兒童英語(yǔ)讀物《神奇樹(shù)屋》 第一冊(cè) Dinosaurs Before Dark 10

10黃昏前的家

一只小鳥(niǎo)歌唱起來(lái)。

杰克睜開(kāi)了雙眼。他的手指仍指著那幅有蛙溪樹(shù)林的畫(huà)。

他悄悄地從樹(shù)屋窗戶往外看。外面的景色與畫(huà)中的景色一模一樣。

“我們到家了。”安妮低聲說(shuō)。

傍晚的陽(yáng)光照射著樹(shù)林。太陽(yáng)快下山了。

時(shí)間仍停留在他們離開(kāi)的時(shí)刻。

“杰——克!安——妮!”遠(yuǎn)處傳來(lái)了喊聲。

“是媽媽。”安妮說(shuō)，手指著遠(yuǎn)處。

杰克看見(jiàn)了遠(yuǎn)處的媽媽。她站在他們房子的前面，看上去很小很小。

“安——妮!杰——克!”她喊著。

安妮把頭伸出窗外，叫嚷著：“來(lái)啦!”

杰克仍感到恍恍惚惚，他目不轉(zhuǎn)睛地看著安妮。

“到底發(fā)生了什么事?”他說(shuō)。

“一間神奇的樹(shù)屋帶我們進(jìn)行了一次旅行。”安妮簡(jiǎn)單地說(shuō)。

“但是現(xiàn)在和我們離開(kāi)時(shí)是同一時(shí)刻。”杰克說(shuō)。

安妮聳了聳肩。

“樹(shù)屋是怎么把我們帶到那么遠(yuǎn)的地方?”杰克說(shuō)，“那么古老的年代?”

“你剛好在看一本書(shū)，說(shuō)你希望去那兒。”安妮說(shuō)，“于是神奇的樹(shù)屋就把我們帶到了那兒。”

“但是怎么會(huì)這樣?”杰克說(shuō)，“誰(shuí)建造了這間神奇的樹(shù)屋?誰(shuí)把那些書(shū)放在了這里?”

“一個(gè)有魔法的人，我猜想。”安妮說(shuō)。

“一個(gè)有魔法的人?”

“啊，看。”杰克說(shuō)，“我?guī)缀醢堰@個(gè)給忘了。”他把手伸進(jìn)他的口袋里，掏出那塊金牌。“有人把這獎(jiǎng)牌丟失在那兒……在恐龍的地盤(pán)上?？?，在獎(jiǎng)牌上面有一個(gè)字母‘M’。”

安妮的雙眼睜圓了。“你認(rèn)為M指的就是有魔法的人?”她說(shuō)。

“我不知道。”杰克說(shuō)，“我只知道有人在我們之前去過(guò)那個(gè)地方。”

“杰——克!安——妮!”遠(yuǎn)處的喊聲又傳來(lái)了。

安妮把頭伸出窗外。“來(lái)——啦!”她大叫著。

杰克把那塊金牌放回口袋。

他從他的背包里掏出那本恐龍書(shū)，把它與其他書(shū)放在一起。

接著，他和安妮最后看了一眼樹(shù)屋。

“再見(jiàn)，樹(shù)屋。”安妮默默地說(shuō)。

杰克把背包掛在肩膀上。他指了指繩梯。

安妮開(kāi)始下繩梯。杰克跟在后面。

不大一會(huì)兒，他們跳到地面上，起步走出樹(shù)林。

“沒(méi)有人會(huì)相信我們的故事。”杰克說(shuō)。

“所以我們不要告訴任何人。”安妮說(shuō)。

“老爸不會(huì)相信的。”杰克說(shuō)。

“他會(huì)說(shuō)這是一個(gè)夢(mèng)。”安妮說(shuō)。

“老媽不會(huì)相信的。”杰克說(shuō)。

“她會(huì)說(shuō)這是編造出來(lái)的。”

“我的老師不會(huì)相信的。”杰克說(shuō)。

“她會(huì)說(shuō)你是傻帽。”安妮說(shuō)。

“我們最好不要告訴任何人。”杰克說(shuō)。

“我已經(jīng)那樣說(shuō)過(guò)了。”安妮說(shuō)。

杰克嘆了一口氣。“我想我自己也開(kāi)始不相信了。”他說(shuō)。

他們離開(kāi)了樹(shù)林，走上了通向家的街道。

當(dāng)他們走過(guò)街道旁的所有房子時(shí)，在恐龍時(shí)代旅行的經(jīng)歷越來(lái)越像是在夢(mèng)里了。

只有這個(gè)世界和這個(gè)時(shí)代似乎是真實(shí)的。

杰克把手伸進(jìn)口袋，緊緊握住金牌。

他摸到了鐫刻的字母M。這讓他的手指微微刺痛。

杰克笑了。他陡然間感到非常幸福。

他解釋不了今天所發(fā)生的一切。但是他堅(jiān)信他們?cè)谏衿鏄?shù)屋里的旅行曾經(jīng)確確實(shí)實(shí)地發(fā)生過(guò)。

完完全全是真的。

“明天，”杰克輕聲地說(shuō)，“我們?cè)偃?shù)林。”

“當(dāng)然啰。”安妮說(shuō)。

“而且我們還要爬上樹(shù)屋。”杰克說(shuō)。

“當(dāng)然啰。”安妮說(shuō)。

“我們要看看接下來(lái)會(huì)發(fā)生什么事。”杰克說(shuō)。

“當(dāng)然啰。”安妮說(shuō)，“我同你比賽!”

他們一起跑了起來(lái)，向自己的家奔去。

10 Home Before Dark

A bird began to sing.

Jack opened his eyes. He was still pointing at the picture of the Frog Creek woods.

He peeked out the tree house window. Outside he saw the exact same view.

“We’re home,”　whispered Annie.

The woods were lit with a golden late-afternoon light. The sun was about to set.

No time had passed since they’　d left.

“Ja-ack!An-nie!”　a voice called from the distance.

“That’s Mom,”　said Annie, Pointing.

Jack saw their mother far away. She was standing in front of their house.　She looked very tiny.

“An-nie!Ja-ack!”　she called.

Annie stuck her head out the window and shouted,“Come-ing!”

Jack still felt dazed. He just stared at Annie.

“What happened to us?” he said.

“We took a trip in a magic tree house,”　said Annie simply.

“But it’　s the same time as when we left,”said Jack.

Annie shrugged.

“And how did it take us so far away?” said Jack.“And so long ago?”

“You just looked at a book and said you wished we could go there,”

Said Annie.　“And the magic tree house took us there.”

“But how?”　said Jack.“And who built this magic tree house?Who put all these books here?”

“A magic person,I guess,”　said Annie.

A magic person?

“Oh, look,”　said Jack.　“I almost forgot about this.”He reached into his pocket and pulled out the gold medallion.“Someone lost this back there...　in dinosaur land. Look, there’s a letter M on it.”

Annie’s eyes got round. “You think M stands for magic person?” she said.

“I don’t know,” said Jack. “I just know someone went to that place before us.”

“Ja-ack!An-nie!” came the distant cry again.

Annie poked her head out the window. “Come-ing!”　she shouted.

Jack put the gold medallion back in his pocket.

He pulled the dinosaur book out of his pack. And put it back with all the other books.

Then he and Annie took one last look around the tree house.

“Good-bye, house,”　whispered Annie.

Jack slung his backpack over his shoulder. He pointed at the ladder.

Annie started down. Jack followed.

Seconds later they hopped onto the ground and started walking out of the woods.

“No one’s going to believe our story，”　said Jack.

“So let’s not tell anyone，”　said Annie.

“Dad won’t believe it，”　said Jack.

“He’ll say it was a dream，”　said Annie.

“Mom won’t believe it，”　said Jack.

“She’ll say it was pretend，”

“My teacher won’t believe it，”　said Jack.

“She’ll say you’re nuts，”　said Annie.

“We better not tell anyone，”　said Jack.

“I already said that，”　said Annie.

Jack sighed. “I think I’m starting to not believe it myself，”　he said.

They left the woods and started up the road toward their house.

As they walked past all the houses on their street， the trip to dinosaur time did seem more and more like a dream.

Only this world and this time seemed real.

Jack reached into his pocket. He clasped the gold medallion.

He felt the engraving of the letter M. It made Jack’s fingers tingle.

Jack laughed. Suddenly he felt very happy.

He couldn’t explain what had happened today. But he knew for sure that their trip in the magic tree house had been real.

Absolutely real.

“Tomorrow，”Jack said softly，“We’　ll go back to the woods.”

“Of course，” said Annie.

“And we’　ll climb up to the tree house，”　said Jack.

“Of course，”　said Annie.

“And we’　ll see what happens next，”said jack.

“Of course，”　said Annie. “Race you!”

And they took off together， running for home.