6 Plant Food!

Chapter 6 PLANT FOOD! Eek! squeaked Thudd. "Drewd inside meat-eating plant! Carnivorous plant! Called bladderwort! "Stuff inside bladderwort turn Drewd into goo! Then bladderwort absorb Drewd goo!" "Yowzers!" hollered Andrew, struggling to get himself out. His skin was beginning to itch and tingle. "I think it's starting to eat me!" Andrew felt something yanking his legs.

第六章种植食物！唷!Thudd吱吱地。 “被拖进食肉植物里！”食虫植物!叫狸藻类植物!“狸藻里的东西能把德鲁变成好东西！”然后狸藻吸收德鲁斯好！”“尤尔斯！”安德鲁大叫一声，挣扎着要爬出来。 他的皮肤开始发痒和刺痛。 “我想它开始吃我了！”安德鲁感到有什么东西在拉他的腿。

Judy was trying to drag him out. But the plant wasn't giving him up. She let go of Andrew's legs. Through the wall of the sack, Andrew could see Judy like a blurry shadow. She was pulling something from her hair. Suddenly the sack opened! Andrew pulled himself out. "What did you do?" asked Andrew. "Used one of my trusty hairpins," said Judy, pushing it back into her hair. "Let's get out of here!" They swam into a tangle of smooth water-lily stems. Andrew looked around. "Where's that fish?" he asked.

朱迪想把他拖出来。 但植物并没有放弃他。 她放开了安德鲁的腿。 透过麻袋的墙，安德鲁可以看到朱迪像一个模糊的影子。 她在扯头发上的什么东西。 突然麻袋打开了！安德鲁爬了出来。 “你做了什么？”安得烈问。 “用了我最信任的发夹，”朱迪说着，把发夹插回头发里。 “我们离开这里吧！”他们游进了一堆光滑的睡莲茎中。 安德鲁环顾四周。“那条鱼在哪儿？”他问。

Judy pointed up. Andrew could see the silvery belly of the fish near the surface. It was eating eggs, the eggs of the yellow-legged frog. meep… "Fish called rainbow trout," said Thudd. "Lotsa years ago, these kindsa fish not live in this pond. "Few years ago, fisherman put baby trout in pond. Want big trout to catch later. But rainbow trout eat lotsa frog eggs." "Maybe that's a reason the yellow-legged frogs are disappearing from this pond and others, too," said Andrew. Judy nodded. "Fishermen stock the ponds with trout," she said. "But they don't realize that the trout will eat up the frog eggs." "We'll tell Uncle Al," said Andrew. All around them, strange, shadowy things were swimming, rushing, wriggling—and eating other things. A tube-shaped creature with long, stringy tentacles was clinging to the water-lily stem beside Andrew.

朱迪向上指了指。安德鲁可以看到靠近水面的鱼银色的腹部。 它在吃蛋，黄腿蛙的蛋。 “一种叫虹鳟鱼的鱼，”萨德说。 “很多年前，这种鱼不生活在这个池塘里。 “几年前，渔夫把小鳟鱼放在池塘里。 以后想钓大鳟鱼。 但是虹鳟鱼吃很多蛙卵。” “也许这就是黄腿蛙从这个池塘和其他地方消失的原因，”安德鲁说。 朱迪点点头。“渔民在池塘里放养鳟鱼，”她说。 “但他们没有意识到鳟鱼会吃掉青蛙蛋。” “我们会告诉艾尔舅舅的。”安德鲁说。 在他们周围，有一些奇怪的、模糊的东西在游动、奔跑、扭动——吃着别的东西。 一个管状的生物，长着细长的触手，紧紧地抓着安德鲁身边的睡莲茎。

A tiny creature with fuzzy antennas and one eye in the middle of its head brushed one of the tentacles. In a flash, the tentacle wrapped around the little animal. The other tentacles joined in. Together, the tentacles stuffed the one-eyed creature into the hole in the middle of the tube- shaped creature. "Woofers!" said Andrew. meep… "Predator animal called hydra," said Thudd. "Relative of jellyfish. "When prey animal touch tentacle of hydra, hydra tentacle shoot out stingers. Stingers got hooks to trap prey. Stingers got poison to stun prey. Then tentacles drag prey into stomach to eat." Just as Andrew was thinking what to do next, a huge bug as long as a pinkie finger swam by. It dashed after a tadpole. Suddenly the front of the bug's face flipped forward! There was a pair of jaws at the end. The jaws caught the tadpole and drew it into its mouth. Then it jetted away. meep… "Dragonfly catch tadpole!" said Thudd.

一只长着毛茸茸的触角、一只眼睛长在头中间的小生物拂过其中一只触手。 刹那间，触手缠住了小动物。 其他的触须也加入进来。 两根触须一起把这个独眼生物塞进了这个管状生物中间的洞里。 “低音炮！”安德鲁说。“一种叫水螅的食肉动物，”萨德说。 “水母的亲戚。“当猎物碰到水螅的触手时，水螅的触手会射出毒刺。 毒刺有钩子用来诱捕猎物。 毒刺有毒液来击晕猎物。 然后触手把猎物拖进胃里吃。” 正当安德鲁正在考虑下一步该怎么办时，一只小指那么长的大虫子游了过来。 它冲向一只蝌蚪。 突然，虫子的脸向前翻了一下！最后有一对下巴。 大嘴咬住了蝌蚪，把它叼进嘴里。 然后它飞走了。“蜻蜓抓蝌蚪！”

Judy shook her head. "Dragonflies don't live underwater, dummy!" she said. meep… "Baby dragonfly," said Thudd. "Called nymph." "That's no baby," said Judy. meep… "Dragonfly nymph is baby," insisted Thudd. "Can't lay eggs. Can't make baby dragonflies. "Nymph live underwater for long time. Maybe seven years. "Nymph get big, big, big! Shed too-small exoskeleton. Called molting. Grow bigger exoskeleton. This happen lotsa times.

朱迪摇了摇头。“蜻蜓不住在水下，笨蛋！”她说。 “小蜻蜓。” “叫仙女。”“那不是婴儿，”朱迪说。 “蜻蜓仙女是宝宝。” “不会下蛋。不能制造小蜻蜓。 “仙女在水下生活了很长时间。 也许是七年。“仙女变大，变大，变大！”脱落过小的外骨骼。 叫蜕皮。长出更大的外骨骼。 这种情况发生过很多次。

"Then nymph change into adult. Can lay eggs. Have babies. "Adult dragonfly live short time. Two months, maybe. Enough time to find mate, lay eggs." Judy shivered and huddled closer to the water- lily stem. "It's not safe on the surface and it's sure not safe down here," she said. "What on earth can we do?" Andrew looked into the murky water below. He could make out the blurry outlines of plants and rocks. "Let's go to the bottom of the pond," he said. "We can hide under a rock until Uncle Al comes to get us." "Cheese Louise!" said Judy. "Who knows what's down there. It could be worse!" Andrew spied a huge, ghostly-looking larva perched on a nearby water-lily stem. It was perfectly still. As Andrew looked more closely, he could see that it wasn't a live larva at all. It was just an empty shell.

然后仙女变成了大人。 会下蛋。生孩子。 “成年蜻蜓的寿命很短。 两个月吧。有足够的时间去寻找配偶，产卵。” 朱迪打了个寒颤，缩得更靠近睡莲的茎。 “表面不安全，下面肯定也不安全，”她说。 “我们到底能做什么？”安德鲁望着下面浑浊的河水。 他能辨认出植物和岩石的模糊轮廓。 “我们到池塘底去吧，”他说。 “我们可以躲在岩石下面，等阿尔叔叔来接我们。” “奶酪露易丝！”朱迪说。 “谁知道下面有什么。 情况可能更糟！”安德鲁发现一只巨大的、幽灵般的幼虫栖息在附近的睡莲茎上。 四周一片寂静。当安德鲁仔细观察时，他发现这根本不是一只活的幼虫。 它只是一个空壳。