兒童英語(yǔ)讀物《神奇樹(shù)屋》 第三冊(cè) Mummies in the Morning 01

1喵!

“還在這兒呢。”杰克說(shuō)。

“看起來(lái)好像是空的。”安妮說(shuō)。

杰克和他七歲的妹妹安妮盯著一棵高高的橡樹(shù)，樹(shù)頂上有一個(gè)樹(shù)屋。

晌午的陽(yáng)光照耀著樹(shù)林，已經(jīng)差不多是吃中飯的時(shí)候了。

“噓!”杰克說(shuō)，“那是什么聲音?”

“什么聲音?”

“我聽(tīng)到一個(gè)聲音。”杰克說(shuō)，他四下里望了望。“聽(tīng)起來(lái)好像是有人在咳嗽。”

“我什么也沒(méi)聽(tīng)到。”安妮說(shuō)，“來(lái)，咱們上去吧。”

她抓住繩梯開(kāi)始往上爬。

杰克踮著腳尖走向一簇灌木叢，撥開(kāi)了一個(gè)小樹(shù)枝。

“喂!”他說(shuō)，“有人嗎?”

沒(méi)有回答。

“快來(lái)!”安妮沖下面喊著，“這個(gè)樹(shù)屋看起來(lái)還是昨天的老樣子。”

杰克還是覺(jué)得附近有人。會(huì)不會(huì)是那個(gè)把所有的書(shū)放在樹(shù)屋里的人呢?

“杰——克!”

杰克盯著灌木叢頂一直看著。

那個(gè)神秘人，那個(gè)名字的首字母是M的人會(huì)不會(huì)正在看著他呢?

也許M想要回那個(gè)杰克在恐龍世界歷險(xiǎn)時(shí)找到的金獎(jiǎng)牌。也許他還想要回城堡之書(shū)里的皮書(shū)簽。

獎(jiǎng)牌上有一個(gè)字母M，書(shū)簽上也有。但M到底代表著什么呢?

“明天我就把所有的東西都還回來(lái)。”杰克大聲地說(shuō)。

一陣清風(fēng)吹過(guò)樹(shù)林，樹(shù)葉沙沙作響。

“來(lái)啊!”安妮喊道。

杰克回到那棵巨大的老橡樹(shù)前，抓住繩梯往上爬去。

到了繩梯頂，他鉆進(jìn)木地板上的洞，爬到了樹(shù)屋里面。他把背包往旁邊一扔，推了推眼鏡。

“嗯。今天會(huì)是哪本書(shū)呢?”安妮說(shuō)。

她一面說(shuō)著一面翻著樹(shù)屋里四散著的書(shū)籍。

安妮拿起那本關(guān)于城堡的書(shū)。

“嘿，已經(jīng)不濕了。”她說(shuō)。

“我看看。”

杰克從安妮手里拿過(guò)書(shū)。他簡(jiǎn)直驚訝極了。那本書(shū)看上去完好無(wú)損。而昨天它還被泡在城堡四周的護(hù)城河里呢。

上一次城堡之書(shū)把杰克和安妮帶回到騎士的時(shí)代。

杰克在心里默默地感謝著那個(gè)救了他們的神秘騎士。

“小心!”安妮警告說(shuō)。

她沖著杰克的臉揮了揮一本關(guān)于恐龍的書(shū)。

“把它放回去。”杰克說(shuō)。

前天，就是這本關(guān)于恐龍的書(shū)把他們帶到了恐龍的時(shí)代。

杰克又在心里默默地感謝著那只把他從霸王龍的爪子下救出來(lái)的無(wú)齒翼龍。

安妮把恐龍書(shū)放了回去。突然，她呼吸變得急促起來(lái)。

“哇。”她小聲說(shuō)，“你看這個(gè)。”

她拿起一本關(guān)于古代埃及的書(shū)。

杰克屏了口氣，從安妮手里接過(guò)書(shū)來(lái)。一個(gè)綠色的絲質(zhì)書(shū)簽從書(shū)里露了出來(lái)。

杰克把書(shū)翻到了夾著書(shū)簽的那一頁(yè)。那頁(yè)畫(huà)著一幅金字塔的圖畫(huà)。

一長(zhǎng)列隊(duì)伍正向金字塔走去。四只長(zhǎng)角的巨大母牛拉著一個(gè)滑橇，上面放著一個(gè)長(zhǎng)條形的金色箱子。一行埃及人走在滑橇后面，而隊(duì)伍的最后面是一只毛色光滑的黑貓。

“咱們?nèi)ツ莾喊伞?rdquo;安妮小聲地說(shuō)，“現(xiàn)在就去。”

“等等。”杰克說(shuō)。他還想再多研究一會(huì)兒這本書(shū)。

“是金字塔哦，杰克。”安妮說(shuō)，“你不是喜歡金字塔嗎。”

的確，金字塔是杰克的最?lèi)?ài)之一，僅次于騎士，勝過(guò)恐龍，而且勝過(guò)恐龍好多呢。

起碼他不需要擔(dān)心被金字塔吃掉。

“好吧。”他說(shuō)，“但是得帶著那本關(guān)于賓夕法尼亞的書(shū)，萬(wàn)一我們想立刻回到這里呢。”

安妮找到了那本有著他們家鄉(xiāng)圖片的書(shū)。正是賓夕法尼亞的蛙溪鎮(zhèn)。

然后，杰克便用手指著埃及書(shū)里的那幅金字塔圖片。他清了清嗓子說(shuō)：“我希望我們能到這個(gè)地方去。”

“喵!”

“什么東西?”杰克從樹(shù)屋的窗戶(hù)向外看去。

一只黑貓正停在窗外的一根樹(shù)枝上。那只貓正看著杰克和安妮。

這是杰克所見(jiàn)過(guò)的最奇怪的貓了。它毛色光滑，全身漆黑，有一雙明亮的黃眼睛，還戴著一個(gè)很寬的金色項(xiàng)圈。

“它就是那本埃及書(shū)里的貓。”安妮小聲說(shuō)。

就在這時(shí)，風(fēng)吹了起來(lái)，樹(shù)葉開(kāi)始搖擺。

“走咯!”安妮叫道。

風(fēng)聲越來(lái)越大，樹(shù)葉也搖擺得愈加猛烈了。

樹(shù)屋開(kāi)始打轉(zhuǎn)，杰克趕緊閉上了眼睛。

樹(shù)屋轉(zhuǎn)得越來(lái)越快，越來(lái)越快。

突然，一切都平靜了。

絕對(duì)的平靜。

四周一點(diǎn)聲音也沒(méi)有，任何細(xì)微的聲音都沒(méi)有。

杰克睜開(kāi)眼睛，熾熱而明亮的陽(yáng)光幾乎讓他什么也看不見(jiàn)了。

“喵!”

1 Meow!

“It’s still here，” said Jack.

“It looks empty，” said Annie.

Jack and his seven-year-old sister gazed up at a very tall oak tree. At the top of the tree 　was a tree house.

Late-morning sunlight lit the woods. It was almost time for lunch.

“Shhh!” said Jack. “What was that noise?”

“What noise?”

“I heard a noise，” Jack said. He looked around. “It sounded like someone coughing.”

“I didn’t hear anything，” said Annie. “Come on. Let’s go up.”

She grabbed onto the rope ladder and started climbing.

Jack tiptoed over to a clump of bushes. He pushed aside a small branch.

“Hello?” he said. “Anybody there?”

There was no answer.

“Come on!” Annie called down. “The tree house looks the same as it did yesterday.”

Jack still felt that someone was nearby. Could it be the person who’d put all the books in the tree house?

“Ja-ack!”

Jack gazed over the top of the bushes.

Was the mysterious person watching him now?The person whose name began with M?

Maybe M wanted the gold medallion back. The one Jack had found on their dinosaur adventure.

Maybe M wanted the leather bookmark back.The one from the castle book.

There was an M on the medallion. And an M on the bookmark. But what did M stand for?

“Tomorrow I’ll bring everything back，” Jack said loudly.

A breeze swept through the woods. The leaves rattled.

“Come on!” called Annie.

Jack went back to the big oak tree. He grabbed onto the rope ladder and climbed up.

At the top he crawled through a hole in the wooden floor. He tossed down his backpack and pushed his glasses into place.

“Hmmm. Which book is it going to be today?” said Annie.

She was looking at the books scattered around the tree house.

Annie picked up the book about castles.

“Hey， this isn’t wet anymore，” she said.

“Let me see.”

Jack took the book from her. He was amazed.It looked fine. Yesterday it had gotten soaked in acastle moat.

The castle book had taken Jack and Annie back to the time of knights.

Jack silently thanked the mysterious knight who had rescued them.

“Watch out!” warned Annie.

She waved a dinosaur book in Jack’s face.

“Put that away，” said Jack.

The day before yesterday the dinosaur book had taken them to the time of dinosaurs.

Jack silently thanked the Pteranodon who had saved him from a Tyrannosaurus rex.

Annie put the dinosaur book back with the other books. Then she gasped.

“Wow，” she whispered. “Look at this.”

She held up a book about ancient Egypt.

Jack caught his breath. He took the book from her. A green silk bookmark stuck out of it.

Jack turned to the page with the bookmark.There was a picture of a pyramid.

Going toward the pyramid was a long parade.Four huge cows with horns were pulling a sled. On the sled was a long gold box. Many Egyptians were walking behind the sled. At the end of the parade was a sleek black cat.

“let’s go there，” whispered Annie. “Now.”

“Wait，” said Jack.He wanted to study the book a bit more.

“Pyramids， Jack，” said Annie.“You love pyramids.”

It was true. Pyramids were high on his list of favorite things. After knights. But before 　dinosaurs. Way before dinosaurs.

He didn’t have to worry about being eaten by a pyramid.

“Okay，” he said. “But hold the Pennsylvania book. In case we want to come right back here.”

Annie found the book with the picture of their hometown in it. Frog Creek， Pennsylvania.

Then Jack pointed to the pyramid picture in the Egypt book. He cleared his throat and said，

“I wish we could go to this place.”

“Meow!”

“What was that?” Jack looked out the tree house window.

A black cat was perched on a branch.Right outside the window.The cat was staring at Jack and Annie.

It was the strangest cat Jack had ever seen.He was very sleek and dark.With bright yellow eyes. And a wide gold collar.

“It’s the cat in the Egypt book，” whispered Annie.

Just then the wind started to blow. The leaves began to shake.

“Here we go!” cried Annie.

The wind whistled louder.The leaves shook harder.

Jack closed his eyes as the tree house started to spin.

It spun faster and faster!And faster!

Suddenly everything was still.

Absolutely still.

Not a sound. Not a whisper.

Jack opened his eyes.

Hot bright sunlight nearly blinded him.

“Me-ow!”