The story is about a poor young man named Aladdin, who helps a magician get a wonderful oil lamp from a dangerous magic cave. The magician tries to cheat Aladdin, so Aladdin keeps the lamp himself. He soon finds that a bad-tempered genie lives inside the lamp and must obey whoever holds the lamp. With the genie's help, Aladdin becomes a rich and powerful man and is able to marry the beautiful Princess Badroulbadour.
The magician finally gets the lamp back by tricking the princess, who does not know how important the lamp is. Aladdin discovers that a ring left by the magician when he was cheating Aladdin controls a less powerful but more polite genie. With the help of this genie, Aladdin is able to get his wife and the lamp back.
阿拉丁和神灯的故事取自童话集《一千零一夜》（又称《天方夜谭》）。
阿拉丁是一个贫穷的少年。有一天，一个魔法师雇用阿拉丁到一个山洞去取一盏油灯，那实际上一盏神灯，一旦拥有了它，就会要什么有什么。在这个过程中，魔法师欺骗了阿拉丁，并企图置他于死地，阿拉丁成功地死里逃生，并得到了神灯。借助于神灯的魔力，阿拉丁战胜了艰险，和美丽的公主白狄奴·卜多鲁结了婚。魔法师得知阿拉丁还活着，就从不知道神灯秘密的卜多鲁公主手里把神灯骗走。后来，经过曲折的过程，阿拉丁又把神灯收回，并从此和妻子一起过上了幸福的生活。
（本文选自人民教育出版社《中学英语文化背景知识手册》，2008年8月第1版）
