miserable that he stayed there the whole night.

他一口气跑到一块住着野鸭的沼泽地里。他在这儿躺了一整夜，因为他实在是太疲乏，太沮丧了。

In the morning the wild ducks flew up to inspect their new comrade.

天亮的时候，野鸭都飞起来了。他们好奇的打量这位新来的朋友。

"What sort of a creature are you?" they inquired, as the duckling turned from side to side and greeted them as well as he could.

“你是谁呀？”他们问。丑小鸭不停地左右行礼，尽可能的对大家表现得恭恭敬敬。

"You are frightfully ugly," said the wild ducks;

“你真是丑得厉害，”野鸭们说，

"but that does not matter to us, so long as you do not marry into our family!" Poor fellow! He had no thought of marriage;

“不过只要你不跟我们族里的鸭子结婚，对我们倒也没有什么影响。”可怜的丑小鸭！他根本没有想过什么结婚；

all he wanted was permission to lie among the rushes, and to drink a little of the marsh water.

他只希望人家准许他躺在芦苇里，喝点沼泽的水就够了。

He stayed there two whole days; then two wild geese came, or, rather, two wild ganders;

他在那儿躺了足足两天。后来有两只雁——严格地讲，应该说是两只公雁——远远地飞来了。

they were not long out of the shell, and therefore rather pert.

他们从蛋壳里孵出来还没有多久，因此非常顽皮。

"I say, comrade," they said, "you are so ugly that we have taken quite a fancy to you;

“听着，朋友，”他们说，“你丑得可爱，我都禁不住要喜欢你了。

will you join us and be a bird of passage?

你能变成候鸟跟我们一块儿飞走吗？

There is another marsh close by, and there are some charming wild geese there;

有一块沼泽地离这儿很近，那里有好几只活泼可爱的母雁。

all sweet young ladies, who can say quack! You are ugly enough to make your fortune among them."

那些美丽的小姐都会说：‘嘎！’你那么丑，可以在她们那儿碰碰运气！”