雙語讀電影 《恐龍當(dāng)家》第15章 :聽著，孩子，你無法擺脫恐懼。

As the big moon glowed above, Arlo, Spot, Nash, Ramsey, and Butch sat around a crackling campfire. Nash blew a tune on a bug harmonica while Ramsey played with Spot. She held a stick while Spot chased it around and tugged on it, growling and loving every second. Ramsey pulled back on the stick, and Spot held on so tightly that when she raised the stick up, she hoisted him into the air. Then he started chewing on her arm. “Aren’t you the cutest?” Ramsey said, chuckling.

“You and that critter showed real grit today,” Butch said.

Arlo couldn’t help but smile.

Nash stopped playing the harmonica and held it up. He asked Arlo if he would trade Spot for it.

“Thanks, but Spot ain’t for tradin’,” said Arlo.

“Your loss,” said Nash. Then he tossed the bug into his mouth and ate it.

Arlo’s forearm throbbed with pain. He touched the small bruise and cut, checking out its severity. Ramsey took a look at it and gently said, “That’s a good one. Gonna scar up real good.”

“That’s nothing!” said Nash. “Look at this!” he lifted his foot and held up his leg, showing off an ugly scar on his calf. “I run into fifteen outlaw Steggos,” he said, getting into the story. “They were all bigger ’n me. An’ meaner than me.”

“What happened?” Arlo asked, intrigued.

“Fought ’em off of course! Was winn’ too, then one gets his dang spiky tail stuck in my foot, and pulls.”

“Woah.” Arlo was impressed.

Nash put his foot right into the campfire. “Still can’t feel my toes,” he said, holding his foot over the dancing flames and wiggling his toes.

Then Ramsey shared a story. “Once, a stampede of longhorns was comin’ right at me. But my tail was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I was dead for sure.” She whipped her tail around, revealing nothing but a short nub. “So I chewed the dang thing off!” She and Nash howled with laughter.

“Who does that? Nobody does that.” Nash said through his laughter.

Arlo stared at Ramsey’s chewed tail in shock. She held it up, close to his face, and he pretended to laugh along with them. But then he pushed it aside with an uncomfortable chuckle.

Arlo turned to Butch and asked him how he got his scar.

“I don’t know if you’re ready for that story,” said Butch ominously.

“I can take it,” answered Arlo.

Nash and Ramsey excitedly asked Butch to tell the story. It was one of their favorites. “That’s a good one!” said Ramsey.

Butch turned his head to show off the huge scar along the side of his face. It looked even meaner in the firelight. Butch cleared his throat and began telling his tale.

“It was a hundred degrees in the shade. I walked for five days with no water. Then I saw it. A pretty pond. I bent down to take a drink, when these crocs launched outta the water! One croc bit me on the face. Ain’t no way I wasn’t its supper, except for one thing. I wasn’t ready for dyin’ that day. I bit one croc in half, tail whipped the other and the last one, well...” Butch paused dramatically as his eyes went wide, “... I drowned that croc in my own blood.”

“Woah,” Arlo said.

“Dang!” Ramsey and Nash sang.

“Look, look,” said Nash, holding up his arm. “Gives me lil’ goosies every time.”

“I love that story,” added Ramsey. “Show him your souvenir!”

Butch pulled back his cheek to show off a crocodile tooth lodged in his jaw! He wiggled it back and forth with his tongue, like a loose tooth. Arlo went pale at the sight of it.

Ramsey leaned over to Arlo and whispered, “Aint’ that just too good?”

Arlo nodded his head in awe.

Nash leaned over toward Butch. “Can I touch it this time?”

“No,” said Butch, quickly.

“You guys would’ve liked my Poppa,” Arlo said. “He wasn’t scared of anything.” Arlo sighed, thinking about Poppa. Butch watched Arlo’s face, as if reading his thoughts. “I’m done being scared,” Arlo added.

“Who said I’m not scared?” asked Butch.

Arlo looked at him with surprise. “But you took on a croc—”

“And I was scared doing it—if you ain’t scared of a croc bitin’ ya on the face, you ain’t alive,” Butch said.

Arlo had never thought about it that way.

“Listen kid, you can’t get rid of fear. It’s like mother nature. You can’t beat her or out run her. But you can get through it. You can find out what you’re made of.”

Arlo gazed at Butch as he took in his words, thinking about what he had said. Then something drifted down from the sky, and fell right in front of Arlo. It immediately snapped him out of his thoughts. He focused and saw more floating down. “The first snow,” said Arlo somberly.

“It’s early this year,” said Ramsey.

“And I gotta get home to Momma,” Arlo said definitively. He was worried about his family. He knew that once the snow started, the farm and their supplies had to be ready in order to make it through the winter.

“A deal’s a deal,” said Butch. “At first light, we ride.”