【EZFM轻松调频】彼得兔的故事绘本 新发现的第24个故事-穿靴子的凯蒂小姐（中文+英文版）附mp3双语朗读光盘 小学生课外阅读书籍

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THE TALE OF KITTY-IN-BOOTS

BY BEATRIX PORTTER

ONCE UPON A TIME there was a serious, well-behaved young black cat.

It belonged to a kind old lady who assured me that no other cat could compare with Kitty.

She lived in constant fear that Kitty might be stolen—“I hear there is a shocking fashion for black cat-skin muffs; wherever is Kitty gone to? Kitty! Kitty! ”

She called it “Kitty”, but Kitty called herself “Miss Catherine St. Quintin”.

Cheesebox called her “Q”, and Winkiepeeps called her “Squintums”. They were very common cats. The old lady would have been shocked had she known of the acquaintance.

And she would have been painfully surprised had she ever seen Miss Kitty in a gentleman’s Norfolk jacket, and little fur-lined boots.

Now most cats love the moonlight and staying out at nights; it was curious how willingly Miss Kitty went to bed.

And although the wash-house where she slept—locked in—was always very clean, upon some mornings Kitty was let out with a black chin. And on other mornings her tail seemed thicker, and she scratched.

It puzzled me. It was a long time before I guessed that there were in fact two black cats!

If we had been outside the wash-house one summer night by moonlight, we might have seen one black cat cross the yard and jump upon the window-sill—

“You are late, Winkiepeeps,” said another black cat inside.

“Sorry, Squintums,” answered the first black cat, unfastening the outside shutter.

“I object to being called names,” said Miss Catherine, jumping gracefully out of the window.

For this was naughty Kitty’s plan—when she wanted to go a-hunting, Winkiepeeps opened the window and came in, to wait till Kitty came home.

穿靴子的凯蒂小姐

[英]比阿特丽克斯·波特 著

朱宾忠陈慧荣译

从前，有一只神态庄重、行为端正的黑猫。

这只黑猫的主人是一位仁慈的老太太。老太太向我保证说，没有任何别的猫可以与凯蒂相提并论。

她一天到晚担心凯蒂被人偷走——“我听说现在非常流行用黑猫皮做暖手筒，真是太可怕了；哎，凯蒂去哪儿了？凯蒂！凯蒂！”

老太太管这只猫叫“凯蒂”，但是凯蒂却管自个儿叫“凯瑟琳·圣昆廷小姐”。

“圆滚滚”管凯蒂叫“Q”；“眨巴眼儿”呢，则管她叫“斜眼儿妹”。这俩都是非常普通的猫。老太太要是知道凯蒂和他俩混得很熟，肯定会很吃惊。

她要是看到凯蒂小姐穿着宽松的男上衣和一双毛皮衬里的小靴子的样子，就更会惊讶得痛心不已了。

一般来说，大多数猫都喜欢月光，夜晚喜欢外出；而凯蒂小姐竟然肯安心上床睡觉，真令人称奇。

而且，尽管她睡觉的洗衣房是上锁的，并且总是很干净，但有些早上，凯蒂被放出来时，下巴却是黑的；有些早上，她的尾巴又似乎变粗了，而且爱抓人。

这让我迷惑不解。过了很长一段时间，我才猜到实际上有两只黑猫！

在一个夏天的月夜，如果我们待在洗衣房外面的话，就可能会看到一只黑猫穿过院子，跳上窗台——

 “你迟到了，眨巴眼儿。”屋里那只黑猫说道。

“对不起，斜眼儿妹，”屋外的黑猫回答道，一边从外面拉开百叶窗。

“不许叫我绰号！”凯瑟琳小姐说，一边优雅地跳出窗外。

这是淘气的凯蒂遮人耳目的妙计——她想去打猎时，眨巴眼儿就打开窗户进来，然后在屋里一直等到她回家。

译后记

在《穿靴子的凯蒂小姐》中，出现了作者其他作品中的一些有名的角色，例如狡猾的狐狸托德先生、彼得兔以及勤劳羞怯的刺猬迪姬－温克尔夫人，其中彼得兔和狐狸托德先生还是情节发展的重要推动力量。这部作品由于种种原因而未能在波特生前出版，几近湮没，只是在很偶然的情况下，被出版人乔·汉克斯（Jo Hanks）发现。在该故事创作一百年后，作者诞辰一百五十年之际，才由企鹅出版社作为单行本发行，此次是国内首次翻译出版。

《穿靴子的凯蒂小姐》并不长，大约四千字，但情节曲折，充满悬念，结局出人意料，其中黑猫凯蒂与狐狸托德斗智斗勇，与彼得兔比拼耐力与体力等情节特别有趣。故事角色众多，有三只猫、一群乌鸦、一群羊、两只雪貂、一只刺猬、一只兔子、一只狐狸，等等，场面热闹，角色个性鲜明，形象丰满，乌鸦凶悍，刺猬羞怯，狐狸狡猾，野羊呆萌，尤其是黑猫和彼得兔，一个精灵古怪，不达目标誓不罢休，一个机敏勇敢，应对有方，从容不迫，令人过目难忘。

发现这个故事的手稿并推动其出版的乔·汉克斯说这个故事是波特童话中最好的一个，这是颇有见识的论断。波特的这个故事不仅是一个生动有趣、可读性强的童话，还是一篇很有前卫思想价值的严肃文学作品。故事中的黑猫凯蒂外表驯良，内心叛逆，过着双重生活，揭示了现代人的一般生存状态，她夜里出去偷猎代表着现代人冲破各种藩篱的欲望，她回归循规蹈矩的“猫生活”，表达着人类对当代生活的无奈与无力感。