兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第九冊 Dolphins at Daybreak 09

9 Ouch!

The sun shone on the ocean. It sparkled like a diamond.

Jack felt safe now.His dolphin was taking good care of him.

The dolphins slowed down as they neared the reef.

Jack lowered his feet.He felt the bumpy coral. He let go of the dolphin’s fin and stood up in the water.

Annie stood， too.

Then she threw her arms around her dolphin and gave her a big hug.

“Thank you， Sukie!” she cried. And she kissed the dolphin’s nose.

Sukie tossed her head and clicked at Annie.

“Kiss Sam now!” Annie said to Jack.

“You’re nuts，” said Jack.

But Sam nuzzled Jack’s head. Then he put his flippers around Jack’s neck.

Jack couldn’t 　resist.He 　threw 　his arms around the dolphin and gave him a quick kiss.

Sam nodded and made clicking sounds like laughter. Then he turned to Sukie.

The two dolphins chattered to each other for a moment. They nodded at Jack and Annie and swam gracefully away.

“Bye， Sukie!Bye， Sam!” Annie shouted.

“Thanks!” Jack shouted.

The dolphins leapt high into the air. Then they dove back into the water with a SPLASH!

Jack and Annie laughed.“I wish we could swim like that，” said Jack.

Jack and Annie watched the dolphins until they disappeared.

“I miss them already，” Annie said softly.

“Me too，” said Jack.

He sat down in the shallow water.

“I’m really tired，” he said.

Annie sat beside him.

“Me too，” she said.

The warm water lapped around their shorts and T-shirts.

Jack pulled off his pack. He took out his glasses and put them on. They were blurry with water.

“Guess what，” said Annie.

“What?” said Jack.

“I saw the shark when we were swimming，” Annie said. “But I didn’t tell you. I wanted you to stay calm.”

Jack stared at her. “I saw it， too. I just swam faster so you would swim faster.”

“And I swam faster so you would swim faster，” said Annie.

“I guess we swam double-fast then，” Jack said. He shook his head with wonder.

“What now?” said Annie.

“We go home，” said Jack.

“But we haven’t solved Morgan’s riddle yet，” said Annie.

Jack sighed.

He pulled his notebook out of his pack. It was soaked.

He pulled out the ocean book. It was soaked， too.

“We’ve failed，” he said. “My research is all wet. We’ll never be Master Librarians now.”

Jack put everything away. “Let’s go，” he said sadly.

He stood up. Then he started across the pink reef toward the tree house. Annie followed him.

“Ouch!” Annie said.

“What’s wrong?” Jack looked back.

“I stepped on something.” Annie bent down to rub her foot.

“What?” said Jack. “A shell?”

“Yeah， this...” She picked up a large gray shell. “Boy， is it rough. Rough and gray as a rock—”

“And plain as plain can be!” whispered Jack.They had found the answer.

The shell looked like a clamshell—only bigger and with more ridges.

“How could this ugly shell be the answer to the riddle?” said Annie.

“What about the part that says， ‘There’s great beauty in me’?”

“Wait—research，” said Jack. He opened the soaked ocean book.

The pages were stuck together.But he was able to turn a few.

He found a picture of the gray shell. He read:

Divers search for oysters in deepwater. But sometimes oysters wash up on reefs or beaches. Inside some oysters you can find a pearl. The pearl’s natural beauty makes it a treasure.

“It must have a pearl inside it!” said Jack.

Annie peered into the crack between the two halves of the shell. “I can’t see anything，” she said. “How does a pearl get in there， anyway?”

Jack read aloud from the wet page:

Sometimes a grain fo sand will getbetween the oyster’s shell and its skin. This irritates the oyster. So it makes a pearly material to surround the grain of sand. In this way， over a few years， a pearl is formed.

“I can’t tell if there’s a pearl in there or not，” said Annie.

“Maybe we should bang it against a rock，” said Jack.

“Now that would really irritate the oyster，” said Annie.

“Yeah.”

“Maybe we should just leave it alone，” said Annie.

She gently put the oyster back in the water.

“But how will we know if oyster is the right answer to the riddle?”

said Jack.

“Morgan said we’ll know，”said Annie. “Come on.”

Jack pushed his glasses into place.Then he and Annie picked up their shoes and socks.

They climbed through the window of the tree house.

Morgan’s scroll was lying on the floor.

It was open.

“Look!” said Annie.

She and Jack stared at the scroll.The riddle had faded away.

In its place was one shimmering silver word:

OYSTER

“Morgan’s magic，” whispered Annie.

Jack let out a huge sigh. “We got it right，” he said.

“And here’s the Pennsylvania book，” said Annie. “Let’s go home.”

She opened the book. She pointed to a picture of the Frog Creek woods.

“I wish we could go there!” she said.

The wind started to blow.

The tree house started to spin.

The wind blew harder and harder.

Then everything was still.

Absolutely still.

9哎喲!

太陽照耀著海面，發(fā)出鉆石一樣璀璨的光芒。

杰克現(xiàn)在放心了，他的海豚會很好地照顧他的。

快到礁石的時候海豚放慢了速度。

杰克放下雙腳，感到腳下是崎嶇不平的珊瑚。他放開海豚的鰭，站到水里。

安妮也站到了水里，然后她張開雙臂，摟住她那只海豚，給了她一個大大的擁抱。

“謝謝你，蘇琪!”她大聲說，并吻了吻蘇琪的鼻子。

蘇琪搖擺著腦袋，并沖著安妮發(fā)出歡快的噠噠聲。

“你也吻一下山姆吧!”安妮對杰克說。

“你別傻了。”杰克說。

但山姆蹭了蹭杰克的腦袋，然后用鰭摟住杰克的脖子。

杰克無法抗拒，于是也用胳膊抱住海豚，飛快地吻了它一下。

山姆點了點頭，噠噠地叫著，仿佛在笑，然后轉向蘇琪。

兩只海豚在一起嘀咕了一陣，然后朝杰克和安妮點了點頭，優(yōu)雅地游開了。

“再見，蘇琪!再見，山姆!”安妮大聲喊道。

“謝謝了!”杰克也喊道。

海豚向空中高高躍起，然后一個猛子扎向水里，水花四濺!

杰克和安妮大笑，杰克說：“我們也能那樣游就好了。”他們注視著海豚，直到它們從視線中消失。

“我現(xiàn)在就開始想念它們了。”安妮輕聲說。

“我也是。”杰克說。

他一屁股坐在淺水里，說：“我真累死了!”

安妮在他身邊坐下，說：“我也是。”

溫暖的海水拍打著他們的短褲和T恤衫。

杰克把背包從身上取下來，從里面拿出眼鏡戴上，發(fā)現(xiàn)眼鏡上因為有水而模糊不清了。

“你猜怎么著?”安妮說。

“怎么啦?”杰克說。

“我們在水里游的時候我看見鯊魚了。”安妮說，“但我沒告訴你，我不想讓你驚慌。”

杰克看著她說：“我也看見了，然后我就趕快游，這樣你也會游得快點。”

“是我游得快你才跟著游快的。”安妮說。

“那好吧，咱倆都游得很快。”杰克說，然后搖了搖頭，感到有點不可思議。

“現(xiàn)在干什么?”安妮問。

“我們回家。”杰克說。

“但我們還沒找到摩根的謎底呢!”安妮說。

杰克嘆了口氣。

他從背包里抽出筆記本，只見本子全浸濕了。他又拿出海洋書，發(fā)現(xiàn)書也是濕的。

“我們完了。”他說，“我的研究成果全泡湯了，我們成不了萬能圖書管理員了!”

杰克把東西一放，難過地說：“我們走吧。”

他站起身，開始越過粉紅色礁石，朝樹屋走去，安妮跟在他后面。

“哎喲!”安妮叫道。

“出什么事了?”杰克回頭問。

“我踩到什么東西了。”安妮彎腰揉著她的腳。

“是什么?”杰克問，“貝殼嗎?”

“對，這……”安妮撿起一個灰色的大貝殼，說，“對呀，這東西不是很粗糙嗎?像巖石一樣灰暗而粗糙!”

“而且樸素得不能再樸素!”杰克小聲說。他們找到謎底了。

這個貝殼看起來像只蛤蜊，只是比蛤蜊大一點，而且殼上有更多隆起的紋路。

“這只丑陋的貝殼怎么會是謎底呢?”安妮說，“那謎面上‘可深藏在我體內(nèi)卻有驚人之美’在哪兒呢?”

“別急，要研究一下嘛。”杰克說。他打開那本浸濕的海洋書。書頁都粘到一起了，但他還是可以翻動幾頁。

他找到有著灰色貝殼圖片的那頁讀道：

潛水員在深海找尋牡蠣，但牡蠣有時會被沖到礁石或海灘上。有的牡蠣里藏著一顆珍珠，珍珠的天然美麗使它成為一件珍寶。

“這個貝殼里一定藏有一顆珍珠!”杰克說。

安妮從兩片貝殼中的縫隙往里看著，說：“我什么也看不見。珍珠怎么會跑到這里面去呢?”

杰克照著打濕的書頁大聲讀道：

有時，一粒沙子會跑到牡蠣殼和它的皮膚之間，這會讓牡蠣十分難受，于是它會產(chǎn)生一種珍珠一樣的物質(zhì)把沙粒包裹起來。若干年后，一顆珍珠就這樣形成了。

“我不知道里面有沒有珍珠。”安妮說。

“也許我們應該把它往石頭上砸。”杰克說。

“那樣做會使牡蠣真的難受的!”安妮說。

“也是。”

“也許我們應該讓它自個兒呆著。”安妮說。

她小心地將牡蠣放回海水里。

“那我們怎么知道牡蠣就是正確的謎底呢?”杰克問。

“摩根說我們會知道的。”安妮說，“走吧。”

杰克推了推眼鏡，然后和安妮一起撿起他們的鞋襪。

他們爬進樹屋的窗子。只見摩根的紙卷攤開在地上。

“看哪!”安妮說。

她和杰克驚愕地發(fā)現(xiàn)，紙卷上的謎語不見了!取而代之的是閃爍著銀光的兩個字：

牡蠣

“摩根的魔法。”安妮小聲說。

杰克長舒了一口氣，說：“我們猜對了!”

“這是賓夕法尼亞書。”安妮說，“我們回家吧。”

她打開書，指著蛙溪樹林說：“我希望我們能去那兒!”

風吹了起來。

樹屋開始打轉。

風越刮越大。

然后一切都平靜了。

絕對的平靜。