兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第一冊 Dinosaurs Before Dark 06

6恐龍谷

“安妮，看看這個!”杰克大喊著，“看看我找到了什么!”

安妮已經(jīng)上了山頂。

她正在忙著從木蘭樹上摘一朵花。

“安妮，看!一塊大獎牌!”

但是安妮沒有留心杰克。她正盯著山的另一側(cè)的什么東西在看呢。

“啊，哇噻!”她叫著。

“安妮!”

她手里捏著木蘭花，朝另一側(cè)的山坡走下去。

“安妮，回來!”杰克大喊著。

但是安妮已不見蹤影了。

“我真想殺了她。”杰克嘟噥著。

他把金牌塞進牛仔褲的口袋里。

接著他聽到了安妮的尖叫聲。

“安妮?”

杰克還聽到了另一種聲音：一種沉沉的吼聲，像低音大喇叭的聲音。

“杰克!快上這兒來!”安妮叫著。

“安妮!”

杰克抓起背包，朝山頂跑去。

當他到達山頂時，他倒吸了一口氣。

山的另一側(cè)下面的山谷到處都是窩。都是大大的用泥土筑成的窩。窩里全都是小恐龍!

安妮正蹲在其中的一個窩旁。一只龐大的長著鴨子嘴的恐龍死死地盯著她。

“別怕!別動!”杰克說。他慢慢地、一步一步地向山下的安妮走去。

大恐龍高高地聳立在安妮上方，揮舞著手臂，發(fā)出低音大喇叭般的聲音。

杰克停住了。他不想靠得太近。

他跪到地上。“好，朝我這邊移動，慢慢地。”他說。

安妮想要站起來。

“別站起來，用手爬。”杰克說。

安妮朝杰克爬去，手里仍然捏著花。

長著鴨子嘴的恐龍跟著她，仍在吼叫著。

安妮不敢動了。

“繼續(xù)爬呀。”杰克輕聲說。

于是安妮又爬起來。

杰克一寸一寸地向山下挪動，直到他離安妮僅僅一手臂的距離了。

他伸出手——一下子抓住了安妮的手。

他把安妮拉了過來。

“別起來。”他說，他也蹲到安妮旁邊。“低下頭，假裝嚼東西。”

“嚼東西?”

“是的。我從書上讀到的，當一只不太友好的狗企圖攻擊你時，你就這么做。”

“它不是狗呀，杰克。”安妮說。

“只管嚼吧。”杰克說。

杰克和安妮都低下頭，假裝嚼東西。

不久那只恐龍慢慢安靜下來。

杰克抬起頭。

“我認為它不再生氣了。”他說。

“謝謝，杰克，謝謝你救了我。”安妮說。

“你得用用你的腦子。”杰克說，“你不能朝寶寶的窩兒里跑，要知道旁邊一般都有媽媽守著。”

安妮站起身來。

“安妮!”

太遲了。

安妮把木蘭花伸向那只恐龍。

“我讓你為你的寶寶擔心了，我很抱歉。”她說。

恐龍走到安妮的身旁，從她手中抓走了花，又伸手要。

“沒有更多的了。”安妮說。

恐龍媽媽發(fā)出難聽的低音大喇叭一樣的聲音。

“不過那兒有很多花。”安妮說，她指了指山頂。“我去替你摘一些。”

安妮急忙向山上奔去。

恐龍媽媽像鴨子一樣搖搖晃晃地跟著她。

杰克快速地觀察恐龍寶寶。有些恐龍寶寶正從窩里往外爬。

其他的媽媽們在哪兒呢?

杰克拿出恐龍書。他飛快地翻閱著。

他找到了一頁有不少鴨嘴龍的畫，讀著上面的說明文字：

鴨嘴龍過著群居生活。一些恐龍媽媽在窩里照料小寶寶，而另外的恐龍媽媽則出外覓食。

所以附近肯定有更多的恐龍媽媽。

“喂，杰克!”安妮喊著。

杰克向山上一看。安妮在山頂上。她正在給巨大的鴨嘴龍喂木蘭花。

“它也很可愛，杰克。”安妮說。

但是鴨嘴龍突然間發(fā)出了可怕的低音大喇叭般的叫聲。安妮連忙蹲下，開始嚼了起來。

那只鴨嘴龍跌跌撞撞地跑下山去。

它似乎在害怕什么東西。

杰克把書放在背包的上面，急忙向安妮奔去。

“我奇怪它為什么跑走。”安妮說，“我們就要開始成為朋友了。”

杰克看了看周圍，遠處他所看見的景象幾乎把他嚇呆了。

一個龐大的丑陋怪物正在越過曠野朝這邊走來。

它邁開兩條巨大的腿，搖蕩著一條又長又粗的尾巴，兩只小小的手臂晃來晃去。

它的頭很大很大，嘴巴張得大大的。

即使在遠處杰克也能看見它那長長的亮閃閃的牙齒。

“霸王龍!”杰克低聲咕噥著。

6 Dinosaur Valley

“Annie， look at this!”Jack called. “Look what I found!”

Annie had gone up to the hilltop.

She was busy picking a flower from the magnolia tree.

“Annie， look!A medallion!”

But Annie wasn’t paying attention to Jack. She was staring at something on the other side of the hill.

“Oh， wow!”　she said.

“Annie!”

Clutching her magnolia flower, she took off down the hill.

“Annie, come back!”　Jack shouted.

But Annie had disappeared.

“I’m goint to kill her，”　Jack muttered.

He stuffed the gold medalllion into his jeans pocket.

Then he heard Annie shriek.

“Annie?”

Jack heard another sound as well. A deep, bellowing sound. Like a tuba.

“Jack!Come here!” Annie called.

“Annie!”

Jack grabbed his backpack and raced up the hill.

When he got to the top， he gasped.

The valley below was filled with nests. Big nests made out of mud. And the nests were filled with tiny dinosaurs!

Annie was crouching next to one of the nests. And standing over her was a gigantic duck-billed dinosaur!

“Don’t panic. Don’t move，”　said Jack. He stepped slowly down the hill toward Annie.

The huge dinosaur was towering above Annie. Waving her arms. Making her tuba sound.

Jack stopped. He didn’t want to get too close.

He knelt on the ground.　“Okay. Move toward me. Slowly，”　he said.

Annie started to stand up.

“Don’t stand. Crawl，”　said Jack.

Clutching her flower, Annie crawled toward Jack.

The duck-billed dinosaur followed her. Still bellowing.

Annie froze.

“Keep going，”　Jack said softly.

Annie started crawling again.

Jack inched farther down the hill. Until he was just an arm’s distance from Annie.

He reached out—and grabbed her hand.

He pulled Annie toward him.

“Stay down，”　he said. He crouched next to her.“Bow your head. Pretend to chew.”

“Chew?”

“Yes. I read that’s what you do if a mean dog comes at you.”

“she’s no dog，Jack，”　said Annie.

“Just chew，”　said Jack.

Jack and annie both bowed their heads. And pretended to chew.

Soon the dinosaur grew quiet.

Jack raised his head.

“I don’t think she’s mad anymore，”　he said.

“Thanks， Jack， for saving me，”　said Annie.

“You have to use your brain，”　said Jack. “You can’　t just go running to a nest of babies. There’s always a mother nearby.”

Annie stood up.

“Annie!”

Too late.

Annie held out her magnolia flower to the dinosaur.

“I’m sorry I made you worry about your babies，”　she said.

The dinosaur moved closer to Annie. She grabbed the flower from her. She reached for another.

“No more，”　said Annie.

The dinosaur let out a sad tuba sound.

“But there are more flowers up there，”　Annie said.　She pointed to the top of the hill. “I’ll get you some.”

Annie hurried up the hill.

The dinosaur waddled after her.

Jack quickly examined the babies. Some were crawling out of their nests.

Where were the other mothers?

Jack took out the dinosaur book. He flipped through the pages.

He found a picture of some duck-billed dinosaurs. He read the caption:The Anatosauruses lived in colonies.While a few mothers baby-sat the nests， others hunted for food.

So there must be more mothers close by.

“Hey，Jack!”　Annie called.

Jack looked up. Annie was at the top of the hill. Feeding magnolia flowers to the giant Anatosaurus!

“She’s nice， too， Jack，”　Annie said.

But suddenly the Anatosaurus made her terrible tuba sound. Annie crouched down and started to chew.

The dinosaur barged down the hill.

She seemed afraid of something.

Jack put the book down on top of his pack. He hurried up to Annie.

“I wonder why she ran away，”said Annie. “We were starting to be friends.”

Jack looked around. What he saw in the distance almost made him throw up.

An enormous ugly monster was coming across the plain.

He was walking on two big legs. And swinging a long, thick tail. And dangling two tiny arms.

He had a huge head. And his jaws were wide open.

Even from far away Jack could see his long, gleaming teeth.

“Tyrannosaurus rex!”　whispered Jack.