兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第二冊 Knight At Dawn 01 The Dark Woods
杰克睡不著。
他戴上眼鏡，看了看鐘——5點30分。
起床太早了點。
昨天發(fā)生了那么多稀奇古怪的事情。此刻他正試著把它們一一弄清楚。
他打開燈，拿出筆記本。他看了看睡覺前記下的清單：
發(fā)現(xiàn)了樹林里的樹屋
發(fā)現(xiàn)了樹屋里有好多好多的書
指了指書中的無齒翼龍的畫
許了一個愿
去了恐龍的時代
指了指蛙溪樹林的畫
許了一個愿
回到了蛙溪鎮(zhèn)的家
杰克推了推眼鏡。誰會相信這一切呢?
老媽不會信，老爸不會信。三年級的老師沃特金斯小姐也不會信。相信的只有七歲的妹妹安妮，她同他一起去的恐龍時代。
“你睡不著嗎?”
是安妮，她正站在他的房門口。
“睡不著。”杰克說。
“我也睡不著。”安妮說，“你在干什么呢?”
她走向杰克，看了看他的筆記本。她讀了一下清單。
“你為什么沒寫上金獎?wù)履?”安妮問。
“你是說金獎牌。”杰克說。
他拿起鉛筆，寫上：
在恐龍時代發(fā)現(xiàn)這個
“你為什么不在獎?wù)律蠈懮献帜窶呢?”安妮說。
“獎牌。”杰克說，“不是獎?wù)隆?rdquo;
他在上面加上一個字母M：
“你為什么不寫上那個有魔法的人呢?”安妮說。
“我們不能確定是否真有那個有魔法的人。”杰克說。
“好啦，有人在樹林里建造了樹屋。有人在樹屋里放了好多好多的書。有人在恐龍時代遺失了金獎?wù)隆?rdquo;
“獎牌!”杰克第三次這樣說了，“而我只寫事實。我們確實能肯定的東西。”
“讓我們立即回樹屋去吧。”安妮說，“去查明那個有魔法的人是否真有其人。”
“你瘋了嗎?”杰克說，“太陽還未升起呢。”
“去吧。”安妮說，“也許我們能趁他們還在睡覺的時候碰見他們。”
“我認為我們不應(yīng)該去。”杰克說。他有些擔(dān)心。倘若那個有魔法的人很難惹，該怎么辦?倘若那個有魔法的人(他或者她)不希望小孩子知道書屋的事，又該怎么辦呢?
“反正，我是要去的。”安妮說。
杰克看了看窗外暗灰色的天空，天快亮了。
他嘆了一口氣。“好吧，我們穿衣服。我在后門等你，要靜悄悄的。”
“耶!”安妮低聲說。她像只老鼠似地靜悄悄地躡手躡腳地離開了。
杰克穿上牛仔褲，套上一件運動衫，腳蹬球鞋。他把筆記本和鉛筆扔進背包里。
他躡手躡腳地走下樓梯。
安妮正在后門等著他。她用手電筒照了照杰克的臉。“嗒——噠!神奇的魔棒!”她說。
“噓!別吵醒了老媽和老爸。”杰克低聲說道。“把手電筒關(guān)了，我們不能讓任何人看見我們。”
安妮點了點頭，關(guān)了手電筒，然后把手電筒別在皮帶上。
他們悄悄地溜出門。清晨的空氣涼颼颼的，蛐蛐在唧唧地叫，隔壁的狗在汪汪地吠。
“別作聲，亨利!”安妮輕聲說。
亨利不叫了。動物們似乎總是很聽安妮的話。
“我們跑吧!”杰克說。
他們飛速地跑過黑乎乎、濕漉漉的草地，到達樹林才停了下來。
“現(xiàn)在我們需要手電筒了。”杰克說。
安妮從皮帶上取下手電筒，撳亮了。
她和杰克一步一步地在樹木中穿行。杰克屏住氣，黑漆漆的樹林讓人膽戰(zhàn)心驚。
“妖怪!”安妮說著，把手電筒照在杰克臉上。
杰克嚇得往后一跳，然后皺了皺眉頭。
“快拿開!”他說著。
“嚇到你了吧。”安妮說。
杰克對她怒目而視。
“別裝神弄鬼的!”他低聲說，“這可不能開玩笑的。”
“好啦，好啦。”
安妮用手電筒照了照樹頂。
“你在干什么?”杰克說。
“找樹屋!”
手電光停住不動了。
樹屋在那兒。神秘的樹屋，在樹林最高那棵大樹的頂上。
安妮用手電筒照了照樹屋，接著照了照高高的繩梯，沿著繩梯一直照到地面上。
“我準備上去了。”她說。她抓著手電筒，開始往上爬。
“等一等!”杰克大聲喊道 。
要是樹屋里有人，那怎么辦呢?
“安妮!快回來!”
但是她已經(jīng)上去了。燈光也消失了。杰克一個人孤零零地呆在黑暗中。
1 The Dark Woods
Jack couldn’t sleep.
He put his glasses on. He looked at the clock. 5∶30.
Too early to get up.
Yesterday so many strange things had happened. Now he was trying to figure them out.
He turned on the light. He picked up his notebook. He looked at the list he’d made before going to bed.
found tree house in woods found lots of books in itpointed to Pteranodon picture in book made a wishwent to time of dinosaurs Pointed to picture of Frog Creek woods made a wish Came home to Frog Creek Jack pushed his glasses into place. Who was going to believe any of this?
Not his mom. Or his dad. Or his third-grade teacher， Ms. Watkins. Only his seven-year-old sister， Annie. She’d gone with him to the time of the dinosaurs.
“Can’t you sleep?”
It was Annie， standing in his doorway.
“Nope，” said Jack.
“Me neither，” said Annie. “What are you doing?”
She walked over to Jack and looked at his notebook. She read the list.
“Aren’ t you going to write about the gold medal?” she asked.
“You mean the gold medallion， ” said Jack.
He picked up his pencil and wrote：
found this in dinosaur time
“Aren’t you going to put the letter M on the medal?” said Annie.
“Medallion，” said Jack. “Not medal.”
He added an M：
“Aren’t you going to write about the magic person?” said Annie.
“We don’t know for sure if there is a magic person，” said Jack.
“Well， someone built the tree house in the woods. Someone put the books in it. Someone lost a gold medal in dinosaur time.”
“Medallion!” said Jack for the third time. “And I’m just writing the facts.The stuff we know for sure.”
“Let’ s go back to the tree house right now，” said Annie. “And find out if the magic person is a fact.”
“Are you nuts?” said Jack. “The sun’s not even up yet.”
“Come on，” said Annie. “Maybe we can catch them sleeping.”
“I don’ t think we should，” said Jack. He was worried. What if the “magic person” was mean? What if he or she didn’t want kids to know about the tree house?
“Well， I’m going，” said Annie.
Jack looked out his window at the dark-gray sky. It was almost dawn.
He sighed. “Okay. Let’s get dressed. I’ll meet you at the back door. Be quiet.”
“Yay!” whispered Annie. She tiptoed away as quietly as a mouse.
Jack put on jeans， a warm sweatshirt， and sneakers. He tossed his notebook and pencil in his backpack.
He crept downstairs.
Annie was waiting by the back door. She shined a flashlight in Jack’s face. “Ta-da! A magic wand!” she said.
“Shhh! Don’ t wake up Mom and Dad，” whispered Jack. “And turn that flashlight off. We don’t want anyone to see us.”
Annie nodded and turned it off. Then she clipped it onto her belt.
They slipped out the door into the cool early-morning air. Crickets were chirping. The dog next door barked.
“Quiet， Henry!” whispered Annie.
Henry stopped barking. Animals always seemed to do what Annie said.
“Let’s run!” said Jack.
They dashed across the dark， wet lawn and didn’t stop until they reached the woods.
“We need the flashlight now，” said Jack.
Annie took it off her belt and switched it on.
Step by step， she and Jack walked between the trees. Jack held his breath. The dark woods were scary.
“Gotcha!” said Annie， shining the flashlight in Jack’s face.
Jack jumped back. Then he frowned.
“Cut it out!” he siad.
“I scared you，” said Annie.
Jack glared at her.
“Stop pretending!” he whispered. “This is serious.”
“Okay， okay.”
Annie shined her flashlight over the tops of the trees.
“Now what are you doing?” said Jack.
“Looking for the tree house!”
The light stopped moving.
There it was. The mysterious tree house. At the top of the tallest tree in the woods.
Annie shined her light at the tree house， and then down the tall ladder. All the way to the ground.
“I’m going up，” she said. She gripped the flashlight and began to climb.
“Wait!” Jack called.
What if someone was in the tree house?
“Annie! Come back!”
But she was gone. The light disappeared. Jack was alone in the dark.
