兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第八冊 Midnight on the Moon 01

Prologue

One summer day in Frog Creek，Pennsylvania，a mysterious tree house appeared in the woods.

Eight-year-old Jack and his seven-year-old sister， Annie，climbed into the tree house.

The tree house was filled with books and it was magic. It could go any place that was in a book. All Jack and Annie had to do was to point to a picture and wish to go there.

They visited dinosaurs， knights，an Egyptian queen， pirates， ninjas， and the Amazon rain forest.

Along the way， they discovered that the tree house belonged to Morgan le Fay. Morgan was a magical librarian from the time of King Arthur.

She traveled through time and space，gathering books for her library.

One day，Jack and Annie found a note that said Morgan was under a spell. Jack and Annie set out in the magic tree house to find four special things that would free her.

With the help of a mouse named Peanut，Jack and Annie found the first thing in old Japan， the second in the Amazon rain forest， and the third in the Ice Age.

Now Jack，Annie，and Peanut are ready to find the last thing...in Midnight on the Moon.

1　　By Moonlight

“Jack!”whispered a voice.

Jack opened his eyes. He saw a figure in the moonlight.

“Wake up. Get dressed. ”It was his sister，Annie.

Jack turned on his lamp. He rubbed his eyes.

Annie was standing beside his bed. She wore jeans and a sweatshirt.

“Let’s go to the tree house,”she said.

“What time is it?” asked Jack. He put on his glasses.

“Don’t look at your clock，” said Annie.

Jack looked at his clock. “Oh，man，” he said. “It’s midnight. It’s too dark. ”

“No，it isn’t. The moon makes it bright enough to see，” said Annie.

“Wait till morning，” said Jack.

“No—now，” said Annie. “We have to find the fourth M thing. I have a feeling that the full moon might help us.”

“That’s nuts，” said Jack. “I want to sleep. ”

“You can sleep when we come back home，”said Annie. “No time will have passed. ”

Jack sighed. “Oh，brother，” he said.

But he got out of bed.

“Yay!”whispered Annie. “Meet you at the back door. ” She tiptoed out of Jack’s room.

Jack yawned. He pulled on his jeans and sneakers and a sweatshirt. He put his notebook and pencil into his backpack. Then he crept down the stairs.

Annie opened the back door. Quietly，they stepped outside.

“Wait—”said Jack. “We need a flashlight. ”

“No，we don’t. I told you—the moon will light our way，” said Annie. And she took off.

Jack sighed，then followed her.

Annie was right，thought Jack. The moon was so bright that he could see his shadow. Everything seemed washed with silver.

Soon they left their street. Annie led the way into the Frog Creek woods. It was much darker under the shadows of the trees.

Jack looked up，searching for the tree house.

“There!” said Annie.

The magic tree house was shining in the moonlight.

Annie grabbed the rope ladder and started climbing up.

“Careful—go slowly，” said Jack.

He followed her up the ladder and into the tree house.

Moonlight streamed through the window.

It shone on the letter M that shimmered on the wooden floor.

It shone on the three M things that rested on the M：a moonstone from the time of the ninjas，a mango from the Amazon rain forest，and a mam

moth bone from the Ice Age.

“We need just one more M thing，” said Annie，“to free Morgan from her spell. ”

Squeak.

“Peanut!”said Annie.

In the dim light，Jack saw a tiny mouse. She sat on an open book.

“You didn’t expect to see us this late，did you?” said Annie.

She picked up Peanut. And Jack picked up the open book.

“So where are we going this time?” Annie asked him.

Jack held the book up to the moonlight.

“Uh-oh，”he said. “I knew we should have brought a flashlight. I can’t read a thing. ”

He could make out diagrams and shadowy pictures. But he couldn’t read a word.

“Look at the cover，”said Annie.

The letters were bigger on the cover. Jack squinted at them.

“It’s called Hello，Moon，”he said.

Annie gasped. “We’re going to the moon?”

“Of course not，” said Jack. “It’s impossible to go to the moon without tons of equipment. ”

“Why?”

“There’s no air. We couldn’t breathe. Not only that，we’d boil to death if it was day and freeze to death if it was night. ”

“Yikes，” said Annie. “So where do you think we are going?”

“Maybe a place where people train to be astronauts，” said Jack.

“That sounds neat，” said Annie.

“Yeah，”said Jack. He’d always wanted to meet astronauts and space scientists.

“So say the wish，” said Annie.

Jack opened the book again. He pointed to a picture of a dome-shaped structure.

“I wish we could go there，” he said.

The wind started to blow.

The tree house started to spin.

It spun faster and faster and faster.

Then everything was silent.

Absolutely silent. As quiet and still as silence could be.

引　　子

賓夕法尼亞蛙溪鎮(zhèn)夏日的一天，在樹林里出現(xiàn)了一間神秘的樹屋。

八歲的杰克和他七歲的妹妹安妮，爬上了樹屋。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)里面裝滿了書。

杰克和安妮不久就發(fā)現(xiàn)了樹屋是有魔法的。它能把他們帶到書里的地方。只要他們指著書中的一幅圖并許愿，樹屋就會帶他們?nèi)ツ莾骸?/p>

杰克和安妮已經(jīng)去過了恐龍的時代、騎士的時代、埃及王后的時代、海盜的時代、日本忍者的時代，還深入了亞馬孫雨林。

沿途中他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，這個樹屋屬于一個叫摩根·拉菲的人。摩根是亞瑟王時代里的一個會魔法的圖書管理員。她可以在時間與空間中任意地穿梭，為她的圖書館收集圖書。

一天，杰克和安妮發(fā)現(xiàn)了一張紙條，說摩根中了魔咒。于是他們立刻坐著神奇樹屋出發(fā)，去尋找能夠解救摩根的四樣特殊的東西。

在一只名叫“花生”的老鼠的幫助下，杰克和安妮在古代的日本找到了第一樣?xùn)|西，在亞馬孫的雨林里找到了第二樣，又在冰河時代發(fā)現(xiàn)了第三樣?xùn)|西。

現(xiàn)在，杰克、安妮和花生又準(zhǔn)備去尋找那最后的一樣?xùn)|西了……就在《月球之旅》的故事中。

1 月光下

“杰克!”一個聲音輕聲說。

杰克睜開眼睛，看到了月光下的一個身影。

“快醒醒，穿上衣服。”原來是他的妹妹安妮。

杰克打開燈，揉了揉眼睛。

安妮正穿著牛仔褲、汗衫站在他的床前。

“咱們?nèi)湮莅伞?rdquo;她說。

“幾點了?”杰克問，并且戴上了眼鏡。

“別看鐘。”安妮說。

杰克看了看鐘。“天啊，”他說，“才半夜，太黑了吧。”

“不黑，月光足夠亮了，能看清。”安妮說。

“等到早晨再說吧。”杰克說。

“不行，就要現(xiàn)在。”安妮說，“我們必須找到第四個帶有M的東西。我有種感覺，今晚的滿月說不定能幫上我們呢。”

“別傻了。”杰克說，“我還想睡呢。”

“我們回來后你還可以睡嘛。”安妮說，“我們離開的時候時間是停頓的。”

杰克嘆了口氣，“天啊。”

不過他還是從床上爬了起來。

“耶!”安妮小聲叫道，“我在后門等你。”說著她踮著腳尖走出了杰克的房間。

杰克打了個哈欠，穿上了牛仔褲、汗衫和球鞋。他把鉛筆和筆記本放進背包，躡手躡腳地下了樓梯。

安妮打開后門，他們輕輕地走了出去。

“等等——”杰克說，“我們得拿個手電筒。”

“不用，我跟你說過了——月亮?xí)槲覀冋樟恋摹?rdquo;安妮說著便出發(fā)了。

杰克只好嘆了嘆氣，跟在安妮后面。

安妮是對的，杰克心想。月光是那么的明亮，他連自己的影子都能看見呢。一切似乎都鍍上了一層銀色。

很快，他們就離開了街道，由安妮帶路進入了蛙溪樹林。樹陰下，可黑多了。

杰克抬頭望著，想找到那個樹屋。

“在那兒!”安妮叫道。

那個神奇的樹屋在月光下熠熠閃光。

安妮抓住繩梯開始向上爬。

“小心，慢點爬!”杰克說。

他跟在安妮的后面沿著繩梯爬進了樹屋。

月光從窗戶透了進來，灑在木地板上，照亮了地上的字母M。

同時，月光也照亮了字母M上放著的三樣以英文M開頭的東西：從忍者時代的日本帶回的月亮石(moonstone)，來自亞馬孫雨林的一個芒果(mango)，和從冰河時代帶回來的猛犸的骨頭(mammoth bone)。

“只要再找到一個M開頭的東西就行了。”安妮說，“那樣我們就可以把摩根從魔咒中解救出來了。”

吱吱。

“花生!”安妮叫道。

在昏暗的月光下，杰克看到了一只小老鼠正坐在一本打開的書上。

“沒想到這么晚會見到我們吧。”安妮說。

她拎起小老鼠花生，而杰克拿起了那本打開的書。

“這次我們該去哪里了?”安妮問。

杰克拿著書，對著月光看著。

“哦。”他說，“我就說我們該帶個手電筒吧。我簡直什么都看不清。”

他只能依稀辨別出一個表格和一幅朦朦朧朧的圖畫，但卻一個字也看不清。

“看看封面。”安妮說。

封面上的字要大得多。杰克瞇著眼看著。

“這本書叫做《你好，月球》。”他說。

安妮倒吸了一口氣。“難道我們要去月球嗎?”

“當(dāng)然不會。”杰克說，“沒有成堆的設(shè)備根本就不可能去月球。”

“為什么?”

“那里沒有空氣，我們根本無法呼吸。不僅如此，白天我們會被高溫烤死，而晚上又會被凍死。”

“啊呀!”安妮嚷道，“那么你覺得我們會去哪里呢?”

“也許去一個訓(xùn)練宇航員的地方。”杰克說。

“聽上去挺棒的!”安妮說。

“是啊。”杰克說。他可是一直想見見宇航員和宇航科學(xué)家呢。

“那么許愿吧。”安妮說。

杰克再次打開書，指著一幅畫有一個拱形建筑的圖片說：“我希望我們能去那里。”

風(fēng)吹了起來。

樹屋開始打轉(zhuǎn)。

轉(zhuǎn)得越來越快，越來越快!

然后，一切都平靜了。

絕對的平靜!

四周一點聲音也沒有，任何細(xì)微的聲音都沒有。