6 Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Starfish

Chapter 6 TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STARFISH meep… "Not Atlantis! Not brain!" said Thudd. "Coral. Strange shapes made by lotsa tiny coral animals." Thudd flashed a picture of a coral animal on his screen. meep… "Coral animal got skeleton on outside. Skeleton like little house. When old coral animal die, skeleton stay. Baby coral animal build new skeleton on top of old skeletons. Millions, millions coral skeletons stick together. Pile up! Make coral mountain. Can make whole island!"

第六章一闪，一闪，小海星在哭泣……不是脑子！” “珊瑚。许多小珊瑚动物形成的奇怪形状。” 特德在他的屏幕上闪过一幅珊瑚动物的图片。 喵……”珊瑚动物在外面有骨架。 骷髅似的小房子。 老珊瑚动物死后，骨架留下。 小珊瑚动物在旧骨架上长出新骨架。 数以百万计的珊瑚骨架粘在一起。 堆积!造珊瑚山。 能把整个岛都造出来！”

The Water Bug paddled over coral that looked like pink cauliflower and skinny green fingers and giant mushrooms. Fish darted in and out among the nooks and crannies of the coral. Some stopped to nibble seaweed. The Water Bug was near a mound of coral that looked like a pile of dirty snow. Crawling over it were bright red star-shaped animals as big as platters. They had lots of arms and were covered with thorny spines. "Scary-looking starfish!" said Judy. meep… "Not fish," said Thudd. "Better name for starfish is sea star. Scary for coral. Eat lotsa coral animals."

水虫在珊瑚上划来划去，珊瑚看起来像粉红色的花椰菜、细长的绿手指和巨大的蘑菇。 鱼在珊瑚的犄角旮旯里游来游去。 有些人停下来啃海藻。 水虫靠近一堆珊瑚，看起来像一堆脏雪。 爬在上面的是亮红色的星形动物，有大盘子那么大。 它们有很多胳膊，浑身长满了带刺的刺。 “看起来很可怕的海星！”朱迪说。 “不是鱼。” “海星更好的名字是海星。 对珊瑚来说很可怕。吃很多珊瑚动物。”

"Watch this!" Andrew said. He pressed a black button on the dashboard and the Water Bug's hood popped open. Out wriggled eight long tentacles. They were gray with black speckles and covered with round suckers. "It's the Octo-Tool," said Andrew. He leaned toward the microphone on the dashboard. "Remove sea stars!" he ordered. The tentacles reached out, plucked the sea stars off the coral, and plopped them down in the sand. Andrew turned to Judy. "See?" he said. The tentacles of the Octo-Tool froze. glurp… "You want to see the sea stars?" asked the Water Bug. "It is not a good idea, but if that is what you want…" "Noooooo!" said Andrew. It was too late. Octo-Tool tentacles were pushing in through a rubber door under the steering wheel. Each tentacle was holding a huge wriggling sea star!

“看这个!”安德鲁说。 他按下仪表板上的一个黑色按钮，水虫的引擎盖突然打开了。 伸出八个长长的触手。 它们是灰色的，上面有黑色的斑点，上面有圆形的吸盘。 “是八元工具。”安德鲁说。 他靠向仪表板上的麦克风。 “除掉海星！”他命令道。 触角伸出来，把海星从珊瑚上拽下来，扑通一声把它们扔到沙滩上。 安德鲁转向朱迪。“看到了吗？”他说。 章鱼工具的触手僵住了。 “你想看海星吗？”水虫问。 “这不是一个好主意，但如果这是你想要的……”“不！” 太迟了。章鱼工具的触角正从方向盘下面的一扇橡胶门伸进去。 每根触手都抓着一颗巨大的扭动着的海星！

meep… "Got poison spines!" said Thudd. "Yiiiiikes!" yelled Judy. She ducked as a sea star whizzed over her head. Andrew grabbed a tentacle of the Octo-Tool. Then he caught another and another. He pushed them back through the door under the steering wheel. "Out!" he yelled. "Take the sea stars out!"

“有毒刺！” “我喜欢！”朱迪喊道。当一颗海星从她头顶呼啸而过时，她低下了身子。 安德鲁抓住了八爪工具的一根触手。 然后他又抓了一条又一条。 他把它们从方向盘下面的门推了回去。 “出去！”他喊道。“把海星拿出来！”

glurp… "Make up your mind, please," said the Water Bug. Andrew and Judy snatched the last two Octo- Tool tentacles and shoved them through the door. "Whew!" said Andrew, wiping his hands on his pants. "Disgusting!" said Judy, pushing her hair away from her face. They leaned back in their seats—just in time to watch the Water Bug slide into the mouth of a stony underwater cave! It was dark as midnight inside. meep… "'Fraid of dark!" said Thudd. Andrew pulled a knob on the dashboard, and the Water Bug's headlights snapped on. "Thunkoo!" said Thudd. The walls of the cave were splotched with bright lumps—red and green and orange and pink and yellow. "Look at those colors!" said Judy. "It looks like some little kid glopped finger paint everywhere!"

“下定决心吧，”水虫说。 安德鲁和朱迪抓住最后两根章鱼的触手，把它们塞进了门。 “嘘！”安德鲁说着，在裤子上擦了擦手。 “恶心！”朱迪说着，把头发从脸上拨开。 他们向后靠在座位上，正好看到水虫滑进了一个多石的水下洞穴口！屋里黑得像午夜。 “怕黑！” 安德鲁拉了拉仪表板上的一个旋钮，水虫的前灯啪的一声亮了起来。 “土库！”洞穴的墙壁上布满了明亮的斑点——红色的、绿色的、橙色的、粉红色的和黄色的。 “看那些颜色！”朱迪说。 “看起来就像某个小孩把手指画涂得到处都是！”

meep… "Sponges!" said Thudd. "Sponge animals like to live on walls of underwater cave." A lot of strange animals seemed to like the cave. Creatures shaped like feathery black fans dangled from the ceiling and swayed in the water. A family of lobsters with blue tails scuttled between the rocks. Judy pointed to a small spotted fish in front of the windshield. "What beautiful blue eyes it has!" she said. Suddenly the fish blew up to the size of a basketball! There were spines all over it!

“海绵！” “海绵动物喜欢生活在水下洞穴的墙壁上。” 许多奇怪的动物似乎都喜欢这个洞穴。 形状像黑色羽毛扇子的生物在天花板上晃来晃去，在水中摇摆。 一群长着蓝色尾巴的龙虾在岩石间窜来窜去。 朱迪指着挡风玻璃前的一条小斑点鱼。 “多么美丽的蓝眼睛啊！”她说。 突然，这条鱼膨胀到篮球那么大！到处都是刺！