兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第七冊 Afternoon on the Amazon 04

4 Cave Kids

Jack and Annie crept to the cave and peeked inside.

A small flame danced from a bed of glowing coals.

Near the fire were knives，axes，and hollowed-out stones.

Animal skins were neatly stacked against the wall.

“People must live here，”said Annie.

“Maybe it’s the home of the Cro-Mag-nons we saw，”said Jack，looking around.

“Let’s go inside and get warm，”said Annie.

Jack and Annie moved quickly to the fire and warmed their hands.

Their shadows danced on the stone walls.

Jack pulled out his Ice Age book.He found a picture of a cave.He read:

Cro-Magnons made many things from animals，plants，and stone.They made flute-like musical instruments from mammoth bones.They made ropes by braiding plant fibers.They made axes and knives from stone.

Jack pulled out his notebook and pencil.He started a list:

Cro-Magnons made:

bone flutes

plant ropes

stone axes and knives

“Ta-da!”said Annie.

Jack looked up.Annie was wearing a coat.

It had a hood and long sleeves.It went all the way down to her sneakers.

“Where did you get that?”said Jack.

“From that pile of furry skins，”said Annie，pointing.“These must be their clothes.Maybe they’re being mended.”

She picked up another coat and handed it to Jack.

“Try one.It’s really warm，”she said.

Jack put his backpack and towel down on the hard dirt floor.He slipped on the coat.

It did feel very warm—and soft.

“We look like cave kids，”said Annie.

Squeak. Peanut peeked out of Jack’s pack lying on the floor.

“You stay in there，”said Annie.“There’s no teeny coat for you.”

Peanut vanished back into the pack.

“I wonder how they made these coats，”said Jack.

He turned the pages in the book until he found a picture of Cro-Magnon women sewing.He read:

Cro-Magnons scraped reindeer skins with flint rocks to make them soft.They used bone needles to sew the skins together for clothing.

Jack added to his list:

reindeer-skin clothes

“I hope the cave people won’t mind if we borrow their coats，”said Jack.

“Maybe we should give them our towels，”said Annie.“To thank them.”

“Good idea.”

“And my goggles，too，”said Annie.

They left their gifts on top of the rest of the animal skins.

“Let’s explore the cave before they come home，”said Jack.

“It’s too dark in the back，”said Annie.“We won’t be able to see anything.”

“I’ll find out how Cro-Magnons saw in the dark，”said Jack.

He opened the Ice Age book.he found a picture of cave people holding odd-looking lamps.He read aloud to Annie:

Cro-Magnons made stone lamps.They hollowed out a rock，filled it with animal fat，then burned a wick made from moss.

“There!”said Annie.She pointed to two stones near the fire.In the hollow of each was gooey white stuff and a pile of moss.

“We have to be careful，”said Jack.

He picked up one stone.It was smaller than a soup bowl，but much heavier.

Jack held the stone close to the fire and lit the piece of moss.

He lit another lamp and gave it to Annie.

“Carry it with two hands，”he said.

“I know，”she said.

Jack tucked the book under his arm.He and Annie carried their stone lamps to the back of the cave.

“Hey，I wonder where this goes，”said Annie.She held her lamp up to an opening in the wall.

“I’ll check in the book，”said Jack.

He put down his lamp and flipped through the Ice Age book.

“I think it’s a tunnel，”she said.“Be right back.”

“Wait a second，”said Jack.

Too late—she had squeezed into the opening and was gone.

“Oh brother，”said Jack，sighing.

He closed his book and peeked into the opening.

“Come back here!”he said.

“No!you come here!”said Annie. Her voice sounded far away.“You won’t believe this!”

Jack picked up his lamp and book.He ducked into a small tunnel.

“Wow!”came Annie’s voice.

Jack could see her lamp flickering at the other end.

Crouching down，he hurried toward her.At the end of the tunnel was a huge cavern with a high ceiling.

Annie held her lamp close to the wall.

“Look，”she said.Her voice echoed.

Animals were painted on the wall in strokes of red and black and yellow.

There were cave bears and lions，elk and reindeer，bison and woolly rhinos and mammoths.

In the flickering light，the prehistoric beasts looked alive.

4洞穴小孩兒

杰克和安妮躡手躡腳地走到洞口，悄悄地往里面看。

一團小小的火焰在燃燒著的木炭堆中跳動。

火堆的旁邊放著刀、斧還有挖空的石頭。

靠墻整整齊齊地堆著動物的毛皮。

“肯定有人住在這兒。”安妮說。

“也許這就是我們看見的那幾個克羅馬農(nóng)人的家。”杰克說著，看了看周圍。

“讓我們進去暖和暖和。”安妮說。

杰克和安妮飛快地跑到火旁，暖了暖雙手。

他們的身影在石墻上舞動。

杰克攤開冰河時代那本書。他找到畫有一個洞穴的畫，讀道：

克羅馬農(nóng)人利用動物、植物和石頭制造了許許多多的物品。他們用猛犸骨頭制造笛子一樣的樂器，他們用植物纖維編織繩索，他們用石頭制造石斧和石刀。

杰克拿出筆記本和鉛筆，列了一張表：

克羅馬農(nóng)人制造：

骨笛

草繩

石斧和石刀

“嗒——噠!”安妮叫了一聲。

杰克抬頭看去。安妮正在穿一件外套。

那件衣服有兜帽和長長的袖子。衣服從頭罩到腳，一直到罩住她的球鞋。

“你從哪兒弄到這件衣服的?”杰克說。

“從那堆皮毛里。”安妮指著說，“這些肯定是他們的衣服。也許正在修補，所以留在洞里。”

她撿起另一件外套遞給杰克。

“試試吧，可暖和啦。”她說。

杰克把背包和浴巾放在硬邦邦的污土地上，把外套穿了起來。

這外套摸上去十分的暖和——而且十分的柔軟。

“我們看上去就像洞穴小孩兒。”安妮說。

吱吱。花生從地上的背包里探出頭來偷看。

“你就呆在里面。”安妮說，“沒有適合你的小外套呀。”

花生把頭縮進背包里。

“我很奇怪，這些外套他們是怎樣做的。”杰克說。

他翻了幾頁書，找到了一幅克羅馬農(nóng)女人縫制衣服的畫。他讀道：

克羅馬農(nóng)人用燧石摩擦馴鹿皮，使它們變?nèi)彳洝Ｋ麄冇霉轻槹疡Z鹿皮縫制成衣服。

杰克在筆記本上又加上一條：

馴鹿皮衣服

“我希望洞穴人不介意我們借穿他們的外套。”杰克說。

“也許我們應(yīng)該把我們的浴巾送給他們。”安妮說，“就當(dāng)謝謝他們。”

“好主意。”

“再加上我的護目鏡。”安妮說。

他們把禮物放在剩下的動物皮上面。

“在他們回家之前，我們先探查一下洞穴吧。”杰克說。

“洞穴的深處太黑了。”安妮說，“在里面我們什么也看不見。”

“我來查查看克羅馬農(nóng)人在黑暗中是怎樣看東西的。”杰克說。

他打開冰河時代那本書，找到一幅洞穴人手持形狀古怪的燈的畫。他大聲讀給安妮聽：

克羅馬農(nóng)人制造了石燈。他們在一塊石頭上鑿一個槽，灌滿動物的油脂，然后點燃用苔蘚制的燈芯。

“那兒!”安妮說。她指著火堆旁邊的兩塊石頭。在每塊石頭的凹槽中盛滿了白色的膩糊糊的東西和一堆苔蘚。

“我們得小心一點呀。”杰克說。

他拿起一塊石頭。它比一個湯缽要小一點，但重得多。

杰克端著石燈靠近火旁，點燃了苔蘚。

他點燃另一盞石燈，交給了安妮。

“用兩只手端著它。”他說。

“我知道。”她說。

杰克把書夾在腋下。他和安妮端著燈，向洞穴的深處走去。

“喂，我想知道這洞通往何處。”安妮說。她端著燈向石墻上的一個口子走去。

“我先查查書。”杰克說。

他放下石燈，嘩嘩地翻動冰河時代那本書的書頁。

“我認為這是一條通道。”她說，“我馬上就回來。”

“等一下。”杰克說。

太遲了——她已經(jīng)從口子擠了進去，不見了。

“哎，這家伙。”杰克說著，嘆了一口氣。

他合上書，從口子往里張望。

“快回這兒來!”他喊道。

“不!你上這兒來!”安妮說。她的聲音好像在遠處。“你肯定不會相信這些的!”

杰克拾起燈和書，低下頭鉆進窄窄的通道。

“哇噻!”安妮的叫聲傳來。

杰克能看見安妮的燈光在另一端的盡頭閃爍。

他彎下腰，急匆匆地向她走去。通道的盡頭是一個有著高高頂部的巨大洞穴。

安妮把燈舉到石壁跟前。

“看。”她說。她的聲音在洞穴中回響。

石壁上有用紅色、黑色和黃色顏料一筆筆畫上去的動物。

有洞穴熊和獅子，有麋鹿和馴鹿，有野牛、毛犀牛還有猛犸。

在閃閃爍爍的燈光下，這些史前時代的野獸看上去像活的一樣。