儿童英语读物《神奇树屋》 第八册 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星星图

“他是谁?”杰克说，“他的星星图是什么意思呢?”

“我也不知道。”安妮说，“不过让我们看看它有没有用。”

杰克深吸了一口气。“是啊，我们最好快点回去。我觉得我快没有氧气了，呼吸越来越困难了。”

“我也是。”安妮说。

“慢点，别呼吸得太快。”杰克说。

他和安妮迈着漂浮的大步子向月球基地奔去。杰克仿佛置身水底一样屏住了呼吸。

当他们到达那个白色穹顶的建筑时，杰克几乎要憋坏了。

安妮按动了那扇大门旁的一个按钮。门滑开了，他们急忙走进了密封舱。门在他们身后关上了，通往门厅的门则打开了。

杰克打开了自己头盔上的面罩。他长长地、深深地吸了口气，然后又吐出来——“啊!”

“咱们把这身衣服脱了吧。”安妮说。

“好主意。”杰克真是急着要放松一下自己的胳膊腿了。

当他们笨拙地走向宇航服储存室时，杰克开始感到周身又沉重起来了。

他和安妮互相为对方解开了头盔、手套和靴子，把所有的装备都脱了下来，从沉重的宇航服里走了出来。

“唿!”杰克舒了口气。他摘下眼镜揉了揉双眼。

自由自在的感觉真是太好了——虽然他再也不觉得自己像羽毛那么轻巧了。

“快点!花生还等着我们呢!”安妮说。

她在前面带着路，走下台阶，跑到了明亮的降落舱。

“耶!”安妮轻声地欢呼着。

杰克看到树屋还在那里也放心了。他们很快就要回家了，他几乎都等不及了。

杰克和安妮爬进了树屋的窗户。

“我们回来了，花生!”安妮说。

“吱吱!”花生跑到了树屋地板上的字母M上。

“我们好想你啊!”安妮说。她拍了拍小老鼠的头。“我们遇见了一个月球人呢。”

“对不起，花生，你得挪挪地方。”杰克说，“我们得把这幅星星图放在字母M上。”

安妮轻轻地把小老鼠从M上拎了起来。

杰克从笔记本上把画着星星图的那一页撕了下来，放在了字母M上，正摆在猛犸骨头、芒果和月亮石旁边。

他叹了口气，然后跪坐在了自己的脚跟上。“把那本宾夕法尼亚的书给我。”他说。他们需要那本书才能回家。

可是没人回应。

杰克转过身来，看着安妮。

“没有啊，杰克。”她说，“那本书不在这里。”

“什么?”难道这星星图不是他们要找的东西?

他们在树屋里四处寻找。

“肯定不在这里。”安妮说。

“哦，不。”杰克的心直往下沉。他捡起那幅星星图仔细地看着。

吱吱，吱吱。花生从安妮的怀抱里跳了出来，急匆匆地跑到了字母M上。

“我有个主意了。”杰克说。他把手伸进背包，拿出了铅笔。

“你在干什么?”安妮问。

“你知道怎么画星座吗?”杰克说，“要把所有的星星都连接起来。咱们试试看这样一来会怎么样?”

“我看看。”安妮说。

杰克把纸摆得远一点，好让他们俩能一起看星星图。

“看起来像只老鼠。”安妮说。

“对。”杰克说。

“有这样的老鼠星座吗?”安妮问。

“我想没有。”杰克说。

吱吱。

安妮和杰克看着花生，它正站在字母M上。

“哦，哇。杰克。”安妮小声地说。“我想我知道这第四样东西是什么了——”

杰克笑了起来。“我也知道了。”他说，“就是——”

“老鼠!”(mouse)他们异口同声地说。

吱吱，吱吱!

“也许那个魔咒就是——月亮石，芒果，猛犸骨头，老鼠!”安妮说。

杰克依次触摸了每一个关于M的东西，嘴里念着：“月亮石，芒果，猛犸骨头，老鼠。”

“咱们反复地说吧，看看会发生什么。”安妮说。

他们两人一起念着：

“月亮石，芒果，猛犸骨头，老鼠。 月亮石，芒果，猛犸骨头，老鼠。”

突然，一道亮光照亮了树屋。

这亮光越来越亮，越来越亮。

这亮光简直令人目眩，把眼睛刺得什么都看不清了。

空气仿佛都因为这光亮而旋转了起来。

随后一起都恢复了清晰。

只是小老鼠花生不见了。

而摩根·拉菲则站在了杰克和安妮面前。