兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第一冊 Dinosaurs Before Dark 10

10黃昏前的家

一只小鳥歌唱起來。

杰克睜開了雙眼。他的手指仍指著那幅有蛙溪樹林的畫。

他悄悄地從樹屋窗戶往外看。外面的景色與畫中的景色一模一樣。

“我們到家了。”安妮低聲說。

傍晚的陽光照射著樹林。太陽快下山了。

時間仍停留在他們離開的時刻。

“杰——克!安——妮!”遠處傳來了喊聲。

“是媽媽。”安妮說，手指著遠處。

杰克看見了遠處的媽媽。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：“來啦!”

杰克仍感到恍恍惚惚，他目不轉睛地看著安妮。

“到底發(fā)生了什么事?”他說。

“一間神奇的樹屋帶我們進行了一次旅行。”安妮簡單地說。

“但是現(xiàn)在和我們離開時是同一時刻。”杰克說。

安妮聳了聳肩。

“樹屋是怎么把我們帶到那么遠的地方?”杰克說，“那么古老的年代?”

“你剛好在看一本書，說你希望去那兒。”安妮說，“于是神奇的樹屋就把我們帶到了那兒。”

“但是怎么會這樣?”杰克說，“誰建造了這間神奇的樹屋?誰把那些書放在了這里?”

“一個有魔法的人，我猜想。”安妮說。

“一個有魔法的人?”

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

安妮的雙眼睜圓了。“你認為M指的就是有魔法的人?”她說。

“我不知道。”杰克說，“我只知道有人在我們之前去過那個地方。”

“杰——克!安——妮!”遠處的喊聲又傳來了。

安妮把頭伸出窗外。“來——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，把它與其他書放在一起。

接著，他和安妮最后看了一眼樹屋。

“再見，樹屋。”安妮默默地說。

杰克把背包掛在肩膀上。他指了指繩梯。

安妮開始下繩梯。杰克跟在后面。

不大一會兒，他們跳到地面上，起步走出樹林。

“沒有人會相信我們的故事。”杰克說。

“所以我們不要告訴任何人。”安妮說。

“老爸不會相信的。”杰克說。

“他會說這是一個夢。”安妮說。

“老媽不會相信的。”杰克說。

“她會說這是編造出來的。”

“我的老師不會相信的。”杰克說。

“她會說你是傻帽。”安妮說。

“我們最好不要告訴任何人。”杰克說。

“我已經那樣說過了。”安妮說。

杰克嘆了一口氣。“我想我自己也開始不相信了。”他說。

他們離開了樹林，走上了通向家的街道。

當他們走過街道旁的所有房子時，在恐龍時代旅行的經歷越來越像是在夢里了。

只有這個世界和這個時代似乎是真實的。

杰克把手伸進口袋，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。但是他堅信他們在神奇樹屋里的旅行曾經確確實實地發(fā)生過。

完完全全是真的。

“明天，”杰克輕聲地說，“我們再去樹林。”

“當然啰。”安妮說。

“而且我們還要爬上樹屋。”杰克說。

“當然啰。”安妮說。

“我們要看看接下來會發(fā)生什么事。”杰克說。

“當然啰。”安妮說，“我同你比賽!”

他們一起跑了起來，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.