9 A Bright Idea

Chapter 9 A BRIGHT IDEA "What's that?" asked Andrew. meep… "Big, big lizard," said Thudd. "Called Perentie lizard. Eight feet long. Only bigger lizard is Komodo dragon." "Uh-oh," said Andrew. "It's sneaking up on the dunnart." "That brave little guy kept me from getting eaten by a spider," said Judy. "I wish we could save it." "Hmmmm…," mused Andrew. "Bright lights in your eyes can blind you for a few seconds,

第九章好主意“那是什么？”安德鲁问。 “好大，好大的蜥蜴。” 蜥蜴佩尔蒂叫道。八英尺长。 唯一更大的蜥蜴是科莫多龙。” “哦哦，”安德鲁说。“它正在偷偷爬上楼梯。” “那个勇敢的小家伙让我没被蜘蛛吃掉，”朱迪说。 “我希望我们能拯救它。” “嗯……”安德鲁若有所思地说。“眼睛里的强光会让你失明几秒钟，

especially when your eyes are used to the dark." Andrew pulled the flashlight off his forehead. As he swept the beam over the ground toward the lizard, light fell on the dunnart and its scorpion prey. The dunnart looked up for a second—just enough time for the scorpion to escape and scuttle away. Andrew's beam found the lizard's eye. The lizard stopped in its tracks. Then it turned and lumbered off in the direction it had come from. The dunnart was still. It was staring at Andrew and Judy. It crouched. Eek! squeaked Thudd. "Dunnart lose scorpion prey! Drewd and Oody gonna be dunnart prey!" "Quick!" said Andrew. "Our only chance is to climb up the witchetty bush. Maybe the dunnart won't be able to follow." They scurried up into the branches. The dunnart was scrambling up behind them. In the distance, Andrew could see Uluru glowing golden in the moonlight. The wind

尤其是当你的眼睛习惯了黑暗的时候。” 安德鲁把手电筒从额头上拿下来。 当他把光束扫向蜥蜴时，光线落在了蜥蜴和它的猎物蝎子身上。 鹦鹉抬起头看了一秒钟——正好有足够的时间让蝎子逃走。 安德鲁的光束击中了蜥蜴的眼睛。 蜥蜴停住了脚步。 然后它转过身，笨重地朝它来的方向走去。 教室里一片寂静。它盯着安德鲁和朱迪。 它蹲。唷!Thudd吱吱地。 “唐纳特失去了蝎子的猎物！”drew和Oody会成为dunnart的猎物！”“快！”安德鲁说。 “我们唯一的机会就是爬上魔女丛。 也许邓恩就跟不上了。” 他们急忙爬上树枝。 那辆马车在他们后面往上爬。 在远处，安德鲁可以看到月光下闪闪发光的乌鲁鲁。 风

whooshed. Tumbleweeds bumped each other as they rolled toward the faraway rock. "Wowzers schnauzers!" said Andrew. "I know how we can use the wind! We'll get a tumbleweed to take us to Uluru!" "But the tumbleweeds aren't close enough for us to grab on to," said Judy. Andrew tugged his ear. "Hmmm…," he murmured. He turned up the tip of his shirt collar and unzipped a secret pocket underneath. He pulled out something that looked like a short piece of rubber band with a black rubber cup at each end. It was the Drastic Elastic. It could stretch just about forever, but if Andrew gave it a big jerk, it would snap back instantly. "I've got the Drastic Elastic," he said. "And I've got an idea. Come on, Judy." Andrew attached one of the Drastic Elastic suction cups to his flashlight. He crept along to the edge of a witchetty bush twig. He wrapped the Drastic Elastic around himself and around Judy,

对面驶来。风滚草向远处的岩石滚去，互相碰撞着。 “哇兹雪纳瑞！”安德鲁说。 “我知道怎么利用风了！”我们要找一棵风滚草带我们去乌鲁鲁！”“但是风滚草离我们不够近，我们抓不到，”朱迪说。 安德鲁拽了拽耳朵。“嗯……”他低声说。 他竖起衬衫的衣领尖，拉开下面一个秘密口袋的拉链。 他拿出一个东西，看起来像是一根短橡皮筋，两端各有一个黑色的橡胶杯。 这是剧烈弹性。 它几乎可以一直伸展下去，但如果安德鲁用力一拉，它就会立刻弹回来。 “我有‘剧烈弹力’，”他说。 “我有个主意。来吧，朱迪。” 安德鲁把一个剧烈弹性吸盘绑在他的手电筒上。 他蹑手蹑脚地走到一棵野巫树的树枝边。 他把强力橡皮筋缠在自己和朱迪身上，

then he tossed the flashlight at a tumbleweed rolling by. The flashlight hooked the tumbleweed like a big fish! Andrew jerked the Drastic Elastic. In an instant, Andrew and Judy zoomed through the air! They landed on the prickly tumbleweed. "Yeeeouch!" hollered Andrew. "Yiiiiiikes!" hollered Judy. They pulled themselves off the prickles of the tumbleweed and hung on. The bush rolled along like a beach ball. "UUUURRRRF!" Andrew burped. As the tumbleweed rolled, all around them were spooky night sounds—the howls of the dingoes,

然后他把手电筒扔向一株滚过的风滚草。 手电筒把风滚草像一条大鱼一样钩住了！安德鲁猛拉了一下弹力绷带。 刹那间，安德鲁和朱迪嗖地飞了起来！他们落在多刺的风滚草上。 “哎呀！”安德鲁叫道。 “Yiiiiiikes !”从朱迪。 他们把自己从风滚草的刺上拽下来，紧紧抓住不放。 灌木丛像沙滩球一样滚来滚去。 “UUUURRRRF !”安德鲁打嗝。 风滚草翻滚的时候，他们周围充满了可怕的夜声——澳洲野狗的嚎叫，

the clatter of the crickets and katydids, the screams of invisible birds. meep… "Purple button blinking!" squeaked Thudd.

蟋蟀和蝈蝈的咔嗒声，看不见的鸟儿的尖叫声。 “紫色按钮在闪烁！”