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儿童英语读物《神奇树屋》 第十册 Ghost Town at Sundown 03

所属教程:儿童英语读物《神奇树屋》第十册

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Outside, the sad tune played on.

“It’s coming from there,” said Annie.

She crept toward a building that had a sign with the word HOTEL on it. Jack limped after her.

Annie slowly pushed open a swinging door. They peeked inside.

The fading daylight lit a piano in the corner of the room. The keys were moving up and down. But no one was there!

“Yikes,” whispered Annie.“A ghost playing the piano!”

Suddenly the keys were still. The air got very cold.

“No. No way,” said Jack. “There’s no such thing as a ghost.”

“We saw one in ancient Egypt,” whispered Annie.

“Yeah, but that was ancient Egypt,” said Jack. Even so, his heart raced.

“I’ll look it up.” Jack pulled out the Wild West book. He found a picture of a piano. He read aloud:

Player pianos were popular in the Old West. The piano played automatically when someone pumped its floor pedals.Later, with the help of electricity, the piano played all by itself.

“Whew.” Jack closed the book. “I knew there was an answer,” he said. “It must be electric, and somehow it came on.”

“I didn’t know they had electricity in the Wild West,” said Annie.

“They didn’t,” said Jack.

He looked at Annie. “Oh, man, let’s get out of here!” he said.

Jack and Annie backed out of the hotel.

When they got outside, they heard another sound:horse hooves thumping against the hard ground.

A cloud of dust seemed to be moving toward the town. As it got closer, Jack saw three riders.They were herding a small band of horses.

“Hide!” Jack said.

“Where?” said Annie.

Jack looked around wildly. He saw two barrels outside the hotel.

“There!” he said.

Jack and Annie hurried to the empty barrels.Jack climbed inside one and tried to scrunch down.His hat wouldn’t fit!He jumped out of the barrel and threw his hat into the hotel.

“Mine, too!” said Annie.

Jack grabbed hers and threw it.Then he scrambled back into the barrel.

Just in time.

Jack heard the horses thunder into town.He peeked through a crack in the barrel and saw a blur of cowboys and horses go by.

“Whoa!” “Whoa!” “Whoa!” men shouted.Jack heard the horses come to a halt. They stamped and snorted. All he could see were shadows through the crack.

Dust covered Jack. He had to sneeze.He pinched his nose.

“The creek bed must have dried up!” a cowboy yelled. “This town’s a ghost!”

“Yup, it gives me the shivers,” said another.“Let’s camp over the rise.”

Jack really had to sneeze now. He pinched his nose tighter. But he couldn’t stop the sneeze. He let out a choked “Ah-choo!”

“What was that?” someone said.

Just then a loud whinny split the air. Jack saw a beautiful horse rear up.

She had no rider or saddle, just a rope around her neck. She was as red as the sunset.She had a wild black mane and a white star above her eyes.

“We can’t keep fighting this one, boss!” a cowboy yelled.

“Yup. She wants her colt,” another said. “We shouldn’t have left him behind.”

“He was too slow,” a growly voice said. “We’ll sell her when we cross the border.”

That’s terrible! thought Jack.He knew Annie must be upset, too.He just hoped that she wouldn’t jump out of her barrel.

But the cowboys pulled the red horse away.The ground rang from the pounding of hooves as they galloped off.

Jack and Annie stood up.They watched the riders disappear into the dust.

The pounding faded away.All was quiet again, except for the lazy buzzing of flies.

“They were mean to that horse,” Annie said in a low, angry voice.

“I know. But there was nothing we could do,” said Jack. His boots were killing him. He climbed out of his barrel.

“Man, I have to get these off,” he said.

Jack sat down on the porch of the hotel.He grabbed the boot of one foot and pulled.

“Jack,” said Annie, “I think there is something we can do.”

“What?” Jack looked up.

A small horse was running down the road. He was as red as the wild mother horse.He had the same black mane and white star above his eyes.

A rope was around his neck. He looked very lost.

3自动演奏的钢琴

外面,悲伤的曲调依然弹奏着。

“是从那里传来的。”安妮说。

安妮蹑手蹑脚地向一幢挂着“旅馆”的房子走去,杰克则一瘸一拐地跟在后面。

安妮慢慢地推开一扇摇摇晃晃的门,他们一齐往里看去。

夕阳的余光正照在角落里的一架钢琴上。琴键一上一下地叮咚作响,却不见有人弹奏。

“哎呀!”安妮小声地说,“一定是一个幽灵在弹琴。”

突然所有的琴键都停了下来。空气变得凉飕飕的。

“不,不可能。”杰克说,“根本就没有所谓的幽灵。”

“可是我们在古埃及见过一个啊。”安妮轻声地说。

“但那是在古埃及。”杰克回答。虽然是这么说,他的心还是加速跳动着。

“我来查查看。”杰克拿出狂野西部那本书。他找到了一幅钢琴的画,大声读道:

在昔日的西部,自动演奏钢琴是很普遍的。只要有人踩踏板,钢琴就能自动演奏。后来,借助电力,又有了完全自动演奏的钢琴。

“嘿。”杰克合上书,“我就知道一定会有答案的。”他说,“一定是电,一定有电通过来了。”

“我可不知道在狂野的西部还有电。”安妮说。

“是没有啊。”杰克说。

他一面看着安妮,大声说:“天啊,咱们快点离开这里吧。”

杰克和安妮赶紧离开了旅馆。

他们一到外面,又听到了另一种声音:马蹄敲击坚硬地面所发出的声音。

似乎有一片尘雾正朝小镇涌来。当尘雾飘近时,杰克看到了三个骑马的人。他们赶着一小群马。

“快躲起来!”杰克说。

“躲到哪里啊?”安妮问。

杰克忙乱地向四周看看,看到旅馆外面的两个酒桶。

“那里!”杰克说。

杰克和安妮赶紧跑向那两个空酒桶。杰克爬进其中一个,准备蹲下来。可他的帽子却塞不进去。杰克跳出酒桶,把帽子扔进了旅馆。

“还有我的!”安妮说。

杰克一把夺过安妮的帽子也扔了进去。然后又赶紧爬进了桶里。时间刚刚好。

杰克听到马队冲进了小镇。他从酒桶的缝隙里向外看,模模糊糊看到一群牛仔和马经过。

“吁!”“吁!”“吁!”那些人喊道。

杰克听到马队停了下来。那些马跺着脚,打着响鼻。从缝隙中,杰克只能看到一些影子。

尘雾扑面而来。杰克想打喷嚏了,他使劲捏着自己的鼻子。

“小溪的河床一定已经干了!”一个牛仔嚷嚷着,“这个镇就是个鬼镇。”

“是啊,我都有些怕得发抖呢。”另一个牛仔说,“咱们在高处扎营吧。”

杰克现在真的要打喷嚏了。他愈发使劲地捏住鼻子,却还是没能压住喷嚏。他发出了一声:“阿嚏!”

“什么声音?”有人说。

就在这时,一阵马嘶划破长空,杰克看见一匹骏马扬起前蹄。

这匹马既没有人骑也没有马鞍,只是在脖子上拴了一根绳子。它的毛色红得像落日一般,有着一排野性的黑色鬃毛,双眼上方的前额上还有一颗白色的五角星印  记。

“我们可不能再和这匹马干仗了,老板!”一个牛仔喊道。

“是啊,它一定想找它的孩子。”另一个牛仔说,“我们不该把它的孩子扔下的。”

“可那小的也跑得太慢了。”一个低沉的声音吼道,“我们一过边境就把这大的卖了。”

真是太可怕了!杰克想。他知道安妮一定也很难过。他只希望安妮别忍不住跳出酒桶去。

牛仔把那匹红马牵走了。随着马队飞驰而去,地面回响着马蹄的声响。

杰克和安妮站起身,望着牛仔们的身影消失在一片扬尘之中。

马蹄声渐渐消逝了。一切又重归宁静,除了几只懒苍蝇的嗡嗡声。

“他们对那匹马太坏了。”安妮说,声音低低的,显得非常生气。

“我知道,但我们也没办法。”杰克说。他的靴子弄得他痛极了。他爬出酒桶,说:

“天啊,我得把这东西脱掉。”

杰克坐在旅馆的门廊上,使劲地想要把一只脚上的靴子拽掉。

“杰克。”安妮说,“我想我们有办法了。”

“什么?”杰克抬起头。

一匹小马正一路跑来。它和刚才那匹刚烈的母马一样,周身通红,也有着同样的黑色鬃毛和双眼上方的白色五角星印记。

它的脖子上也有一根绳子,小马看起来十分失落。

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