Ch8-SHHHHHH-WISSSSSST!

CHAPTER EIGHT SHHHHHH-WISSSSSST? The king cobra circled the leafy mound. Its skin was olive brown, the color of the dead leaves. It had speckled yellow bands that ran around its scaly body. "Back up, back up. Go slow," Jack whispered to Annie. Jack picked up his bag, and they quietly stepped backward, until they got to the edge of the clearing. "Now run!"

第八章嘘嘘嘘？ 眼镜王蛇在枝繁叶茂的土丘上盘旋。 它的皮肤是橄榄色的，是枯叶的颜色。 它有鳞片的身体周围有黄色斑纹。 “后退，后退。慢慢来，”杰克低声对安妮说。 杰克拿起他的包，他们悄悄地向后退，一直走到空地的边缘。 “现在跑!”

Jack and Annie took off. Clutching his bag, Jack ran with little steps, trying not to lose his pointy slippers. After about a hundred yards, Annie came to a halt. "Stop, stop!" She grabbed Jack's arm. "We shouldn't get too far away!" "Why not?" said Jack. "Penny!" said Annie. "We have to get the emerald for Penny!" "Right, right," said Jack. "Okay!" He took a deep breath. "First, we have to get calm." Jack took another deep breath. Then he pulled out their research book. "Okay. Let's read about cobras." Jack opened the book and found a section about Indian wildlife. He read: The king cobra is the only snake known to make a nest for its eggs. The nest is made of a mound of dead leaves. The cobra's scaly skin is the same color as the leaves, a good example of natural camouflage. "So that mound of leaves was its nest," said Jack. "And the cobra was probably a mother snake

杰克和安妮离开了。杰克抓着包，迈着小步跑着，尽量不弄丢他的尖头拖鞋。 走了大约一百码后，安妮停了下来。 “停,停!”她抓住杰克的胳膊。 “我们不应该走得太远！”“为什么不？”杰克说。 “佩妮！”安妮说。“我们得把翡翠给佩妮！”“对，对，”杰克说。 “好吧!”他深吸了一口气。 “首先，我们必须冷静下来。” 杰克又深吸了一口气。 然后他拿出他们的研究书。 “好吧。我们来看看眼镜蛇吧。” 杰克打开书，发现有一节是关于印第安野生动物的。 他读到：眼镜王蛇是唯一已知的为卵筑巢的蛇。 这个巢是由一堆枯叶堆成的。 眼镜蛇的鳞状皮肤和树叶的颜色一样，是自然伪装的一个很好的例子。 “所以那堆树叶就是它的巢，”杰克说。 “眼镜蛇可能是一条母蛇

guarding her eggs." "How does that information help us?" said Annie. "It doesn't," said Jack. He went on: King cobras cannot hear, but they have excellent vision and can feel vibrations. They will attack anything they see that gets too close to their nests. "That's bad news," said Annie. "Yep, really bad news," said Jack. He kept reading: When threatened, the king cobra flattens its neck into a hood. A single bite from the snake contains enough venom to kill twenty men or a large elephant. "Whoa," said Annie. "That must be why Morning Breeze panicked and ran away." Jack closed the book. He shook his head. "I don't see how we can possibly get close to that

保护她的蛋。”“这些信息对我们有什么帮助？”安妮说。 “没有，”杰克说。他接着说：眼镜王蛇听不见，但它们有很好的视力，能感觉到振动。 它们会攻击任何靠近它们巢穴的东西。 “这是个坏消息，”安妮说。 “是啊，真是个坏消息。”杰克说。 他不停地读着：当受到威胁时，眼镜王蛇会把脖子压扁，变成一个兜帽。 蛇咬一口所含的毒液足以杀死20个人或一头大象。 “哇，”安妮说。“这就是为什么晨风惊慌失措，跑掉了。” 杰克合上书。他摇了摇头。 “我不知道我们怎么可能接近这个目标

nest," he said. "Then there's no way we can get an emerald rose for Penny," said Annie, "unless we go back to the Great Mogul and ask for another one." "And that's not going to happen," said Jack. "Then how can we save Penny?" asked Annie. "Think of Penny." Jack thought about Penny. He would do anything for her. "Okay," he said. "There might be a way we could get the emerald rose. What if… what if we were really small?" "Yes!" said Annie. "The cobra can't hear us, right?" said Jack. "She can only see us and feel vibrations. So if we make ourselves small, maybe we can sneak back and get the emerald without being seen." "Yes!" said Annie. Jack reached into his bag and pulled out the blue bottle. He and Annie both stared at it. "So how many sips should we take?" Jack asked. "One for ten minutes?" Annie shook her head. "Two for twenty." "Okay…" Jack took a deep breath. "But just so you know, when we get small, everything else will

巢，”他说。“那我们就没办法给佩妮买翡翠玫瑰了，”安妮说，“除非我们回去找大莫兀儿再要一朵。” “那是不可能的，”杰克说。 “那我们怎么救佩妮呢？”安妮问。 “想想佩妮。”杰克想着佩妮。 他愿意为她做任何事。 “好吧，”他说。“也许我们有办法得到翡翠玫瑰。 如果……如果我们真的很小呢？”“是的！”安妮说。 “眼镜蛇听不到我们说话，对吧？”杰克说。 “她只能看到我们，感觉到振动。 所以如果我们把自己变小，也许我们可以偷偷溜回去，不被人发现就能拿到翡翠。” “是的!”安妮说。杰克把手伸进包里，拿出了蓝色的瓶子。 他和安妮都盯着它看。 “那么我们应该喝几口呢？”杰克问。 “一个十分钟？”安妮摇了摇头。 “20块钱两张。”“好吧……”杰克深吸了一口气。 “但正如你所知道的，当我们变小时，其他一切都会变小

be huge, like flies and spiders and—" "Spiders?" Annie said in a small voice. "Yeah," said Jack. "Hey, you know what? You don't have to do this. I can do it by myself. It only takes one person to get the emerald." "No! I'll go. You stay," said Annie. "No way," said Jack. "We'll both go." "Good," said Annie. Jack held the bottle up to his lips. "Okay," he said, "two sips." He took two quick sips, then handed the bottle to Annie. Jack felt dizzy. He closed his eyes and hugged himself. He felt as if he were falling through a hole. SHHHHHH-WISSSSSST! Suddenly the forest was filled with chirping, whirring, crunching, and squeaking. "Oh, wow!" whispered Annie. "Open your eyes." Jack opened his eyes. He and Annie were both small—very small. Their clothes and shoes and Jack's bag were all small, too.

要很大，像苍蝇、蜘蛛和——”“蜘蛛？”安妮小声说。 “是的，”杰克说。“嘿，你知道吗？ 你没必要这么做。 我可以自己做。只要一个人就能得到翡翠。” “不!我去。你留下来，”安妮说。 “不可能，”杰克说。“我们俩都去。” “很好，”安妮说。杰克把瓶子举到嘴边。 “好吧，”他说，“喝两口。” 他迅速喝了两口，然后把瓶子递给安妮。 杰克感到头晕。他闭上眼睛，抱住自己。 他觉得自己好像从一个洞里掉下去了。 SHHHHHH-WISSSSSST !突然间，森林里充满了啾啾声、嗡嗡声、嘎吱声和吱吱声。 “哦，哇！”安妮小声说。 “睁开你的眼睛。”杰克睁开眼睛。 他和安妮都很小很小。 他们的衣服、鞋子和杰克的包也都很小。

"Oh, man, we got really small," said Jack. He looked around at the grass and the weeds and the mushrooms—they were all taller than he was! "I think we shrunk to about six or eight inches." Close to the ground, the scrubby forest was awake and alive, filled with the ripe smells of earth, noisy insect sounds, and the rustling and whispering of grasses and weeds. The dirt glittered as if sprinkled with flecks of silver. "It's really beautiful," said Annie. "Yeah…," said Jack. Wildflowers looked like elegant and luminous umbrellas with pale pink petals and silvery leaves. Berries were the size of apples. "Look up!" said Annie. "Wow!" said Jack. The tall trees of the forest were like skyscrapers. It was hard to see where they ended. WHUP! Something plopped down in the dirt beside Jack. "AHHH!" Jack and Annie grabbed each other in terror. It was a giant insect—as long as Jack's arm! It had a flat brown body, six legs, and two sets of

“哦，天哪，我们真的很小，”杰克说。 他看了看周围的草地、杂草和蘑菇——它们都比他高！“我认为我们缩小到大约6到8英寸。” 靠近地面的灌木丛生的森林苏醒了，充满了泥土成熟的气味，昆虫的嘈杂声，草和杂草的沙沙声。 泥土闪闪发光，仿佛洒上了银点。 “真漂亮，”安妮说。 “是的……”杰克说。野花看起来像优雅的、发光的伞，花瓣是淡粉色的，叶子是银色的。 浆果有苹果那么大。 “抬头看！”安妮说。“哇！”杰克说。 森林里高大的树木就像摩天大楼。 很难看出他们的结局是什么。 大胜!有什么东西扑通一声落在杰克旁边的泥土里。 “啊!”杰克和安妮惊恐地互相抓住对方。 那是一只巨大的昆虫——有杰克的胳膊那么长！它有一个扁平的棕色身体，六条腿和两套