童话通过丰富的想象、幻想和夸张来塑造形象、反映生活，对儿童进行思想教育。一般故事情节神奇曲折，生动浅显，对自然物往往作拟人化的描写，能适应儿童的接受能力。

　　男孩和青蛙

　　Some mischievous1 boys were playing on the edge of a pond, and, catching2 sight of some frogs swimming about in the shallow water, they began to amuse themselves by pelting3 them with stones, and they killed several of them. At last one of the frogs put his head out of the water and said, "Oh, stop! stop! I beg you: what is sport to you is death to us."

　　几个淘气的孩子在水池边玩耍，浅水中正在游泳的几只青蛙映入他们的眼帘，他们便用石头去打青蛙，以此作为消遣娱乐。甚至于，他们还打死了几只青蛙。最后，一只青蛙从水中伸出头来，说：“住手!住手!求你们不要再打了。对你们来说，这是一个活动，可是对于我们来说，却是致命一击啊。“

　　鹦雀笑鹏

　　As the legend goes, during ancient times, in the expansive open country of North China, there was a kind of birds called "rocs".

　　The roc was very huge, with its back like a big mountain, and its wings like a stretch of cloud which could cover the sky. When it spread its wings, it could break through a storm and soar at a height of 90,000 li (1/2 kilometre) in the sky towards the sea in the south.

　　A small bird called the quail1 bounced on the ground, free and happy. It looked up at the roc soaring in the sky and couldn't help laughing: "Hey, see how cocky you are! Look at me, one jump can take me over 10 chi. How delightful2! Every day I come and go amid these weeds and thickets3 and fly freely. Don't I fly quite well too? But, where can you fly to anyway?"

　　传说，古时候中国北方的原野上有一种鸟，它的名字叫“鹏”。

　　鹏长得很大，背脊像一座大山，翅膀像一大片云，能把天空遮住。它张开翅膀能冲破风暴，在九万里高的天空中飞翔，一直飞向南方的大海。

　　有一只叫鹦雀的小鸟，在地上蹦蹦跳跳，自由自在，非常快活。它望着天空中展翅飞翔的大鹏，忍不住发笑，说：“咳，看你神气活现的!我呀，一蹦一跳，就有十几尺，多么痛快啊!我每天在这些杂草和树丛里，来来去去，自由飞翔，不也飞得挺好吗?可是，你又能飞到哪里去呢?”

　　与众不同的螃蟹

　　A male crab1 met a female crab and asked her to marry him.

　　She noticed that he was walking straight instead of sideways. Wow, she thought, this crab is really special. I can’t let him get away. So they got married immediately.

　　The next day she noticed her new husband walking sideways like all the other crabs2, and got upset. "What happened?" she asked. "You used to walk straight before we were married."

　　"Oh, honey," he replied, "I can't drink that much every day."

　　一只雄蟹遇到了一只雌蟹，便向她求婚。

　　雌蟹发现他是直着走路，而不是横着走。她心想，这只雄蟹真是与众不同，我可不能让他跑了。于是他们很快就结婚了。

　　第二天，雌蟹发现她的新郎走起路来和普通螃蟹一样。她便疑惑重重。“你怎么了?”她问，“我们结婚之前你可是直着走路的。”

　　“哦，宝贝，”他回答说，“我不可能每天都喝那么多啊。”