And they went on eating without disturbing themselves. Hansel， who liked the taste of the roof， tore down a great piece of it， and Gretel pushed out the whole of one round windowpane， sat down， and enjoyed herself with it. Suddenly the door opened， and a woman as old as the hills， who supported herself on crutchescrutch n.(跛子用的)拐杖， 支撑， 帮助， came creepingcreep vi.爬， 蹑手蹑脚， 蔓延 out. Hansel and Gretel were so terribly frightened that they let fall what they had in their hands. The old woman， however， nodded her head， and said， “Oh， you dear children， who has brought you here. Do come in， and stay with me. No harm shall happen to you.”She took them both by the hand， and led them into her little house. Then good food was set before them， milk and pancakes， with sugar， apples， and nuts. Afterwards two pretty little beds were covered with clean white linenlinen n.亚麻布， 亚麻制品， 亚麻纤维制成的优质纸， and Hansel and Gretel lay down in them， and thought they were in heaven.
他们边吃边答，一点不受干扰。亨塞尔觉得屋顶的味道特别美，便扯下一大块来，格莱特也干脆捅出一整扇小圆窗，坐在地上享用。房门突然开了，悄没声儿地走出来一个拄着拐杖的很老很老的老太太。亨塞尔和格莱特是如此的害怕以至于拿在手里的食物也掉到了地上。老太太却颤颤巍巍地开了口：“哎，你们这两个小乖乖，谁带你们来的这儿？只管进屋吧，待在我这儿不会有事的。”她说着拉住兄妹俩的手，领他们走进小屋。在屋里她端上来好吃的东西，牛奶呀、糖饼呀、苹果呀、核桃呀什么的。孩子们吃过以后，又铺了两张雪白漂亮的小床，亨塞尔和格莱特往上一躺，马上觉得进了天堂。
The old woman had only pretended to be so kind. She was in reality a wicked witch， who lay in wait for children， and had only built the little house of bread in order to enticeentice v.诱惑， 诱使 them there. When a child fell into her power， she killed it， cooked and ate it， and that was a feast dayfeast day n.节日，斋日，宗教节日 with her. Witches have red eyes， and cannot see far， but they have a keenkeen adj.锋利的， 敏锐的， 敏捷的， 热心的， 渴望的 scentscent n.气味， 香味， 香水， 线索， 嗅觉， 臭迹 like the beasts， and are aware when human beings draw near. When Hansel and Gretel came into her neighborhood， she laughed with malicemalice n.恶意， 怨恨， 预谋， 蓄意犯罪， and said mockinglymockingly adv.愚弄地， 取笑地， “I have them， they shall not escape me again.”Early in the morning before the children were awake， she was already up， and when she saw both of them sleeping and looking so pretty， with their plumpplump adj.圆胖的， 丰满的， 鼓起的 and rosy cheeks， she muttered to herself， that will be a dainty mouthful. Then she seizedseize v.抓住， 逮住， 夺取 Hansel with her shrivelledshrivel v.(使)起皱纹， (使)枯萎， (使)束手无策 hand， carried him into a little stable， and locked him in behind a grated door. Scream as he might， it would not help him. Then she went to Gretel， shook her till she awoke， and cried， “Get up， lazy thing， fetch some water， and cook something good for your brother， he is in the stable outside， and is to be made fat. When he is fat， I will eat him.”Gretel began to weep bitterlybitterly adv.苦苦地， 悲痛的， 厉害的， but it was all in vain， for she was forced to do what the wicked witch commanded.
老太太只是装出一副和善的样子，其实却是个专引诱孩子们上当的恶妖婆，她造那幢面包小屋，纯粹为的这个目的。一旦哪个孩子落在她手中，她就杀死他，把他煮来吃掉，而这天是她的斋日。巫婆们生着红红的眼睛，看不远，但嗅觉却灵得跟野兽一样，老远就能发觉有人来了。当亨塞尔和格莱特刚才走近她的时候，她便冷笑一声，狠狠地说：“到了我这里，绝不让他们从我手心里跑掉！”第二天一早，还不等孩子们醒来，她已起了床。看着两小人儿睡得那么乖，脸蛋儿又丰满又红润，她忍不住嘀咕说：“好一顿美餐！”说着便用干枯的手抓住亨塞尔，把他扛进一间小厩舍，用铁钎子门把他锁起来，不管他怎么大叫大喊，都一点没有用。随后，老婆子走去把格莱特摇醒，冲她吼道：“起来，懒丫头！去打水来给你哥煮点好吃的，他关在外边的厩舍里，我要把他养得肥肥胖胖。等他长胖了，我就吃掉他。”格莱特听罢伤心地哭起来，可是没一点用处，恶巫婆叫干什么，就得干什么。
And now the best food was cooked for poor Hansel， but Gretel got nothing but crabshells. Every morning the woman crept to the little stable， and cried， “Hansel， stretch out your finger that I may feel if you will soon be fat.”Hansel， however， stretched out a little bone to her， and the old woman， who had dim eyes， could not see it， and thought it was Hansels finger， and was astonished that there was no way of fatteningfattening adj.用于养肥禽畜的， 正被养肥的 him. When four weeks had gone by， and Hansel still remained thin， she was seizedseize v.抓住， 逮住， 夺取 with impatience and would not wait any longer. “Now， then， Gretel，”she cried to the girl， “stir yourself， and bring some water. Let Hansel be fat or lean， tomorrow I will kill him， and cook him.” Ah， how the poor little sister did lamentlament n.悲伤， 哀悼， 恸哭， 挽诗， 悼词 when she had to fetch the water， and how her tears did flow down her cheeks. “Dear God， do help us.”she cried. “If the wild beasts in the forest had but devoured us， we should at any rate have died together.”“Just keep your noise to yourself，”said the old woman， “it wont help you at all.”