Acknowledgements

The authors and Publishers wish to thank the following for permission toreproduce photographs in this book：

Malaysian Airlines ； Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd ； Government Information Services； Super Stock（HK） Ltd； Tourism Authority of Thailand； NCN Ltd； Robin S Baker； Constance Haisma-Kwok； Y Y Lee

There might be instances where we have been unable to trace or contact the copyright holder before our printing deadline. We apologize for this apparent negligence．If notified，the Publishers will be pleased to rectify any errors or omissions at the earliest opportunity

牛津英语故事乐园

The Girl from the Sea

What is a mermaid? A mermaid is half girl and half fish. Marina was a mermaid. She lived in a castle under the sea.

Marina was the youngest of five sisters. All the sisters were very beautiful, but Marina was the most beautiful.

She had long hair and big blue eyes. She had no legs, but a beautiful green and golden fish tail. She swam beautifully like a fish. She sang beautifully, too. Everyone loved Marina. Her best friends were the dolphins, the whales and the turtles. She played with them every day.

She laughed, sang and played, and she was very happy. Sometimes her older sisters went to the surface of the sea.

They saw the sky and the sun, the moon and the stars. Marina wanted to go, too, but she was only fifteen.

At last it was her sixteenth birthday. She was very excited. She swam up and up and up. When she came to the surface of the sea, she raised her beautiful head above the water. What did she see?

She saw the silver-green sea, the sky and the sun. Oh, she was so happy!

She saw a big boat and she swam closer to it. She saw a young man in the boat. He was a prince and he was very handsome. Marina fell in love with him. Then the sky became black. The waves were very big. The Prince’s ship went up and down. The Prince fell into the sea!