儿童英语读物《神奇树屋》 第五册 Night of the Ninjas 01

1 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.They found that it was filled with books.

Jack and Annie soon discovered that the tree house was magic. It could take them to the places in the books. All they had to do was to point to a picture and wish to be there.

Jack and Annie visited the time of dinosaurs，old England，ancient Egypt，and a pirate ship.

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.

Jack and Annie are about to start a whole new adventure...in Night of the Ninjas.

1Back into the Woods

“Let’s look again，Jack，” said Annie.Jack and Annie were walking home from the library. The path went right by the Frog Creek woods.

Jack sighed. “We looked this morning，” he said. “We looked the day before. And the day before that.”

“Then you don’t have to come，” said Annie.“I’ll go look by myself.”

She took off into the woods.

“Annie， wait!” Jack called. “It’s almost dark!We have to get home!”

But Annie had disappeared among the trees.

Jack stared at the woods. He was starting to lose hope. Maybe he wuld never see Morgan again.

Weeks had passed. And there had not been one sign of Morgan le Fay. Nor had there been one sign of her magic tree house.

“Jack!”Annie called from the woods.“It’s back!”

Oh， she’s just pretending as usual， Jack thought. But his heart started to race.

“Hurry!” called Annie.

“She better not be kidding,” said Jack.

He took off into the woods to find Annie.

Night was falling fast. Crickets chirped loudly. It was hard to see through the shadows.

“Annie!” Jack shouted.

“Here!” she called.

Jack kept walking.“Here where?”he called back.

“Here here!”

Annie’s voice came from above.

Jack looked up.

“Oh man，” he breathed.

Annie waved from the window of a tree house. It was in the tallest oak in the woods. A long rope ladder hung down from it.

The magic tree house was back.

“Come on up!” Annie shouted.

Jack ran to the rope ladder.He started climbing.

He climbed and climbed and climbed.

As he climbed， he looked out over the woods. High above the treetops it was still light.

At last， Jack pulled himself into the tree house.

Annie sat in the shadows.Books were scattered everywhere.

On the floor the letter M glowed in the dim light. The M stood for Morgan le Fay.

But there was no sign of Morgan herself.

“I wonder where Morgan is，”said Jack.

“Maybe she went to the library to get some more books，” said Annie.

“We were just at the library. We would have seen her，” said Jack. “Besides，the library’sclosed now.”

Squeak!

A little mouse ran out from behind a stack of books. It ran to the M shining in the floor.

“Yikes，” said Annie.

The mouse sat on the middle of the M. It looked up at Jack and Annie.

“Oh，it’s so cute，” Annie said.

Jack had to admit the mouse was cute. It had brown-and-white fur and big dark eyes.

Annie slowly reached out her hand. The mouse didn’t move. Annie patted its tiny head.

“Hi， Peanut，” she said. “Can I call you Peanut?”

“Oh brother，” said Jack.

“Do you know where Morgan is?” Annie asked the mouse.

Squeak.

“You’re nuts，Annie，” said Jack. “Just because the mouse is in the tree house

doesn’t mean it’s magic. It’s a plain old mouse that crawled in， that’s all.”

Jack looked around again. He saw a piece of paper on the floor.

“What’s that?” he said.

“What’s what?” asked Annie.

Jack went over and picked up the paper. There was writing on it.

“Oh man，” whispered Jack， after he read the words.

“What is it?” said Annie.

“A note，” said Jack. “It must be from Morgan. I think she’s in big trouble!”

1回到树林里

引　　子

夏季的某一天，在宾夕法尼亚州一个叫蛙溪镇的地方，一个神秘的树屋出现在了树林中。

八岁的杰克和他七岁的妹妹安妮爬进了那个树屋，发现屋子里面堆满了书。

他们不久就发现那个树屋是有魔法的。只要他们指着书中的一幅图并许愿，树屋就会带他们去那儿。

杰克和安妮已经去过了恐龙的时代，骑士的时代，埃及王后的时代以及海盗的时代。沿途中他们发现，这个树屋属于一个叫摩根·拉菲的人。摩根是亚瑟王时代里的一个会魔法的图书管理员。她可以在时间与空间中任意地穿梭，收集各种书籍。

杰克和安妮现在准备开始一段全新的冒险了……就在《忍者的秘密》里。

1　回到树林里

“我们再去看看，杰克。”安妮说。

杰克和安妮从图书馆回家，这条小路正好从蛙溪树林旁边经过。

杰克叹了口气，“我们早上看过了。”他说，“昨天看过了，前天也看过了。”

“那你就别去了。”安妮说，“我自己进去看。”

她匆匆走进树林去了。

“安妮!等等!”杰克叫道，“天已经快黑了，我们必须回家!”

可是安妮已经消失在树林里了。

杰克凝视着树林，他已经有点不抱希望了，他可能再也见不到摩根了。

好几周过去了，一点摩根·拉菲的消息都没有，也没看到她那个神奇树屋的影子。

“杰克!”安妮从树林里喊道，“树屋回来了!”

噢!她又像平常一样假装看到了，杰克想。可是他的心却开始扑腾扑腾地跳。

“快点!”安妮喊道。

“她最好别是骗我的。”杰克说。

于是他匆匆地进树林找安妮去了。

黑夜正在快速降临，蟋蟀大声地唧唧叫着，很难透过阴影看清东西。

“安妮!”杰克叫道。

“这儿!”安妮说。

杰克继续往前走，“这儿是哪儿?”他回叫道。

“这儿就是这儿!”

安妮的声音从上面传来。

杰克抬头看去。

“噢!我的老天啊。”杰克吸了一口气。

安妮从树屋的窗户里向外招手，它落在树林中最高的一棵橡树上，一副长长的绳梯从上面垂挂下来。

那个神奇树屋又回来了。

“快上来。”安妮叫道。

杰克向绳梯跑去，开始往上爬。

他爬呀爬呀爬呀。

就在他爬的过程中，他留心看了看四周的树林。在树梢上面，天还是亮的。

最后杰克终于爬进了树屋。

安妮坐在阴影中，书散落得到处都是。

在昏暗的光线下，地板上的字母M闪闪发着光，那字母M代表着摩根·拉菲。

但是那儿却没有摩根的影子。

“我在想摩根在哪儿。”杰克说。

“没准儿她去图书馆多拿些书过来呢。”安妮说。

“我们刚才还在图书馆呢，我们应该看见她了才对。”杰克说，“再说，图书馆现在已经关了。”

吱吱。吱吱。

一只小老鼠从一堆书后面跑了出来，它跑到地板上那个闪闪发光的字母M上。

“哇塞!”安妮说。

小老鼠坐在字母M的中间，它抬头看杰克和安妮。

“噢，太可爱了。”安妮说。

杰克不得不承认那只老鼠确实很可爱，它长着棕白相间的毛，还有一双黑色的大眼睛。

安妮慢慢地伸出她的手，那小老鼠没有动。安妮拍了拍它的小脑袋。

“你好啊，花生。”安妮说，“我可不可以叫你花生?”

“嚯，真是的!”杰克说。

“你知道摩根在哪吗?”安妮问小老鼠。

吱吱。吱吱。

“你疯了，安妮。”杰克说，“一只老鼠碰巧在树屋里可不代表它也会魔法，那只不过是一只爬进来的普通老鼠，仅此而已。”

杰克又四周环顾了一下，他看到地上有一张纸。

“那是什么?”杰克说。

“什么是什么?”安妮问道。

杰克走过去把那张纸捡了起来，上面写着些东西。

“噢!天哪!”杰克看了之后喃喃道。

“那是什么?”安妮说。

“一个留言。”杰克说，“肯定是摩根写的，我想她遇到大麻烦了!”