3 The Case of the Killer Tree

Chapter 3 THE CASE OF THE KILLER TREE "Cheese Louise!" exclaimed Judy. "It is climbing!" meep… "Drewd and Oody getting ride on stick insect," said Thudd. "Rain forest got lotsa insects that look like stick, look like twig. Got insects that look like leaf, too." "Weird-a-mundo!" said Judy, jiggling on the back of the skittering bug. meep… "Good disguise for prey animal," said Thudd. "Look like stuff around it. Disguise called camouflage. Hard for predator animal to find prey animal that got camouflage."

“奶酪露易丝！”朱迪叫道。 “德鲁和乌迪骑上了竹节虫。” “雨林里有很多看起来像棍子、像树枝的昆虫。 还有长得像树叶的昆虫。” “奇怪的世界！”朱迪说着，在这只蹦蹦跳跳的虫子背上抖来抖去。 “对猎物来说，伪装得很好。” “看看周围的东西。 伪装叫做伪装。 食肉动物很难找到伪装的猎物。”

"Camouflage, shamouflage," said Judy. "We could get bounced off this bug any minute. Call Uncle Al again, Thudd." "Okey-dokey," said Thudd. There were three rows of buttons on Thudd's chest. All of them glowed green, except the big purple button in the middle. Thudd pressed the purple button. It blinked three times and went dark. meep… "Unkie not answer," said Thudd. "He's probably on some super-secret project," said Andrew.

“伪装，伪装，”朱迪说。 “我们随时都有可能被这个bug反弹。 再给阿尔叔叔打个电话，泰德。” “好吧，好吧。”泰德的胸前有三排钮扣。 除了中间那颗紫色的大纽扣外，所有的纽扣都发出绿光。 砰的一声按下了紫色的按钮。 它眨了三下眼睛，然后就消失了。 “哎哟，哎哟……” “他可能在做什么超级机密的项目，”安德鲁说。

Judy groaned. "Let's get off this stupid bug as soon as it stops," she said. "We'll look for a safe place and wait till Uncle Al calls us." As the stick insect skittered up the tree, Andrew noticed that the tree trunk looked like a tangle of fat snakes. "This is a super-strange tree," said Andrew. meep… "Strangler fig tree," said Thudd. "Strangler!" said Judy. meep… "Fig tree gotta strangle other tree to grow," said Thudd. "Start when bird eat strangler fig fruit. Bird fly. Bird poop. Fig seed fall into treetop. Seed sprout. Roots grow down to ground. Get big, big, big! Strangle tree underneath. Roots turn into trunk for strangler fig." "Wowzers schnauzers!" said Andrew.

朱迪呻吟着。她说：“等它停了，我们赶紧离开这个愚蠢的虫子吧。” “我们找个安全的地方，等阿尔叔叔叫我们。” 当竹节虫爬上树时，安德鲁注意到树干看起来像一团肥蛇。 “这是一棵超级奇怪的树，”安德鲁说。 “绞杀无花果树。”萨德说。 “扼杀者！”朱迪说。“无花果树得掐死别的树才能生长，”萨德说。 “从鸟儿吃绞杀无花果开始。 鸟飞。鸟屎。无花果种子落在树梢上。 种子发芽。根长到地下。 变大，变大，变大！掐死下面的树。 树根变成了绞杀无花果的树干。” “哇兹雪纳瑞！”安德鲁说。

"Meat-eating plants! Killer trees!" "Weird-a-mundo!" said Judy. All of a sudden, part of the gray-brown tree trunk above them seemed to whip around. It was scrambling toward them! Andrew squinted. He made out a lizardy head with fearsome spikes at the top. A row of spikes ran down its neck. "Yaaaah!" screamed Judy. "Holy moly!" yelled Andrew. Eek! squeaked Thudd. "Forest dragon lizard! Eat stick insects!"

“食肉植物!杀手树!”“真奇怪！”朱迪说。 突然，他们头顶上灰褐色树干的一部分似乎在抽动。 它正朝他们扑过来！安德鲁眯起了双眼。 他辨认出一个蜥蜴头，上面长着可怕的尖刺。 它的脖子上插着一排尖刺。 “啊！”朱迪尖叫道。“天哪！”安德鲁叫道。 唷!Thudd吱吱地。“森林龙蜥蜴！”吃竹节虫吧！”

The creature's neck was puffing out. Its mouth opened—a pink-purple cave surrounded by small, sharp teeth. Their stick insect turned away from the forest dragon. Then it was still as a statue. Judy gave it a little kick. "Get going! Giddyap! That monster is going to eat you!" But the bug didn't move. Suddenly Andrew was getting soaked. His eyes were burning. His nose filled with a peppermint smell so strong, it hurt to breathe. "Blurf!" yelped Andrew. "Aaaack!" hollered Judy. An awful spray was shooting from the back of the insect's head—and blasting the lizard's face! The lizard shook its head. In an instant, it sped down the tree trunk. The stick insect scurried higher up the tree trunk. "Eck-uh! ECK-UH!" Judy coughed. "It smells like peppermint, but it's awful!"

那家伙的脖子鼓了起来。 它的嘴张开了——一个粉紫色的洞，周围是小而锋利的牙齿。 他们的竹节虫转身离开了森林巨龙。 然后它仍然是一个雕像。 朱迪轻轻地踢了一下。 “走!驾!那个怪物要吃了你！”但是虫子没有动。 安德鲁突然浑身湿透了。 他的眼睛在燃烧。他的鼻子里充满了浓烈的薄荷味，让人难以呼吸。 “胡说！”安德鲁叫道。“啊！”朱迪叫道。 一股可怕的水花从昆虫的后脑勺喷了出来——把蜥蜴的脸炸飞了！蜥蜴摇了摇头。 刹那间，它沿着树干疾驰而下。 竹节虫爬上了树干。 “Eck-uh !ECK-UH !”朱迪咳嗽。 “闻起来像薄荷，但很难闻！”

meep… "This bug called peppermint-stick insect," said Thudd. "Peppermint smell make lotsa predators go way!" Just then, the big purple button in the middle of Thudd's chest started to blink. meep… "Unkie!" said Thudd. "Finally!" said Judy. Thudd's purple button popped open and a beam of purple light zoomed out. At the end of the beam floated a see-through purplish Uncle Al. Uncle Al's shaggy hair always looked like he had just pulled a sweater over his head. His face crinkled into a smile. "Hey there!" he said with a wave. "Hey, Uncle Al!" said Andrew. "I'm away from my laboratory at the moment," continued Uncle Al. "Oh no!" said Judy. "It's not Uncle Al. It's just his answering machine!" "Your message has reached my Hologram Helper answering machine," said Uncle Al. "If

“这种虫子叫薄荷棒虫，”萨德说。 “薄荷味会让很多捕食者逃跑！”就在这时，泰德胸前那颗紫色的大扣子开始闪烁起来。 “哎哟！” “终于！”朱迪说。砰的一声，泰德的紫色按钮打开了，一束紫色的光嗖地蹿了出来。 在梁的末端漂浮着一个透明的紫色的阿尔叔叔。 艾尔叔叔那蓬乱的头发看上去总是像刚在头上套了一件毛衣。 他皱起眉头，露出笑容。 “嘿，你们好！”他挥了挥手说。 “嘿，阿尔叔叔！”安德鲁说。 “我现在不在实验室，”阿尔叔叔继续说。 “哦，不！”朱迪说。“不是艾尔叔叔。 这只是他的电话答录机！”“你的留言已经传到我的全息助手答录机里了，”艾尔叔叔说。 “如果