The winter was so bitterly cold that the duckling was obliged to swim about in the water to keep it from freezing,

冬天变得异常寒冷！丑小鸭不得不在水上游来游去，免得水面完全冻结成冰。

but every night the hole in which he swam got smaller and smaller.

不过他游动的这个范围却在一天天缩小。

Then it froze so hard that the surface ice cracked, and the duckling had to use his legs all the time, so that the ice should not close in round him;

水面几乎冻结，人们可以听到冰块的碎裂声。丑小鸭只好用他的一双腿不停地游动，免得水完全冰封。

at last he was so weary that he could move no more, and he was frozen fast into the ice.

最后，他终于昏倒了，躺着那一动也不动，跟冰块冻结在一起。

Early in the morning a peasant came along and saw him;

大清早，有一个农民在这儿经过。

he went out onto the ice and hammered a hole in it with his heavy wooden shoe, and carried the duckling home to his wife.

他看到了这只可怜的小鸭，就走过去用木屐把冰块踏破，然后把他抱回家，送给他的妻子。

There it soon revived.

丑小鸭这时才渐渐地恢复了知觉。

The children wanted to play with it, but the duckling thought they were going to ill-use him,

小孩子们都想要跟他玩，不过丑小鸭以为他们想要伤害他。

and rushed in his fright into the milk pan, and the milk spurted out all over the room.

他一害怕就跳到牛奶盘里去了，把牛奶溅得满屋子都是。

The woman shrieked and threw up her hands; then it flew into the butter cask, and down into the meal tub and out again.

女人拍着手惊叫起来。这么一来，丑小鸭就飞到黄油盆里去了，紧接着又飞进了面粉桶，最后才爬出来。

Just imagine what it looked like by this time!

这时他的样子却格外美丽！

The woman screamed and tried to hit it with the tongs,

女人尖声地叫起来，想要用火钳打他。

and the children tumbled over one another in trying to catch it, and they screamed with laughter.

小孩们挤做一团，想抓住这只小鸭。他们又是笑又叫！

By good luck the door stood open, and the duckling flew out among the bushes and the new fallen snow, and it lay there thoroughly exhausted.

幸好大门是开着的。他急忙钻进灌木林中新下的雪里面去。他躺在那里，像是昏倒了一样。

But it would be too sad to mention all the privation and misery it had to go through during that hard winter.

要是只讲他在这严冬所受到的困苦和灾难，那么这个故事也就太悲惨了。