兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第六冊 Afternoon on the Amazon 05

5 Pretty fish

Squeak.

Annie patted the little mouse in her pocket.

“It’s okay，Peanut. The ants can’t get us in the river. We’re safe，” she said.

“Maybe safe from the ants，” said Jack. “But where is this canoe going?”

Jack and Annie stared at the river. Branches spread over the water. Vines and mosses hung down from them.

“We’d better look this up，” said Jack. He pulled the rain forest book out of his backpack and flipped through it.

Soon he found a picture of a river. He read：

The Amazon River stretches over 4 000 miles from the mountains of Peru， across Brazil， to the Atlantic Ocean. The river basin contains over half of the rain forests in the world.

Jack looked at Annie. “We’re on the Amazon River，” he said. “It’s more than four thousand miles long!”

“Wow，” Annie whispered. She looked at the river. She trailed her hand through the water.

“I have to make some notes—” Jack said. He pulled his notebook out of his pack. He wrote：

The　Amazon　rain　forest　is

“Jack， look at those pretty fish with the teeth，” said Annie.

“What?” Jack glanced up from his writing.

Annie was pointing at some blue fish swimming near the boat. The fish had red bellies and razor-sharp teeth.

“Watch it!” cried Jack. “Those aren’t pretty fish. They’re piranhas! They’ll eat anything! Even people!”

“Yikes，” whispered Annie.

“We better get back on shore，”said Jack， putting the books in his backpack.

“How?” said Annie. “We can’t go in the water now. And we don’t have any paddles.”

Jack tried to stay calm. “We need a plan，” he said.

Jack stared at the river. The canoe would soon float under some vines.

“I’ll grab a vine，” said Jack. “And pull us to shore.”

“Good idea，” said Annie.

As they glided under the branches， Jack stood up.

The canoe rocked. He nearly fell out.

“Balance the canoe，” said Jack.

Annie leaned to one side. Jack reached—he missed!

The canoe floated under more branches.

Jack reached for another thick vine.

He grabbed it!

It was cold and scaly. It wiggled and jerked!

“Ahhh!” Jack screamed and fell back into the canoe.

The vine was alive!

It was a long green snake!

The snake fell from the tree. It splashed into the water and swam away.

“Oh， man，” said Jack.

He and Annie stared in horror at each other.

“What now?” said Annie， making a face.

“Well...” Jack looked at the river. There were no vines up ahead. But there was a big branch floating on the water.

“Grab that branch near you，”said Jack. “Maybe we can use it for a paddle.”

The canoe floated closer to the branch. Annie reached for it.

Suddenly the branch rose into the air!

It was a crocodile!

“Help!” screamed Annie， and she fell back into the canoe.

The crocodile opened and closed its huge， long jaws. Then it moved past the canoe and swam up the river.

“Oh， man，” whispered Jack.

A screeching sound split the air.

Jack and Annie jumped.

“Help!” said Jack.

He expected to see another terrible creature.

But all he saw was a small brown monkey， hanging by its tail from a tree.

5漂亮的魚

吱吱。吱吱。

安妮拍了拍在她口袋里的小老鼠。

“沒事了，花生。那些螞蟻不會(huì)追到河里來的，我們安全了。”她說。

“我們也許是逃脫了螞蟻。”杰克說，“可是這舟要漂到哪里去呢?”

他們盯著河面，樹枝在河面上空四處伸展著，樹藤和苔蘚在樹枝上垂掛著。

“我們最好查查書。”杰克說。他把書從背包里抽出來，在里面翻著，馬上就發(fā)現(xiàn)了一張河流的圖片。他讀道：

亞馬孫河蜿蜒4 000英里[注]，從秘魯?shù)纳矫}發(fā)源，貫穿巴西，一直匯聚到大西洋。該河流域范圍內(nèi)有著占全世界一半以上的熱帶雨林。

杰克看著安妮說：“我們在亞馬孫河上呢!它有4 000多英里長呢!”

“哇塞!”安妮小聲道。她看著河水，把手指伸進(jìn)水里拖著。

“我得做點(diǎn)筆記。”杰克說。他從包里抽出他的筆記本，寫道：

亞馬遜熱帶雨林很

“杰克，你看那些漂亮的長著牙的魚!”安妮說。

“什么?”杰克停下筆抬頭瞥了一眼。

安妮正指著一些在船旁邊游動(dòng)的藍(lán)色的魚。那些魚長著紅色的腹部和像刀片一樣鋒利的牙齒。

“小心!”杰克喊道，“那可不是什么漂亮的魚!它們是食人魚!它們會(huì)吃任何東西，包括人!”

“我的媽呀!”安妮小聲說。

“我們最好還是上岸去。”杰克邊說邊把書放回了背包。

“怎么上去?”安妮說，“我們現(xiàn)在不能下水，又沒有槳!”

杰克努力讓自己保持鎮(zhèn)靜，“我們需要有個(gè)計(jì)劃。”他說。

杰克仔細(xì)觀察著河面，獨(dú)木舟很快就將漂到一些樹藤的下面。

“我會(huì)抓住一根樹藤。”杰克說，“然后把我們拖到岸邊。”

“好主意!”安妮說。

當(dāng)他們漂到樹枝下面的時(shí)候，杰克站了起來。那獨(dú)木舟晃動(dòng)了一下，他差點(diǎn)掉到河里。

“保持平衡!”杰克說。

安妮把身體傾向了另一邊，杰克伸出手去，他失手了!

獨(dú)木舟漂到了更多樹枝下面，杰克伸出手去抓另一個(gè)特別粗的樹藤。

他抓住了!

那樹藤冷冷的，還是鱗狀，突然搖擺晃動(dòng)了起來!

“啊!!”杰克尖叫著跌回到獨(dú)木舟中。

那個(gè)樹藤是活的!

那是一條綠色的長蛇!

那蛇從樹上掉了下來，濺到水里游不見了。

“噢，我的老天!”杰克說。

他和安妮驚恐萬狀地盯著對方。

“現(xiàn)在該怎么辦?”安妮做著鬼臉說。

“現(xiàn)在……”杰克看了看河水，前面已經(jīng)沒有樹藤了，但是水面上漂著一根很大的樹枝。

“抓住你身邊的那個(gè)樹枝。”杰克說，“沒準(zhǔn)兒我們可以拿它當(dāng)槳。”

獨(dú)木舟慢慢地漂向了那個(gè)樹枝，安妮伸手去抓它。

突然間，那個(gè)樹枝向空中騰升起來!

是一只鱷魚!

“救命啊!”安妮尖叫著跌到舟里。

那鱷魚張開又合上了它那又大又長的嘴，然后游過獨(dú)木舟向河的上游游去了。

“噢，我的天。”杰克小聲說。

一道尖叫聲劃破長空。杰克和安妮跳了起來。

“救命!”杰克喊道。他以為會(huì)再看到什么可怕的動(dòng)物。

可是他看見的只是一只棕色的小猴子，用尾巴倒掛在樹上。