兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第五冊 Night of the Ninjas 07

7 To the East

Jack and Annie stood still for a long moment.

Annie spoke first. “Well， I guess the tall ninja was pointing to the east，” she said. “I guess that’s the way we go.”

“Wait，” said Jack. “I need to write some stuff down.”

He took out his notebook. In the moonlight， he wrote：

1.use nature

2.be nature

3.follow nature

“Look， Jack，” whispered Annie. “Do I look like a ninja?”

He looked at her. She had pulled her sweatshirt hood over her head and tied the strings tightly.

She did look like a ninja—a very small one.

“Good idea，” Jack whispered. He pulled his hood up， too.

“Okay， let’s go，” said Annie.

Jack put his notebook away. Then he and Annie headed east into the woods.

They slipped between trees. And more trees. And more trees.

All the trees looked the same. Jack got confused. Were they still going in the right direction?

“Wait，” he said.

Annie stopped. They both stared at the woods around them.

“Do you think we’re still going east?” asked Jack.

“I guess so，” said Annie.

“We can’t just guess，” said Jack. “We have to know for sure.”

“How do we do that?” said Annie. “We don’t have a compass.”

Just then the master’s words came back to Jack.

“The ninja master said to use nature，” he said.

“How do we do that?” said Annie.

“Wait， I remember something—” Jack closed his eyes.

He remembered something in a camping book. Now what was it?

He opened his eyes. “I’ve got it! First we need a stick，” he said.

Annie picked up a stick. “Here—” she said.

“Great， now we just need a space with moonlight，” said Jack.

“There—” said Annie.

They moved into a moonlit space between the shadows.

“Now push the stick into the ground，” Jack said.

Annie pushed the stick into the ground.

“The stick’s shadow looks like it’s more than six inches，” said Jack. “What do you think?”

“It looks like it，” said Annie.

“Okay. Then that means the shadow’s pointing east，” said Jack.

“Neat，” said Annie.

“So that way is east!” Jack pointed to a new direction. “At least I hope it is.”

“We’re real ninjas now!” said Annie.

“Yep，” said Jack. “Maybe we are. Come on!”

They took off—heading east， they hoped.

Soon they were out of the pine woods and walking down the rocky mountainside. They moved slowly from rock to rock. Finally they rested against a giant rock.

“Let’s check our direction again，” said Jack.

Annie stuck another stick into the dirt.

“There，” he said. He pointed to the shadow on the ground. “That way—”

Annie peeked over the rock， down the mountain.

“Yikes，” she said softly.

Jack looked， too. His heart nearly stopped.

There were flames of fire coming up the mountain. The samurai!

Jack and Annie ducked behind the rock.

Squeak， said the mouse.

“Quiet， Peanut，” said Annie.

Jack reached into his pack. He pulled out the ninja book.

“I hope something in here can help us，” he said.

Jack flipped through page after page until he found what he was looking for. It was a picture of warriors wearing bamboo armor. They were holding swords. He read：

The samurai were fierce Japanese fighters. They carried two swords to cut down their enemies.

Annie tapped Jack on the shoulder.

Jack looked at her.

She pointed up the mountain.

A figure was coming down toward them. He was very near.

In the moonlight， his bamboo armor was shining. His two swords were gleaming.

It was a samurai warrior!

7一路向東

杰克和安妮一動不動地站在原地很長時間。

安妮先說話了，“那么，我猜那個高個子忍者指的方向就是東邊。”她說，“我想我們該走那邊。”

“等等。”杰克說，“我必須記下點東西。”

他拿出他的筆記本，在月光下寫道：

1. 利用自然

2. 融入自然

3. 跟著自然

“看哪，杰克。”安妮輕聲說道，“我看上去像不像一個忍者?”

他看著她，她把她運動服后的帽子給罩在頭上了，然后把繩子拉得緊緊的。

她看上去確實像一個忍者——一個小忍者。

“好主意。”杰克低聲道，他也把他的帽子給豎了起來。

“好了，我們走。”安妮說。

杰克把他的筆記本放好，然后他和安妮朝著東邊走進(jìn)了樹林。

他們穿過了一些樹，又穿過一些樹，然后穿過了更多的樹。所有的樹看上去都是一樣的，杰克都搞糊涂了，他們走的是正確的方向嗎?

“等一下。”杰克說。

安妮停下了腳步，他們凝視著四周的樹木。

“你覺得我們還是在往東方走嗎?”杰克問道。

“我猜是的。”安妮說。

“我們不能光猜。”杰克說，“我們必須確定。”

“我們怎么確定?”安妮說，“我們沒有指南針。”

就在這時，忍者頭目的話浮現(xiàn)在杰克耳邊。

“忍者頭頭說要利用自然。”他說。

“怎么用?”安妮說。

“等等，我記得一些——”杰克閉上了他的眼睛。

他記得露營書上的一些東西，是什么呢?

他睜開眼睛，“我想起來了!首先我們需要一根棍子。”他說。

安妮撿起一根棍子，“給你——”她說。

“好極了，現(xiàn)在我們只需要一個有月光的地方。”杰克說。

“那兒——”安妮說。

他們跑到樹影中間一處有月光的地方。

“現(xiàn)在把棍子立在地上。”杰克說。

安妮把棍子立在了地上。

“棍子的影子看起來長于6英寸(注：1英寸=2.54厘米)。”杰克說，“你覺得呢?”

“看上去好像有那么長。”安妮說。

“那好，也就是說這個影子指向東邊。”杰克說。

“太棒了!”安妮說。

“所以，那邊才是東邊。”杰克指著一個新的方向說，“至少希望如此。”

“我們現(xiàn)在是真正的忍者了!”安妮說。

“沒錯。”杰克說，“可能是這樣的，走吧!”

他們出發(fā)了——朝著東邊，希望真的是東邊。

不久他們就走出了松樹林，朝著亂石嶙峋的山下走去。他們在大石頭間緩慢地穿行，最后靠在一個巨大的巖石邊停下來休息。

“讓我們再檢查一遍我們的方位。”杰克說。

安妮又把一根小木棍插進(jìn)了土里。

“那兒。”杰克說，他指了指地上影子的方向，“那個方向——”

安妮從巖石上偷偷地向山下望了望。

“我的媽呀!”她小聲說。

杰克也看了看，他的心跳都差點停了。

一些火光正朝著山上來了，是武士!

杰克和安妮在巖石后面蹲下了。

吱吱。吱吱。

“安靜，花生!”安妮說

杰克伸手去摸他的包，抽出了那本忍者的書。

“希望里面有什么東西可以幫助我們。”他說。

杰克一頁又一頁地翻著書，直到他找到了他想要的東西。那是一張畫有日本武士的圖片，圖中的武士都穿著竹制的盔甲，他們手持利劍。

他讀道：

武士是日本一些殘暴的斗士，他們手拿兩把利劍用于砍殺他們的敵人。

安妮輕輕地拍了拍杰克的肩膀，杰克看著她。

她向山上指了指。

一個身影正朝他們走下來，已經(jīng)非常近了。

在月光下，他的竹制盔甲閃閃發(fā)亮，他的兩把劍也反著光。

是一個日本武士!