Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9 Michael walked sideways with his hands stretched out in front of him, feeling his way along the rocky cave wall in the darkness. He had no idea what time it was, but he felt like he had been lost for hours. He'd taken what he'd

迈克尔侧身走着，双手伸在身前，在黑暗中沿着岩壁摸索着前进。 他不知道现在是几点，但他觉得自己已经迷路了好几个小时。 他拿走了他应得的

thought were all the correct turns, but here he still was, lost in the dark with no way of knowing if he was moving toward or away from the exit. Maybe I should take a nap, he thought. He had been up all night, and he was exhausted. The thought of a giant cave spider or boy-eating mole discovering him in his sleep, however, was enough to keep his eyes open and his feet moving.

所有的转弯都是正确的，但他仍然在这里，迷失在黑暗中，不知道他是在走向还是远离出口。 也许我该睡个午觉，他想。 他一夜没睡，已经筋疲力尽了。 然而，一想到一只巨大的洞穴蜘蛛或吃男孩的鼹鼠会在他睡觉时发现他，他就睁大了眼睛，动了起来。

"Why didn't I listen to my dad?" Michael said out loud, his voice echoing through the corridors of the cave. "I wouldn't be in this mess if I had. I don't even care anymore if I get in trouble. Dad can ground me for a year —I just want to go home." Suddenly, he heard a noise coming from the distance. It sounded like legs scurrying along. Lots of legs. He froze, terrified, his heart pounding so hard he could feel it in his ears. What if it was the giant cave spider? (It sounded like it had too many legs to be a boy-eating mole.) A narrow beam of light appeared on the wall about 50 feet in front of Michael. Because he'd been in total darkness for hours, just that little bit of light hurt his eyes, but it could only mean one thing. "Thank you, God!" he prayed. "I'm here! I'm here!" he shouted. Two men rounded the corner, carrying flashlights. Light flooded the cave corridor as they approached the tired, dirty, and squinting boy.

“我为什么不听爸爸的话？”迈克尔大声说，他的声音在山洞的走廊里回荡。 “如果我这么做了，我就不会陷入这样的困境了。 我都不在乎自己会不会惹上麻烦了。 爸爸可以禁足我一年——我只想回家。” 突然，他听到远处传来响声。 听起来像是腿在奔跑。 很多腿。他吓呆了，心怦怦直跳，耳朵里都能感觉到。 如果是巨大的洞穴蜘蛛呢？ （听起来它有很多条腿，不可能是吃男孩的鼹鼠。）一束狭窄的光出现在迈克尔前面大约50英尺的墙上。 因为他已经在黑暗中待了好几个小时了，一点点光线就能伤害他的眼睛，但这只能说明一件事。 “谢谢你，上帝！”他祈祷道。 “我在这里!我在这里！”他喊道。 两个拿着手电筒的人转过拐角。 当他们走近那个疲惫、肮脏、眯着眼睛的男孩时，山洞里的走廊里充满了灯光。