ugly duckling

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And he went away without touching the Ugly Duckling.
然后他没有碰丑小鸭一下就走了。
Although most people have at least heard of "The Ugly Duckling" and "The Emperor's New Clothes," stories such as "The Nisse at the Grocer's" are less well known outside of Denmark.
尽管大多数人至少都已经听过“丑小鸭”和“皇帝的新衣”，但是像“杂货店的尼森”这样的故事在丹麦之外就很少有人知道了。
Whether you read this book for the fairy tales, the business advice, or the philosophical questions about work and life, The Ugly Duckling Goes to Work has something for every reader to enjoy.
无论你是因为故事阅读这本书，还是获取商业建议，或者是关于工作或生活的哲学问题，这本丑小鸭在行动会被每位读者所喜爱。

My sister was an ugly duckling.
Something might be short at one point and become tall at another point, ugly at one point and become beautiful-- like the ugly duckling.
一个事物可能在某一时刻很矮,然后在另一时刻又会变高,某一时刻很丑,然后变得很美,就像丑小鸭一样
耶鲁公开课 - 死亡课程节选

Brazilian oil giant Petrobras (PBR) has been the ugly duckling of big oil companies.
FORBES: A Break For Brazil's Petrobras?
Garcia has been especially adept at feathering his own nest with Ugly Duckling's assets.
FORBES: Feathered Nest

someone or something that is ugly and not successful when young or new but will later become beautiful or successful

If you say that someone, especially a child, is an ugly duckling, you mean that they are unattractive or awkward now, but will probably develop into an attractive and successful person.

丑小鸭
It is the distinguishing part and improvement that The Secret Garden makes from the traditional mode of the ugly duckling archetype. With Burnett’s simple but vivid language, she gives the old archetype a fresh breath and makes a transcendence in the literature again.
《秘密花园》巧妙地运用了“丑小鸭”的原型,并对其原型意义进行了一系列的扩充和变形,打破了传统的丑小鸭只有通过一味地受难才能变成“白天鹅”的套路,强调了人只有寻找爱,接受爱,爱别人才能最终脱胎换骨,完成自我成长的飞跃。