Chapter 1

THE DEAD SEA SQUIRRELS A Dusty Donkey Detour From the co-creator of VeggieTales Mike Nawrocki Illustrated by Luke Seguin-Magee

死海松鼠，尘土飞扬的驴子绕道VeggieTales的共同创作者迈克·纳罗基，卢克·塞根-马吉

CHAPTER 1 Ruben yelped into the phone from his cramped hotel room in Nazareth. Next to him sat a rolling pet carrier (the ones people on airplanes use to tote their tiny terriers to Tampa) wrapped tightly with duct tape. And in that pet carrier stood Merle and Pearl Squirrel with their faces pressed up against the mesh. If you'll recall from where we last left our friends, Merle and Pearl had been re-squirrelnapped by the man in the suit and sunglasses, whose real name was Ruben. As Michael and Dr. Gomez were on their way to the famous Basilica of

第一章鲁本在拿撒勒狭窄的旅馆房间里对着电话大叫。 在他旁边放着一个用胶带紧紧包裹着的滚动的宠物笼（飞机上的人用来把他们的小猎犬带到坦帕市）。 松鼠莫尔和松鼠珠儿站在宠物笼里，脸贴在网孔上。 如果你还记得我们上次离开朋友的地方，莫尔和珀尔被那个穿西装戴墨镜的男人再次绑架了，他的真名是鲁本。 迈克尔和戈麦斯医生在去著名的大教堂的路上

the Annunciation in Nazareth to rescue their friends, Ruben received a tip about where the squirrels were hiding out and got there first. "Ein Karem. It's a little town in the hills outside of Jerusalem," the voice on the phone replied. "Why do I have to go all the way down there? I thought I was supposed to drop them off up here!" Ruben complained. "If you hadn't botched things up so badly, you could have!" the man scolded as Ruben held the phone away from his ear. "But now Dr. Gomez and his son know you're in Nazareth, so you and the squirrels need to be someplace else!" "But I'm nearly 150 kilometers from Jerusalem!" Ruben protested. In Israel, like most places in the world, the metric system is used, so distance is measured in kilometers instead of miles. As Google will tell you, 150 kilometers is a little less than 100 miles.

在拿撒勒报喜营救他们的朋友时，鲁本收到了关于松鼠藏身之处的消息，并抢先到达了那里。 “Karem。那是耶路撒冷城外山上的一个小镇，”电话里的声音回答说。 “为什么我一定要跑那么远？” 我以为我应该把它们放在这里！”鲁本抱怨。 “要不是你把事情搞得这么糟，你本来可以的！”鲁本把电话从他耳边拿开时，那个男人责备道。 “但现在戈麦斯医生和他儿子知道你在拿撒勒，所以你和松鼠们需要去别的地方！”“可我离耶路撒冷有150公里了！”鲁本抗议。 在以色列，像世界上大多数地方一样，使用公制系统，所以距离是以公里而不是英里来测量的。 b谷歌会告诉你，150公里比100英里略短。

"And?" the man on the phone said. "It should only be a two-to three-hour drive." Ruben swallowed hard. "I... uh... I don't have a car." "What do you mean, you don't have a car?" "I sort of crashed it when the squirrels got away from me yesterday," Ruben confessed. Merle and Pearl looked at each other and smiled. It had been a very daring and exciting escape.

“然后呢？”电话那头的人说。 “应该只有两到三个小时的车程。” 鲁本使劲咽了口气。“我…… 嗯…我没有车。” “你说你没有车是什么意思？”鲁本坦白说：“昨天松鼠从我身边跑开的时候，我把它弄坏了。” 莫尔和珠儿面面相觑，笑了。 这是一次非常大胆和刺激的逃跑。

"Well, rent another one!" "I'm a little short on cash at the moment," Ruben admitted. A long silence followed. "Well," the voice finally said, spacing the words out, "I guess you'll just have to walk." "That'll take days!" Ruben groaned. "You'd better get started, then." The man hung up.

“那么，再租一辆吧！”“我现在手头有点紧，”鲁本承认。 接着是长时间的沉默。“好吧，”那个声音终于说，语无旁落，“我想你只能走路了。” “那得花好几天！”鲁本呻吟着。 “那么，你最好开始吧。” 那人挂了电话。