纯英文世界经典童话绘本系列·匹诺曹（彩绘拼图）

Once upon a time, a carpenter named Geppetto decided to create a wooden puppet. “I will call him Pinocchio,” he declared. After carefully choosing a nice log of wood, he began carving the puppet’s face. Just as he finished the eyes, something extraordinary happened: the puppet opened them wide and sat there staring at him!

Geppetto was surprised and a little scared. But he was also curious. He began working on Pinocchio’s nose. He tried to shorten it, but the nose grew and grew and grew, and in a few minutes it had become so long that it seemed to go on forever. Geppetto turned his attention to the puppet’s legs. When they were carved out, he placed Pinocchio on the floor to teach him how to walk. But the puppet jumped to his feet and kicked Geppetto in the shins! Then he ran out into the street with a laugh, leaving the bewildered carpenter behind. All the old man could do was run after him, calling out his name loudly.

The commotion attracted the attention of a police officer, who grabbed Pinocchio by the nose and handed him over to Geppetto. Geppetto began scolding Pinocchio loudly. The puppet threw himself to the ground, screaming, “Help me! This cruel man wants to hurt me!”

The police officer took pity on Pinocchio. He freed him and hauled the poor carpenter off to jail, while the little puppet skipped back home.

But Pinocchio was in for a sad night. As soon as he closed the door to Geppetto’s house, he heard a strange sound: “Chirp, chirp, chirp.”

“Who’s there?” asked Pinocchio, scared. “Come out, let me see you!”

“It’s me!” said a big cricket, jumping onto Pinocchio’s hand. “I’ve been living in this room for over a hundred years.”

“This is my home now,” said the puppet. “It’s time for you to go. And don’t ever come around again!”

“Before I leave, I need to tell you something very important,” said the cricket. “Children who rebel against their parents and run away from home will never be happy.”

Pinocchio was not impressed in the least by these words. “The only thing I know is that I do not want to go to school, or study, or work. All I want to do is eat, sleep, and play!”

“Beware, Pinocchio—if that’s all you do, you’ll regret it!”

“We’ll see! In any case, I’m going to leave tomorrow at dawn. If I stay, I’m sure the carpenter will try to make me go to school.”

The cricket had managed to keep calm up to that point, but he finally lost his patience.

“Geppetto has been nothing but good to you. It’s obvious that you are a puppet—you have a head as hard as wood.” These words infuriated Pinocchio! The puppet grabbed one of Geppetto’s hammers and chased after the cricket, who luckily managed to escape through a broken window.

Meanwhile, night began to fall and Pinocchio realized how hungry he was. He searched for some leftovers he could eat for supper, but couldn’t find even a morsel of bread. Whimpering, he sunk down beside the fireplace . . . a little too close to the flames. Be careful, Pinocchio!

Sure enough, the puppet fell asleep with his feet inside the fire. Bit by bit, it reduced them to ashes.

Pinocchio awoke at dawn just as the door was opening. “Who is it?” he asked, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

“It’s me,” replied Geppetto. “Pinocchio, what happened to your feet?”

“Father, dear Father,” Pinocchio cried. “I’m sorry I was disobedient! The cricket was right. From now on, I promise to be good. I’ll go to school, I’ll study, and I’ll be top of the class!” Geppetto could tell that the puppet was genuinely sorry. He fetched his tools and two pieces of dry wood and began to carve new feet for Pinocchio.