杰克与魔豆
There was once a poor widow who lived with her son, Jack. All they had was a cow, and one day the cow stopped giving milk. "There's nothing else for it," said Jack's mother. "You'll have to take her to market and sell her."
On the way to market, Jack met a strange old man. "That's a fine cow," said the man. "I'll swap her for these." He opened his hand and showed Jack five beans. "They're magic beans. Plant them tonight, and by morning they'll reach the sky."
Jack thought it sounded like a wonderful deal, so he swapped the cow for the beans. But when he got home, his mother was furious. "You fool! You've given away our cow for a handful of beans!" She threw the beans out of the window and sent Jack to bed without any supper.
When Jack woke up the next morning, his room was strangely dark. He looked out of the window and saw an enormous beanstalk. It had grown right up past the clouds.
Jack climbed and climbed until he reached the top. There, he found a long road leading to a huge house. At the door stood a very tall woman. "You'd better go away," she said. "My husband is a giant, and he loves to eat boys like you." But Jack was so hungry that he begged for something to eat, and the giant's wife took pity on him and gave him some bread.
Suddenly, the whole house began to shake. Thump! Thump! Thump! "Quick, hide!" said the woman, and she pushed Jack into the oven.
In came the giant. He sniffed the air and roared:
"Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman!"
"Nonsense, dear," said his wife. "It's only the smell of your breakfast."
After he had eaten, the giant took out a hen and said, "Lay!" The hen laid an egg of solid gold. Before long, the giant fell asleep and began to snore. Jack crept out of the oven, grabbed the hen and ran back to the beanstalk as fast as he could. He climbed down, and he and his mother sold the golden eggs and lived well for a while.
But Jack wanted another adventure. Twice more he climbed the beanstalk. The second time, he came back with the giant's bags of gold coins. The third time, he took a golden harp that could play music on its own. But as he ran off with it, the harp cried out, "Master! Master!" The giant woke up with a roar and came after him.
Jack slid down the beanstalk with the giant close behind. "Mother! Bring me the axe!" he shouted. As soon as he reached the ground, he took the axe and chopped at the beanstalk with all his strength. With a great crack, it came crashing down, and the giant fell with it and was never seen again.
Jack and his mother were rich for the rest of their lives, and they never had to worry about money again.
从前，有个穷寡妇和她的儿子杰克住在一起。他们唯一的财产就是一头奶牛。有一天，这头奶牛不出奶了。“没别的办法了，”杰克的妈妈说，“你得把它牵到集市上卖掉。”
在去集市的路上，杰克遇到了一个奇怪的老头。“这头奶牛真不错，”老头说，“我拿这些跟你换。”他摊开手，给杰克看了五颗豆子。“这是魔豆。今晚把它们种下去，到明天早上，它们就能长到天上去。”
杰克觉得这笔买卖太划算了，就用奶牛换了豆子。可是一回到家，妈妈气坏了。“你这个傻瓜！你居然拿咱们的奶牛换了一把豆子！”她把豆子扔出了窗外，还罚杰克不吃晚饭就上床睡觉。
第二天早上，杰克醒来时，发现房间里黑得出奇。他往窗外一看，只见一根巨大的豆茎，一直长到了云层上面。
杰克爬呀爬，一直爬到了顶上。他在那里发现了一条长长的路，通向一座巨大的房子。门口站着一个个子非常高的女人。“你最好快走吧，”她说，“我丈夫是个巨人，他最爱吃你这样的男孩了。”可是杰克饿极了，求她给点吃的。巨人的妻子可怜他，给了他一些面包。
突然，整座房子都晃了起来。咚！咚！咚！“快，躲起来！”女人说着，把杰克塞进了烤炉里。
巨人走了进来。他在空气中嗅了嗅，大吼道：
“咦——嗨——哦——哼，
我闻到了英国人的血腥味！”
“胡说什么呀，亲爱的，”他的妻子说，“那只是你早饭的味道。”
吃完饭，巨人拿出一只母鸡，说：“下蛋！”母鸡就下了一个纯金的蛋。没过多久，巨人睡着了，打起了呼噜。杰克从烤炉里爬出来，一把抓起母鸡，拼命跑回豆茎那里。他顺着豆茎爬下来，和妈妈把金蛋卖掉，过了一段好日子。
可是杰克还想再去冒险。他又爬上了豆茎两次。第二次，他带回了巨人的几袋金币。第三次，他拿走了一把能自己弹奏音乐的金竖琴。可他刚拿着竖琴跑开，竖琴就大喊起来：“主人！主人！”巨人吼了一声醒过来，追了上去。
杰克顺着豆茎往下滑，巨人紧跟在后面。“妈妈！快把斧头拿来！”他大喊。一落地，他就抓起斧头，使出全身力气朝豆茎砍去。随着咔嚓一声巨响，豆茎轰然倒下，巨人也跟着摔了下来，从此再也没有出现过。
杰克和妈妈后半辈子都很富有，再也不用为钱发愁了。