Ch11-Abe Lincoln at Last!

CHAPTER ELEVEN Abe Lincoln at Last! Jack and Annie looked around in a daze. They were under the trees near the tree house, standing in the same spot where they'd sipped the potion. The air was chilly but bright. A fresh breeze rustled the branches. "The magic ended," said Jack, stunned. "It ended before we could complete our mission."

第十一章亚伯·林肯终于来了！杰克和安妮茫然地环顾四周。 他们在树屋附近的树下，站在他们喝药水的地方。 空气很冷，但很明亮。 一阵微风吹得树枝沙沙作响。 “魔法结束了。”杰克说，惊呆了。 “在我们完成任务之前就结束了。”

"I know," Annie said. "And we didn't get to say good-bye to Sam." "I didn't even thank him for the quill pen and the ink," said Jack. "I know. These were his treasures," said Annie. She held up the goose feather and the ink jar that Sam had given them. "Wait, that's so weird," said Jack. "We're looking for a feather, and Sam gives us a pen made out of a feather—" Annie gasped. "Look, Jack!" She pointed toward the carriageway. A tall man in a dark coat and a high black hat was striding toward the grove of trees. He turned his head, as if he were searching for something. "At last!" said Jack. "Mr. President!" Annie called. She thrust the quill pen and ink bottle back into her pocket and ran toward Abraham Lincoln. "Wait!" said Jack, running after her. "What'll we say?" "We'll figure it out!" said Annie. "Mr. President!"

“我知道，”安妮说。“我们还没来得及跟萨姆说再见呢。” “我甚至没有感谢他的羽毛笔和墨水，”杰克说。 “我知道。这些都是他的宝贝，”安妮说。 她举起山姆送给他们的鹅毛和墨水瓶。 “等等，这太奇怪了，”杰克说。 “我们在找一根羽毛，山姆给了我们一支用羽毛做的笔——”安妮喘着气说。 “看,杰克!”她指了指车道。 一个穿着深色外套、戴着黑色高帽的高个子男人正大步朝树林走去。 他转过头，好像在找什么东西。 “终于！”杰克说。“先生。 总统!”安妮叫。她把羽毛笔和墨水瓶塞回口袋，向亚伯拉罕·林肯跑去。 “等等！”杰克追着她说。 “我们说什么好呢？”“我们会想出办法的！”安妮说。 “总统先生!”

Abraham Lincoln turned and looked in their direction. He froze and stared at them, as if he were both astonished and afraid. What's wrong with him? thought Jack. As they got closer to the president, Jack and Annie slowed to a walk. Abraham Lincoln kept staring at them as if they were ghosts. "Hello, sir," Annie said shyly. Jack was speechless. The creases in the president's face gave him a deeply worried look. His gray eyes stared at them

亚伯拉罕·林肯转过身来，朝他们的方向望去。 他僵住了，盯着他们，似乎既惊讶又害怕。 他怎么了？杰克想。 当他们走近总统时，杰克和安妮放慢了脚步。 亚伯拉罕·林肯一直盯着他们，好像他们是鬼一样。 “你好，先生。”安妮害羞地说。 杰克无言以对。总统脸上的皱纹使他露出深深的忧虑的神色。 他灰色的眼睛盯着他们

without blinking. "So it is you," he said in a hushed voice. "Tad told me your names, but I could not believe it might really be you." "What do you mean?" Annie asked. "You don't know who I am?" he said. "You're Abraham Lincoln," said Annie. "President of the United States." "Yes, but I spent the day with you once long ago," said the president. "And you vanished, right before my eyes." "We did?" said Annie. "Outside our log cabin in Indiana," said the president. "Indiana?" said Jack. "Yes, it was the day my father brought my stepmother home—and my new sisters and brother." "Oh… oh!" said Annie. "What?" said Jack. "You were Sam!" said Annie. "You were Sam?" said Jack. He couldn't believe it. The president nodded.

不眨眼睛。“原来是你，”他压低声音说。 “泰德告诉了我你们的名字，但我不敢相信真的是你们。” “你是什么意思？”安妮问。 “你不知道我是谁？”他说。 “你是亚伯拉罕·林肯，”安妮说。 “美国总统。” “是的，但是很久以前我和你一起度过了一天，”庭长说。 “你就在我眼前消失了。” “是吗？”安妮说。“在我们印第安纳州的小木屋外面，”总统说。 “印第安纳州？”杰克说。“是的，那天是我父亲把继母带回家的日子，还有我的新兄弟姐妹。” “哦……哦！”安妮说。“什么？”杰克说。 “你是萨姆！”安妮说。 “你是萨姆？”杰克说。 他简直不敢相信。总统点点头。

Annie laughed. "So when we told you we were looking for Abraham Lincoln, you played a prank on us and told us your name was Sam!" Abraham Lincoln smiled. "I haven't seen you since that day so long ago," he said. "And you haven't changed at all. I don't understand. Are you angels? Are you a dream?" Jack was too stunned to answer. It wasn't long ago, it was today, he thought. Or—maybe not. Time and magic were confusing things. "We're just regular kids, not angels," said Annie. "But maybe you should think of it all as a dream—a dream with a little magic thrown in." Abraham Lincoln nodded slowly. Then he smiled. "I remember you tried to do my chores," he said, "and you thought some wild creature was chasing you. And you told me that your interjections were 'Oh, wow!' and 'Oh, man!'" "Right," said Jack, smiling. "You also said you loved learning and you loved to read," said the president. "And you loved to write stories." "And you said you loved to do that, too," said Annie. "So you gave us these." She pulled the ink

安妮笑了。“所以当我们告诉你我们在找亚伯拉罕·林肯的时候，你跟我们开了个玩笑，说你叫萨姆！”亚伯拉罕·林肯笑了。 “自从那天以后，我很久没见过你了，”他说。 “你一点也没变。 我不明白。你们是天使吗？ 你是在做梦吗？”杰克吓得说不出话来。 那不是很久以前的事，是今天，他想。 或者不是。时间和魔法是令人困惑的东西。 “我们只是普通的孩子，不是天使，”安妮说。 “但也许你应该把这一切都当成一场梦——一场加了一点魔法的梦。” 亚伯拉罕·林肯慢慢地点了点头。 然后他笑了。“我记得你想帮我做家务，”他说，“你以为有野兽在追你。 你告诉我你的感叹词是“哦，哇！和“哦，天哪！”“好的，”杰克笑着说。 “你还说过你喜欢学习，喜欢阅读，”校长说。 “而且你喜欢写故事。” “你说过你也喜欢这样，”安妮说。 “所以你给了我们这些。”她拉墨水。

bottle and the quill pen out of her apron pocket. "These were yours once, remember?" Abraham Lincoln stared at the ink bottle and feather pen. "Yes," he said. "I made them from blackberry roots and a goose feather." "Oh, man," whispered Jack. For the first time it fully dawned on him that Sam—who was really Abraham Lincoln—had given them a feather! The rhyme was starting to make perfect sense! "Why have you come back?" asked the president. Now Jack knew exactly what to say. "We have to give you a message of hope," he answered. He reached for the notebook in his pocket. "Jack's right," said Annie. "Just a second." She opened the ink bottle and dipped the goose-feather pen into the ink. Then she handed the pen to Jack. "What should we say?" she whispered. "Well, the Civil War is going to have a good ending," Jack whispered back. "All the country will come together." "With freedom for everybody," whispered Annie.

瓶子和羽毛笔从她的围裙口袋里拿出来。 “这些曾经是你的，记得吗？”亚伯拉罕·林肯盯着墨水瓶和羽毛笔。 “是的，”他说。“我用黑莓根和鹅毛做的。” “哦，天哪，”杰克低声说。 他第一次完全明白，山姆——实际上是亚伯拉罕·林肯——给了他们一根羽毛！押韵开始变得很有意义了！“你为什么回来？”庭长问。 现在杰克知道该说什么了。 “我们必须给你们带来希望，”他回答说。 他伸手去拿口袋里的笔记本。 “杰克说得对，”安妮说。 “等一下。”她打开墨水瓶，把鹅毛笔浸在墨水里。 然后她把笔递给杰克。 “我们该说什么？”她低声说。 “好吧，内战将会有一个美好的结局。”杰克低声回答。 “整个国家都会团结起来。” “给每个人自由。”安妮低声说。