1 The Small Room

THE HIDDEN STAIRS AND THE MAGIC CARPET

隐藏的楼梯和魔毯

One The Small Room Eric Hinkle ran past his mother on his way through the kitchen. He was heading to the back door. "Neal and I are going to play soccer in the yard," he said. "Julie's coming, too. Gotta go." "Stop." His mother blocked the door. "Didn't you forget something, Eric?" She held out her hand. She was holding empty garbage bags. Eric looked at his mother. He looked at the garbage bags. All of a sudden, he remembered. "Oh, no! I forgot about the basement!"

小房间埃里克·辛克尔穿过厨房时从母亲身边跑过。 他正往后门走。 “尼尔和我要去院子里踢足球，”他说。 “朱莉也要来。要走了。” “停止”。他妈妈把门堵上了。 “你忘了什么吗，埃里克？”她伸出手来。 她手里拿着空垃圾袋。 埃里克看着他的妈妈。 他看了看垃圾袋。 突然，他想起来了。 “哦,不!我忘了地下室的事！”

Knock, knock. Eric sighed. He pulled the door open. Neal Kroger stepped into the kitchen. Neal lived at the end of Eric's street. He was Eric's best friend. "Hey, what's up?" Neal asked. "I have to clean the basement," Eric grumbled. Mrs. Hinkle gave Eric the garbage bags. "You know your father wants to start remodeling the basement soon. This was supposed to be your special job." Neal made a face at Eric. "That doesn't sound like much fun." "According to my dad, it's not supposed to be fun," Eric replied. "It's supposed to be done." "Give it two hours," Mrs. Hinkle said. She pointed to the clock. It was two o'clock. "Two whole hours?" Eric headed for the basement door. "Hey, I'll help," said Neal. "We'll be sort of a team. Maybe we'll find some cool stuff." Eric smiled. Neal is a true friend, he thought. He'll even help clean up junk. "Okay. Come on." Eric flicked on the light. The two boys tramped down to the basement. On the right side of the stairs was the playroom. It had paneling on the walls, bookcases, a toy chest, a big sofa, and even a television.

咚,咚,Eric叹了口气。 他把门拉开了。尼尔·克罗格走进厨房。 尼尔住在埃里克住的那条街的尽头。 他是埃里克最好的朋友。 “嘿，怎么了？”Neal问道。 “我得打扫地下室，”埃里克抱怨道。 欣克尔太太把垃圾袋给了埃里克。 “你知道你爸爸想马上开始重新装修地下室。 这本该是你的特殊工作。” 尼尔对埃里克做了个鬼脸。“听起来不怎么好玩。” “据我爸爸说，这不应该是有趣的，”埃里克回答。 “这是应该做的。” “给它两个小时，”欣克尔太太说。 她指着钟。这时是两点钟。 “整整两个小时？”埃里克朝地下室的门走去。 “嘿，我来帮忙，”尼尔说。 “我们会成为一个团队。也许我们会发现一些很酷的东西。” Eric笑了。尼尔是个真正的朋友，他想。 他甚至会帮忙清理垃圾。 “好吧。来吧。”埃里克打开灯。 两个男孩迈着沉重的步子走到地下室。 楼梯的右边是游戏室。 它的墙上有镶板、书柜、玩具柜、大沙发，甚至还有一台电视机。

"This looks pretty clean," Neal said, peeking in. "If my basement was like this, I'd live down here." Eric liked the playroom, too. It was a great place to hang out on rainy days. "The playroom isn't the problem," Eric said. "Look over here." He stepped into the other side of the basement. The room on the left side of the stairs. The side his father was going to remodel. "What a mess!" Neal said, looking around. On one wall was a tool bench filled with jars of nails, nuts, and bolts. On another wall were cabinets lined with canned food. An old washer and drier sat against a third wall. And everywhere in between was junk. In piles. In bunches. In cartons. In boxes. There was even a dusty old chair sitting in the middle of the floor. "We'd better get started," Eric muttered. Neal slumped into the old chair. "We? Did I say I would help?" Eric stared at his friend. "You said we were a team." "I'll be the coach," Neal said with a smile. Tap, tap! A face appeared at the basement window. "It's Julie," said Eric. He waved. "Come in."

“这里看起来很干净，”尼尔一边说，一边往里偷看。 “如果我的地下室像这样，我就住在这里了。” 埃里克也喜欢游戏室。 这是一个下雨天闲逛的好地方。 “游戏室不是问题所在，”埃里克说。 “看这里。”他走进地下室的另一边。 楼梯左边的房间。 他父亲打算改造的那一面。 “真是一团糟！”尼尔环顾四周说。 一面墙上有一个工具台，里面装满了钉子、螺母和螺栓的罐子。 另一面墙上是一排排放着罐头食品的橱柜。 一架旧洗衣机和烘干机靠在第三面墙上。 中间的地方都是垃圾。 在桩。在束。在纸箱里。 在盒子里。地板中央甚至还放着一把满是灰尘的旧椅子。 “我们最好开始吧。”埃里克喃喃地说。 尼尔跌坐在那把旧椅子上。 “我们?我说过我会帮忙吗？”埃里克盯着他的朋友。 “你说我们是一个团队。” “我来当教练，”尼尔笑着说。 水龙头,水龙头!一张脸出现在地下室的窗口。 “是朱莉，”埃里克说。他挥了挥手。 “进来。”

Julie Rubin had been friends with Eric and Neal ever since they got stuck in a tree together in kindergarten. Since then, they'd been in all the same classes. They even went to the same summer camp. "Hi," Julie said as she raced down the stairs. She held a soccer ball under her arm. "I thought we were going to play," she said, checking her watch. "It's only two o'clock." Eric dragged a big toy box out from under the stairs. "Sorry, I've got to clean all this stuff up." "And I'm coaching," Neal said. "Ball, please?" Julie passed the ball to Neal and looked around. "It looks like a big job. I'll help." "How about a little game first?" Neal said. He stood up and bounced the ball once. Then he swung his foot hard. "Heads up, everybody!" "Wait!" Eric yelled, ducking behind the box. Too late. The ball was already in the air. It bounced off the tool bench and smacked Neal right in the face. "Ow! My nose!" "Serves you right!" said Julie. The ball bounced off the washing machine and rolled into the shadows by the stairs. "I'll get it!" Julie jumped after the ball, then stopped. "Hey, what's this?" She pointed to a door in the wall under

自从埃里克和尼尔在幼儿园被困在一棵树上，朱莉·鲁宾就一直是他们的朋友。 从那以后，他们一直在同一个班级。 他们甚至去了同一个夏令营。 “嗨，”朱莉边跑下楼边说。 她腋下夹着一个足球。 “我以为我们要去玩呢，”她边说边看了看表。 “现在才两点钟。”埃里克从楼梯下拖出一个大玩具盒。 “对不起，我得把这些东西都清理干净。” “我是教练，”尼尔说。 “球吗?”朱莉把球传给尼尔，然后环顾四周。 “这看起来是一项艰巨的任务。我会帮助。” “先来个小游戏怎么样？”Neal说。 他站起来，把球弹了一下。 然后他使劲地甩了甩脚。 “大家注意了！”“等等!”埃里克喊道，躲到盒子后面。 太迟了。球已经在空中了。 它从工具台上弹了出来，正好打在尼尔的脸上。 “噢!我的鼻子!”“你活该！”尤莉说。 球从洗衣机上弹了出来，滚进了楼梯旁的阴影里。 “我去拿！”朱莉追着球跳了起来，然后停了下来。 “嘿，这是什么？”她指着下面墙上的一扇门

the stairs. It was open slightly.

楼梯。门微微开着。