兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第十冊 Ghost Town at Sundown 02

2 Rattlesnake Flats

The air was hot and dry.

Jack and Annie peeked outside.

The tree house had landed in a lone tree on a prairie.The sun was low in the sky.

Right in front of them was the town from the cover of the book.In real life it looked empty and spooky.

To one side of the town was a patch of ground with several tombstones.

“That’s creepy，” said Annie.

“Yeah，” said Jack. He took a deep breath. “What’s our riddle say?”

Annie held up the ancient scroll. She unrolled it. Then she and Jack read together:

Out of the blue， my lonely voicecalls out to you.

Who am I?Am I?

Jack pushed his glasses into place and read the riddle again to himself.

“There must be a mistake，” he said. “‘Am I?’is written twice.”

“Well， I don’t hear any voices now，” Annie said as she looked out the window.

There were no human sounds at all—only the buzzing of flies and the whistling of the dry wind.

“Let’s look at the book，” Jack said.

He opened the book. The pages were yellow with age. He found a picture of the town and read the words beneath it out loud：

In the 1870s， Rattlesnake Flats was a rest stop for the stagecoach that carried passengers from Santa Fe， New Mexico， to Fort Worth， Texas.When the creek dried up， everyone left.By 1880， it was a “ghost town.”

“Wow， a ghost town，” said Annie， her eyes wide.

“Let’s take a quick look around，” said Jack.“So we can leave before dark.”

“Right，” said Annie. “Let’s hurry.” She started down the rope ladder.

Jack put the old book into his pack. Then he followed Annie down the ladder.

They stood by the tree and looked about. Tumbleweeds blew across the dry ground.

Suddenly something jumped past them.

“Yikes!” they both said.

But it was just a rabbit—a lone， long-legged rabbit hopping past them.

“Hey， he’s just like that rabbit we saw at home，” said Jack.

“Yeah， that rabbit must have been a sign of things to come，” said Annie.

The rabbit hopped across the prairie and out of sight.

“I’d better take notes，” said Jack.

He reached into his backpack and took out his notebook and pencil.

He wrote：rabbits with long legs

“What’s that sound?” said Annie.

“What sound?” asked Jack.

“That rattling sound!” said Annie.

Jack looked up. “What?” he said.

“There!” Annie pointed to a rattlesnake. It was about a hundred feet away. It was coiled up and rattling.

Jack took one look at the snake and ran. Annie ran， too. They ran past the graveyard and right into the ghost town.

“I guess that’s why this town is called Rattlesnake Flats，”said Annie when they stopped.

Jack looked around. The town was hardly big enough to call a town. There was one unpaved street and a few old buildings.

It was quiet， too quiet.

“Look， a store，” said Annie.

She pointed to a building. The faded sign said GENERAL STORE. “Let’s look inside. Maybe the answer to the riddle is in there.”

Jack and Annie stepped onto the porch.The wooden boards creaked loudly. The door had fallen off its hinges. They peeked inside.

The air was thick with dust. Spider webs hung from the ceiling.

“Maybe we shouldn’t go in，” said Jack.

“But what if the answer’s here?” said Annie.“Let’s just take a quick look.”

Jack took a deep breath. “Okay.”

He and Annie tiptoed into the store.

“Look，” said Annie. She picked up a pair of rusty spurs.

“Careful，” said Jack. He poked at other stuff in the store—an old feed sack， a rusted tin cup， a faded calendar dated 1878.

“Oh， wow，” said Annie.She held up two cowboy hats. She put one on and handed the other one to Jack. “For you.”

“It’s too dusty，” said Jack.

“Just blow on it，” said Annie.

Jack blew on his hat.A cloud of dust rose up.Jack sneezed.

“Just try it on!” said Annie.

Jack put the hat on. It nearly covered his eyes.

“Boots!” said Annie. She pointed to a row of cowboy boots on a shelf.“There are even some small ones， like our sizes. Here’s a pair for you.” She handed the boots to Jack.

“They’re not ours，” he said.

“I know， but just try them on，” said Annie.

Jack turned his boots upside down and shook them as hard as he could.

“What are you doing?” Annie asked， pulling on another pair of boots.

“Checking for scorpions，” Jack said.

“Ja-ack.” Annie laughed.“Try them on!”

Jack sighed.He pulled off his sneakers.He pushed his feet into the boots. He pushed and pushed. The boots were really stiff. Finally he got his feet inside. Then he tried to walk.

“Owww!” he said. “Forget it.” He started to pull off the boots.

“What’s that?” Annie said.

Jack froze.

“Piano music，” said Annie. “Maybe it’s the voice in the riddle!Come on!”

Jack threw his sneakers into his backpack and hobbled after Annie.

2響尾蛇淺灘

空氣又干又熱。

杰克和安妮偷偷地向外張望著。

樹屋停在了一片大草原上惟一的一棵樹上。太陽低低地掛在空中。

他們眼前正是那本書封面所畫的小鎮(zhèn)。在現(xiàn)實之中，這個小鎮(zhèn)看起來空蕩蕩的，顯得非常詭異。

小鎮(zhèn)的一邊是一片只有幾塊墓碑的墓地。

“好嚇人啊。”安妮說。

“是啊。”杰克回應道。他深深地吸了口氣。“咱們的謎語里寫了些什么?”

安妮舉起古卷軸，展開了它，并和杰克一起讀道：

從藍色之中，

我孤寂的聲音

向你呼喚。

我是誰?是誰?

杰克推了推眼鏡，又重新默讀了一遍謎語。

“一定是寫錯了。”他說，“‘是誰’寫了兩遍。”

“我什么也沒聽到啊。”安妮一面說一面向窗外看去。

一點人聲也沒有——只有蒼蠅的嗡嗡聲和四周干燥大風發(fā)出的哨音。

“咱們看看那本書吧。”杰克說。

他打開書。書的紙張已經(jīng)因為日久年深而泛黃。杰克找到了一幅小鎮(zhèn)的圖畫，開始大聲讀圖畫下面的文字：

在19世紀70年代，響尾蛇淺灘是由新墨西哥的桑塔非到得克薩斯的沃思堡的馬車必經(jīng)的一個驛站。隨著小溪的干涸，所有的人都離開了。到1880年，這里已經(jīng)成了一個“幽靈鎮(zhèn)”。

“哇，幽靈鎮(zhèn)!”安妮叫道，眼睛睜得大大的。

“咱們趕緊四處看看。”杰克說，“快點解開謎題就可以在天黑之前回去了。”

“好的。”安妮說，“趕快。”她說著就開始沿著繩梯往下爬。

杰克把那本古老的書放回背包，然后也跟著安妮爬下了梯子。

他們站在樹下，四周看看。風滾草被風吹得在干燥的土地上四處飄蕩。

突然，什么東西從他們面前跳了過去。

“哎呀!”杰克和安妮同時喊道。

那只是一只兔子——一只長腿的兔子從他們面前跳了過去。

“嘿，它和我們在家里看見的那只兔子好像是一樣的哦。”杰克說。

“是啊，這兔子一定意味著有什么東西要出現(xiàn)了。”安妮回答。

兔子蹦跳著越過大草原，很快就不見了蹤影。

“我看我最好還是做點兒筆記。”杰克說。

他把手伸進背包，拿出了筆記本和鉛筆，寫道：

長腿的兔子

“那是什么聲音?”安妮問。

“什么聲音?”杰克問她。

“一種喀噠喀噠的聲音。”安妮回答說。

杰克抬起頭，說：“什么啊?”

“在那兒!”安妮指著大約100英尺(1英尺=0.3048米)開外的一條響尾蛇。它

蜷曲著身體，發(fā)出喀噠喀噠的聲音。

杰克看了一眼那條蛇，拔腿就跑。安妮也跟著跑了起來。他們跑過了墓地，一直跑進了幽靈鎮(zhèn)。

“我猜是因為這個，這個小鎮(zhèn)才被稱為響尾蛇淺灘的。”當他們停下來時安妮這樣說。

杰克向四周看看。小鎮(zhèn)很小，幾乎不能算是一個鎮(zhèn)。只有一條沒有鋪好的馬路和幾座老房子。

四周非常安靜，簡直是太安靜了。

“看，那有一家小店。”安妮說。

她指著一座房子，那里掛著一個褪了色的招牌，上面寫著“通用商店”。“咱們進去看看吧。也許里面有謎語的答案呢。”

杰克和安妮走到房子的門廊。腳下的木板吱吱作響。房門已經(jīng)快要從合頁上掉下來了。他們偷偷地往里看去。

只見空氣混濁、滿是灰塵。蜘蛛網(wǎng)從屋頂一直掛下來。

“也許我們還是不進去的好。”杰克說。

“但是如果答案就在里面怎么辦?”安妮說，“咱們就很快地看一圈吧。”

杰克深吸一口氣說：“好吧。”

杰克和安妮踮著腳尖躡手躡腳地走進了房子。

“你看。”安妮說。她撿起了一對已經(jīng)生銹的馬刺。

“小心。”杰克說。他撥了撥店里的其他一些東西——一個喂牲口用的舊麻袋，一個銹跡斑斑的錫杯子和一本早已褪色的1878年的日歷。

“哦，哇。”安妮叫著。她手里舉著兩頂牛仔帽。自己戴上了一頂，把另一頂給了杰克，“給你的。”

“那么多灰。”杰克說。

“吹吹就好了。”安妮答道。

杰克吹了吹帽子上的灰，立刻一團塵霧揚起。杰克不禁打了個噴嚏。

“戴上試試看!”安妮嚷著。

杰克戴上了帽子，帽子幾乎蓋住了他的眼睛。

“靴子!”安妮說著指著一個架子上的一排牛仔靴。“還有小的呢，好像正是我們的碼，這雙給你。”她說著遞給了杰克一雙靴子。

“這又不是我們的。”杰克說。

“我知道，就試試嘛。”安妮回答。

杰克把靴子倒過來，拼命地晃著。

“你干什么呢?”安妮問，一面使勁往自己腳上穿著一對靴子。

“看看有沒有蝎子。”杰克回答說。

“杰——克!”安妮大笑起來。“穿上吧。”

杰克嘆了口氣，脫下了腳上的球鞋。他把腳塞進靴子，使勁地塞啊塞啊。靴子很緊。好不容易把腳塞了進去，杰克試著走了走。

“嗷!”他叫了起來。“算了吧。”他開始脫靴子。

突然安妮叫道：“聽，是什么聲音?”

杰克愣住了。

“是鋼琴聲。”安妮說，“也許這就是謎語里所說的聲音!快來!”

杰克趕緊把自己的球鞋扔進背包，一瘸一拐地跟在安妮后面。