兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第六冊 Afternoon on the Amazon 10

10 Halfway There

Squeak.

Jack opened his eyes. Peanut was on the tree house windowsill.

“We’re home，” said Annie.

Jack breathed a sigh of relief.

Annie held the fruit up to the afternoon light.

“What exactly is this?” she asked.

“Maybe it’s in the book，” Jack answered.

He pulled out the rain forest book. He flipped through the pages. He came to a picture of the red fruit.

“Here it is!” he said. He read out loud：

“The mango has a sweet taste likethat of a peach.”

“Mango? Hmmm，” said Annie. She brought the fruit close to her lips.

“Hey!” said Jack， grabbing the mango from her. “We have to put it with the moonstone.”

Jack placed the mango on the M carved into the floor. Next to the clear moonstone.

“Moonstone...mango，” whispered Annie. It sounded like a spell.

“We’re halfway there，”said Jack.“Two more to go.”

“Then we can free you， Morgan!” Annie call-ed， as if Morgan were nearby.

“How do you know she can hear you?” said Jack.

“I just feel it，” Annie said.

“Oh， brother，” said Jack. He needed more proof than that.

Squeak. Peanut was looking at Jack and Annie.

“We have to leave you now，” Jack said to the mouse.

Squeak.

“Can’t we take her with us?” said Annie.

“No，” said Jack. “Mom won’t let us keep a mouse in the house. She doesn’t like mice， remember?”

“How could anyone not like a mouse?” said Annie.

Jack smiled. “How could anyone not like a spider?” he said.

“That’s different.”Annie patted Peanut’s head. “Bye，” she said. “Wait for us here. We’ll be back tomorrow.”

Jack patted the mouse， too. “Bye， Peanut. Thanks for your help，”

he said.

Squeak.

Jack put the rain forest book on top of the book about ninjas.

Then he pulled on his backpack. And he and Annie left the tree house.

They climbed down the rope ladder. They stepped onto the ground.

They started walking through the Frog Creek woods.

Leaf shadows danced in the light.

A bird called out.

These woods are very different from the rain forest， Jack thought.

“There’re no jaguars or army ants here，” he said. “No little monkeys.”

“You know，that monkey was never being mean，” said Annie. “He was just trying to give us the mango.”

“I know. Actually， nothing was being mean，” said Jack.“The army ants were just marching. That’s what army ants do.”

“The piranhas were just being piranhas，” said Annie.

“The snake was just being a snake，” said Jack.

“The crocodile was just being a crocodile，” said Annie.

“The jaguar was just taking care of her baby，” said Jack.

Annie shuddered. “I still don’t love bugs，” she said.

“You don’t have to love them，” said Jack. “Just leave them alone.

And they won’t bother you.”

In fact，that’s true about the whole rain forest， Jack thought. Every-one should just leave it all alone.

“Who cares if the bugs don’t have names?” he said softly. “They know who they are.”

Jack and Annie stepped out of the Frog Creek woods.

They started walking up their street. It was lit with a golden light.

“Race you!” said Annie.

They took off running.

They ran across their yard.

They raced up their steps.

“Safe!” they shouted together， tagging their front door.

10任務(wù)完成一半了

吱吱。吱吱。

杰克睜開他的眼睛，花生正站在樹屋的窗檐上。

“我們到家了。”安妮說。

杰克舒了口氣，安妮把果子舉起來，放在午后的陽光下。

“這到底是什么呢?”她問道。

“可能書里面有說明。”杰克說。

他抽出熱帶雨林的書，翻找著，找到了那個紅色果子的圖片，“在這兒!”他說。

他大聲讀道：芒果吃起來很甜，像桃子一樣。

“芒果?呣……”安妮說，她把芒果放到了嘴邊。

“嘿!”杰克把芒果搶過來說，“我們得把它和月亮石放在一起。”

杰克把芒果放在刻在地板上的字母M上，放在那個發(fā)光的月亮石旁邊。

“月亮石……芒果。”安妮小聲念道，聽起來就像一個咒語。

“我們已經(jīng)完成了一半了!”杰克說，“還有兩樣?xùn)|西。”

“然后我們就可以給你自由了，摩根!”安妮說道，好像摩根就在旁邊一樣。

“你怎么知道她能聽見?”杰克說。

“我就是感覺得到。”安妮說。

“噢!真是的!”杰克說，他想聽更有說服力的說法。

吱吱。吱吱。

花生正看著杰克和安妮。

“我們現(xiàn)在要把你留在這里了。”杰克對小老鼠說。

吱吱。吱吱。

“我們不能把她帶回家嗎?”安妮說。

“不行。”杰克說，“媽媽不會讓我們把老鼠放在家里的。她可不喜歡老鼠，你不記得了嗎?”

“怎么會有人不喜歡老鼠呢?”安妮說。

杰克笑起來了，“怎么會有人不喜歡蜘蛛呢?”

“那可不一樣。”安妮拍拍花生的腦袋，“再見。”她說，“在這兒等著我們，我們明天還會回來的。”

杰克也拍了拍花生，“再見花生，謝謝你的幫助。”

吱吱。吱吱。

杰克把熱帶雨林的書放在日本忍者那本書的上面，然后背上背包跟著安妮一起離開了樹屋。

他們爬下繩梯到達(dá)了地面，他們穿越蛙溪樹林，樹葉的影子在陽光下跳動。

一只鳥兒在唱歌。

這個樹林和熱帶雨林可真不一樣啊，杰克想。

“這里沒有美洲豹，沒有軍蟻團。”他說，“也沒有小猴子。”

“其實那個猴子一直都很好，開始我們誤以為它很壞呢。”安妮說，“它只是想給我們芒果而已。”

“我知道。事實上，沒有什么東西是很壞的。”杰克說，“軍蟻它們只不過在行進，這就是軍蟻的生活方式。”

“食人魚只不過是在做食人魚該做的。”安妮說。

“蛇不過是在做蛇該做的。”杰克說。

“鱷魚也不過是在做鱷魚該做的。”安妮說。

“還有美洲豹只不過是在照顧它的小寶貝。”杰克說。

安妮顫抖了一下說：“我還是不喜歡臭蟲。”

“你不用去喜歡它們。”杰克說，“只要不去惹它們，它們不會來打擾你的。”

事實上，這對所有熱帶雨林中的生物都一樣，杰克想。每個人都不該去打擾它們。

“那些蟲子有沒有名字誰在意呢?”杰克輕聲說，“它們自己知道自己是誰就可以了。”

杰克和安妮邁出了蛙溪樹林，他們開始在街道上行走，一盞金色的燈把街道點亮了。

“看我能不能追上你!”安妮說。

說著杰克和安妮都跑了起來，他們跑過了后院，一直跑到了家門口的臺階上。

“安全咯!”他們一起歡叫起來，敲起了門。