10 The Biggest Problem Is Getting Smaller

Chapter 10 THE BIGGEST PROBLEM IS GETTING SMALLER… meep… "Ghost mushrooms!" squeaked Thudd. "I never thought I'd be so happy to see a fungus," said Judy. They picked their way through the darkness toward the little lights. The ghost mushrooms surrounded a huge tree trunk like a necklace. The cap at the top of each mushroom looked like a glowing, pale green parachute.

第10章最大的问题是越来越小……呜呜……“鬼蘑菇！” “我从没想过看到真菌会这么开心，”朱迪说。 他们在黑暗中小心翼翼地朝小灯走去。 幽灵蘑菇像项链一样围绕着一个巨大的树干。 每个蘑菇顶部的帽子看起来像一个发光的淡绿色降落伞。

Judy stood under one of the mushrooms. "We're too small to break off chunks of these mushrooms," she said. meep… "Cap of mushroom got lotsa thin, thin sheets underneath," said Thudd. "Sheets called gills. Gills got tiny spores. Spores make baby mushrooms. "Gotta climb up stem of mushroom, pull off gills." Andrew and Judy shinnied up a mushroom stem. The gills were as thin as tissue paper. They were almost as close together as the pages of a book.

朱迪站在一个蘑菇下面。 “我们太小了，掰不开这些蘑菇，”她说。 “蘑菇帽下面有很多很薄很薄的一层。” “那是鳃。鳃上有微小的孢子。 孢子形成小蘑菇。 “爬上蘑菇茎，扯下蘑菇鳃” 安德鲁和朱迪在蘑菇茎上发光。 鱼鳃像薄纸一样薄。 他们几乎像一本书的书页一样紧密地贴在一起。

Andrew and Judy ripped off bits of the soft, spongy gills and tossed them to the ground. Tiny round spores rained down like twinkling fairy powder. Before long, a circle of glowing shreds surrounded the mushroom. "Okey-dokey!" said Thudd. "Got enough pieces now." Andrew and Judy climbed down the stem and gathered up the bits of mushroom in their arms. The mushroom heaps were bright enough to light their path. Andrew spied a streak of moonlight on water. "The river!" he shouted. meep… "Careful, Drewd!" squeaked Thudd. "Lotsa strange stuff near river. Fish-catching spiders! Toad that spray deadly poison!" "Thanks, Thudd," said Judy. At the riverbank, their feet sank in the squishy mud up to their ankles. They plodded along until they found a little pool of water at the edge of the river.

安德鲁和朱迪扯下一些柔软的、海绵状的鱼鳃，扔到地上。 小小的圆形孢子像闪烁的仙粉一样落了下来。 不久，一圈发光的碎片包围了蘑菇。 “好吧，好吧！”“现在有足够的碎片了。” 安德鲁和朱迪顺着茎爬下来，把蘑菇碎片抱在怀里。 蘑菇堆很亮，照亮了他们的路。 安德鲁发现水面上有一道月光。 “河！”他喊道。“小心，德鲁！”泰德尖声说。 “河附近有很多奇怪的东西。 捕鱼量蜘蛛!蟾蜍，喷致命的毒药！”“谢谢，泰德，”朱迪说。 到了河边，他们的脚陷在湿糊糊的泥里，泥没到脚踝。 他们吃力地走着，直到在河边发现了一小滩水。

Andrew placed his pile of mushroom gills on a pebble. From a pants pocket, he pulled a small paper-wrapped square. The wrapper was printed with the word UMBUBBLE. Andrew pulled off the paper, popped the blue square into his mouth, and chewed. He blew a bubble as big as his head. Andrew kept blowing until the Umbubble was bigger than he was, till it was as big as a Ping-Pong ball. "Whew!" Andrew sighed. He rolled the Umbubble onto a leaf. "We'll stick the mushroom pieces on the inside so Uncle Al can see us," said Andrew. Then Andrew rolled the Umbubble to the edge of the water. He found the small hole in the Umbubble where he had blown air into it. He shoved his head through the hole, then his shoulders, then the rest of him. "Hand me all the mushroom pieces, Judy," he said. "And come on in." Judy heaped the shreds in her arms and shoved them through the hole. Then she pushed herself

安德鲁把他那堆蘑菇鳃放在一块鹅卵石上。 他从裤子口袋里掏出一个纸包着的小方块。 包装上印着UMBUBBLE字样。 安德鲁把纸扯下来，把蓝色的方块塞进嘴里，嚼了起来。 他吹了一个和他的头一样大的泡泡。 安德鲁不停地吹，直到那个泡泡比他还大，直到它像乒乓球一样大。 “呼!”安德鲁叹了口气。他把Umbubble卷到一片叶子上。 “我们把蘑菇片贴在里面，这样艾尔叔叔就能看到我们了。”安德鲁说。 然后安德鲁把Umbubble滚到水边。 他找到了刚才他往泡泡里吹气的那个小洞。 他把头伸进洞里，然后是肩膀，然后是身体的其余部分。 “把所有的蘑菇片递给我，朱迪，”他说。 “进来吧。”朱迪把碎片堆在怀里，把它们塞进洞里。 然后她强迫自己

inside the Umbubble. "Stick the pieces on quickly," said Andrew, "before the Umbubble dries and gets hard." Andrew and Judy worked fast to cover the inside of the Umbubble with the glowing fragments. When they were done, Andrew sealed the Umbubble by pulling the edges of the hole together. "It'll be ready in a few seconds," said Andrew. Judy tapped the Umbubble. "Feels like plastic," she said. "Now we get the Umbubble into the water," said Andrew. "Just walk inside it like a gerbil in a wheel." They walked, and the glowing Umbubble rolled into the little pool. Moonlit ripples of water pulled them away from the dark shapes on the shore. Soon the river current picked them up and raced them away. All of a sudden, the Umbubble came to a stop.

在Umbubble里面。“赶快把碎片贴上去，”安德鲁说，“别让泡泡干了变硬。” 安德鲁和朱迪迅速地用发光的碎片覆盖了Umbubble的内部。 完成后，安德鲁把洞的边缘拉到一起，把Umbubble封上了。 “几秒钟就好了。”安德鲁说。 朱迪敲了敲Umbubble。“感觉像塑料，”她说。 “现在我们把泡泡放到水里。”安德鲁说。 “就像一只轮子上的沙鼠一样走进去。” 他们走着，发光的乌姆泡滚进了小水潭。 月光下的水波把他们从岸边的黑影中拉开。 不久，河水把它们卷了起来，把它们冲走了。 突然，泡泡停了下来。

"We must be caught on something," said Andrew. He peered through a space between the mushroom pieces. The Umbubble had washed up against something—something big. "Looks like a log," said Andrew. He squinted. "A log with eyes!" meep… "Platypus!" said Thudd. "A platypus!" said Andrew. "I've always wanted to see a platypus. But I always thought I'd be bigger than the platypus when I saw it." "Platypus!" said Judy, trying to get a good view. "The bizarre-o mammal that has a beak like a duck and lays eggs." meep… "Got beaver tail and webbed feet," said Thudd. "Platypus beak feel electricity from animal muscles. Find prey same way as echidna." "And we're right next to its beak," said Judy. The Umbubble rolled over a wave. On the other side of it was a flying-saucer shape.

“我们一定被什么东西抓住了。”安德鲁说。 他透过蘑菇片之间的空隙往外看。 Umbubble撞到了什么东西——一个很大的东西。 “看起来像根木头。”安德鲁说。 他眯起了双眼。“鸭嘴兽！” “鸭嘴兽！”安德鲁说。 “我一直想看鸭嘴兽。 但当我看到鸭嘴兽的时候，我总觉得自己比它还大。” “鸭嘴兽！”朱迪说，想找个好地方看看。 “这种奇怪的哺乳动物长着像鸭子一样的喙，还会产卵。” “有海狸尾巴和蹼脚。” 鸭嘴兽的喙能感觉到动物肌肉发出的电流。 寻找猎物的方式和针鼹一样。” “我们就在它的喙旁边，”朱迪说。 Umbubble在一个波浪上翻滚。 在它的另一面是一个飞碟形状。