儿童英语读物《神奇树屋》 第二册 Knight At Dawn 01 The Dark Woods

1黑幽幽的树林

杰克睡不着。

他戴上眼镜，看了看钟——5点30分。

起床太早了点。

昨天发生了那么多稀奇古怪的事情。此刻他正试着把它们一一弄清楚。

他打开灯，拿出笔记本。他看了看睡觉前记下的清单：

发现了树林里的树屋

发现了树屋里有好多好多的书

指了指书中的无齿翼龙的画

许了一个愿

去了恐龙的时代

指了指蛙溪树林的画

许了一个愿

回到了蛙溪镇的家

杰克推了推眼镜。谁会相信这一切呢?

老妈不会信，老爸不会信。三年级的老师沃特金斯小姐也不会信。相信的只有七岁的妹妹安妮，她同他一起去的恐龙时代。

“你睡不着吗?”

是安妮，她正站在他的房门口。

“睡不着。”杰克说。

“我也睡不着。”安妮说，“你在干什么呢?”

她走向杰克，看了看他的笔记本。她读了一下清单。

“你为什么没写上金奖章呢?”安妮问。

“你是说金奖牌。”杰克说。

他拿起铅笔，写上：

在恐龙时代发现这个

“你为什么不在奖章上写上字母M呢?”安妮说。

“奖牌。”杰克说，“不是奖章。”

他在上面加上一个字母M：

“你为什么不写上那个有魔法的人呢?”安妮说。

“我们不能确定是否真有那个有魔法的人。”杰克说。

“好啦，有人在树林里建造了树屋。有人在树屋里放了好多好多的书。有人在恐龙时代遗失了金奖章。”

“奖牌!”杰克第三次这样说了，“而我只写事实。我们确实能肯定的东西。”

“让我们立即回树屋去吧。”安妮说，“去查明那个有魔法的人是否真有其人。”

“你疯了吗?”杰克说，“太阳还未升起呢。”

“去吧。”安妮说，“也许我们能趁他们还在睡觉的时候碰见他们。”

“我认为我们不应该去。”杰克说。他有些担心。倘若那个有魔法的人很难惹，该怎么办?倘若那个有魔法的人(他或者她)不希望小孩子知道书屋的事，又该怎么办呢?

“反正，我是要去的。”安妮说。

杰克看了看窗外暗灰色的天空，天快亮了。

他叹了一口气。“好吧，我们穿衣服。我在后门等你，要静悄悄的。”

“耶!”安妮低声说。她像只老鼠似地静悄悄地蹑手蹑脚地离开了。

杰克穿上牛仔裤，套上一件运动衫，脚蹬球鞋。他把笔记本和铅笔扔进背包里。

他蹑手蹑脚地走下楼梯。

安妮正在后门等着他。她用手电筒照了照杰克的脸。“嗒——哒!神奇的魔棒!”她说。

“嘘!别吵醒了老妈和老爸。”杰克低声说道。“把手电筒关了，我们不能让任何人看见我们。”

安妮点了点头，关了手电筒，然后把手电筒别在皮带上。

他们悄悄地溜出门。清晨的空气凉飕飕的，蛐蛐在唧唧地叫，隔壁的狗在汪汪地吠。

“别作声，亨利!”安妮轻声说。

亨利不叫了。动物们似乎总是很听安妮的话。

“我们跑吧!”杰克说。

他们飞速地跑过黑乎乎、湿漉漉的草地，到达树林才停了下来。

“现在我们需要手电筒了。”杰克说。

安妮从皮带上取下手电筒，揿亮了。

她和杰克一步一步地在树木中穿行。杰克屏住气，黑漆漆的树林让人胆战心惊。

“妖怪!”安妮说着，把手电筒照在杰克脸上。

杰克吓得往后一跳，然后皱了皱眉头。

“快拿开!”他说着。

“吓到你了吧。”安妮说。

杰克对她怒目而视。

“别装神弄鬼的!”他低声说，“这可不能开玩笑的。”

“好啦，好啦。”

安妮用手电筒照了照树顶。

“你在干什么?”杰克说。

“找树屋!”

手电光停住不动了。

树屋在那儿。神秘的树屋，在树林最高那棵大树的顶上。

安妮用手电筒照了照树屋，接着照了照高高的绳梯，沿着绳梯一直照到地面上。

“我准备上去了。”她说。她抓着手电筒，开始往上爬。

“等一等!”杰克大声喊道 。

要是树屋里有人，那怎么办呢?

“安妮!快回来!”

但是她已经上去了。灯光也消失了。杰克一个人孤零零地呆在黑暗中。

1　　The Dark Woods

Jack couldn’t sleep.

He put his glasses on. He looked at the clock. 5∶30.

Too early to get up.

Yesterday so many strange things had happened. Now he was trying to figure them out.

He turned on the light. He picked up his notebook. He looked at the list he’d made before going to bed.

found　tree　house　in woods found　lots　of　books　in itpointed　to　Pteranodon　picture in　book made　a　wishwent　to　time　of　dinosaurs　Pointed　to　picture　of　Frog Creek　woods made　a　wish　Came　home　to　Frog　Creek Jack pushed his glasses into place. Who was going to believe any of this?

Not his mom. Or his dad. Or his third-grade teacher， Ms. Watkins.　Only his seven-year-old sister， Annie. She’d gone with him to the time of the dinosaurs.

“Can’t you sleep?”

It was Annie， standing in his doorway.

“Nope，” said Jack.

“Me neither，” said Annie. “What are you doing?”

She walked over to Jack and looked at his notebook. She read the list.

“Aren’　t you going to write about the gold medal?” she asked.

“You mean the gold medallion， ” said Jack.

He picked up his pencil and wrote：

found　this　in　dinosaur time

“Aren’t you going to put the letter M on the medal?” said Annie.

“Medallion，” said Jack. “Not medal.”

He added an M：

“Aren’t you going to write about the magic person?” said Annie.

“We don’t know for sure if there is a magic person，” said Jack.

“Well， someone built the tree house in the woods. Someone put the books in it. Someone lost a gold medal in dinosaur time.”

“Medallion!” said Jack for the third time. “And I’m just writing the facts.The stuff we know for sure.”

“Let’　s go back to the tree house right now，” said Annie. “And find out if the magic person is a fact.”

“Are you nuts?” said Jack. “The sun’s not even up yet.”

“Come on，” said Annie. “Maybe we can catch them sleeping.”

“I don’　t think we should，” said Jack. He was worried. What if the “magic person” was mean? What if he or she didn’t want kids to know about the tree house?

“Well， I’m going，” said Annie.

Jack looked out his window at the dark-gray sky. It was almost dawn.

He sighed.　“Okay. Let’s get dressed. I’ll meet you at the back door. Be quiet.”

“Yay!” whispered Annie. She tiptoed away as quietly as a mouse.

Jack put on jeans， a warm sweatshirt， and sneakers. He tossed his notebook and pencil in his backpack.

He crept downstairs.

Annie was waiting by the back door. She shined a flashlight in Jack’s face. “Ta-da! A magic wand!” she said.

“Shhh! Don’　t wake up Mom and Dad，” whispered Jack. “And turn that flashlight off. We don’t want anyone to see us.”

Annie nodded and turned it off. Then she clipped it onto her belt.

They slipped out the door into the cool early-morning air. Crickets were chirping. The dog next door barked.

“Quiet， Henry!” whispered Annie.

Henry stopped barking. Animals always seemed to do what Annie said.

“Let’s run!” said Jack.

They dashed across the dark， wet lawn and didn’t stop until they reached the woods.

“We need the flashlight now，” said Jack.

Annie took it off her belt and switched it on.

Step by step， she and Jack walked between the trees. Jack held his breath. The dark woods were scary.

“Gotcha!” said Annie， shining the flashlight in Jack’s face.

Jack jumped back. Then he frowned.

“Cut it out!” he siad.

“I scared you，” said Annie.

Jack glared at her.

“Stop pretending!” he whispered. “This is serious.”

“Okay， okay.”

Annie shined her flashlight over the tops of the trees.

“Now what are you doing?” said Jack.

“Looking for the tree house!”

The light stopped moving.

There it was. The mysterious tree house. At the top of the tallest tree in the woods.

Annie shined her light at the tree house， and then down the tall ladder. All the way to the ground.

“I’m going up，” she said. She gripped the flashlight and began to climb.

“Wait!” Jack called.

What if someone was in the tree house?

“Annie! Come back!”

But she was gone. The light disappeared. Jack was alone in the dark.