Chapter one The Four Hungry Children
One warm night four children stood in front of a bakery. No one knew them. No one knew where they had come from.
The baker’s wife saw them first, as they stood looking in at the window of her store. The little boy was looking at the cakes, the big boy was looking at the loaves of bread, and the two girls were looking at the cookies. (這裡的as是表示“當…的時候”還是“因為”的意思呢？這句話的意思是“麵包師傅的妻子最先發現了這四個孩子，因為他們一直站在她家的麵包店外。”)
Now the baker’s wife did not like children. She did not like boys at all. So she came to the front of the bakery and listened, looking very cross（生氣的）.
“The cake is good, Jessie,” the little boy said. He was about five years old.
“Yes, Benny,” said the big girl, “But bread is better for you. Isn’t it, Henry?”
“Oh, yes,” said Henry. “We must have some bread, and cake is not good for Benny and Violet.”
“I like bread best, anyway,” （不管怎樣，總之，反正。“反正我最喜歡吃麵包”）said Violet. She was about ten years old, and she had pretty (漂亮的) brown hair and brown eyes.
“That is just like you, (這句話應該怎麼翻譯呢，“那就像你一樣？”其實這裡的意思是“你總是那麼懂事，維莉。”)Violet,” said Henry, smiling at her. “Let’s go into the bakery. Maybe they will let us stay here for the night.”
The baker’s wife looked at them as (當…的時候 ) they came in.
“I want three loaves of bread, please,” said Jessie.
She smiled politely at the woman, but the woman did not smile. She looked at Henry as he put his hand in his pocket for the money. She looked cross (不耐煩的，生氣的), but she sold him the bread.
Jessie was looking around, too, and she saw a long red bench (看看著句話裡帶有顏色的句子翻譯成漢語應該是怎麼樣的順序，是“一條長長的紅色的板凳”還是“一條紅色的長板凳”？) under each window of the bakery. The benches had flat (使變平) red pillows on them. (凳子上鋪了幾張紅色的墊子。)“Will you let us stay here for the night?” Jessie asked. “We could sleep on those benches, and tomorrow we would help you wash the dishes and do things for you.”
Now the woman liked this. She did not like to wash dishes very well. She would like to have a big boy to help her with her work.
“Where are your father and mother?” she asked.
“They are dead,” said Henry.
“We have a grandfather in Greenfield, but we don’t like him,” said Beny.
Jessie put her hand over the little boy’s mouth before he could say more.
“Oh, Benny, keep still!” (保持安靜，別說話) she said.
“Why don’t you like your grandfather?” asked the woman.
“He is our father’s father, and he didn’t like our mother,” said Henry. “So we don’t think he would like us. We are afraid he would be mean (刻薄的，兇狠的) to us.”
“Did you ever see him?” asked the woman.
“No,” answered Henry.
“Then why do you think he would be mean to you?” asked the woman.
“Well, he never came to see us, ” said Henry. “He doesn’t like us at all.”
“Where did you live before you came here?” asked the woman.
But not one of the four children would tell her.
“We’ll get along all right, ” (我們會老老實實待著的) said Jessie, “”We want to stay here for only one night.
“You may stay here tonight, ” said the woman at last. “And tomorrow we’ll see what we can do.” (至於明天，我們再看看怎麼辦吧！)
Henry thanked her politely.
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