Chapter 11

Chapter 11 The next morning, Jack picked up the kids after breakfast. Ruth Rose was wearing pink from headband to sneakers. "You look like a sunrise," Jack told her. "Thanks, Jack," Ruth Rose said. "Was your baby born yet?" "Yes!" the proud father said. "It's a beautiful little girl. Theresa and her mom are sleeping, so now's our chance to get a peek at the alligator nest." A half hour later, they were all hunkered down in some bushes near the water. Jack had brought

第二天早上，杰克吃完早饭去接孩子们。 露丝·罗斯从发带到运动鞋都是粉红色的。 “你看起来像日出，”杰克对她说。 “谢谢你，杰克，”露丝·罗斯说。 “你的孩子出生了吗?”“是的!”父亲骄傲地说。 “这是一个漂亮的小女孩。 特蕾莎和她妈妈正在睡觉，所以现在是我们窥视鳄鱼巢穴的机会。” 半小时后，他们都蹲在水边的灌木丛里。 杰克带来了

binoculars, and they were taking turns peering at a mother alligator. She was lying half in the water with her long snout pointed toward her nest. The gator's scaly hide was blackish green, ridged and bumpy like a truck tire. "I don't see any babies," whispered Josh. "They haven't hatched yet," Jack said, pointing to a small hill of vegetation. "That mound is her nest. The eggs are buried in that stuff." "Why isn't she sitting on the nest?" Ruth Rose asked. "Won't the eggs get cold?" "The rotting vegetation keeps the eggs warm," Jack explained. "Mama gator is watching the water in case a meal swims by." The large mother alligator lay as still as a log. Her mouth was partly open, and every now and then her eyes would blink. "You kids did a good job figuring out who robbed those graves," Jack said. "The villagers reburied the coffins and had a nice ceremony. The cops took the two developers in for some serious questions. They won't be trying to scam any more people."

用双筒望远镜，他们轮流盯着一只鳄鱼妈妈。 她半躺在水里，长长的鼻子指向她的巢。 鳄鱼的鳞片皮是墨绿色的，像卡车轮胎一样凹凸不平。 “我没看到任何婴儿。”乔希小声说。 “它们还没孵出来呢，”杰克指着一座长满植被的小山说。 “那个土堆是她的巢。蛋就埋在那东西里。” “她为什么不坐在窝里?”露丝·罗斯问。 “鸡蛋不会冷吗?”“腐烂的植物让蛋保持温暖，”杰克解释说。 “鳄鱼妈妈在看水，以防有食物游过来。” 大鳄鱼妈妈静静地躺着，像一根木头。 她的嘴半张着，眼睛不时眨一下。 “你们这些孩子搞清楚是谁抢了那些坟墓，干得不错。”杰克说。 “村民们重新埋葬了棺材，并举行了一个很好的仪式。 警察把那两个开发商抓去审问了。 他们不会再试图欺骗更多的人了。”

"Do you think the people in the village were really going to sell their land?" Dink asked. "They would have eventually," Jack said. "My guess is that if the robbed graves didn't convince them, the scammers would have tried something else next time. They were greedy guys who wanted to build high-rise apartments there." "If Byron hadn't been out with his owl, he never would have seen those men," Josh said. "Or found that wallet." Jack smiled. "Byron told Myrna that he's been on his own since his parents abandoned him when he was eight years old. Never went to school, just lived in these woods. Myrna and the villagers are building him a new hut near hers. He's going to live with them now." "And Byron gave my grandmother one of his paintings," Ruth Rose said. "She showed it to a man who owns an art gallery. He said Byron is going to make a ton of money!" Jack put his finger to his lips. "Listen," he whispered. They all heard high, croaky noises coming from the nest. "Now watch," Jack said.

“你觉得村里的人真的会卖掉他们的土地吗?”丁克问道。 “他们最终会的，”杰克说。 “我的猜测是，如果抢劫的坟墓不能说服他们，骗子下次会尝试其他方法。 他们是贪婪的家伙，想在那里建高层公寓。” “如果拜伦没有带着他的猫头鹰出去，他永远不会看到那些人，”乔希说。 “或者找到了那个钱包。”杰克笑了笑。 拜伦告诉玛娜，自从他八岁时被父母抛弃后，他就一直靠自己生活。 从没上过学，就住在树林里。 玛娜和村民们正在她家附近给他盖一间新小屋。 他现在要和他们住在一起了。” “拜伦把他的一幅画送给了我的祖母，”露丝·罗斯说。 她把它拿给一个画廊老板看。 他说拜伦会赚很多钱的!”杰克把手指放在嘴唇上。 “听着，”他低声说。他们都听到了从巢里传来的刺耳的声音。 “现在看，”杰克说。

The mother alligator began moving toward the mound. When she got there, she scraped away the top layer of the vegetation. Twenty or thirty tiny green-and-yellow alligators were crawling out of their eggs. As they freed themselves, they wriggled toward their mother. "Now check this out," Jack said quietly. The mama alligator flattened herself on the ground with her jaws opened. The babies scrambled over her bottom jaw, right into her mouth!

母鳄鱼开始向土丘移动。 当她到达那里时，她刮掉了植被的顶层。 二三十只绿黄相间的小鳄鱼正从卵里爬出来。 当他们挣脱时，他们扭动着向他们的母亲走去。 “现在看看这个，”杰克平静地说。 鳄鱼妈妈张开嘴趴在地上。 宝宝们爬过她的下颚，直接钻进了她的嘴里!

"Is she going to eat them?" Josh asked. Jack laughed. "No, that's how mama alligators and crocodiles protect their babies," he said. "They're safe inside her mouth." "Protect them from what?" asked Ruth Rose, taking her turn with the binoculars. "There are a lot of critters who would love to snack on a baby alligator," Jack said. "Raccoons, possums, herons, you name it. When Mama thinks it's safe, she'll open her mouth and her babies will crawl out."

“她会吃掉它们吗?”杰克问。 杰克笑了。“不，这是鳄鱼妈妈和鳄鱼保护它们的孩子的方式，”他说。 “它们在她嘴里是安全的。” “保护他们免受什么伤害?”露丝·罗斯问，这时轮到她拿望远镜了。 杰克说:“有很多小动物都喜欢吃小鳄鱼。” “浣熊、负鼠、苍鹭，应有尽有。 当妈妈觉得安全的时候，她就会张开嘴，她的孩子就会爬出来。”

The four backed quietly away and headed for the trail. "Speaking of lunch," Josh said as they hiked, "I'm hungry!" "Josh, no one was talking about lunch," Dink said. Josh grinned. "Now we are!" he said. THE END

四个人悄悄地后退，朝小路走去。 “说到午餐，”他们边走边说，“我饿了!”“乔希，没人说午饭的事，”丁克说。 杰克笑了。“现在我们到了!”他说。 结束