Mastro Antonio was a carpenter. He had a red nose that looked like a cherry, so everyone called him Mastro Cherry. One day, Mastro Cherry was making a table. He found a piece of wood and hit it with his ax. The wood cried out, “Please don‘t hurt me.” Mastro Cherry looked around. “Who was talking?” he wondered.
He hit the wood again, and he heard the same voice. “Ouch! That hurt even worse!” Mastro Cherry looked at the wood. Was it talking to him? Just then, an old friend walked into his shop. The old man‘s name was Geppetto. He was a puppet maker. Geppetto wanted a piece of wood. He was going to make a puppet.
The carpenter gave the strange piece of wood to Geppetto. The old man took the wood home. He sat down at his table and began to make the new puppet. “I will call this new puppet Pinocchio,” he thought. First, he cut out the puppet‘s head. Suddenly, the puppet‘s head began to laugh. “Why are you laughing?” said Geppetto.
“Stop it right now!” The puppet stopped laughing, but it stuck out its tongue.
“Such a naughty puppet,” said Geppetto. “Behave yourself, or I will not make your legs or your feet!”
The puppet was quiet. Geppetto made the neck, the arms, the chest, and finally, the legs. Now, the puppet was finished. Geppetto wanted Pinocchio to walk. He put him on the floor. He showed him how to move his legs. The puppet learned fast. He started walking faster and faster. Then, he was running around the room. “Ha! This is fun!” cried Pinocchio. He ran to the door and out of the house.
“Stop!” cried Geppetto, but Pinocchio wouldn‘t listen. He ran down the street. Geppetto followed him, but he was too slow. He couldn‘t catch the little puppet. Pinocchio hid behind a wall. A policeman saw the puppet and picked him up.
“Who are you?” asked the policeman. “I‘ve never seen a running puppet before.”
Just then, Geppetto arrived. He took Pinocchio in his hands, and shook him. “You are a naughty boy!” he yelled. “You must listen to big people! We are going home and I‘m going to punish you!”
The policeman heard Geppetto, and took his arm. “You shouldn‘t hurt young boys,” he said. “I‘m going to take you to jail.” Then, he put Pinocchio on the ground and took Geppetto away.
翻译：
麦斯楚·安东尼欧是个木匠，他红通通的鼻子看起来像颗樱桃，所以大家都叫他麦斯楚.钱瑞。有一天，麦斯楚.钱瑞在做一张桌子。他找到了一块木头，就开始用斧头砍。木头叫了出来：“请不要伤害我！”麦斯楚·钱瑞看了看四周，好奇问道：“刚才是谁在说话呀？”
他又敲打了木头一次，又听到了同样的声音:“哎唷！这一次更痛了！”麦斯楚·钱瑞看了一下这块木头。是这块木头在和他说话吗？就在这时，一个老友走进他的店里，这位老先生的名字是格培多。他是一位制作木偶的师傅。格培多想要一块木头，因为他正打算要在做一个木偶。
木匠把这块奇怪的木头送给格培多，老先生就把这块木头带了回去。他坐在桌前，开始雕刻这只新木偶。他心想：“我把这个新的木偶叫做皮诺奇好了。”一开始，他刻出木偶的头。突然间，木偶笑了起来。“你在笑什么？”格培多问道。
“现在不准笑！”木偶不再笑了，但是它却吐舌头。
“真是个顽皮的小木偶，”格培多说。“规矩点，要不然我就不刻你的腿和脚！”
木偶安静了。格培多刻了脖子、手臂、胸部，最后也把双腿刻好了。木偶现在算是大功告成。格培多要皮诺奇走动一下，他把他放在地板上，教他如何移动双腿，小木偶学得很快，他开始走得越来越快了。接着，他就在房间里跑来跑去。皮诺奇叫道：“哈！真是好玩！”他跑到门口，冲出了屋子。
“停下来！”格培多叫道，但是皮诺奇不听。他沿街跑下去，格培多追着他跑，但是他动作太慢了，抓不到这个小木偶。皮诺奇躲在一面墙后面，一位警察看到了这个木偶，就把他抓了起来。
“你是谁？”警察问道。“我从没看过一个会跑的木偶。”
就在这时，格培多到了。他拉住皮诺奇的手，然后摇了他一下。“你这孩子真顽皮！”他叫道。“你要听大人的话！我们现在就回去，然后我要惩罚你！”
警察听了格培多的话，便抓住他的手臂说：“你不应该伤害小孩才对，我要把你关进牢里。”接着，他就把皮诺奇放在地上，把格培多抓走了。
词汇点津：
stick out one‘s tongue 伸出舌头
behave yourself 请检点一点，行为规矩些
