2. The Land of Living Trees

CHAPTER Two The Land of Living Tress "Now I know what they mean by plant food," Neal groaned as the tree holding him swung around. "And I think we're it!" Julie's tree shook her up and down. "I promise I'll never eat a vegetable again. Just let us go!" But the trees didn't let go. They swung the kids high over the ground. "Oo-oo-oo-oh!" Eric moaned. "I feel si-i-ick!" The branches only coiled more tightly around him. He felt his strength slipping away. "This can't happen!" he cried, gasping for breath.

“现在我知道他们说的植物性食物是什么意思了。”尼尔呻吟着，那棵扶着他的树摇摇晃晃地转着。 “我想就是我们了！”朱莉的树把她摇上摇下。 “我保证再也不吃蔬菜了。 放我们走吧！”但是树并没有松手。 他们把孩子们高高甩过地面。 “Oo-oo-oo-oh !”埃里克呻吟。 “我觉得很难受！”树枝在他身上盘绕得更紧了。 他感到自己的力量在逐渐消失。 “这是不可能的！”他喘着气喊道。

"This is Droo-oo-oon," Neal cried. "Anything can happen!" "I wish Keeah and Galen were here," Julie yelped. "They'd make these trees act like trees!" At that moment, the sun began to rise. Golden light slanted across the treetops. Suddenly, the trees lowered their branches. They loosened their grip, and the children slid to the ground. The trees coiled back to their original shapes. And went completely still. It was a quiet circle of trees once more. Eric scrambled over to his friends. "Are you guys okay?" he asked. "Ask me later," Neal coughed. "For now, let's just get out of here." "I agree," Julie said, rubbing her arms where the branches had clutched her. "That sure was a Droonian moment." Eric pointed to the lake at the bottom of the hill. "Let's get down there. Fast!" They hurried to the sandy shore. The lake water glistened like glass. A light breeze rose off the surface. "Peaceful," Julie said. "I wonder where—" Splish! Splorsh! The center of the lake began to bubble. Neal stepped back. "Okay, now what?"

“这是德鲁，”尼尔叫道。 “什么事都有可能发生！”“我希望基娅和盖伦也在这里。”朱莉叫道。 “他们会让这些树像树一样！”在那一刻，太阳开始升起。 金色的光线斜照在树梢上。 突然，树垂下了树枝。 他们松开了手，孩子们滑到地上。 树木盘绕成原来的形状。 然后完全静止了。 这又是一个安静的树圈。 埃里克急忙跑向他的朋友们。 “你们还好吗？”他问。 “过会儿再问我。”尼尔咳嗽着说。 “现在，我们还是离开这里吧。” “我同意。”朱莉一边说，一边揉着手臂上被树枝抓住的地方。 “那真是一个了不起的时刻。” 埃里克指着山脚下的那个湖。 “我们下去吧。快!”他们匆匆赶到沙滩上。 湖水像玻璃一样闪闪发光。 海面上刮起一阵微风。 “和平，”朱莉说。“我不知道在哪儿……”Splorsh !湖中心开始冒泡了。 尼尔往后退了一步。“好吧，现在怎么办？”

The water splashed. A small round eye pierced the surface. Then a long curved neck. "Now—we hide!" Eric said, pulling Neal and Julie facedown in the sand. "Sppp—ah!" Neal spit out sand as he looked across the water. "Terrific. Weird eyeball, long neck. This means only one thing. Sea serpent!" "It's a lake," said Julie. "Lake serpent!" Neal cried. Soon, a body rose from the water. It was green and short and stubby, about the size of a small car. Sunlight flashed off its wet side. "That's not a serpent," Julie said. "It's a…" Vrrrm! It rumbled up onto the beach on fat green wheels. It lurched to a halt in the sand.

水花飞溅。一个小小的圆眼睛刺穿了水面。 然后是长而弯曲的脖子。“现在我们躲!”埃里克说着，把尼尔和朱莉脸朝下拉到沙子里。 “Sppp-ah !”尼尔望着水面，吐出了沙子。 “棒极了。奇怪的眼球，长长的脖子。 这只意味着一件事。 水蛇座!”“这是一个湖，”朱莉说。 “湖蛇!”Neal哭了。 很快，一具尸体从水里浮了出来。 它是绿色的，又短又粗，大约有一辆小汽车那么大。 阳光从它潮湿的一面闪过。 “那不是蛇，”朱莉说。 “这是一个……”它开着又大又绿的轮子隆隆地驶上海滩。 它在沙滩上踉跄地停了下来。

"A lake serpent with wheels?" Eric said. Boing! A hatch on the side popped open. A head appeared. Then a face. The head had bright orange hair that stood straight up. In the middle of the face was a little pug nose. "Max!" Julie exclaimed, jumping up and running over to the green machine. Eric nudged Neal. "You were so afraid. Can't you tell the difference between a serpent and a submarine?" "Afraid?" Neal shrugged. "I call it being careful." Max clambered down from the hatch. He saluted with three of his eight legs. "Your favorite spider troll—at your service!" He tapped the side of the sub. Boink! Boink! Two more heads appeared from the hatch. One was a young girl with long blonde hair. She was wearing a jeweled crown. The other was an old man with a long white beard and frizzy hair. "Princess Keeah! And Galen!" Eric said. "Boy, are we glad to see you guys!" "As we are to see you," Princess Keeah said. "You've come just in time to help us again." "But we almost didn't make it," Neal said. "Some trees attacked us!" "Then the sun rose and they let us go," Eric added.

“有轮子的湖蛇？”Eric说。 啵嘤!侧面的舱门突然打开了。 一个头出现了。然后是一张脸。 头上有一头亮橙色的头发，直立着。 脸中间有一个小巴哥鼻子。 “马克斯!”朱莉叫道，跳起来跑向那台绿色的机器。 埃里克推了推尼尔。“你太害怕了。 难道你分不清蛇和潜水艇吗？”“害怕吗?”Neal耸耸肩。 “我称之为谨慎。” 麦克斯从舱口爬了下来。 他用八条腿中的三条行了个礼。 “你最喜欢的蜘蛛巨魔——听候差遣！”他敲了敲潜艇的侧面。 波英克!波英克!又有两个脑袋从舱口冒了出来。 其中一个是一个留着金色长发的年轻女孩。 她戴着一顶镶着珠宝的王冠。 另一个是一个老人，留着长长的白胡子和卷曲的头发。 “公主Keeah !和盖伦!”Eric说。 “天哪，见到你们真是太高兴了！”“就像我们要见到你一样。”姬娅公主说。 “你来得正是时候，又来帮助我们了。” “但我们差点就失败了，”尼尔说。 “一些树袭击了我们！”“后来太阳出来了，他们让我们走了，”埃里克补充说。

"But mostly, I had the greatest dream," Julie said. "I even had a crown!" Then she told them all about it. "Time will tell what it all means," Keeah said. Galen smiled. "And what do you think of my latest invention? I call it my Below-Water-Motor-Powered-Transportation Vehicle." Neal frowned. "You mean… a sub?" "Sub?" Galen looked quizzically at Neal. "I like that name. Sub. It certainly saves time." "Which is good," Max chirped. "Because our time is running out. We're on a mission to find Lord Sparr!" "Come aboard," Galen told the children. "I will explain." A moment later, the three friends joined Keeah, Max, and Galen inside the small ship. "Very cool!" Eric said as they took seats in a small round cabin. A control panel circled the front wall under a large window. Max took hold of the controls. He pushed a large green button. Motors whirred behind them. The small ship rumbled down the beach to the water. "We're on our way to Panjibarrh," Keeah said. "It's where the terrible giant, Zor, is supposed to have been buried. Lord Sparr is there." "Dive, Max!" Galen commanded. "Dive!"

“但最重要的是，我有一个伟大的梦想，”朱莉说。 “我甚至有一顶王冠！”然后她把一切都告诉了他们。 “时间会告诉我们这一切意味着什么，”Keeah说。 盖伦笑了。“你觉得我最近的发明怎么样？” 我把它叫做我的水下机动运输车。” Neal皱起了眉头。“你是说……一艘潜艇？”“子?”盖伦疑惑地看着尼尔。 “我喜欢这个名字。这确实节省了时间。” “这很好，”马克斯叽叽喳喳地说。 “因为我们的时间不多了。 我们是来找斯帕尔勋爵的！”“上船吧，”盖伦对孩子们说。 “我会解释的。”过了一会儿，三个朋友和基娅、马克斯和盖伦一起进入了小船。 “很酷!”他们在一个小圆舱里坐下时，埃里克说。 一个控制面板环绕着前面的墙壁，在一扇大窗户下面。 马克斯控制着飞机。 他按下了一个绿色的大按钮。 汽车在他们身后呼呼作响。 小船隆隆地沿着海滩驶进了水里。 “我们在去潘吉巴的路上。”姬娅说。 “那就是那个可怕的巨人佐尔应该被埋葬的地方。 斯帕尔大人在那儿。”“潜水,麦克斯!”盖伦所吩咐的。 “潜水!”