兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第八冊 Midnight on the Moon 02

2 Space Motel

Jack opened his eyes.

He looked out the window. The tree house had landed inside a large white room.

“What kind of training place is this?” asked Annie.

“I don’t know，” said Jack.

The room was round. It had no windows. It had white floors and a curved wall lit by bright lights.

“Hello!” Annie called.

There was no answer.

Where were all the astronauts and space scientists?Jack wondered.

“There’s nobody here，” said Annie.

“How do you know?” said Jack.

“I just feel it，” said Annie.

“We’d better find out where we are，”said Jack.

He looked at the page in the moon book. He read the words below the picture of the dome.

A moon base was built on the moon in the year 2031. The top of the dome slides open to let spacecrafts enter and leave.

“Oh，man—” Jack whispered.

“What’s wrong?” said Annie.

Jack’s heart pounded with excitement. He could hardly speak. “We’ve landed inside a moon base，” he said.

“So... ?” said Annie.

“So the moon base is on the moon!” said Jack.

Annie’s eyes widened. “We’re on the moon?” she asked.

Jack nodded. “The book says the moon base was built in the year 2031，” he said. “So this book was written after that!Which means this boo

k is from the future!”

“Oh，wow，” said Annie. “Morgan must have gone forward in time to borrow it from a future lib-rary. ”

“Right，” said Jack. “And now we’re in the future，on the moon. ”

Squeak，squeak!

Annie and Jack looked at Peanut. The mouse was running around in circles.

“Poor Peanut，” said Annie.

She tried to pick the mouse up. But peanut hid behind the mango on the letter M.

“Maybe she’s nervous about being on the moon，” said Annie.

“She’s not the only one，” said Jack. He let out a deep breath， then he pushed his glasses into place.

“So what’s a moon base?” asked Annie.

Jack looked at the book. He read aloud：

When scientists visit the moon for short periods，they eat and sleep in the moon base.

“A space motel!” said Annie.

“I guess，” said Jack. He read more：

The small base has a landing chamber and a room for storing spacesuits.

Air and temperature controls Make breathing possible.

“So that’s why we can breathe，” Jack said.

“Let’s explore，” said Annie. “We have to find the fourth thing for Morgan. ”

“No，first we should study this map，”said Jack. He pulled out his notebook.

“You study it，” said Annie.

Jack copied the map. Then he drew in the tree house.

“Okay，” he said. He pointed at the X in his drawing. “We’re here.”

Jack looked up. Annie was gone.

“Oh，brother，” Jack said. As usual，she had left without him. Before they could even make a plan.

Jack put the moon book and pencil into his pack. Carrying his notebook and backpack，he start-ed out the window.

Squeak!Squeak!

Jack looked back at Peanut. The mouse was running back and forth on the M.

“Stay here and be safe，” said Jack. “We’ll be back soon. ”

Jack swung himself over the window sill. His feet touched the floor of the landing chamber.

“Annie!” he called.

There was no answer.

Jack looked at his diagram.

It showed only one way to go. Jack walked along the curved white wall to the stairs.

He climbed the steps to a hallway.

“Jack—hurry!” Annie was at the end of the hallway，standing in the airlock. She peered out a window in a giant door.

Jack hurried toward her. Annie stepped aside so he could look out the window，too.

“Oh，man，” said Jack. What he saw took his breath away.

He stared at a rocky gray land. The land was filled with giant craters and tall mountains. The sun was shining. But the sky was ink-black!

“Say hi to the moon，”Annie said softly.

2太空旅館

杰克睜開眼睛。

他看了看窗外，樹屋已經(jīng)降落在一個(gè)寬敞的白色房間里。

“這是個(gè)什么訓(xùn)練中心?”安妮問。

“我也不知道。”杰克說。

房間是圓形的，沒有窗戶。房里燈光明亮，地板全是白色，墻壁也是弧形的。

“有人嗎?”安妮喊道。

沒人回答。

宇航員和宇航科學(xué)家都去哪里了呢?杰克琢磨著。

“這里沒人。”安妮說。

“你怎么知道的?”杰克問。

“我感覺到的。”安妮答道。

“我們還是看看這是哪里吧。”杰克說。

他開始讀那本關(guān)于月球的書里翻開的那一頁。在拱形建筑的圖片下面，他讀到這樣的話：

月球基地于2031年建成。拱頂可以開合，供宇宙飛船進(jìn)出。

“哦，天啊!”杰克小聲叫道。

“怎么了?”安妮問。

杰克的心因?yàn)榧佣吞饋?。他幾乎說不出話來。“我們已經(jīng)降落在月球基地了。”他說。

“就是說……?”安妮問。

“就是說這個(gè)月球基地就在月球上!”杰克說。

安妮睜大了雙眼。“我們在月球上了?”她問道。

杰克點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭。“書上說月球基地建于2031年。”他說，“那就是說這本書是在這個(gè)時(shí)間以后寫的!也就是說這本書來自于未來!”

“哦，天啊!”安妮說，“摩根一定是跨越了時(shí)間從未來的圖書館里借來的這本書。”

“是啊。”杰克說，“現(xiàn)在我們就在未來的月球上。”

吱吱，吱吱!

安妮和杰克看著花生，這小老鼠正繞著圈跑著。

“可憐的花生。”安妮說。

她試圖拎起小老鼠。但花生卻躲到了字母M上的芒果后面。

“也許它是因?yàn)榈搅嗽虑蚨o張吧。”安妮說。

“可不光它緊張。”杰克說著長舒了一口氣，推了推眼鏡。

“什么是月球基地呢?”安妮問。

杰克看了看書，大聲地讀道：

當(dāng)科學(xué)家短期造訪月球時(shí)，他們就在月球基地吃住。

“就是太空旅館!”安妮說。

“我猜是的。”杰克說著繼續(xù)讀道：

在這個(gè)小小的基地里，有降落艙和專門儲存宇航服的房間。室內(nèi)的空氣和溫度都控制在適合呼吸的水平。

“所以我們才能夠呼吸啊。”杰克說。

“我們開始找吧。”安妮說，“我們必須為摩根找到第四樣?xùn)|西。”

“不，我們得先研究一下這幅地圖。”杰克說著拿出了筆記本。

“你來研究。”安妮說。

杰克照著地圖畫了一遍，然后把樹屋也畫了上去。

“好了。”他說，他指著圖中打叉的地方說，“我們就在這里。”

杰克抬起頭，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)安妮不見了。

“哦，天啊。”杰克說。還是老樣子，她又一聲不吭地拋下了他，連計(jì)劃都還沒來得及制訂呢。

杰克把月球的書和鉛筆放回了背包。他拿著筆記本和背包爬出了窗戶。

吱吱!吱吱!

杰克回頭看看花生。那小老鼠正在字母M上來回跑著。

“呆在這，乖乖的。”杰克說，“我們馬上就回來。”

杰克跳過窗臺，落在了降落艙的地面上。

“安妮!”他大聲喊著。

沒人回答。

杰克看了看手上的圖。

看起來只有一條路可走。杰克沿著弧形的白墻向樓梯走去。

他爬上樓梯，來到一條走廊。

“杰克——快點(diǎn)!”安妮站在走廊另一頭的密封艙里，正從門上的窗戶往外看。

杰克趕緊朝她跑去。安妮往旁邊挪了挪，好讓杰克也能從窗戶往外看。

“哦，天啊。”杰克說。他看到的一切讓他吃驚極了。

他看到一片布滿巖石的灰土地。地上滿是巨大的環(huán)形山和高山。太陽高掛在漆黑的天空上。

“和月球打聲招呼吧。”安妮輕聲地說。