兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第八冊 Midnight on the Moon 08

8 One Star to Another

“Who was that guy?” said Jack. “What does his map mean?”

“I don’t know，” said Annie. “But let’s see if it works. ”

Jack took a deep breath. “Yeah，we’d better hurry back. I think I’m running out of air. It feels harder to breathe. ”

“For me，too，” said Annie.

“Go slow. Don’t breathe too much，”said Jack.

He and Annie took long，floating steps toward the moon base. Jack held his breath as if he were underwater.

By the time they got to the white dome，he was ready to burst.

Annie pushed a button beside the huge door. It slid open. They hurried into the airlock. The door closed hehind them and the door to the hallway opened.

Jack opened the visor of his helmet. He took a long，deep breath—and let it out. “Ahhhh!”

“Let’s get out of these suits，” said Annie.

“Good idea. ” Jack was dying to free his arms and legs.

As they moved clumsily into the spacesuit storeroom，Jack felt heavy again.

He and Annie unlocked each other’s helmets，gloves，and boots，and pulled everything off. Then they stepped out of their bulky suits.

“Whew!” Jack said. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

It was great to be free—even if he no longer felt as light as a feather.

“Hurry!Peanut’s waiting!” said Annie.

She led the way down the steps to the bright landing chamber.

“Yay，” she said softly.

Jack was relieved to see the tree house still there. Soon they’d be heading home. He couldn’t wait.

Jack and Annie crawled through the tree house window.

“We’re back，Peanut!” said Annie.

Squeak!Peanut ran to the letter M.

“We missed you!” said Annie. She patted the mouse’s head. “We met a moon man. ”

“Sorry，Peanut，but you have to move，” said Jack. “We have to put the map on the M. ”

Annie gently lifted the mouse off the M.

Jack tore the star map out of his notebook. He placed it on the M，next to the mammoth bone，the mango，and the moonstone.

He sighed，then sat back on his heels. “Hand me the Pennsylvania book，” he said. They needed the Pennsylvania book to get back home.

There was silence.

Jack turned and looked at Annie.

“It’s not working，Jack，” she said. “The book’s not here. ”

“What?” Was the map the wrong thing?

They looked around the tree house.

“It’s definitely not here，” said Annie.

“Oh，no. ” Jack’s heart sank. He picked up the star map and stared at it.

Squeak，squeak. Peanut jumped out of Annie’s arms and scurried back to the letter M.

“I’ve got an idea，” said Jack. He reached into his pack and took out his pencil.

“What are you doing?” said Annie.

“You know how you draw a constellation?”said Jack. “You connect all the stars. What happens if we try that?”

He drew a line from one star to another. He kept drawing，until all the stars were connected.

“Let me see，” said Annie.

Jack held the paper out so they could both study it.

“It looks like a mouse，” said Annie.

“Yeah，” said Jack.

“Is there such a thing as a mouse constellation?” said Annie.

“I don’t think so...” said Jack.

Squeak.

Annie and Jack looked at Peanut. She was standing on the M.

“Oh，wow. Jack，” Annie whispered，“I think I know what the fourth thing is—”

Jack grinned. “Me too，”he said. “It’s a—”

“Mouse!”they said together.

Squeak!Squeak!

“Maybe the spell is—Moonstone，mango，mammoth bone，mouse!”said Annie.

Jack touched each M thing in turn as he whis-pered，“Moonstone，mango，mammoth bone，mouse. ”

“Let’s say it over and over and see what happens，” said Annie.

Together，they chanted：

“Moonstone，mango，

mammoth bone，mouse.

Moonstone，mango，

mammoth bone，mouse. ”

Suddenly，a bright light filled the tree house.

The light got brighter and brighter and bright-er.

The brightness was blinding and whirling.

The air spun with brightness.

Then everything was clear.

Peanut the mouse was gone.

And Morgan le Fay stood before Jack and Annie.

8星星圖

“他是誰?”杰克說，“他的星星圖是什么意思呢?”

“我也不知道。”安妮說，“不過讓我們看看它有沒有用。”

杰克深吸了一口氣。“是啊，我們最好快點回去。我覺得我快沒有氧氣了，呼吸越來越困難了。”

“我也是。”安妮說。

“慢點，別呼吸得太快。”杰克說。

他和安妮邁著漂浮的大步子向月球基地奔去。杰克仿佛置身水底一樣屏住了呼吸。

當他們到達那個白色穹頂?shù)慕ㄖr，杰克幾乎要憋壞了。

安妮按動了那扇大門旁的一個按鈕。門滑開了，他們急忙走進了密封艙。門在他們身后關(guān)上了，通往門廳的門則打開了。

杰克打開了自己頭盔上的面罩。他長長地、深深地吸了口氣，然后又吐出來——“啊!”

“咱們把這身衣服脫了吧。”安妮說。

“好主意。”杰克真是急著要放松一下自己的胳膊腿了。

當他們笨拙地走向宇航服儲存室時，杰克開始感到周身又沉重起來了。

他和安妮互相為對方解開了頭盔、手套和靴子，把所有的裝備都脫了下來，從沉重的宇航服里走了出來。

“唿!”杰克舒了口氣。他摘下眼鏡揉了揉雙眼。

自由自在的感覺真是太好了——雖然他再也不覺得自己像羽毛那么輕巧了。

“快點!花生還等著我們呢!”安妮說。

她在前面帶著路，走下臺階，跑到了明亮的降落艙。

“耶!”安妮輕聲地歡呼著。

杰克看到樹屋還在那里也放心了。他們很快就要回家了，他幾乎都等不及了。

杰克和安妮爬進了樹屋的窗戶。

“我們回來了，花生!”安妮說。

“吱吱!”花生跑到了樹屋地板上的字母M上。

“我們好想你啊!”安妮說。她拍了拍小老鼠的頭。“我們遇見了一個月球人呢。”

“對不起，花生，你得挪挪地方。”杰克說，“我們得把這幅星星圖放在字母M上。”

安妮輕輕地把小老鼠從M上拎了起來。

杰克從筆記本上把畫著星星圖的那一頁撕了下來，放在了字母M上，正擺在猛犸骨頭、芒果和月亮石旁邊。

他嘆了口氣，然后跪坐在了自己的腳跟上。“把那本賓夕法尼亞的書給我。”他說。他們需要那本書才能回家。

可是沒人回應(yīng)。

杰克轉(zhuǎn)過身來，看著安妮。

“沒有啊，杰克。”她說，“那本書不在這里。”

“什么?”難道這星星圖不是他們要找的東西?

他們在樹屋里四處尋找。

“肯定不在這里。”安妮說。

“哦，不。”杰克的心直往下沉。他撿起那幅星星圖仔細地看著。

吱吱，吱吱?；ㄉ鷱陌材莸膽驯Ю锾顺鰜?，急匆匆地跑到了字母M上。

“我有個主意了。”杰克說。他把手伸進背包，拿出了鉛筆。

“你在干什么?”安妮問。

“你知道怎么畫星座嗎?”杰克說，“要把所有的星星都連接起來。咱們試試看這樣一來會怎么樣?”

“我看看。”安妮說。

杰克把紙擺得遠一點，好讓他們倆能一起看星星圖。

“看起來像只老鼠。”安妮說。

“對。”杰克說。

“有這樣的老鼠星座嗎?”安妮問。

“我想沒有。”杰克說。

吱吱。

安妮和杰克看著花生，它正站在字母M上。

“哦，哇。杰克。”安妮小聲地說。“我想我知道這第四樣東西是什么了——”

杰克笑了起來。“我也知道了。”他說，“就是——”

“老鼠!”(mouse)他們異口同聲地說。

吱吱，吱吱!

“也許那個魔咒就是——月亮石，芒果，猛犸骨頭，老鼠!”安妮說。

杰克依次觸摸了每一個關(guān)于M的東西，嘴里念著：“月亮石，芒果，猛犸骨頭，老鼠。”

“咱們反復地說吧，看看會發(fā)生什么。”安妮說。

他們兩人一起念著：

“月亮石，芒果，猛犸骨頭，老鼠。 月亮石，芒果，猛犸骨頭，老鼠。”

突然，一道亮光照亮了樹屋。

這亮光越來越亮，越來越亮。

這亮光簡直令人目眩，把眼睛刺得什么都看不清了。

空氣仿佛都因為這光亮而旋轉(zhuǎn)了起來。

隨后一起都恢復了清晰。

只是小老鼠花生不見了。

而摩根·拉菲則站在了杰克和安妮面前。