兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第三冊 Mummies in the Morning 02

2哦，天啊，木乃伊!

杰克和安妮向窗外望去。

樹屋停在了一棵棕櫚樹上。這棵樹旁邊還有很多其他的棕櫚樹，這一片綠洲的四周被沙漠環(huán)繞著。

“喵!”又是一聲貓叫。

杰克和安妮一起往下看去。黑貓正坐在樹下，用它的黃眼睛瞪著杰克和安妮。

“嗨!”安妮喊道。

“噓!”杰克說，“別人會聽到的。”

“在沙漠中間會有人嗎?”安妮反問。

黑貓站了起來開始在樹周圍走起來。

“回來!”安妮喊道。她從窗口探出身去，想看看那貓正往哪里去。

“哦，哇!”她說，“快看啊，杰克。”

杰克也探出身去往下看。

只見那只貓已經(jīng)從棕櫚樹這里跑開了，正向沙漠中一個巨大的金字塔跑去。

有一列隊伍也正向那個金字塔走去，這個金字塔和那本埃及書里所畫的一模一樣。

“這場景就是書里面畫的嘛!”杰克說。

“這些人在干什么?”安妮問。

杰克看了看那本埃及書，在那幅圖畫下面讀到了這樣的字句：

當(dāng)皇室人員死去時，人們會舉行一場大型的葬禮游行。家庭成員、仆人和哀悼者都會跟在棺材后面。這種棺材叫做石棺，由四頭牛所拉的滑橇裝載。

“這是一場埃及式的葬禮。”杰克說，“這個箱子叫做石……石……石……，哦，我忘了。”

他又向窗外望去。

牛，滑橇，埃及人，黑貓。這所有一切都正以一種緩慢的、夢幻般的方式前行著。

“我得把這些記下來。”杰克說。

他從背包里拿出了筆記本。杰克是有記筆記的習(xí)慣的。

“等等。”杰克說著在本子上寫下了：

棺材被稱作石棺。

“我們最好快一點。”安妮說，“如果想看她開始順著繩梯往下爬。

杰克將目光從他的筆記本上挪開。

“木乃伊?”他說。

“也許那個金色的箱子里有木乃伊呢。”安妮喊道，“別忘了，我們可是在古埃及呢。”

杰克非常喜歡木乃伊。他放下了手中的鉛筆。

“再見，杰克!”安妮喊著。

“等等!”杰克回應(yīng)著。

“木乃伊!”安妮喊道。

“哦，天啊。”杰克輕聲說，“木乃伊!”安妮太清楚杰克的心思了。

杰克將自己的筆記本和那本埃及書胡亂地塞進了背包便開始順著繩梯往下爬。

他一到地面，就和安妮一起在沙地上飛跑起來。

但是他們跑著跑著，一件奇怪的事情發(fā)生了。

他們離那一隊人越近，就越是難以看清那些人。

突然，一切都消失了，那個奇怪的隊伍不見了，徹底消失了。

不過那座巨大的石頭金字塔還在，高高地聳立在杰克和安妮面前。

杰克一面喘著氣，一面向四周望了望。

到底發(fā)生了什么事?那些人、牛、金色的箱子，還有那只黑貓都到哪里去了?

“他們不見了。”安妮說。

“他們?nèi)ツ睦锪四?”杰克說。

“也許他們只是些幽靈。”安妮說。

“別傻呢。這個世界上根本沒有幽靈。”杰克說，“一定是海市蜃樓。”

“什么?”

“海市蜃樓。這種現(xiàn)象在沙漠里經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)。”杰克說，“看起來某個東西仿佛就在那里。但其實不過是太陽光在熱氣中的折射。”

“可是太陽光怎么會看起來像人、木乃伊棺材和一群牛呢?”安妮問。

杰克皺了皺眉頭。

“是幽靈。”安妮說。

“不可能!”杰克說。

“你看!”安妮說著用手指著金字塔，在塔的底座旁又是那只毛色光滑的黑貓。

它獨自站在那里，瞪著杰克和安妮。

“它可不是海市蜃樓。”安妮說。

黑貓動了，它沿著金字塔的底座走著，一下子繞過了一個角落。

“它要去哪兒?”杰克問。

“咱們?nèi)タ纯础?rdquo;安妮說。

他們沖向那個角落，一繞過去，剛好看到黑貓消失在金字塔上的一個洞里。

2 Oh， Man. Mummies!

Jack and Annie looked out the window.

The tree house was perched on the top of a palm tree.The tree stood with other palm trees. A patch of green surrounded by a sandy desert.

“Meow!”

Jack and Annie looked down.

The black cat was sitting at the base of the tree. His yellow eyes were staring up at Jack and Annie.

“Hi!” Annie shouted.

“Shhh，” said Jack. “Someone might hear you.”

“In the middle of the desert?” said Annie.

The black cat stood and began walking around the tree.

“Come back!” Annie called. She leaned out the window to see where the cat was going.

“Oh， wow!” she said. “Look， Jack.”

Jack leaned forward and looked down.

The cat was running away from the palm trees. Toward a giant pyramid in the desert.

A parade was going toward the pyramid. The same parade as in the Egypt book.

“It’s the picture from the book!” said Jack.

“What are those people doing?” asked Annie.

Jack looked down at the Egypt book. He read the words under the picture：

When a royal person died， a grandfuneral procession took place.Family， servants， and mourners followed the coffin. The coffin was called a sarcophagus. It was pulled on a sled by four oxen.

“It’s an Egyptian funeral，” said Jack. “The box is called a sar...sar...sar...oh， forget it.”

He looked out the window again.

Oxen， sled， Egyptians， black cat. All were moving in a slow， dreamy way.

“I’d better make some notes about this，” said Jack.

He reached into his backpack and pulled out his notebook. Jack always kept notes.

“Wait，” said Jack. And he wrote：

Coffin　called　sarcophagus

“We’d better hurry，” said Annie， “if we want to see the mummy.”

She started down the rope ladder.

Jack looked up from his notebook.

“Mummy?” he said.

“There’s probably a mummy in that gold box，” Annie called up. “We’re in ancient Egypt.Remember?”

Jack loved mummies. He put down his pencil.

“Good-bye， Jack!” called Annie.

“Wait!” Jack called.

“Mummies!” Annie shouted.

“Oh， man，” said Jack weakly. “Mummies!” She sure knew how to get to him.

Jack shoved his notebook and the Egypt book into his pack. Then he started down the ladder.

When he got to the ground， he and Annie took off across the sand.

But as they ran a strange thing happened.

The closer they got to the parade， the harder it was to see it.

Then suddenly it was gone. The strange parade had disappeared. Vanished.

But the great stone pyramid was still there.Towering above them.

Panting， Jack looked around.

What had happened?Where were the people?The oxen?The gold box?The cat?

“They’re gone，” said Annie.

“Where did they go?” said Jack.

“Maybe they were ghosts，” said Annie.

“Don’t be silly.There’s no such thing as ghosts，” said Jack. “It must have been a mirage.”

“A what?”

“Mirage. It happens in the desert all the time，” said Jack. “It looks like something’sthere.But it just turns out to be the sunlight reflecting through heat.”

“How could sunlight look like people，a mummy box， and a bunch of cows?” said Annie.

Jack frowned.

“Ghosts，” she said.

“No way，” said Jack.

“Look!” Annie pointed at the pyramid. Near the base was the sleek black cat.

He was standing alone. He was staring at Jack and Annie.

“He’s no mirage，” said Annie.

The cat started to slink away. He walked along the base of the pyramid and slid around a corner.

“Where’s he going?” said Jack.

“Let’s find out，” said Annie.

They dashed around the corner—just in time to see the cat disappear through a hole in the pyramid.