They walked the whole night long, and by break of day came once more to their father's house.

兄妹倆走了一整夜,破曉時(shí)分才回到家門口。

They knocked at the door, and when the woman opened it and saw that it was Hansel and Gretel, she said, "you naughty children, why have you slept so long in the forest. We thought you were never coming back at all."

他們敲了門,繼母開門后發(fā)現(xiàn)是韓賽爾和格蕾特,于是說:“你們這兩個(gè)調(diào)皮鬼,為什么在森林里睡這么久?我們以為你們?cè)僖膊换貋砹四?”

The father, however, rejoiced, for it had cut him to the heart to leave them behind alone.

看到孩子歸來,父親喜出望外,不得已拋棄孩子讓他心里十分難過。

Not long afterwards, there was once more great dearth throughout the land, and the children heard their mother saying at night to their father, "everything is eaten again, we have one half loaf left, and that is the end. The children must go, we will take them farther into the wood, so that they will not find their way out again. There is no other means of saving ourselves."

沒過多久,又發(fā)生了一場(chǎng)大饑荒,而且比上一次更嚴(yán)重。孩子們又偷聽到繼母夜里跟父親說:“能吃的東西都吃得差不多了,家里只剩最后的半條面包,接下來又要挨餓了。孩子必須送走,這次我們得帶他們到森林更深的地方,這樣他們就找不到回來的路了。只有這么做我們才能活下去。”

The man's heart was heavy, and he thought, it would be better for you to share the last mouthful with your children. The woman, however, would listen to nothing that he had to say, but scolded and reproached him.

丈夫聽到妻子又想拋棄孩子,心情很是沉重,心想:為人父母同孩子分享最后一口面包豈不是更好?可是妻子一點(diǎn)也不想聽到丈夫?yàn)楹⒆愚q護(hù),反過來責(zé)備起丈夫。

He who says a must say b, likewise, and as he had yielded the first time, he had to do so a second time also.

正所謂“誰套上籠頭,誰就得拉車”,正如上次那樣,丈夫向妻子妥協(xié)了,他只得再度拋棄孩子。

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