兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第一冊 Dinosaurs Before Dark 05

5草地上的金牌

“快，快!”杰克說。他把筆記本塞進背包，推著安妮向繩梯跑去。

“再見，亨利!”她說。

“快!”杰克說。他把安妮猛推了一下。

“別推!”她說，不過她還是爬上了繩梯。杰克緊跟在她后面爬上去。

他們急匆匆地鉆進了樹屋。

他們喘著氣望著窗外那只恐龍。它正站在山頂上，把一棵樹上的花都給吃光了。

“天哪。”杰克小聲說，“我們的確是在很久很久以前!”

這只恐龍看上去像一只巨大的犀牛。只不過它可不只長了一只角而是三只角。兩眼之上長有兩只長角，鼻子上也長了一只角。腦袋后面還長有一塊盾牌狀的東西。

“三角龍!”杰克說。

“它吃人嗎?”安妮小聲問。

“我查查看。”杰克抓起那本恐龍書。他快速地翻著書頁。

“在這兒!”他指著有一只三角龍的畫。他讀著上面的說明文字：

三角龍生活在白堊紀晚期。這種素食恐龍體重超過12 000磅　[注]。

杰克砰地一下合上書。“只吃素，不吃肉。”

“那我們?nèi)ヒ娨娝?rdquo;安妮說。

“你瘋了嗎?”杰克說。

“你不想做些關于它的記錄嗎?”安妮問，“我們很可能是世界上見過活三角龍的第一人。”

杰克嘆了一口氣。她是對的。

“那就去吧。”他說。

他把恐龍書塞進背包里，把背包背在肩上，開始下繩梯。

繩梯下到一半，杰克停住了。

他對上面的安妮喊著，“你要保證不摸它。”

“我保證。”

“保證不吻它。”

“我保證。”

“保證不同它談話。”

“我保證。”

“保證不——”

“快下，快下!”她說。

杰克繼續(xù)下繩梯。

安妮緊跟著。

當他們從繩梯上下來時，無齒翼龍慈祥地望著他們。

安妮給了它一個飛吻。“一會兒就回來，亨利。”她興高采烈地說。

“噓!”杰克說。他帶路穿過羊齒植物，一路上慢慢地，小心翼翼地。

當他們到達小山腳下之后，杰克跪到一叢厚厚的灌木叢后面。

安妮跪在他的后面，就講起話來。

杰克把手指放在嘴唇上“噓”了一下。

安妮扮了個鬼臉。

杰克偷偷看著三角龍。

恐龍大得令人難以置信。比一輛卡車還要大。它正在吃一棵木蘭樹上的花。

杰克悄悄地從背包里掏出筆記本。他寫道：

吃花

安妮用肘碰了碰他。

杰克沒理睬她。他繼續(xù)觀察三角龍。他寫道：

吃得很慢

安妮用肘使勁兒頂了頂他。

杰克這才看著她。

安妮先指了指自己，又用手指在半空中做行走的樣子，然后指了指恐龍，笑了起來。

她這是要戲弄人嗎?

她朝杰克擺了擺手。

杰克正要去抓住她。

她笑著，一下子跳開去。她跌倒在草地上，完完全全地暴露在三角龍的視野之下。

“回來!”杰克低聲喊著。

太遲啦。大恐龍已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了她。它在山頂目不轉(zhuǎn)睛地緊盯著她。半截木蘭花還掛在它的口邊。

“哎呀，糟糕。”安妮說。

“回來!”杰克對她喊道。

“它看上去很可愛，杰克。”

“可愛?當心它的角，安妮!”

“它真的很可愛，杰克。”

可愛?

三角龍只是靜靜地注視著安妮。然后它轉(zhuǎn)過身，跨開大步，向山的另一側(cè)跑了下去。

“再見!”安妮說。她轉(zhuǎn)身對杰克說：“瞧，我說它很可愛吧?”

杰克咕咕噥噥。不過他在筆記上寫下了：可愛

“來吧!我們把這周圍再多看看吧。”安妮說。

杰克正要跟上安妮，可這時他看見深深的草叢中有東西閃閃發(fā)光。他伸手把它撿了起來。

一塊大獎牌。一塊金子做的獎牌。

牌子上鐫刻著一個字母。一個奇妙的M。

“啊，好家伙?？磥硪呀?jīng)有人在我們之前來過了。”杰克輕聲說。

5 Gold in the Grass

“Go!Go!”　said　Jack. He threw his notebook into his pack. He pushed Annie toward　the rope ladder.

“Bye， Henry!” she siad.

“Go!”　said Jack. He gave Annie a big push.

“Quit it!”　she said. But she started up the ladder. Jack scrambled after her.

They tumbled into the tree house.

They were panting as they looked out the window at the dinosaur. He was standing on the hilltop. Eating flowers off a tree.

“Oh，man，”whispered Jack.“We are in a time long ago!”

The dinosaur looked like a huge rhinoceros. Only he had three horns instead of one. Two long ones above his eyes and one on his nose.

He had a big shield-like thing behind his head.

“Triceratops!”　said Jack.

“Does he eat people?”　whispered Annie.

“I’ll look it up.”　Jack grabbed the dinosaur book. He flipped through the pages.

“There!”　he said. He pointed to a picture of a Triceratops. He readte caption:

The Triceratops lived in the late Cretaceous period. This plant-eating dinosaur weighed over 12,000 pounds.

Jack slammed the book shut.“Just plants. No meat.”

“Let’s go see him，”　said Annie.

“Are you nuts?” said Jack.

“Don’t you want to take notes about him?”asked Annie.“We’re probably the first people in the whole world to ever see a real live Triceratops.”

Jack sighed. She was right.

“Let’s go，”　he said.

He shoved the dinosaur book into his pack. He slung it over his shoulder and started down the ladder.

On the way down，Jack stopped.

He called up to Annie，“Just promise you won’t pet him.”

“I promise.”

“Promise you won’t kiss him.”

“I promise.”

“Promise you won’t talk to him.”

“I promise.”

“Promise you won’t—”

“Go!Go!”　she siad.

Jack went.

Annie followed.

When they stepped off the ladder, the Pteranodon gave them a kind look.

Annie blew a kiss at him. “Be back soon， Henry，”　she said cheerfully.

“Shush!”said Jack. And he led the way through the ferns. Slowly and carefully.

When he reached the bottom of the hill， he kneeled behind a fat bush.

Annie knelt beside him and started to speak.

“Shush!”　Jack put his finger to his lips.

Annie made a face.

Jack peeked out at the Triceratops.

The dinosaur was incredibly big. Bigger than a truck. He was eating the flowers off a magnolia tree.

Jack slipped his notebook out of his pack. He wrote:eats flowers

Annie nudged him.

Jack ignored her. He studied the Triceratops again. He wrote:eats slowly

Annie nudged him hard.

Jack looked at her.

Annie pointed to herself. She walked her fingers through the air. She pointed to the dinosaur. She smiled.

Was she teasing?

She waved at Jack.

Jack started to grab her.

She laughed and jumped away. She fell into the grass. In full view of the Triceratops!

“Get back!”　whispered Jack.

Too late. The big dinosaur had spotted Annie. He gazed down at her from the hilltop. Half of a magnolia flower was sticking out of his mouth.

“Oops，”　said Annie.

“Get back!”　Jack shouted at her.

“He looks nice，Jack.”

“Nice?Watch out for his horns，Annie!”

“No. He’s nice，Jack.”

Nice?

But the Triceratops just gazed calmly down at Annie. Then he turned and loped away. Down the side of the hill.

“Bye!”　said Annie. She turned back to Jack. “See?”

Jack grunted. But he wrote in his notebook.

nice

“Come on.　Let’s look around some more，”said Annie.

As Jack started after Annie, he saw something glittering in the tall grass. He reached out and picked it up.

A medallion. A gold medallion.

A letter was engraved on the medallion.A fancy M.

“Oh，man. Someone came here before us，”Jack said softly.