兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第一冊 Dinosaurs Before Dark 02

2大妖怪

杰克從樹屋地板上的一個洞里爬了進去。

哇噻!樹屋里的確堆滿了書，到處都是書。有封面上積滿厚厚灰塵的很老很老的舊書，也有封面嶄新閃著光澤的很新很新的新書。

“看!你能看得很遠很遠。”安妮說著，從樹屋的窗口向外望去。

杰克同她一起向外望去。俯瞰下去，是其他樹木的樹梢。在遠處，他看見蛙溪鎮(zhèn)的圖書館、小學，還有公園。

安妮指向另外一邊。

“那是我們的家。”她說。

千真萬確。那正是他們的家，就是那個有著綠色走廊的白色木頭房子。隔壁是他們鄰居家的黑狗——亨利。它看上去小得可憐。

“喂，亨利!”安妮大聲喊道。

“噓!”杰克說，“我們可是這兒的不速之客。”

他又掃視了一下樹屋。

“我想知道這些書的主人是誰。”他說。他發(fā)現(xiàn)很多書里插著書簽。

“我喜歡這本書。”安妮說。她抱起一本封面上有一座城堡的書。

“這兒有一本關于賓夕法尼亞的書。”杰克說。他翻到插有書簽的那一頁。

“嗨，這里有一幅蛙溪鎮(zhèn)的畫。”杰克說，“畫的正是這里——蛙溪樹林!”

“喂!這兒有一本書給你。”安妮說。她舉起一本恐龍的書。藍色的絲綢書簽從書頁里露出頭來。

“讓我看看，讓我看看!”杰克放下他的背包，從安妮手中奪過那本書。

“你就看看這本，我要看看封面有城堡的那本。”安妮說。

“不行，我們還是別亂翻了。”杰克說，“我們還不知道這些書的主人是誰呢。”

盡管他嘴上這么說著，還是忍不住把恐龍書翻到插有書簽的那一頁。他實在是控制不住自己。

他翻到會飛的古代爬行動物那頁——無齒翼龍。

他摸了摸那巨型的像蝙蝠一樣的翅膀。

“哇噻。”杰克嘟嘟噥噥地說，“我多么希望能看看真的無齒翼龍啊!”

杰克仔細看著這幅畫，看著畫中盤旋在空中的奇異動物。

“啊!”安妮尖叫著。

“怎么啦?”杰克問。

“大妖怪!”安妮大叫著。她指著樹屋的窗戶。

“別裝神弄鬼的，安妮。”杰克說。

“不，是真的!”安妮說。

杰克朝窗外看去。

一個巨型動物正在林梢之上滑翔!它有一個又長又怪的頭冠長在腦袋后面，一個皮包骨頭的喙，還有一雙巨大的蝙蝠一樣的雙翼!

這真是一只活生生的無齒翼龍!

它劃破長空，徑直朝樹屋沖來?？瓷先ゾ拖褚患芑铏C!

大風吹了起來。

樹葉顫動不已。

這個動物突然扶搖直上，沖入云霄。杰克想看清楚這個動物，差點兒從窗戶跌了下去。

風吹得更緊了，發(fā)出呼嘯聲。

樹屋開始打轉。

“怎么回事?”杰克呼叫著。

“快下去!”安妮大喊著。

她把他從窗口拉了回來。

樹屋不停地旋轉著，轉得越來越快。

杰克緊緊地閉住雙眼，緊緊地抓著安妮。

然后一切都平靜了。

絕對的平靜。

杰克睜開了雙眼。陽光從樹屋的窗戶斜斜地照射進來。

安妮還在，書還在，他的背包還在。

樹屋仍舊架在橡樹上。

不過，這不是同一棵橡樹。

2 The Monster

Jack crawled through a hole in the tree house floor.

Wow. The tree house was filled with books. Books everywhere. Very old

books with dusty covers. New books with shiny, bright covers.　“Look. You can see far, far away,” said Annie. She was peering out the tree house window.

Jack looked out the window with her. Down below were the tops of the other trees. In the distance he saw the Frog Creek library. The element ary school. The park.

Annie pointed in the other direction.

“There’s our house，”　she said.

Sure enough. There was their white wooden house with the green porch.

Next door was their neighbor’s black dog，Henry. He looked very tiny.

“Hi，Henry!”　shouted Annie.

“Shush!”　said Jack. “We’re not supposed to be up here.”

He glanced around the tree house again.

“I wonder who owns all these books，”he said. He noticed bookmarks were sticking out of many of them.

“I like this one，”　said Annie. She held up a book with a castle on　　the cover.

“Here’　s a book about Pennsylvania，”said Jack. He turned to the page with the bookmark.

“Hey，there’　s a picture of Frog Creek in here，” said Jack. “It’s a picture of these woods!”

“Oh，here’s a book for you，”said Annie. She held up a book about dinosaurs. A blue silk bookmark was sticking out of it.

“Let me see it.” Jack set down his backpack and grabbed the book from her.

“You look at that one，and I’　ll look at the one about castles，”said Annie.

“No，We better not，”　said Jack. “We don’t know who these books belong to.”

But even as he said this，Jack opened the dinosaur book to where the b

ookmark was. He couldn’t help himself.

He turned to a picture of an ancient flying reptile. A Pteranodon.

He touched the huge bat-like wings.

“Wow，” whispered Jack. “I wish I could see a Pteranodon for real.”

Jack studied the picture of the odd-looking creature soaring through the sky.

“Ahhh!”　screamed Annie.

“What?” said Jack.

“A monster!”　Annie cried. She pointed to the tree house window.

“Stop pretending，Annie”，　said Jack.

“No，really!”　said Annie.

Jack looked out the window.

A giant creature was gliding above the treetops!He had a long， weird

crest on the back of his head. A skinny beak. And huge bat-like wings!

It was a real live Pteranodon!

The creature curved through the sky. He was coming straight toward the

tree house. He looked like a glider plane!

The wind began to blow.

The leaves trembled.

Suddenly the creature soared up. High into the sky. Jack nearly fell o

ut the window trying to see it.

The wind picked up. It was whistling now.

The tree house started to spin.

“What’s happening?” cried Jack.

“Get down!”　shouted Annie.

She pulled him back from the window.

The tree house was spinning. Faster and faster.

Jack squeezed his eyes shut. He held on to Annie.

Then everything was still.

Absolutely still.

Jack opened his eyes. Sunlight slanted through the window.

There was Annie.The books. His backpack.

The tree house was still high up in an oak tree.

But it wasn’t the same oak tree.