The Girl from the Sea

What is a mermaid? A mermaid is half girl and half fish. Marina was a mermaid. She lived in a castle under the sea. Marina was the youngest of five sisters. All the sisters were very beautiful, but Marina was the most beautiful. She had long hair and big blue eyes. She had no legs, but a beautiful green and golden fish tail. She swam beautifully like a fish. She sang beautifully, too. Everyone loved Marina. Her best friends were the dolphins, the whales and the turtles. She played with them every day.

She laughed, sang and played, and she was very happy. Sometimes her older sisters went to the surface of the sea. They saw the sky and the sun, the moon and the stars. Marina wanted to go, too, but she was only fifteen. At last it was her sixteenth birthday. She was very excited. She swam up and up and up. When she came to the surface of the sea. She raised her beautiful head above the water. What did she see? She saw the silver-green sea, the sky and the sun. Oh, She was so happy.

She saw a big boat and she swam closer to it. She saw a young man in the boat. He was a prince and he was very handsome. Marina fell in love with him. Then the sky became back. The waves were very big. The prince's ship went up and down. The prince fell into the sea!

Marina was very close to the boat when the Prince fell into the sea. She swam to the Prince and held his head above the water. She swam to the beach and put her handsome Prince gently on the sand. Buy mermaids cannot say on the land for long. Marina had to go back into the water. The Prince opened his eyes and he saw a pretty young girl on the beach. 'She saved me!' he thought, but then the girl walked away.

Marina watched. 'I saved him but he did not see me,' she thought. She was very sad. Marina thought about her Prince ever day. 'I want to be a princess, so that I can be with him!' she thought. She was very sad.

She did not play with the dolphins or the whales or the turtles any more. They were very sad, too. 'Why are you sad, Marina?' asked her grandmother. Marina answered, 'Because I love a prince. But I'm a mermaid and I cannot be with him.' 'That's true,' answered her grandmother. 'You have a tail. you can swim under the water but you can't walk. Your Prince has legs. He can walk but he can't swim under the water. Forget him! Be happy here under the sea with your friends and family. We all love you.'

One day Marina swam very far from her castle. She came to a dark cave. This was the home of the sea Witch. The sea Witch had green hair, a big nose and red eyes, She was very ugly! 'What can I do for you, little mermaid?' asked the ugly old witch. 'I want to be with my Prince,' said Marina. 'I can help you then,' said the witch. 'I can give you legs so that you can live on land.'

Marina clapped her hands. She was so happy and excited. 'But you must give me something,' said the witch. 'I'll take your beautiful voice, then you can't talk or sing!' Marina was already too excited. She did not say anything. The witch gave her a bottle. 'Now drink this magic tea,' said the witch. 'Swim to the beach tomorrow.'

'How far is it to the Prince's palace? asked Marina. 'It's about a thousand kilometres. You'll have to sleep on the beach. The next morning you'll have no tail. you will have legs.' Marina drank some of the tea. It tasted very bad. The next day she swam to the east until she saw the beach. She swam for more ten hours. She was very tired. She fell asleep and dreamed about her Prince. She woke up early the next day. She looked down at her tail, but is was not there! 'My beautiful tail has gone!' she thought. Now she had two long white legs.

Suddenly Marina saw her Prince. He saw her too. He looked at the girl with the long hair and the long white legs. 'She's so beautiful,' he thought. 'What's your name?' asked the Prince. 'Where have you come from?' Marina tried to answer, but she had no voice. The Prince took Marina's hand and they walked to his palace. Marina's legs and feet hurt, but she was with her handsome Prince at last and she was very happy. The Prince gave Marina beautiful dresses and jewellery. They were happy together. She danced for her Prince. Her legs hurt very much when she danced! They walked together around the palace. her feet hurt,too. But she always smiled.

One day the Prince said to Marina, 'You're my bast friend. Let me tell you something. A young girl saved my life last year. I love her. I want to marry her but I have to find her first.' Marina was sad, Her Prince did not love her. She went for a walk on the beach. She look at the sea. Suddenly she saw her sisters. They waved to Marina. 'Come back to us.' they cried. 'We want you to come home!'

Marina wanted to speak to her sisters but she had no voice. She wanted to see her family, her sisters and her grandmother. Sometimes she wanted to play with her friends(the dolphins, the whales and the turtles), but she wanted to be with her Prince. One day the Prince said to her, 'Some days you are sad. Why?' Marina thought, 'I'm sad because you don't love me.' Then one day a new servant girl came to the palace. She looked like Marina.

The Prince looked at her with surprise. 'I saw her on the beach. She's the girl. She saved my life!' he thought. He told Marina. Marina smiled sadly. 'What can I do? I saved him but I have no voice to tell him,' thought Marina. 'He loves her. He will marry her. We're friends but he doesn't love me.' Was Marina sad? Yes, of course.

She wanted to go home. She wanted to be in her castle under the sea with her family and friends. They loved her. She walked to the beach. She looked to the west, to the silver green sea. Suddenly she saw her friend, the dolphin. There was a bottle in his mouth. Some magic tea was in the bottle. Marina took the bottle There was a note on it. 'Drink this, little sister. Come back to us.'

Marina drank the tea at once. The she fell asleep on the beach. Marina woke up the next morning. She had no legs! Once again she had her beautiful green and golden fish tail. She thanked the dolphin because she had her voice again. Marina was happy to be a mermaid again. Noe she just wanted to go home. She looked once more at the Prince's palace. 'Goodbye, my Prince!' She said.

Then she swam with her dolphin back to her home under the sea.

mermaid 美人魚

half girl and half fish. 一半女孩，一半魚。

of five sisters. of = among

like a fish. 像一條魚呢灶。

beautifully adv. 漂亮地自阱；美好地

dolphins、whales澄暮、turtles 海豚，鯨魚，海龜

the surface of the sea. 海面

up and up and up. 向上柱彻，向上豪娜，向上。

above the water. 在水之上哟楷。

silver-green 銀綠瘤载；銀綠色

closer to it. close to接近.. 慢慢靠近

prince 王子

fell in love with him. fell in love with sb 愛上某人

waves n. 海浪；

went up and down. go=move 上上下下卖擅；

for long 持續(xù)很久 = for a long time.

thought about 想念

not .. any more 再也不..

far from her castle. 遠離她的城堡鸣奔。

How far is it to the Prince's palace? 到王子的宮殿有多遠?

It tasted very bad, taste 特殊系動詞。

fell asleep 睡著了惩阶；入睡

dreamed about her Prince. dream about sb. 夢見..

looked down at 朝下看

at last 最后

jewellery n. 珠寶挎狸，首飾

went for a walk 散步

waved to Marina. 動詞 揮手、 wave to sb 向某人揮手断楷。

servant girl n. 女仆

with surprise. 方式狀語 = in surprise.

looked to the west, 向西望去伟叛，

at once 馬上，立刻脐嫂；

Once again 再一次 once more

The sea.

The sea is a dark place. The sea can be beautiful but it can also be dangerous. It can be shallow but it can also be deep. The deepest part is more than 11,000 metres deep!

When the weather is bad, the waves get bigger and bigger. Sailors are afraid of bad weather. Sometimes ships sink and go to the bottom of the sea. Sometimes ships disappear when the weather is good and no one sees them again.

The Bermuda Triangle, near North America, is one of the most dangerous places in the world. More than 50 ships and 20 aeroplanes have disappeared there. On one knows why.

shallow adj. 淺的统刮，不深的；

more than 11,000 metres deep! more than,about,over 修飾數(shù)詞账千。超過..數(shù)量

bigger and bigger. 越來越大

ships v. 下沉侥蒙，沉沒；

go to the bottom of the sea. 沉到海底去

disappear v. 消失匀奏，不見鞭衩；

is one of the most dangerous places in the world. be+one of +形容詞最高級+名詞復(fù)數(shù)+狀語， 什么什么的之一娃善。

aeroplanes 飛機

Mermaids

Are there mermaids in the sea? Do you know? There are many stories about mermaids. In stories a mermaid looks like a girl above the waist and a fish below the waist. Mermaids are always beautiful. They always have long golden hair and a beautiful golden tail. They are very musical and they love to sing.

Mermaids are usually friendly. They like to play with people, but they cannot stay on the land for too long. without water they will die. Mermaids can also be dangerous. Many sailors think that they have seen them. Some sailors think that it is a bad sign to see a mermaid in the sea.

Sometimes ships go towards mermaids, to get closer to their beautiful singing. Mermaids always sit on rocks. When the ships go too close to the rocks, the ships break on the rocks and the sailor fall into the sea.

In the harbour of Copenhagen in Denmark, in Europe, there is a statue of the little Mermaid sitting on a rock. Many tourists like to go and see the statue when they visit Copenhagen.

waist n. 腰论衍，腰圍

musical adj. 音樂的，配樂的聚磺；喜愛音樂的坯台，精通音樂的；悅耳的瘫寝，動聽的

bad sign 不好的預(yù)兆

to get closer 更加靠經(jīng)蜒蕾、慢慢靠近

singing n. 歌唱；歌聲焕阿；

statue 雕像

Whales

Whales live in th sea but they are not fish. They are mammals. This means that they have warm blood. The babies grow inside their mother. The mothers feed the babies with their own milk.

Whales have skin. They do not have scales like a fish. They need air,too. From time to time they must go to the surface of the sea to get air. Whales have small eyes so they cannot see very well. We cannot see their ear but they can hear very well. Whales can swim very fast. They move their tails up and down to swim. They are usually gentle animals. They are also very clever.

Most whales eat fish and squid. Killer whales are dangerous. They kill seals, porpoises and penguins, and sometimes they kill other whales,too. Blue whales are the biggest animals in the world. The biggest blue whales are over 25 metres long and weigh over 100 tonnes(1 tonne = 1,000 kilograms)

They live for over 100 years.

mammals n. 哺乳動物

Whales 鯨

scales 鱗咪啡，鱗片

From time to time 不時，有時

Killer whales 虎鯨暮屡；逆戟鯨

seals, porpoises and penguins 海豹撤摸，海豚和企鵝

tonnes n. [計量]公噸

Dolphins

Most dolphins are small whales. They live in the sea or in big rivers and they eat fish. Dolphins are mammals,so they have to come to the surface of the sea to get air. They are good swimmers.

They often jump out of the water and they like to play. They are very friendly animals and also very clever.

Turtles

Turtles are reptiles. They have cold blood. This means if they are in a cold place, they are cold; if they are in a hot place, they are hot. Turtles like to live in warm water. Baby turtles come from eggs. The mothers lay the eggs on the beach. Some turtles lay up to 200 eggs every time.

Turtles have a big flat shell on their backs. The shell has two holes. The hole at the front is for the turtles' head and front legs. The hole at the back is for its tail and back legs. Turtles swim very fast in the water, but the walk very slowly on the land.

The biggest turtle is the leather back. Some are as big as 2.5 metres long and weight over 500 kilograms! Some live up to 50 years!

reptiles n. 爬行動物

lay 及物動詞 下蛋、生蛋

up to、more than准夷、than钥飞、over 一樣修飾數(shù)詞，多達冕象、高達..