小学英语 英语故事(童话故事)The Most Incredible Thing 最难使人相信的事情

2021年1月26日发(作者：pastime)
The
Most
Incredible
Thing
最难使人相信的事情

Whosoever could do the most incredible thing was to have the King's daughter and
half of his kingdom.
The
young
men,
yes,
and
the
old
ones
too,
bent
their
heads,
their
muscles,
and
their
hearts
upon
winning.
To
do
what
they
thought
was
the
most
incredible
thing,
two
ate
themselves to death, and one died of overdrinking. Even the boys in the street
practiced
spitting
on
their
own
backs,
which
they
supposed
was
the
most
incredible
thing anyone could do.
On
a
certain
day
there
was
to
be
an
exhibition
of
things
most
incredible
and
everyone
showed
his best work.
Judges were appointed,
ranging from children of
three to old
men
of
ninety.
It
was
a
grand
exposition
of
things
out
of
the
ordinary,
but
everybody
promptly
agreed
that
most
incredible
of
all
was
a
great
hall
clock
-
an
extraordinary
contraption, outside and in.
When
the
clock
struck,
out
came
lifelike
figures
to
tell
the
hour.
There
were
twelve
separate performances of these moving figures, with speaking and singing. People
said that nothing so incredible had ever before been seen.
The
clock
struck
one,
and
there
stood
Moses
on
the
mountain,
writing
in
the
tablets
of
the
law
the
first
great
commandment:

is
only
one
true
God.
The
clock
struck
two,
and
there
were
Adam
and
Eve,
just
as
they
first
met
in
the
Garden
of
Eden.
Were
ever
two
people
so
lucky!
They
didn't
own
so
much
as
a
clothes-closet,
and
they
didn't
need one. At the stroke of three the three Holy Kings appeared. One was as black
as
a
coal,
but
he
couldn't
help
that.
The
sun
had
blackened
him.
These
kings
brought
incense and precious gifts. When the stroke of four sounded, the seasons advanced
in their order. Spring carried a budding bough of beech, on which a cuckoo sang.
Summer had for her sign a grasshopper on a ripening ear of wheat. Autumn had only
an empty stork's nest, for the birds had flown away. Winter's tame crow perched on
the corner of the stove, and told old tales of bygone days. At five o'clock there
was a procession of the five senses. Sight was represented by a man who made
spectacles. Hearing was a noisy coppersmith. Smell was a flower girl with violets
for sale. Taste came dressed as a cook. Feeling was a mourner, with crape down to
his
heels.
As
the
clock
struck
six,
there
sat
a
gambler,
throwing
dice
for
the
highest
cast
of all,
and
they fell with the sixes up. Then came the seven days of the week,
or they might be the seven deadly sins. People could not be sure which they were,
for
they
were
not
easy
to
distinguish.
Next
came
a
choir
of
monks,
to
sing
the
eight
o'clock evensong. At the stroke of nine, the nine muses appeared. One was an
astronomer, one kept the books of history, and the others were connected with the
theater. Ten o'clock
struck, and Moses came forth again, this time with the tables
in which were written all ten of God's commandments. When the clock struck again,
boys and girls danced out. They played and sang this song:







The clock struck eleven.