1 Hot! Hot! Hot!

Chapter 1 HOT! HOT! HOT! "Erf!" said ant-sized Andrew Dubble. He was inside an empty bottle cap, bouncing into his cousin Judy. Their uncle Al had glued the bottle cap to the dashboard of his jeep. It made a safe perch for Andrew and Judy to see the Australian desert as Uncle Al drove through it. Uncle Al had even made them tiny sunglasses from a strip of dark plastic. "Get off of me, Bug-Brain," said Judy, shoving Andrew away. "It's soooo hot in here!"

第1章热！热了!热了!“呃！”蚂蚁大小的安德鲁·杜布尔说。 他在一个空瓶盖里，撞到了他的表妹朱迪。 他们的叔叔阿尔把瓶盖粘在了他吉普车的仪表盘上。 它为安德鲁和朱迪提供了一个安全的栖身之处，让他们可以在阿尔叔叔开车穿过澳大利亚沙漠时看到那里。 艾尔叔叔甚至用一条黑色的塑料条给他们做了一副小太阳镜。 “放开我，笨蛋。”朱迪一边说一边把安德鲁推开。 “这里太热了！”

"Urp!" Andrew burped a big garlicky burp. That pizza crumb sure tasted good, he thought. "Disgusting boy!" said Judy. Uncle Al turned his eyes from the black ribbon of road and glanced in their direction. He adjusted the leaf he had arranged above their heads like a bug-sized umbrella to shade them from the sun. "It's a rough trip through the desert, guys," said Uncle Al. "The air conditioner isn't working, so you'd better settle in for a long, hot, bumpy ride." meep… "Desert air hot, hot, hot!" came a squeaky voice from Andrew's shirt pocket. "Desert sand even hotter. Can fry egg on desert sand." It was Andrew's little silver robot friend, Thudd. Uncle Al had invented him. "I'm getting hungry again," said Andrew. Uncle Al smiled and mopped his face with a handkerchief. "Well, we won't be stopping for sandy fried eggs," he said. "It's almost three o'clock. We're supposed to meet up with my partner, Winka, by eight p.m. She's taking pictures

“Urp !”安德鲁打了一个蒜味十足的大嗝。 他想，那批萨屑尝起来一定很好吃。 “恶心的男孩！”朱迪说。 艾尔叔叔把目光从黑色的马路上移开，朝他们的方向瞥了一眼。 他调整了一下放在他们头上的叶子，就像一把虫子大小的伞，为他们遮阳。 “伙计们，穿越沙漠是一段艰难的旅程，”阿尔叔叔说。 “空调坏了，所以你最好坐好，坐上一段漫长、炎热、颠簸的旅程。” “沙漠的空气热，热，热！”从安德鲁的衬衫口袋里传来一个尖细的声音。 “沙漠更热。可以在沙漠的沙子上煎鸡蛋。” 那是安德鲁的银色机器人朋友，泰德。 艾尔叔叔发明了他。 “我又饿了。”安德鲁说。 艾尔叔叔笑了笑，用手帕擦了擦脸。 “好吧，我们不会停下来吃沙煎蛋，”他说。 “快三点钟了。 我们应该在晚上八点之前和我的搭档温卡见面。 她在拍照

of meteor showers deep in the desert. Winka has an idea about how to get you guys unshrunk." Andrew's latest invention, the Goa Constrictor, was supposed to shrink garbage. But the first time Andrew tried it, he ended up shrinking himself, and Judy and Thudd, too. Andrew nodded. "Winka helped us escape from the dinosaurs sixty-five million years ago," he said. "I'll bet she can help us now." "Before we get stepped on or swatted," said Judy. The afternoon sun burned through the windshield. This must be what it feels like to get cooked, thought Andrew. The yellow sand stretched on forever. Here and there, patches of tall, prickly grass looked like sleeping herds of spiny porcupines. Sometimes a scraggly tree poked up like a skeleton. Now and then, a tumbleweed rolled across the road. There wasn't a house or a sign of another human being anywhere.

沙漠深处的流星雨。 温卡有办法让你们摆脱萎缩。” 安德鲁的最新发明，果阿蟒蛇，是用来收缩垃圾的。 但安德鲁第一次尝试的时候，他把自己缩了，朱迪和萨德也缩了。 安德鲁点点头。“温卡在6500万年前帮助我们逃离了恐龙的威胁，”他说。 “我敢打赌她现在能帮我们了。” “在我们被踩到或被打之前，”朱迪说。 午后的阳光透过挡风玻璃照进来。 这一定是被煮熟的感觉，安德鲁想。 黄沙永远延伸下去。 到处都是高大多刺的草，看起来就像一群熟睡的豪猪。 有时，一棵参差不齐的树像一具骷髅一样伸出来。 不时有一株风滚草滚过马路。 那里没有房子，也没有其他人的迹象。

"The desert is like an empty planet," said Andrew. Uncle Al shook his head. "It looks that way now," he said. "But the desert is full of life. Lots of strange creatures are resting or hiding underground during the hottest hours. They'll come out to hunt when the sun goes down. "The plants look pretty scraggly. But when rain comes, the desert looks like a flower garden. Some seeds and plants come to life almost instantly with just a little water." "Humph," said Judy. "I haven't even seen a cactus." Uncle Al nodded. "There are no native cactuses in the Australian desert," he said. Oinga! Oinga! Oinga! came a sound from the front of the jeep. The jeep was slowing down. Plunk… plunk… erk… The jeep rolled to a stop. A ribbon of steam was curling from under the hood. Uncle Al shook his head. "I'll find out what's wrong," he said. "And while I'm doing that, I

“沙漠就像一个空荡荡的星球，”安德鲁说。 艾尔叔叔摇了摇头。“现在看来是这样，”他说。 “但是沙漠里充满了生命。 在最热的时候，许多奇怪的生物在地下休息或躲藏。 太阳落山时，它们就会出来打猎。 “这些植物看起来很杂乱。 但是当下雨的时候，沙漠看起来就像一个花园。 一些种子和植物只需要一点点水就能立即活过来。” “哼，”朱迪说。“我连仙人掌都没见过。” 艾尔叔叔点点头。他说：“澳大利亚的沙漠里没有本土仙人掌。” Oinga !Oinga !Oinga !吉普车前面传来了声音。 吉普车正在减速。 砰…砰…呃…吉普车停了下来。 一股蒸汽从引擎盖下袅袅升起。 艾尔叔叔摇了摇头。他说：“我会找出问题所在的。” “当我这么做的时候，我

want you guys to stay put. The desert is a dangerous place. Some of the most deadly animals in the world live here. And not all of them sleep during the day." "Okey-dokey Unkie!" squeaked Thudd. Uncle Al got out of the jeep and opened the hood. A cloud of steam puffed out. "We've got a leak," yelled Uncle Al from the front of the car. "I need to check underneath the jeep. This may take a while." The heat was making Andrew sleepy. He rested his head against the edge of the bottle cap. Out of the corner of his eye, Andrew caught a glimpse of something moving. He turned to see a dark cloud whirling near the ground. It was spinning like a top and whipping up the sand. It was heading straight toward the jeep!

你们待在原地别动。 沙漠是一个危险的地方。 一些世界上最致命的动物生活在这里。 并不是所有人都在白天睡觉。” “好吧，好吧，恩基！” 艾尔叔叔下了吉普车，打开了引擎盖。 一团蒸汽冒了出来。 “我们的车漏水了，”阿尔叔叔在车前喊道。 “我要检查一下吉普车下面。 这可能需要一段时间。”热得安德鲁都想睡觉了。 他把头靠在瓶盖边上。 安德鲁从眼角瞥见什么东西在动。 他转过身来，看到一团乌云在地面附近旋转。 它像陀螺一样旋转着，扬起了沙子。 它正朝吉普车冲去！