10 The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Chapter 10 THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL The river dragged them through the cold darkness. "Cheese Louise!" said Judy. "Put on your flashlight, Andrew! There could be a humongous waterfall ahead and we wouldn't even know it!" "Um, I think the batteries are dead," said Andrew. He was silent for a moment. "But maybe the Stone Age people can save us." "Huh?" said Judy. "I picked up pieces of their firestones," said Andrew. "I can use them to light a fire." "We don't have anything to burn," said Judy.

第十章隧道尽头的光亮河水拖着他们穿过寒冷的黑暗。 “奶酪露易丝！”朱迪说。 “带上你的手电筒，安德鲁！”前面可能有一个巨大的瀑布，我们甚至都不知道！”“嗯，我想电池没电了，”安德鲁说。 他沉默了一会儿。 “但也许石器时代的人可以拯救我们。” “嗯？”朱迪说。“我捡了一些他们的火石碎片。”安德鲁说。 “我可以用它们来生火。” “我们没有任何东西可以烧，”朱迪说。

"We can use the bug leg with the glowworm web as a torch," said Andrew. He picked it up off the bottom of the bug boat and passed it back to Judy. "Hang on to this," he said. "Not a bad idea, Bug-Brain," said Judy. She waved her hands in the darkness until she felt the bug leg and grabbed it. Andrew pulled the tiny firestones out of his pocket. meep… "Gotta hit one stone against other stone," said Thudd. Andrew slammed one piece against the other. Nothing happened. He smashed them together hard. Still nothing. He kept on trying. Suddenly a few tiny flashes of yellow-orange light curved into the air. "Woo-hoo!" yelled Andrew. "We've got sparks!" Andrew felt around and took the bug leg from Judy. He braced it between his knees, then smacked the stones hard. Sparks flew high! Ffffft… WHOOOOSH!

“我们可以用带着萤火虫网的虫腿当火把，”安德鲁说。 他把它从虫船的底部捡起来，递给朱迪。 “拿好这个，”他说。 “这主意不错，虫脑，”朱迪说。 她在黑暗中挥动着双手，直到摸到了虫子的腿，便抓住了它。 安德鲁从口袋里掏出了小火石。 “要用一块石头撞到另一块石头。” 安德鲁用一块猛撞另一块。 什么也没有发生。他使劲把它们撞在一起。 还是什么都没有。他继续尝试。 突然，空中出现了几道黄橙色的闪光。 “呜——呜！”安德鲁大叫。“我们有火花了！”安德鲁摸了摸周围，从朱迪手里拿过虫子腿。 他把它夹在两膝之间，然后狠狠地敲着石头。 火花飞得很高！Ffffft…WHOOOOSH !

A ball of fire bigger than a beach ball leapt up from the water! "AAAAAAAAAH!" screamed Judy. "YEOOOOW!" hollered Andrew, jumping as though a Tyrannosaurus had come up behind him. Quick as a lightning flash, the ball of fire disappeared. But the torch was lit! "What was that?" asked Judy. meep… "Like swamp fire," said Thudd. "Gas come up from under ground." "Woofers!" said Andrew. "This torch seems kind of dangerous, but it will keep away the salamanders." meep… "Fish, too," said Thudd. "And we can see where we're going," said Judy. They sat silently as the boat bobbed along. Andrew was thinking how good the heat of the torch felt when he saw a lump rising ahead of them. A rock was sticking out of the water and they were speeding straight at it!

一个比沙滩球还大的火球从水中跃起！“啊——啊——啊！”朱迪尖叫起来。 “耶——”安德鲁大叫一声，跳了起来，好像有一头暴龙从他身后冲了过来。 火球像闪电一样迅速消失了。 但是火炬被点燃了！“那是什么？”朱迪问。 “就像沼泽的火。” “天然气从地下冒出来。” “低音炮！”安德鲁说。“这个火炬看起来有点危险，但它可以赶走蝾螈。” “还有鱼。” “我们可以看到我们要去哪里，”朱迪说。 船颠簸前行时，他们静静地坐着。 安德鲁正在想火炬的热度有多好，这时他看到前面有一个肿块在上升。 一块岩石露出水面，他们正朝着它疾驰而去！

Klick! Their bug boat slammed into the rock. Water sloshed over the sides of the boat and soaked the Dubbles. ch… ch… ch… Judy shivered. "The water's so cold." "Hold the torch," said Andrew to Judy. "I'll get us out of here." Andrew picked up the other bug leg and used it to push them off the rock and back into the river. The river was getting faster and rougher. And Andrew could see more rocks sticking up ahead. meep… "When river got lotsa big rocks," said Thudd, "water go fast, fast, fast around rocks. Places in river that got lotsa rocks and fast water called rapids."

公里!他们的小舢舨撞在岩石上。 水溅过船舷，浸透了双桅帆船。 朱蒂颤抖着。 “水太冷了。”“拿着火炬，”安德鲁对朱迪说。 “我会让我们离开这里的。” 安德鲁捡起另一条虫腿，用它把它们推下岩石，回到河里。 河水越来越湍急，越来越湍急。 安德鲁看到前方有更多的岩石。 “当河里有很多大石头的时候，”砰砰说，“水流得很快，很快，很快地绕过石头。 河中有很多岩石和急流的地方叫做急流。”

As Andrew scanned the river for rocks, he thought he saw something else. He squinted. Am I seeing spots? he thought. Or is that a dot of light out there? But the dot was getting bigger and brighter. "There's light ahead!" said Andrew.

当安德鲁在河里寻找岩石时，他觉得自己看到了别的东西。 他眯起了双眼。我看到斑点了吗？ 他想。或者那是一个光点？ 但是那个点越来越大，越来越亮。 “前面有光！”安德鲁说。

"Humph," Judy grumped. "Probably just some more stupid glowworms." But soon they could see the craggy opening. Through it they could see the rising sun!

“哼，”朱迪嘟囔着。“可能只是一些愚蠢的萤火虫。” 但很快他们就看到了崎岖的开口。 透过它，他们可以看到冉冉升起的太阳！