The Ugly Duckling

Part 1

On a warm summer day, Mother Duck [vịt] sat on her eggs. She waited and waited. Finally, the eggs began to crack [nứt]. Out came five cute yellow ducklings [vịt con]. But one egg, bigger than the others, was still not open.

Mother Duck waited some more. At last, the big egg cracked. Out came a strange [lạ]-looking bird. It was big and gray [xám], not small and yellow like the others.

Mother Duck thought, "That can't be a duck!" But, she loved all her children. She took them all to the pond [ao] to swim.

The yellow ducklings jumped in [nhảy vào] easily. The big gray one jumped in too. It swam even better than the others!

But life was hard [khó khăn] for the gray duckling. The other animals in the farm were mean [độc ác] to him.

"You're too big!" said the yellow ducklings. "You're too ugly!" [xấu xí] laughed the chickens. "Go away!" honked [kêu] the geese [ngỗng].

The poor [tội nghiệp] duckling felt very sad and alone [cô đơn]. Even Mother Duck couldn't stop the others from being mean. Every day, the duckling wished [ước] he looked like his brothers and sisters.

One day, he couldn't take it [không chịu nổi] anymore. "I'll run away," [chạy trốn] he thought, with tears [nước mắt] in his eyes. "Nobody wants me here."

That night, the duckling left the farm [nông trại]. He walked and walked until he found a big marsh [đầm lầy], where other birds lived.

 

Part 2



The ugly [xấu xí] duckling [vịt con] swam in the new marsh [đầm lầy]. Other birds lived there, but they didn't want to be his friend either.

"You're too ugly!" they all said.

Autumn [mùa thu] came, then winter. The ugly duckling lived alone and was cold and hungry. He almost froze [đóng băng] in the icy [băng giá] marsh. But he survived [sống sót].

Finally, spring [mùa xuân] arrived. The duckling saw beautiful white birds flying above. "They're so lovely," [đáng yêu] he thought. "I wish I could be like them."

He didn't know these were swans [thiên nga], the most beautiful birds of all.

The swans flew to a new lake [hồ] and he followed them. He felt shy [ngại ngùng], but he wanted to be near them. He started to swim towards [hướng về] those beautiful white birds.

As he swam, he saw something strange [lạ] in the water. A beautiful white bird was looking at him!

He turned his head [quay đầu], and the white bird did too. Then he realized [nhận ra] - the reflection [phản chiếu] in the water was him! He wasn't an ugly duckling anymore [nữa]. He had grown into a beautiful swan!

The other swans came to welcome him. "Join us," [tham gia với chúng tôi] they said kindly [tử tế].

Children on the lake shore [bờ] pointed [chỉ] at him. "Look at that swan!" they said. "He's the most beautiful of them all!"

The swan felt happy for the first time in his life. He thought about his hard times and how much he had changed.

"I never dreamed I would be this happy," he thought. "Back then, I didn't know that I just needed time to grow. I'm glad I didn't give up."

From that day on, the swan lived happily with his new friends. He was never lonely [cô đơn] again, and he never forgot how it felt to be different. He was always kind to others, no matter what they looked like [bất kể họ trông như thế nào].

🦢🦢
And so, the ugly duckling's story teaches us that being different isn't bad. Sometimes, it just means you need time to become who you're meant to be [trở thành con người mà bạn được định sẵn].