Once upon a time there was a poor mother who lived alone with her son, Jack. All they had in the world was an old cow to give them milk. One day the cow stopped giving milk so the woman had to sell her.
She told Jack to take the cow to market and to get as much money as he could for her.On his way to market Jack met a man who wanted to buy the cow. He offered Jack five beans for the cow.Jack knew that his mother would be very angry if he sold the cow for beans.
“They are very special beans” said the man. “They are MAGIC ! – they will bring you good luck!” Jack thought that he and his mother needed some good luck, so he gave the cow to the man in return for the magic beans.
As you can imagine, Jacks mother was furious with him when he returned home with no money at all, just a few beans. She threw the beans out of the window and sent Jack to bed without any supper. Poor Jack ! He really thought that the beans were magic. Now he felt just silly.
Next day he woke up but it was very dark in his bedroom as if it was still night. He looked out of his window and all he could see were lots and lots of dark green leaves. They seemed to disappear into the clouds. It was a giant beanstalk ! So they were magic beans after all!
翻译:
前，有一个很穷的母亲和她唯一的儿子一起生活，她的儿子名叫杰克。她们全部的财产就是一头奶牛。有一天，牛挤不出奶了，母亲决定把牛卖掉。
她让杰克把牛带到市场卖掉，卖的钱越多越好。在去市场的路上，杰克遇到了一个男人想买他的牛，他愿意用5颗豆子来换杰克的牛。杰克知道如果他用牛来换豆子的话，他的妈妈会非常生气的。
男人说：“这是非常特别的豆子，它们有魔力，能给你带来好运！”杰克想，自己和妈妈正需要好运，于是他用牛换来了魔力豆。
你可以想像，杰克的妈妈看到杰克没有拿回钱，而只是几颗豆子时有多么地愤怒。她把豆子扔出窗外，命令杰克上床睡觉，不准吃晚饭。可怜的杰克，他本来以为那真的是魔力豆，可现在他觉得自己真傻。
第二天他睡醒时，卧室里依然很黑，就像还是夜里，他朝窗外看，只看到许多许多深绿色的树叶，它们似乎一直伸进了云里。那是一颗巨型豆茎！所以那些真的是魔力豆。
