兒童英語(yǔ)讀物《神奇樹(shù)屋》 第四冊(cè) Pirates Past Noon 10

10.又見(jiàn)寶藏

安妮最先會(huì)過(guò)神來(lái)。“你就是那個(gè)代號(hào)為M的人嗎?”她小聲問(wèn)。

“是的，我就是。”摩根說(shuō)。

“你是從哪兒來(lái)的呢?”杰克問(wèn)。

“你們聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)亞瑟王嗎?”摩根問(wèn)他們。

杰克點(diǎn)了點(diǎn)頭。

“那好，我就是亞瑟王的姐姐。”摩根說(shuō)。

“你是從卡米洛特王國(guó)來(lái)?”杰克說(shuō)，“我們是從書(shū)中得知卡米洛特王國(guó)的。”

“書(shū)中關(guān)于我都寫(xiě)了些什么呢，杰克?”摩根問(wèn)。

“你，你是個(gè)女巫。”

摩根笑了，“書(shū)上寫(xiě)的東西你不能全信，杰克。”

“那你是魔術(shù)師嗎?”安妮問(wèn)。

“人們都叫我魔法師。但我還是個(gè)圖書(shū)管理員。”摩根說(shuō)。

“圖書(shū)管理員?”安妮問(wèn)。

“對(duì)呀。我來(lái)到你們的時(shí)代——20世紀(jì)，是為了收集圖書(shū)。能生在這樣一個(gè)書(shū)籍豐富的時(shí)代真是你們的幸運(yùn)啊!”

“是為卡米洛特王國(guó)圖書(shū)館收集圖書(shū)嗎?”杰克問(wèn)。

“正是。”摩根說(shuō)，“我乘坐這個(gè)樹(shù)屋，穿越時(shí)空，滿(mǎn)世界地收集圖書(shū)。”

“那你在這兒找到書(shū)了嗎?”杰克問(wèn)。

“找到啦!這兒有許多有趣的書(shū)呢!我想把它們借出去，讓我們的抄書(shū)吏抄下來(lái)。”

“是你在這些書(shū)里放的書(shū)簽嗎?”

“對(duì)。你看，我喜歡這些書(shū)里的圖片。有時(shí)候我想去畫(huà)里看看，所以，這些書(shū)簽所在的位置都是我想去的地方。”

“那你怎么去那兒呢?”安妮問(wèn)。

“我對(duì)樹(shù)屋施魔法呀!”摩根說(shuō)，“只要我指著圖片許個(gè)愿，樹(shù)屋就會(huì)把我?guī)У侥莾豪病?rdquo;

“我想你把這個(gè)落在恐龍時(shí)代了。”杰克說(shuō)。

他把金牌交給摩根。

“噢，謝謝你!我都想不起來(lái)在哪兒掉的了。”她說(shuō)。她把金牌放進(jìn)披風(fēng)的暗袋里。

“那是不是什么人都可以對(duì)樹(shù)屋施魔法呢?”安妮問(wèn)，“不論什么人，一試就靈嗎?”

“噢，當(dāng)然不是什么人都可以的。”摩根說(shuō)，“你們兩個(gè)是除我以外唯一可以施魔法的人。除了你們，還沒(méi)人看見(jiàn)過(guò)我的樹(shù)屋呢!”

“樹(shù)屋是一般人看不見(jiàn)的嗎?”安妮問(wèn)。

“那當(dāng)然。”摩根說(shuō)，“我原以為樹(shù)屋是不會(huì)被發(fā)現(xiàn)的，誰(shuí)知道你們兩個(gè)來(lái)了，怎么一下就掌握了我的魔法。”

“怎么會(huì)呢?”杰克問(wèn)。

“我想這有兩個(gè)原因。”摩根解釋說(shuō)，“首先，安妮是相信有魔法的，所以她能看見(jiàn)樹(shù)屋。而她的堅(jiān)信也幫助你，杰克，你也看到了樹(shù)屋。”

“哦，是這樣啊。”杰克說(shuō)。

“然后杰克你拿起一本書(shū)。因?yàn)槟隳敲磹?ài)書(shū)，所以使我的魔法起了作用。”

“噢!”安妮說(shuō)。

“你們知道當(dāng)你們要去恐龍時(shí)代時(shí)我有多驚愕嗎?我不得不迅速地作出決定，與你們一同去。”

“噢，那么說(shuō)你就是那只翼龍!”安妮說(shuō)。

摩根笑了笑。

“那只貓、那位騎士和波利也是你裝的啰?”安妮問(wèn)。

“沒(méi)錯(cuò)!”摩根輕聲說(shuō)。

“您裝扮成所有這些是來(lái)幫助我們的嗎?”杰克問(wèn)。

“對(duì)。但是現(xiàn)在我要回去了，卡米洛特王國(guó)的人民需要我的幫助。”

“你這就要走了嗎?”杰克小聲說(shuō)。

“恐怕是的。”摩根說(shuō)。

她撿起杰克的背包遞給他。杰克和安妮拿起他們的雨衣。雨已經(jīng)停了。

“你不會(huì)忘記我們的吧?”安妮一邊穿雨衣一邊問(wèn)。

“永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)。”摩根沖他們兩個(gè)笑著說(shuō)，“你們倆兒與我很像。安妮，你喜歡不可能的事;杰克，你熱愛(ài)知識(shí)。還有比你們兩個(gè)更好的組合嗎?”

摩根·拉菲溫柔地摸了摸安妮和杰克的額頭，笑了。

“再見(jiàn)。”她說(shuō)。

“再見(jiàn)。”杰克和安妮說(shuō)。

安妮率先離開(kāi)樹(shù)屋，杰克緊隨其后。他們最后一次爬下繩梯。

他們站在橡樹(shù)下抬頭向上看，只見(jiàn)摩根正在窗前目送著他們，她那長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的白發(fā)在風(fēng)中飄動(dòng)著。

突然，風(fēng)吹了起來(lái)。

樹(shù)葉開(kāi)始顫動(dòng)。

到處響起狂風(fēng)呼嘯的聲音。

杰克捂住耳朵，緊閉雙眼。

然后一切都平靜了。

絕對(duì)的平靜。

杰克張開(kāi)他的眼睛，發(fā)現(xiàn)樹(shù)屋不見(jiàn)了，全沒(méi)有了。

安妮和杰克站了好一會(huì)兒，呆呆地看著空空的橡樹(shù)，聽(tīng)著周?chē)黄澎o。

安妮嘆了口氣，輕聲說(shuō)，“咱們走吧。”

杰克只點(diǎn)了點(diǎn)頭，難過(guò)得說(shuō)不出話(huà)來(lái)。他們往回走時(shí)他把手伸進(jìn)口袋，他感到里面有什么東西，拿出來(lái)的是那只金牌。“看!”他說(shuō)，“它怎么會(huì)……”

安妮笑了。“一定是摩根放進(jìn)去的!”她說(shuō)。

“但她怎么放進(jìn)去的呢?”

“魔法唄。”安妮說(shuō)，“我覺(jué)得這說(shuō)明她還會(huì)回來(lái)的。”

杰克笑了。他緊緊攥著金牌，與安妮一起走出潮濕、但陽(yáng)光明媚的森林。

一路上，陽(yáng)光透過(guò)樹(shù)林，使?jié)皲蹁醯娜~子發(fā)出熠熠光芒。

樹(shù)葉、樹(shù)枝、水坑、樹(shù)叢、青草、藤蔓、野花——都在像珠寶一樣閃閃發(fā)光。

或者說(shuō)在像金子一樣地閃爍著。

安妮是對(duì)的，杰克想。

“別管那個(gè)珠寶箱!”

他們家就有寶藏，無(wú)盡的寶藏!而且到處都是!

10 Treasure Again

Annie found her voice first. “The M person，” she whispered.

“Yes. I’m the M person，” said Morgan.

“Wh-where are you from?” asked Jack.

“Have you ever heard of King Arthur?” said Morgan.

Jack nodded.

“Well， I am King Arthur’s sister，” said Morgan.

“You’re from Camelot，” said Jack.“I’ve read about Camelot.”

“What did you read about me， Jack?” said Morgan.

“You—you’re a witch.”

Morgan smiled.“You can’t believe everything you read， Jack.”

“But are you a magician?” said Annie.

“Most call me an enchantress. But I’m also a librarian，” said Morgan.

“A librarian?” said Annie.

“Yes. And I’ve come to the 20th century， your time， to collect books.You are lucky to be born in a time with so many books.”

“For the Camelot library?” asked Jack.

“Precisely，” said Morgan. “I travel in this tree house to collect words from many different places around the world.And from many different time periods.”

“Did you find books here?” said Jack.

“Oh yes.Many wonderful books.I want to borrow them for our scribes to copy.”

“Did you put all the bookmarks in them?” said Jack.

“Yes. You see， I like the pictures in the books.Sometimes I want to visit the scenes in the pictures.So all the bookmarks mark places I wish to go.”

“How do you get there?” asked Annie.

“I placed a spell on the tree house，” said Morgan.“So when I point to a picture and make the wish， the tree house takes me there.”

“I think you dropped this in dinosaur times，” said Jack.

He handed the gold medallion to Morgan.

“Oh， thank you!I wondered where I’d lost it，” she said. She put the medallion into a hidden pocket in her cape.

“So can anybody work the spell?” asked Annie. “Anybody who tries it?”

“Oh dear，no!Not just anybody，” Morgan said. “You two are the only ones besides me to do it.No one else has ever even seen my tree house before.”

“Is it invisible?” asked Annie.

“Yes，” said Morgan. “I had no idea it would ever be discovered. But then you two came along.Somehow you hooked right into my magic.”

“H-how?” asked Jack.

“Well， for two reasons， I think，” explained Morgan. “First， Annie believes in magic. So she actually saw the tree house. And her belief helped you to see it， Jack.”

“Oh man，” said Jack.

“Then you picked up a book， Jack. And because you love books so much， you caused my magic spell to work.”

“Wow，” said Annie.

“You can’t imagine my dismay when you started to take off for dinosaur times. I had to make a very quick decision. And I decided to come along.”

“Oh， so you were the pteranodon!” said Annie.

Morgan smiled.

“And the cat and the knight and Polly!” said Annie.

“Yes，” said Morgan softly.

“You were all these things to help us?” asked Jack.

“Yes， but I must go home now. The people in Camelot need my help.”

“You’re leaving?” whispered Jack.

“I’m afraid I must，” said Morgan.

She picked up Jack’s backpack and handed it to him. Jack and Annie picked up their raincoats. It had stopped raining.

“You won’t forget us， will you?” asked Annie， as they put their raincoats on.

“Never，” said Morgan. She smiled at both of them.“You remind me too much of myself.You love the impossible， Annie. And you love knowledge， Jack. What better combination is there?”

Morgan le Fay touched Annie’s forehead gently. And then Jack’s. She smiled.

“Good-bye，” she said.

“Good-bye，” said Annie and Jack.

Annie left the tree house first. Jack followed.They climbed down the rope ladder for the last time.

They stood below the oak tree and looked up.

Morgan was looking out the window. Her long white hair blew in the breeze.

Suddenly the wind began to blow.

The leaves began to shake.

A loud whistling sound filled the air.

Jack covered his ears and squeezed his eyes shut.

Then everything was silent.

Absolutely silent.

Jack opened his eyes.

The tree house was gone.

All gone.

Absolutely gone.

Annie and Jack stood a moment， staring up at the empty oak tree. Listening to the silence.

Annie sighed. “Let’s go，” she said softly.

Jack just nodded. He felt too sad to speak. As they started walking，he put his hands into his pockets.

He felt something.

Jack pulled out the gold medallion.“Look!” he said. “How did—?”

Annie smiled.“Morgan must have put it there，” she said.

“But how?”

“Magic，” said Annie. “I think it means she’ll be coming back.”

Jack smiled. He clutched the medallion as he and Annie took off through the wet， sunny woods.

As they walked， the sun shined through the woods. And all the wet leaves sparkled.

Everything， in fact， was shining.

Leaves， branches， puddles， bushes， grass， vines， wild flowers—all glittered like jewels.

Or gleamed like gold.

Annie had been right， thought Jack.

Forget the treasure chest.

They had treasure at home. A ton of it. Everywhere.