"ding-dong! ding-dong!" rings out from the bell deep in the odense river. and what sort of river is that? why, every child in odense town knows it well. it flows around the foot of the gardens, from the locks to the water mill, under the wooden bridges. yellow water lilies grow in the river, and brown, featherlike reeds, and the black, velvety bulrushes, so high and so thick. decayed old willow trees, bent and gnarled, hang far over the water beside the monks' marsh and the pale meadows; but a little above are the many gardens, each very different from the next. some have beautiful flowers and arbors as clean and neat as dolls' houses, while some have only cabbages, and in others no attempts at formal gardens can be seen at all, only great elder trees stretching out and overhanging the running water, which in places is deeper that an oar can measure.

the deepest part is right opposite the old nunnery. it is called the bell deep, and it is there that the merman lives. by day, when the sun shines through the water, he sleeps, but on clear, starry, or moonlit nights he comes forth. he is very old; grandmother has heard of him from her grandmother, she says; and he lives a lonely life, with hardly anyone to speak to except the big old church bell. it used to hang up in the steeple of the church, but now no trace is left either of the steeple or of the church itself, which used to be called st. alban's.

"ding-dong! ding-dong!" rang the bell when it hung in the steeple. but one evening, just as the sun was setting and the bell was in full swing, it tore loose and flew through the air, its shining metal glowing in the red beams of the sunset. "ding-dong! ding-dong! now i'm going to bed!" sang the bell, and it flew into the deepest spot of the odense river, which is why that spot is now called the bell deep. but it found neither sleep nor rest there, for it still rings and clangs down at the merman's; often it can be heard up above, through the water, and many people say that it rings to foretell the death of someone-but that is not the reason; no, it really rings to talk to the merman, who then is no longer alone.

编辑:Liuxuepaper.Com

作文地带知识拓展:

• 英语（English）属于印欧语系日耳曼语族西日耳曼语支，最早被中世纪的英国使用，并因其广阔的殖民地而成为世界使用面积最广的语言。英国人的祖先盎格鲁部落是后来迁移到大不列颠岛地区的日耳曼部落之一，称为英格兰。这两个名字都来自波罗地海半岛的Anglia。该语言与弗里斯兰语和下撒克森语密切相关，其词汇受到其他日耳曼语族语言的影响，尤其是北欧语（北日耳曼语），并在很大程度上由拉丁文和法文撰写。