Ch9-The Painting

CHAPTER NINE The Painting The gondolier silently helped Jack and Annie into the boat. Then he untied the gondola and pushed off from the landing. As the boat glided through the shallow waters, Jack looked back at Venice. Bathed in

船夫默默地扶着杰克和安妮上了船。 然后他解开吊舱，从平台上推了下去。 当小船在浅水区滑行时，杰克回头看了看威尼斯。 沐浴在

early sunlight, the Grand Lady of the Lagoon did seem timeless. The gondola moved around the bend and up the narrow canal near the walled garden. The gondolier tied the boat to a striped pole. He then offered his gloved hand to Annie to help her out of the boat. Annie climbed out and the gondolier offered his hand to Jack. As the gondolier helped Jack onto the landing, the boat rocked in the water. Jack tripped, pulling the glove off the gondolier's hand.

在清晨的阳光下，泻湖大夫人似乎是永恒的。 贡多拉绕过弯道，沿着狭窄的运河逆流而上，靠近有围墙的花园。 船夫把船系在一根条纹杆子上。 然后，他伸出戴着手套的手，帮助安妮下了船。 安妮爬了出来，船夫向杰克伸出手。 船夫扶着杰克上了岸，船在水中摇晃着。 杰克绊了一下，把船夫手上的手套扯了下来。

"Oh, sorry," said Jack. As he handed the glove back, he gasped. On the gondolier's finger was a pale blue glass ring. Before Jack could say anything, the gondolier pulled his glove back on and pushed the boat away from the landing. "Hey—hey!" Jack sputtered. "Teddy? Kathleen? Wait! Come back!"

“哦，对不起，”杰克说。当他把手套递回去时，他倒吸了一口气。 船夫的手指上戴着一枚淡蓝色的玻璃戒指。 杰克还没来得及说话，船夫就把他的手套戴上，把船推离了码头。 “嘿嘿!”杰克气急败坏的说。 “泰迪?凯瑟琳?等等!回来!”

Neither of the masked people looked back at Jack and Annie. "Teddy and Kathleen? Where?" said Annie. "His glove—it came off! There was a blue glass ring on his finger!" said Jack. Jack and Annie watched the gondola disappear into a blaze of sunlight shining on the water. Had it just glided around the bend? Or had it vanished altogether? "Are you sure it was them?" said Annie. "Well, I guess anybody could wear a glass ring," said Jack. "But still…" "Maybe Morgan and Merlin told them to watch over us," said Annie.

两个蒙面人都没有回头看杰克和安妮。 “泰迪和凯瑟琳？”在哪儿？”安妮问。 “他的手套——掉了！”他的手指上有一枚蓝色的玻璃戒指！”杰克说。 杰克和安妮看着贡多拉消失在水面上耀眼的阳光中。 它是不是刚刚滑过了弯道？ 或者它已经完全消失了？ “你确定是他们吗？”安妮说。 “嗯，我想任何人都可以戴玻璃戒指，”杰克说。 “也许摩根和梅林让他们照看我们，”安妮说。

"Yeah, to make sure we'd be safe," said Jack. "And be patient and follow instructions," said Annie. "Right," said Jack. "Well, Venice wasn't destroyed by a flood. So I guess we passed our first test." "I think we did," said Annie. With Lorenzo's canvas tucked under his arm, Jack led the way into the walled garden. Annie followed him to the rope ladder. When they climbed into the tree house, Jack pulled Merlin's letter from his backpack. He unfolded it and pointed to the words Frog Creek.

“是的，为了确保我们的安全。”杰克说。 “耐心点，按照指示去做，”安妮说。 “好的，”杰克说。“嗯，威尼斯不是被洪水摧毁的。 所以我想我们通过了第一个考验。” “我想是的，”安妮说。 杰克腋下夹着洛伦佐的帆布，领着大家走进了有围墙的花园。 安妮跟着他来到绳梯前。 当他们爬进树屋时，杰克从背包里拿出梅林的信。 他打开它，指着“青蛙溪”几个字。

"I wish we could go there!" he said. "Good-bye, Grand Lady of the Lagoon!" said Annie. The wind started to blow. The tree house started to spin. It spun faster and faster. Then everything was still. Absolutely still. A nippy wind rustled the Frog Creek trees. Jack and Annie were wearing their jeans and jackets again. It was dawn.

“我希望我们能去那儿！”他说。 “再见，泻湖的大夫人！”安妮说。 风开始起了。树屋开始旋转。 它转得越来越快。 然后一切都静止了。 绝对静止。寒风吹得青蛙溪的树沙沙作响。 杰克和安妮又穿上了牛仔裤和夹克。 天刚亮。