《丑小鸭》写了一只天鹅蛋在鸭群中破壳后，因相貌怪异，被鸭群鄙弃，历经千辛万苦、重重磨难之后长成了白天鹅的故事。原文如下：
On the grass next to a pond，the mother duck‘s eggs were hatching.The ducklings began to hatch and came out one by one. Only one big egg had not moved or made a sound.
在池塘边的草地上，鸭妈妈正在孵蛋。小鸭一只接一只地孵了出来，只有一颗大大的蛋一直没有动静。
“Is this big egg also a duck？”Everyone asked the mother duck，but she did not know.
“这颗大蛋里面也是小鸭子吗？”大家问鸭妈妈，可她也不知道。
The big eggshell cracked，from inside out came a big and ugly duckling. Everyone called him Ugly Duckling.
大蛋的壳裂开了——从里面出来一只又大又丑的小鸭，大家叫他“丑小鸭”。
When the Ugly Duck-ling went to the pond to swim，the frog said：“Ribbit！Ribbit！I do not like you，go away！"
丑小鸭到池塘里游泳，青蛙说：“呱呱！我不喜欢你，快走开！”
The Ugly Duckling had to leave the pond andwalked towards the forest ...
丑小鸭只好离开池塘，朝着森林里走去…
In the forest，the Ugly Duckling met a dog. “Woof！Woof！I do not like you，go away！” said the dog.
在森林里，丑小鸭遇见了狗。狗说：“汪汪！汪汪！我不喜欢你，快走开！”
On the hillside，the Ugly Duckling met a pig. The pig said：“Oink！Oink！I do not like you，go away！”
在山坡上，丑小鸭遇见了猪。猪说：“呼噜！呼噜！我不喜欢你，快走开！”
The Ugly Duckling cried sadly. A little girl came over and said：“Please come to my house！”
丑小鸭伤心地哭了。一个小姑娘走过来，说：“请到我家住吧！”
Winter came，and it snowed heavily outside. The Ugly Duckling lived in the little girl’s warm wooden house.
冬天到了，外面下着大雪。丑小鸭住在小姑娘温暖的木屋里。
Spring came, the Ugly Duckling grew up-he turned into a white swan！The white swan flapped his wings and the little girl was so happy.
春天来了，丑小鸭长大了——他变成了一只白天鹅！白天鹅拍拍翅膀飞起来，小姑娘好高兴。
Who would have thought that the Ugly Duckling turned out to be a beautiful white swan！
真没想到，丑小鸭竟然是一只美丽的白天鹅！
《丑小鸭》思想：
《丑小鸭》在塑造一只可怜的“丑小鸭”的同时，还写到了其他形形色色的动物，如雄吐绶鸡、母鸡、猫儿，以及丑小鸭的家族成员等。他们或者嘲笑、排挤丑小鸭，或者对可怜的丑小鸭进行无情的斥责，在抬高自己身价的同时，以虚妄的言语来达到贬低丑小鸭的目的。
尤其是那只雄吐绶鸡，因为脚上有趾，就把自己看成霸王，气势汹汹，目空一切。作者通过对这些动物群像的细腻刻画，反映了世俗偏见和固有认知习惯对人成长的施压和摧残，也从侧面写出了自私和偏见能限制人的思想，使其目光短浅，唯我独尊，不能用发展和全面的眼光看待事物。
The Ugly Duckling
It was summer. A duck was sitting in her nest. Her little ducklings were about to hatched.
One egg after another began to crack,but the biggest one was still there. At last, it cracked.The baby was big and ugly.
The next day,the mother duck with her family went down to the moat. One duckling jumped in after another. The big ugly one swam about with them.But the poor duckling was chased and harassed by all the ducklings because he was very ugly.The ducks bit him,the hens pecked him. And the girl who fed them kicked him aside.
Then he ran off and soon came to a great marsh where the wild ducks lived. He stayed there for two whole days.A big dog appeared close beside him,but he did not touch the duckling. "Oh,I am so ugly that even the dog won`t bite me." Sighed the duckling.
In the evening,he reached a little cottage. Because he could not lay eggs,he was driven away by the hen.
one evening,he saw some swans.He flew into the water and swam towards them. What did he see in the clear water? He was no longer a dark grey ugly bird. He wa s himself a swan.
He said to himself,"I never dreamed that I could be so happy when I was the ugly duckling."
译文：夏天到了，一只鸭子正坐在它的窝里。它的小宝宝们就要孵出来了。
一只又一只的蛋开始裂开，但是最大的蛋仍然在那里。最后，它破裂了。宝宝又大又丑。第二天，鸭妈妈带着一家去河沟里去了。一只又一只的小鸭子跳了进去。这个又大又丑的鸭子在别的鸭子边上游泳。但因为它长得很丑，不但没有被鸭群接受，还挨啄、被排挤、被讪笑。而且在鸡群中也是这样。他因此觉得很自卑。无奈之下，丑小鸭飞过篱笆逃走了。有一次，他遇到了一只猎狗，但那只猎狗只是闻闻他，并没有把他抓住。他暗自庆幸，“我丑得连猎狗也不敢咬我了！”他为自己逃生而庆幸，同时为自己长得丑而懊丧。在这以后，丑小鸭遇到了很多磨难。后来，对美好大自然、美好生活的向往与追求驱使着丑小鸭不再依靠别人生活。有一天，三只美丽的白天鹅从树阴里一直游到他面前来，小鸭认出了这些美丽的动物，于是心里感到一种说不出的难过。小鸭感到自己要游向他们，就算他们把自己弄死也没关系，因为他有一颗追求美的心。但他在水里看到的是什么呢，不再是那只丑陋的小鸭了，而是——一只美丽的天鹅！