兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第三冊(cè) Mummies in the Morning 01

1喵!

“還在這兒呢。”杰克說。

“看起來好像是空的。”安妮說。

杰克和他七歲的妹妹安妮盯著一棵高高的橡樹，樹頂上有一個(gè)樹屋。

晌午的陽光照耀著樹林，已經(jīng)差不多是吃中飯的時(shí)候了。

“噓!”杰克說，“那是什么聲音?”

“什么聲音?”

“我聽到一個(gè)聲音。”杰克說，他四下里望了望。“聽起來好像是有人在咳嗽。”

“我什么也沒聽到。”安妮說，“來，咱們上去吧。”

她抓住繩梯開始往上爬。

杰克踮著腳尖走向一簇灌木叢，撥開了一個(gè)小樹枝。

“喂!”他說，“有人嗎?”

沒有回答。

“快來!”安妮沖下面喊著，“這個(gè)樹屋看起來還是昨天的老樣子。”

杰克還是覺得附近有人。會(huì)不會(huì)是那個(gè)把所有的書放在樹屋里的人呢?

“杰——克!”

杰克盯著灌木叢頂一直看著。

那個(gè)神秘人，那個(gè)名字的首字母是M的人會(huì)不會(huì)正在看著他呢?

也許M想要回那個(gè)杰克在恐龍世界歷險(xiǎn)時(shí)找到的金獎(jiǎng)牌。也許他還想要回城堡之書里的皮書簽。

獎(jiǎng)牌上有一個(gè)字母M，書簽上也有。但M到底代表著什么呢?

“明天我就把所有的東西都還回來。”杰克大聲地說。

一陣清風(fēng)吹過樹林，樹葉沙沙作響。

“來啊!”安妮喊道。

杰克回到那棵巨大的老橡樹前，抓住繩梯往上爬去。

到了繩梯頂，他鉆進(jìn)木地板上的洞，爬到了樹屋里面。他把背包往旁邊一扔，推了推眼鏡。

“嗯。今天會(huì)是哪本書呢?”安妮說。

她一面說著一面翻著樹屋里四散著的書籍。

安妮拿起那本關(guān)于城堡的書。

“嘿，已經(jīng)不濕了。”她說。

“我看看。”

杰克從安妮手里拿過書。他簡(jiǎn)直驚訝極了。那本書看上去完好無損。而昨天它還被泡在城堡四周的護(hù)城河里呢。

上一次城堡之書把杰克和安妮帶回到騎士的時(shí)代。

杰克在心里默默地感謝著那個(gè)救了他們的神秘騎士。

“小心!”安妮警告說。

她沖著杰克的臉揮了揮一本關(guān)于恐龍的書。

“把它放回去。”杰克說。

前天，就是這本關(guān)于恐龍的書把他們帶到了恐龍的時(shí)代。

杰克又在心里默默地感謝著那只把他從霸王龍的爪子下救出來的無齒翼龍。

安妮把恐龍書放了回去。突然，她呼吸變得急促起來。

“哇。”她小聲說，“你看這個(gè)。”

她拿起一本關(guān)于古代埃及的書。

杰克屏了口氣，從安妮手里接過書來。一個(gè)綠色的絲質(zhì)書簽從書里露了出來。

杰克把書翻到了夾著書簽的那一頁。那頁畫著一幅金字塔的圖畫。

一長列隊(duì)伍正向金字塔走去。四只長角的巨大母牛拉著一個(gè)滑橇，上面放著一個(gè)長條形的金色箱子。一行埃及人走在滑橇后面，而隊(duì)伍的最后面是一只毛色光滑的黑貓。

“咱們?nèi)ツ莾喊伞?rdquo;安妮小聲地說，“現(xiàn)在就去。”

“等等。”杰克說。他還想再多研究一會(huì)兒這本書。

“是金字塔哦，杰克。”安妮說，“你不是喜歡金字塔嗎。”

的確，金字塔是杰克的最愛之一，僅次于騎士，勝過恐龍，而且勝過恐龍好多呢。

起碼他不需要擔(dān)心被金字塔吃掉。

“好吧。”他說，“但是得帶著那本關(guān)于賓夕法尼亞的書，萬一我們想立刻回到這里呢。”

安妮找到了那本有著他們家鄉(xiāng)圖片的書。正是賓夕法尼亞的蛙溪鎮(zhèn)。

然后，杰克便用手指著埃及書里的那幅金字塔圖片。他清了清嗓子說：“我希望我們能到這個(gè)地方去。”

“喵!”

“什么東西?”杰克從樹屋的窗戶向外看去。

一只黑貓正停在窗外的一根樹枝上。那只貓正看著杰克和安妮。

這是杰克所見過的最奇怪的貓了。它毛色光滑，全身漆黑，有一雙明亮的黃眼睛，還戴著一個(gè)很寬的金色項(xiàng)圈。

“它就是那本埃及書里的貓。”安妮小聲說。

就在這時(shí)，風(fēng)吹了起來，樹葉開始搖擺。

“走咯!”安妮叫道。

風(fēng)聲越來越大，樹葉也搖擺得愈加猛烈了。

樹屋開始打轉(zhuǎn)，杰克趕緊閉上了眼睛。

樹屋轉(zhuǎn)得越來越快，越來越快。

突然，一切都平靜了。

絕對(duì)的平靜。

四周一點(diǎn)聲音也沒有，任何細(xì)微的聲音都沒有。

杰克睜開眼睛，熾熱而明亮的陽光幾乎讓他什么也看不見了。

“喵!”

1 Meow!

“It’s still here，” said Jack.

“It looks empty，” said Annie.

Jack and his seven-year-old sister gazed up at a very tall oak tree. At the top of the tree 　was a tree house.

Late-morning sunlight lit the woods. It was almost time for lunch.

“Shhh!” said Jack. “What was that noise?”

“What noise?”

“I heard a noise，” Jack said. He looked around. “It sounded like someone coughing.”

“I didn’t hear anything，” said Annie. “Come on. Let’s go up.”

She grabbed onto the rope ladder and started climbing.

Jack tiptoed over to a clump of bushes. He pushed aside a small branch.

“Hello?” he said. “Anybody there?”

There was no answer.

“Come on!” Annie called down. “The tree house looks the same as it did yesterday.”

Jack still felt that someone was nearby. Could it be the person who’d put all the books in the tree house?

“Ja-ack!”

Jack gazed over the top of the bushes.

Was the mysterious person watching him now?The person whose name began with M?

Maybe M wanted the gold medallion back. The one Jack had found on their dinosaur adventure.

Maybe M wanted the leather bookmark back.The one from the castle book.

There was an M on the medallion. And an M on the bookmark. But what did M stand for?

“Tomorrow I’ll bring everything back，” Jack said loudly.

A breeze swept through the woods. The leaves rattled.

“Come on!” called Annie.

Jack went back to the big oak tree. He grabbed onto the rope ladder and climbed up.

At the top he crawled through a hole in the wooden floor. He tossed down his backpack and pushed his glasses into place.

“Hmmm. Which book is it going to be today?” said Annie.

She was looking at the books scattered around the tree house.

Annie picked up the book about castles.

“Hey， this isn’t wet anymore，” she said.

“Let me see.”

Jack took the book from her. He was amazed.It looked fine. Yesterday it had gotten soaked in acastle moat.

The castle book had taken Jack and Annie back to the time of knights.

Jack silently thanked the mysterious knight who had rescued them.

“Watch out!” warned Annie.

She waved a dinosaur book in Jack’s face.

“Put that away，” said Jack.

The day before yesterday the dinosaur book had taken them to the time of dinosaurs.

Jack silently thanked the Pteranodon who had saved him from a Tyrannosaurus rex.

Annie put the dinosaur book back with the other books. Then she gasped.

“Wow，” she whispered. “Look at this.”

She held up a book about ancient Egypt.

Jack caught his breath. He took the book from her. A green silk bookmark stuck out of it.

Jack turned to the page with the bookmark.There was a picture of a pyramid.

Going toward the pyramid was a long parade.Four huge cows with horns were pulling a sled. On the sled was a long gold box. Many Egyptians were walking behind the sled. At the end of the parade was a sleek black cat.

“let’s go there，” whispered Annie. “Now.”

“Wait，” said Jack.He wanted to study the book a bit more.

“Pyramids， Jack，” said Annie.“You love pyramids.”

It was true. Pyramids were high on his list of favorite things. After knights. But before 　dinosaurs. Way before dinosaurs.

He didn’t have to worry about being eaten by a pyramid.

“Okay，” he said. “But hold the Pennsylvania book. In case we want to come right back here.”

Annie found the book with the picture of their hometown in it. Frog Creek， Pennsylvania.

Then Jack pointed to the pyramid picture in the Egypt book. He cleared his throat and said，

“I wish we could go to this place.”

“Meow!”

“What was that?” Jack looked out the tree house window.

A black cat was perched on a branch.Right outside the window.The cat was staring at Jack and Annie.

It was the strangest cat Jack had ever seen.He was very sleek and dark.With bright yellow eyes. And a wide gold collar.

“It’s the cat in the Egypt book，” whispered Annie.

Just then the wind started to blow. The leaves began to shake.

“Here we go!” cried Annie.

The wind whistled louder.The leaves shook harder.

Jack closed his eyes as the tree house started to spin.

It spun faster and faster!And faster!

Suddenly everything was still.

Absolutely still.

Not a sound. Not a whisper.

Jack opened his eyes.

Hot bright sunlight nearly blinded him.

“Me-ow!”