SFX: A TRUMPET FANFARE, CORNY, AND SLIGHTLY OUT OF TUNE
NARRATOR: Once upon a time in a faraway land there lived an emperor who was very vain. All he cared about in the world were his fine clothes, and all he thought about was how to get finer ones.
EMPEROR: Now, what’s this called again?
HIVES: A zoot suit, your majesty.
EMPEROR: There, how does it look?
HIVES: Very becoming, your majesty.
COURTIERS: (polite applause and murmured comments of approval: “Very nice”, “Lovely”, etc.)
NARRATOR: He was always the first to take up the latest fashion; he was never satisfied with anything less than the best.
HIVES: Your Nehru jacket has arrived, your majesty.
EMPEROR: Splendid, help me on with it. Well, what do you think?
HIVES: On you it looks good, your majesty.
COURTIERS: (polite applause and murmured comments of approval: “Very nice”, “Lovely”, etc.)
NARRATOR: The emperor's fame as a lover of fashion spread far and wide, and one day two strangers presented themselves at the palace.
HIVES: Messrs. Snip and Stitch, your majesty. Master tailors.
SNIP: Snip.
STITCH: And Stitch at your service, your majesty.
SNIP: We are the finest tailors in the world, your majesty, so, of course, we wanted to serve the one person in all the world who could fully appreciate our talents.
EMPEROR: Quite right, quite right.
COURTIERS: (murmured comments: “Quite right”, “Yes, quite right”, etc.)
STITCH: We propose to create for your majesty a suit of clothes such as the world has never seen. A suit made from a singular fabric that we alone know how to make.
SNIP: This cloth is fashioned from diamonds--
STICH: And gold—
SNIP: Rubies, pearls—
STITCH: And gold—
SNIP :Emeralds, amethysts, opals—
STITCH: And gold—
SNIP: And, of course, gold.
STITCH: Of course.
EMPEROR: Oh, of course.
COURTIERS: (echoing, “Of course, of course”)
SNIP: But the most remarkable property of this cloth is that it cannot be seen by fools or people who are unfit for the office they hold.
STITCH: Think of the possibilities, your majesty.
EMPEROR: Possibilities? Oh, yes. Quite right.
COURTIERS: (echoing “Quite right, quite right”)
EMPEROR: I must have this suit. You must make it for me. Money is no object. Instruct the Imperial Treasurer that all the gold and the finest gems from the treasury shall be placed at these tailors’ disposal.
HIVES: At once, your majesty.
NARRATOR: The tailors took over a room in the palace and set to work at once.
Now these tailors were not tailors at all, but swindlers who—
STITCH: I beg your pardon. Entrepreneurs.
NARRATOR: -- Who were filling their own pockets with the gold and jewels given to them. Day after day they pretended to weave their remarkable cloth on looms that were, in fact, empty.
注意要认真翻译,不认真的不给分