兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第十冊 Ghost Town at Sundown 01

1 How Wild?

Jack and Annie were sitting on the porch of their house.Annie was gazing down the street at the Frog Creek woods.Jack was reading a book.

“I have a feeling we should check the woods again，” said Annie.

“Why?” said Jack without looking up.

“A rabbit’s hopping by，” said Annie.

“So?We’ve seen rabbits before.”

“Not like this one，” said Annie.

“What do you mean?” Jack stood up and looked with her.

He saw a rabbit with very long legs hopping down their street. Soon the rabbit left the sidewalk and headed into the woods.

“He’s a sign，” said Annie.

“A sigh of what?” said Jack.

“That Morgan’s back，”said Annie. She jumped off the porch. “Come on!”

“But what about dinner?” Jack said. “Dad said it would be ready soon.”

“Don’t worry，” said Annie. “You know when we leave in the tree house， time stops.”

She ran across their yard.

Jack pulled on his backpack. “Back in ten minutes!” he called through the screen door. Then he followed Annie.

They hurried down their street and into the Frog Creek woods. The sun was setting above the trees.

“There he is!” said Annie.

The rabbit was standing in a ray of sunlight.When he saw them， he took off.

Jack and Annie followed the rabbit until he vanished behind the tallest tree.

“I told you!See?” said Annie， panting. She pointed up at the tree.

Morgan le Fay was waving to them from the magic tree house high in the branches.

Jack and Annie waved back to her. As always， Jack was very happy to see the enchantress librarian again.

“Come on up!” she called.

Annie and Jack started up the rope ladder. They climbed up to the tree house.

“We followed a strange rabbit here，”said Annie.“Is he your friend?”

“Perhaps，”said Morgan.She smiled mysteriously. “I have many odd friends.”

“Including us，” said Annie.

Morgan laughed. “That’s right.”

“How are you?” said Jack.

“I’m still having problems with Merlin，” said the enchantress， “which leaves me little time to do my real work. But soon you both will become Master Librarians， and that will be a big help to me.”

Jack smiled. He was going to be a Master Librarian who traveled through time and space. It was almost too good to believe.

“Are you ready to solve another riddle?” asked Morgan.

“Yes!” said Jack and Annie together.

“Good，” said Morgan.“First， you’ll need this for research…”

She pulled a book from her robe and handed it to Jack. It was the book that would help them on their journey.

The title of the book was Days of the Wild West. On the cover was a picture of a western town on a prairie.

“Oh， wow，” said Annie. “The Wild West!”

Jack took a deep breath.Just how wild?he wondered.

Morgan reached into the folds of her robe again and pulled out a scroll. She handed it to Annie.

“Read this when the tree house lands，” she said.

“Is it the riddle?” asked Jack.

“Yes，” said Morgan. “Then you’ll only have two more to solve. Are you ready to go?”

Jack and Annie nodded. Annie pointed to the picture on the cover of the Wild West book.

“I wish we could go there，” she said.

The wind started to blow.

“Good-bye!” said Morgan. “Good luck!”

The tree house started to spin.

Jack squeezed his eyes shut.

The tree house spun faster and faster.

Then everything was still.

Absolutely still.

Jack opened his eyes.

Morgan le Fay was gone.

A fly buzzed around his head.

1有多狂野?

杰克和安妮坐在房前的門廊上。安妮的目光順街而下，凝視著蛙溪樹林。而杰克則正在讀著一本書。

“我覺得我們還應(yīng)該再把樹林搜一遍。”安妮說。

“為什么?”杰克頭也不抬地問。

“剛有一只兔子跳了過去。”安妮說。

“那又怎么樣?我們又不是沒見過兔子。”

“這只可不一樣。”安妮說。

“你什么意思?”杰克站起身和她一起張望著。

他看見一只腿非常長的兔子在街上一路跳了過去。很快，那只兔子離開街道跳進(jìn)了樹林。

“它一定意味著什么。”安妮說。

“意味著什么?”杰克問。

“意味著摩根回來了。”安妮說著跳下了門廊。“快來。”

“可是晚飯怎么辦?”杰克問，“爸爸說晚飯馬上就做好了。”

“別著急。”安妮說，“你忘了，樹屋一帶我們離開，時間就停止了。”

安妮說著就跑過了院子。

杰克背上背包，隔著紗門喊了一聲：“我們十分鐘就回來。”然后就跟著安妮跑了出去。

他們匆忙地沿著街道跑進(jìn)了蛙溪樹林。太陽已經(jīng)開始落山了，仿佛掛在樹枝間。

“在那兒呢!”安妮喊道。

那只兔子正站在一束陽光之下，一看見杰克和安妮轉(zhuǎn)頭就跑。

杰克和安妮跟著兔子，直到它消失在一棵最高大的大樹后面。

“我說的吧!你看!”安妮氣喘吁吁地說，一面指著那棵樹。

摩根·拉菲正從高高的樹枝間的那個神奇樹屋里向他們揮手呢。

杰克和安妮也沖她揮揮手。和往常一樣，杰克很高興能再次見到這位有魔法的圖書管理員。

“快上來!”摩根喊道。

安妮和杰克沿著繩梯爬上了樹屋。

“我們是跟著一只奇怪的兔子到這兒來的。”安妮說，“它是你的朋友嗎?”

“可能吧。”摩根說，一面詭異地笑著，“我有很多奇怪的朋友呢。”

“包括我們。”安妮說。

摩根笑了起來，說道：“是啊。”

杰克問道：“你還好嗎?”

“我和巫師梅林之間還是有問題。”女巫說，“這使得我沒多少時間能做我真正的工作。不過你們很快就能成為萬能圖書管理員了，這就能幫上我大忙了。”

杰克笑了。他就要成為一名能穿越時間和空間的萬能圖書管理員了，真是美妙得令人難以置信。

“你們準(zhǔn)備好解開另一條謎語了嗎?”摩根問。

“是的!”杰克和安妮異口同聲地答道。

“很好。”摩根說，“首先，你們要想進(jìn)行研究就會需要這個……”

說著摩根從袍子里拿出一本書交給了杰克。這本書能在接下來的旅程中幫助他們。

書名叫做《在狂野西部的日子》，封面上畫著一個坐落在大草原上的西部小鎮(zhèn)。

“哇!”安妮說，“狂野西部!”

杰克深吸了一口氣，琢磨著：能有多狂野呢?

摩根又把手伸進(jìn)她袍子的褶縫里，掏出了一個卷軸，把它遞給了安妮。

“樹屋降落的時候就把這個打開來讀。”摩根說。

“這就是那個謎語嗎?”杰克問道。

“是的。”摩根答道，“等解開它之后你們就只剩兩條謎語要解開了。準(zhǔn)備好出發(fā)了嗎?”

杰克和安妮點點頭，安妮指著狂野西部這本書封面上的圖畫說：“我希望我們能到這里去。”

風(fēng)吹了起來。

摩根說：“再見，祝你們好運!”

樹屋開始打轉(zhuǎn)。

杰克緊緊地閉上了眼睛。

樹屋轉(zhuǎn)得越來越快。

然后一切都平靜了。

絕對的平靜。

杰克睜開眼睛。

摩根·拉菲已經(jīng)不見了。只有一只蒼蠅在他頭上嗡嗡地飛。