下载掌阅APP，畅读海量书库
立即打开
A cockerel and a duck were arguing so much over whether mermaids exist or not, that they decided to settle the matter once and for all, by searching the bottom of the sea.
They dived down, first seeing colourful fish, then medium-sized fish and large fish. Then they got so deep that they were in complete darkness and couldn't see a thing.
This made them terribly scared, so they returned to the surface. The cockerel was terrified and never wanted to return to the depths, but the duck encouraged him to keep trying.To calm the cockerel, this time the duck took a torch.They dived down again to the darkness, and when they started getting scared, they switched the torch on.
When the darkness was lit up they saw that they were totally surrounded by mermaids.
The mermaids told them that they thought the cockerel and the duck didn't like them. The previous time the mermaids had been just about to invite their visitors to a big party, but the cockerel and the duck had quickly left.
The mermaids were very happy to see that they had returned, though.
And thanks to their bravery and perseverance, the cockerel and the duck became great friends with the mermaids.
一只小公鸡和一只鸭子在为美人鱼是否存在而激烈争论。他们决定通过搜索海底彻底解决这件事。
他们潜入海底，先是看到了彩色的鱼，然后看到了中等大的鱼和大鱼。然而他们潜入得太深了，以致于四周全是黑的，什么都看不到。
这使他们非常害怕，因此回到了地面上。小公鸡受到了惊吓，再也不想回到深海里。但是鸭子鼓励他继续努力。为了让小公鸡镇定，这次鸭子带了一个手电筒。他们再一次潜入到黑暗中，当他们开始害怕时，就把手电筒打开。
当黑暗被照亮后，他们看到完全被美人鱼包围了。
美人鱼告诉他们，他们以为小公鸡和鸭子不喜欢他们。以前，美人鱼刚要邀请访客参加大聚会的时候，公鸡和鸭子很快就离开了。
尽管如此，看到他们回来美人鱼也很高兴。
由于他们的勇敢和坚持不懈，小公鸡和鸭子跟美人鱼成为了很好的朋友。
Moral of the Story：
Fear of the dark is not fear of anything real, and can only prevent you from discovering interesting things.
故事寓意：
对黑暗的恐惧并不是对真实的恐惧，它只会阻止你发现有趣的事物。
词海拾贝：
switch on 接通，开启
previous[ˈpriːviəs]adj.以前的；早先的；过早的
perseverance[ˌpəːsiˈviərəns]n.坚持不懈；不屈不挠
mermaid[ˈməːmeid]n.美人鱼（传说中的）