兒童英語(yǔ)讀物《神奇樹(shù)屋》 第五冊(cè) Night of the Ninjas 08

8 Dragon Water

Jack and Annie crouched together. Samurai were on both sides of them now. They were trapped!

Jack pressed against the rock.

The warrior stepped closer and closer. He looked to the right. He looked to the left.

Jack held his breath.

“Be nature，” whispered Annie.

“What?” Jack whispered back.

“Be nature. Be a rock.”

Oh brother， thought Jack. This was nuts. But he squeezed his eyes shut. Then he tried to be part of the rock.

Jack tried to be as still as the rock. As solid as the rock. As quiet as the rock.

Soon he started feeling as strong as the rock. As safe as the rock. He wanted to be the rock forever.

Squeak.

“He’s gone，” said Annie. “They’re all gone.”

Jack opened his eyes. The samurai warrior was gone. Jack stood up and looked over the rock.

The torches were gone， too.

“Let’s go，” Annie said.

Jack took a deep breath. He felt great—he was getting more and more like a ninja every minute. Maybe even like a ninja master.

“East!” he said.

And they went east. Down the mountain， between the rocks. Until they came to the wide， icy stream.

The water seemed even wilder than before.

“I don’t see the tree house，” said Annie.

Jack looked across the stream to the dark grove of trees. Moonlight shone on their pale flowers. But where was the tree house?

“I don’t see it either，” said Jack. “We have to cross the water first. Then we’ll try and find it.”

The water was crashing and rushing over the rocks.

Squeak. The mouse peeked out from its pouch.

“Don’t be afraid，” said Annie. She patted the mouse’s little head. “Be like us. Be like a ninja， too.”

“Let’s go，” Jack said.

He took a deep breath and stepped into the stream. The icy water swirled up to his knees. The current knocked him over.

Jack grabbed some weeds. He held on tight as water swirled around him.

He was freezing to death!

“Jack!” Annie grabbed Jack’s arms. She helped him back onto the bank.

“That was close!”said Annie.

Jack wiped his glasses. Luckily，they hadn’t fallen off in the water.

“Are you okay?” said Annie.

“N-not really，” said Jack， His teeth chattering. He was chilled to the bone.

“We’ll never get across，” said Annie. “We’ll drown if we try.”

“Or fr-freeze to death，” said Jack.

He pulled off the hood of his sweatshirt. He didn’t feel much like a ninja anymore.

Annie pulled off her hood too. She sighed. “What can we do?” she said.

Squeak.

Peanut climbed out of Annie’s sweatshirt pouch and leaped onto the ground.

The mouse scampered away.

“Peanut， come back!” Annie called.

“No，” said Jack. “We have to follow Peanut.”

“Why?” asked Annie.

“We have to do what the master said!” said Jack. “Follow nature!”

“Oh. Right!” said Annie. “Follow Peanut! But where is Peanut?”

In the moonlight Jack saw the little mouse. It was running through the grass along the stream.

“There!” he cried. “Come on!”

Annie hurried after Jack. Jack hurried after Peanut. They ran beside the rushing waters.

A moonlit branch had fallen across a narrow part of the stream. It touched both shores.

The mouse was running over the branch.

“Peanut’s going over a bridge!” said Annie. She started to follow.

“Wait!” cried Jack. “We can’t go on that branch. It’s too small! 　　It’ll break!”

8激流

杰克和安妮蜷縮成了一團(tuán)，現(xiàn)在他們兩旁已經(jīng)到處都是那些武士，他們被包圍了!

杰克緊緊貼著巖石。

那些武士越走越近，越走越近，他看了看右邊，又看了看左邊。

杰克屏著呼吸。

“融入自然。”安妮悄悄地說(shuō)。

“什么?”杰克小聲答道。

“融入自然，做個(gè)石頭!”

我的老天，杰克想，這真是瘋了。

可是他還是緊緊地閉上了眼睛，然后試圖成為巖石的一部分。

杰克試著像石頭一樣一動(dòng)不動(dòng)，像石頭一樣堅(jiān)硬，像石頭一樣安靜。

沒(méi)過(guò)多久，他就覺(jué)得他和巖石一樣強(qiáng)壯，像巖石一樣安全了。他想永遠(yuǎn)做個(gè)石頭。

吱吱。吱吱。

“他走了。”安妮說(shuō)，“他們都走了。”

杰克睜開(kāi)了他的眼睛，日本武士已經(jīng)離開(kāi)。杰克站起身來(lái)從巖石上望了望，那些火把也都不見(jiàn)了。

“我們走。”安妮說(shuō)。

杰克深深地吸了一口氣，感覺(jué)棒極了——他每分鐘都在變得越來(lái)越像一個(gè)真正的忍者了，說(shuō)不定甚至還像個(gè)忍者頭頭呢。

“向東進(jìn)發(fā)!”他說(shuō)。

他們穿過(guò)巖石下山，朝東邊走去，直到他們來(lái)到一條寬闊的冰冷的溪水邊。

溪水看上去比剛才更寬了。

“我沒(méi)看見(jiàn)樹(shù)屋。”安妮說(shuō)。

杰克朝小溪那邊黑暗的小樹(shù)林望去，月光照在那些蒼白的花朵上，可是樹(shù)屋在哪里?

“我也沒(méi)有看見(jiàn)。”杰克說(shuō)，“我們必須先蹚過(guò)溪水，然后再去找它。”

溪水猛烈地激蕩在巖石上一滾而下。

吱吱。吱吱。老鼠從口袋里偷偷向外張望。

“別害怕。”安妮說(shuō)，她拍了拍老鼠的小腦袋，“像我們那樣做，像忍者那樣做。”

“我們走。”杰克說(shuō)。

他深吸了一口氣，然后邁進(jìn)了溪水中，冰冷刺骨的溪水很快漫到了他的膝蓋，激流把他給擊倒了。

杰克抓住了一些雜草，緊緊地抓著，溪水在他身邊打著轉(zhuǎn)。

他感覺(jué)快要被凍死了!

“杰克!”安妮抓住了杰克的手臂，幫助他回到了岸上。

“太懸了!”安妮說(shuō)。

杰克擦了擦他的眼鏡，還算走運(yùn)，他們沒(méi)有一起掉進(jìn)水里。

“你還好吧?”安妮說(shuō)。

“不……不怎么好。”杰克說(shuō)，他的牙齒打著架，連骨頭都在打顫。

“我們永遠(yuǎn)過(guò)不去了。”安妮說(shuō)，“如果下水的話我們會(huì)淹死的。”

“或者凍……凍死。”杰克說(shuō)。

他把運(yùn)動(dòng)衫的帽子給放了下來(lái)，他可不再覺(jué)得自己像一個(gè)忍者了。

安妮也放下了她的帽子，她嘆了口氣，“我們?cè)撛趺崔k?”她說(shuō)。

吱吱。吱吱。

花生從安妮運(yùn)動(dòng)衫的口袋里爬了出來(lái)跳到了地上。

小老鼠跑開(kāi)了。

“花生，回來(lái)!”安妮叫道。

“不是的。”杰克說(shuō)，“我們要跟著花生。”

“為什么?”安妮說(shuō)。

“我們必須照忍者頭頭的話去做!”杰克說(shuō)，“跟著自然!”

“噢!對(duì)啊!”安妮說(shuō)，“跟著花生!可是花生呢?”

月光下，杰克看見(jiàn)了小老鼠，它正沿著溪邊的草地跑呢。

“那兒!”他叫道，“跟上它!”

安妮趕緊跟在杰克后面，杰克緊緊跟著花生，他們?cè)诒剂鞯南吪苤?/p>

一個(gè)被月光照耀的樹(shù)枝橫跨在水面比較窄的地方，連接了兩岸。

小老鼠正跑過(guò)那個(gè)樹(shù)枝。

“花生正在過(guò)橋呢!”安妮說(shuō)，她開(kāi)始照做。

“等等!”杰克叫道，“我們不能上那個(gè)樹(shù)枝，太小了，會(huì)斷的!”