兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第八冊 Midnight on the Moon 04

4 Moon Rabbits

“Oh，wow!”said Annie. She took a step forward.

But Jack stood frozen. He wanted to get a good look at everything first.

He stared at the ground. He was standing in a layer of gray dust as fine as powder.

Footprints were everywhere. Jack wondered who had made them.

He reached into his pack for the moon book. To his surprise，it was as light as a feather!

He found a picture of footprints on the moon. He read：

The moon has no rain or wind to blow the dust around. So footprints will never wear away naturally，not even in a billion years.

“Oh，man，” Jack said.

The moon was the stillest place he had ever，ever been. It was as still as a picture. And its stillness would never，ever end.

Jack stared at the ink-black sky. A lovely blue-and-white ball glowed far away.

Earth.

For the first time，it really hit Jack. They were in outer space.

“Look!” Annie cried，laughing.

She bounded past Jack—almost flying through the air. She landed on her feet. Then she jumped again.

“I’m a moon rabbit，” she called.

Jack laughed. How does she do that? he wondered. He turned a page and read：

A person weighs less on the moon because of the moon’s low gravity and lack of air. If you weigh 60 pounds on Earth，you would only weigh 10 pounds on the moon.

“Don’t just stand there reading!” said Annie，grabbing the book from Jack’s gloved hand. She tossed it into space.

It flew far away.

Jack started after it.

He bounded up and down. Boing!Boing!Boing!Now he felt as light as a feather.

“Look!” he called to Annie. “I’m a moon rabbit，too. ”

Where Jack’s boots hit the ground，moon-dust gracefully sprayed into space.

The book had landed at the edge of a shallow crater.

When Jack reached it，he tried to stop. But his feet slipped.

He fell right over and lay on his side. He tried to stand. But he was off-balance.

He tried again. But the dust was just too deep. And his spacesuit was too clumsy.

“You okay?” asked Annie.

“I can’t get up，” said Jack.

“You shouldn’t have been goofing off，” said Annie wisely.

“You goofed off first，” said Jack. “Now，help me up，please. ”

Annie started toward him.

“Don’t fall，too，” warned Jack.

“I won’t. ” Annie moved very slowly. She half floated，half walked.

“Give me your hand，” she said.

Annie grabbed Jack’s hand. She pressed her boot against his and pulled him up.

“Thanks，” he said.

“No problem，”she said.“It was easy.You were really light. ”

“Thank goodness，”said Jack. “It’s impos-sible to get up alone. ”

He picked up the moon book. It was covered with dust. He brushed it off.

“Oh，wow!Look!”said Annie. She stood at the edge of the crater.

“What is it?” said Jack.

“A moon buggy!” said Annie.

The buggy was parked in the crater. It had four huge wheels.

“Let’s go for a ride，” said Annie.

“We can’t，” said Jack. “We just have two hours of air in our tanks. Remember?”

“I bet we’ll find the M thing faster if we take the moon buggy!” Annie bounded into the crater.

“But we can’t drive!” said Jack.

“I bet I can drive this，” said Annie. “It looks easy. Come on!”

She jumped into the driver’s seat.

“But you don’t have a license!” said Jack.

“Who cares?”said Annie. “There aren’t any roads on the moon，or stoplights，or policemen either. ”

She was right，Jack thought.

“Well，go slow，” he said. And he climbed in beside her.

Annie pushed a button labeled ON.

The moon buggy lurched backward.

“Yikes!” said Annie.

“Step on the brake!” said Jack.

Annie pressed a pedal on the floor. The buggy stopped with a jerk.

“Whew，” she said.

“It must be in reverse，” said Jack. “Let me study this—”

But before he could study anything，Annie pushed another button.

The buggy tilted back. Its front wheels started to rise into the air.

“Let me out of here!” said Jack.

Annie pushed more buttons.

The buggy’s front wheels landed back on the ground. And the buggy leaped forward.

“Slower!” said Jack.

“I can’t，” said Annie. “I don’t know how!”

Annie steered the buggy over the tracks on the ground. The wide wheels kept it from sinking into the deep dust.

“Careful!” said Jack.

The buggy zoomed out of the crater.

Gray clouds of dust rose behind them as they took off across the moon.

4月宮玉兔

“哦，哇!”安妮說著又往前邁了一步。

但杰克卻一動不動。他想先好好看看周圍所有的一切。

他盯著地面看，發(fā)現(xiàn)自己正站在一層像粉末一樣細的灰土上。

到處都是腳印，杰克不禁想，這都是誰的腳印呢。

他把手伸進背包去拿那本關(guān)于月球的書。令他吃驚的是，那本書居然輕如鴻毛。

他找到了一幅畫著月球上的腳印的圖片。他讀道：

月球上沒有雨沒有風，不會將灰塵吹起。因此月球上的足印是不會自然消失的，哪怕是經(jīng)過數(shù)十億年也不會。

“哦，天啊!”杰克說。

月球是他去過的最寧靜的地方了，寧靜得簡直就像是一幅畫，而且這種寧靜將直到永遠，永無止境。

杰克凝視著漆黑的天空，遠方的一個可愛的白藍色的星球正閃耀著光芒。

那是地球。

杰克的心頭第一次被觸動了，他們真的是在外太空啊。

“看!”安妮一面喊，一面笑道。

她彈跳著經(jīng)過杰克身邊——幾乎是在空中飛。她雙腳著陸，然后又彈了起來。

“我是一只月宮玉兔。”她大叫著。

杰克笑了起來。她為什么能這樣呢?杰克琢磨著。他翻了一頁，讀了起來：

在月球上，人會變輕。因為月球上重力小，又缺少空氣。如果你在地球上的重量是60磅，那么在月球上大約只有10磅重。

“別光站在那兒看書了!”安妮說著一把把書從杰克戴著手套的手里搶了過來，

把它扔向空中。

書飛得遠遠的。

杰克跟在后面追著。

他上下彈跳著：砰，砰，砰?，F(xiàn)在他覺得自己也像羽毛一樣輕呢。

“看，我也是一只月宮玉兔呢。”他沖安妮喊道。

當杰克的靴子撞擊到地面時，月球表面的灰塵優(yōu)雅地濺了起來。

那本書落在了一個淺淺的環(huán)形山邊上。

杰克想停住腳步伸手去拿那本書，可是腳下突然一滑。

他摔倒了，側(cè)身摔在了地上。他試圖站起來，卻失去了平衡。

杰克再次試圖站起來，但灰塵太深了，而且他那身宇航服太笨拙了。

“你沒事吧?”安妮問。

“我起不來了。”杰克說。

“你不該亂來的。”安妮得意地說。

“是你先搗亂的。”杰克說，“趕緊幫我起來。”

安妮向他走了過去。

“別摔倒了。”杰克提醒她。

“我不會的。”安妮緩慢地走著。她簡直是一半飄一半走。

“把手給我。”安妮說。

安妮抓住了杰克的手，用自己的靴子頂住杰克的靴子，把他拽了起來。

“謝謝!”杰克說。

“不用謝。”安妮回答說，“小意思，你可真夠輕的。”

“謝天謝地。”杰克說，“要想自己站起來還真難呢。”

他拾起那本關(guān)于月球的書，書上滿是灰塵，他趕緊拍了拍。

“哦，哇!你看!”安妮站在環(huán)形山口吃驚地說。

“什么啊?”杰克說。

“一輛月球車。”安妮說。

那輛月球車就停在環(huán)形山里，有著四個巨大的輪子。

“咱們開車去逛逛吧。”安妮說。

“不行。”杰克說，“我們的氧氣只夠兩個小時，你忘了?”

“我敢打賭如果我們乘著月球車的話，一定能更快地找到那個關(guān)于M的東西。”安妮一下子跳進了環(huán)形山。

“但是我們不會開啊!”杰克說。

“我敢打賭我會開。”安妮說，“看起來很容易呢，來吧。”

安妮跳著坐到了駕駛員的位子上。“你可沒有駕照哦。”杰克說。

“誰會管啊?”安妮說，“月球上又沒有道路，也沒有紅燈，更沒有警察。”

她是對的，杰克想。

“好吧，慢慢來啊。”杰克說著便爬進了月球車，坐在了安妮旁邊。

安妮按動了一個標有“啟動”的按鈕。

月球車立刻向后開動了。

“啊呀!”安妮說。

“踩剎車!”杰克喊道。

安妮踩住了一個踏板，月球車頓時猛地停了下來。

“嗚。”安妮舒了一口氣。

“那一定是倒擋。”杰克說，“讓我研究一下——”

但是他還沒來得及研究，安妮就又按動了另一個按鈕。

月球車開始向后傾斜，前輪抬了起來。

“我要下車!”杰克說。

安妮又按了別的按鈕。

月球車的前輪開始降了下來，落在了地面，并且月球車開始前進了。

“慢一點!”杰克說。

“我沒法慢。”安妮說，“我也不知道怎么慢下來。”

安妮駕著車沿著地面上的車痕前進著。車子寬大的輪子使得它不至于陷入厚厚的灰土之中。

“小心點!”杰克說。

月球車開出了環(huán)形山坑。

小車在月球表面行進著，一路揚起了一片塵土。