Crystal Shoes

    “Hi! John.” Mary ran towards me with a rare bright smile on her face, saying, “I’m gonna have a dance performance tonight. I hope you’ll come. Here is the ticket. Don’t forget!” She left in a hurry, disappearing in the throngs of people quickly.

    “What?!” I just came to my mind, “What performance? Dance? Is that credible?” I asked myself. Mary was not such kind of girl. She was a quite ordinary one. I had never seen her making up or wearing attractive clothes, moreover, she always wore her big black-frame glasses, for she did not know how to dress up indeed. What a terrible thing, especially for a plain girl!

    “I should go to, I must go to. That’s a miracle!” I thought.

    I arrived at the hall with the ticket, and found my seat. Her performance was the seventh one. I knew I would suffer from a hard time before her turn, for I had no sense of art, but her performance was worth of watching, no matter how long I would wait for.

    Time went slowly, I struggled with myself not to fall asleep.

    “Let’s welcome the next exciting dance — Latin!” Applause fulfilled the hall at once.

    I opened my eyes as large as possible, fearing to lose anything. Wearing a golden and shinning skirt, Mary appeared on the glorious stage. Her dress went well with the brilliant lights. Such scene seemed to be a mermaiden showing up under the glittering sunshine, meanwhile, I could feel all the audience in the hall focused their eyes on her and it was also hard for me to remove my sights from her. She was so beautiful: her stature was slim; her long golden hair lay back in curls over her delicate ears. Dancing with a charming smile, she was fully absorbed in the Latin music. At this moment, she looked like a pretty butterfly flying on the splendid stage… I could hardly believe my eyes.

    After all the performance ended, I waited for her at the gate.

    “Hi!” She stood in front of me with a bag and her crystal high-heeled shoes in her hands, and dressed as she used to be, but the making-up still could be seen.

    “How do you feel?” There was not a little bit tired expression appeared on her face.

    “Fantastic!” I answered.

    “Ha, ha. I knew it would be.” She could not conceal her excitement, laughing like a child.

    “May I lend a hand?”

    “Thank you!” She handed her crystal shoes to me which were shinning in the wonderful starry night; at the mean time, I realized that every girl has a pair of special shoes which are like the crystal shoes of Cinderella.

   
【中文译文】：

    “嗨，约翰！”玛丽脸上带着罕见的笑容向我跑来，口中还说着，“今晚我要参加一个演出，希望你能来。这是门票，别忘了啊！”说完，她就匆匆忙忙地离开了，很快消失在人群中。

    “什么？！”我这才回过神来，“什么演出啊？跳舞？是真的吗？”我自言自语道。玛丽不是那种女孩。她非常普通。我从没见过她穿过漂亮的衣服，并且，她总是戴着那幅黑边大眼镜，因为她真的不知该如何打扮。真是不幸啊，尤其对一个相貌平平的女孩来说。
我想：“我应该去，我必须去。这简直是个奇迹！”

    我拿着票走进演出大厅，找到座位。她的表演排在第七位，我知道我得忍受一段艰难的时间了，因为我对艺术根本就没有什么感觉。但是不论等多久，她的表演都值得一看。
时间过得很慢，我努力不使自己睡着。

    “让我们欢迎下一个精彩的舞蹈——拉丁舞！”掌声立刻响彻全场。
我尽量睁大眼睛，生怕会漏掉什么。玛丽穿着一条闪闪发光的金色裙子出现在舞台上。她的打扮与闪耀的灯光正好相配。这个场景就像是美人鱼出现在耀眼的阳光下。这时，我感到整个大厅里的观众都将目光集中在她身上，我也无法把视线从她身上移开。她是如此美丽，身材如此婀娜。她长长的头发卷曲着，遮住她精美的耳朵。她带着迷人的笑容，翩翩起舞，完全沉醉在拉丁音乐中。那一刻，她就像一只美丽的蝴蝶在辉煌的舞台上起舞。我简直不敢相信自己的眼睛。
演出结束之后，我在门口等她。

    “嗨！”她站在我面前，提着一个手袋和水晶高跟鞋，穿着她平常穿的衣服，但还能看出淡淡的化妆痕迹。

    “感觉怎么样？”她的脸上没有显出一丝疲倦的神情。
我答道：“棒极了！”

    “哈哈，我就知道是这样。”她掩饰不住兴奋，露出孩子般的笑容。

    “我帮你拿吧？”

    “谢谢！”她把水晶鞋递给我。它们在星夜的天空下闪闪发光。这时，我意识到，每个女孩都有一双属于自己的特殊的鞋，就像灰姑娘的水晶鞋一样。