8 Breakfast in the Branches

CHAPTER 8

第八章

Breakfast in the Branches "Have you eaten?" asked Lucas. "Not yet," Clara said. "Good," said the prince. "Let's have breakfast in the new royal tree fort." Clara nodded excitedly. The two friends loved to spend time in the royal tree fort. They played games there and had secret conversations. They called it the new royal tree fort because Ruskin had burned down the first one. Now, after much training, Ruskin had better control over his fire breathing—and Lucas had a new tree fort.

“你吃过了吗？”卢卡斯问。 “还没有，”克拉拉说。“好。”王子说。 “我们在新的皇家树堡吃早餐吧。” 克拉拉兴奋地点了点头。这两个朋友喜欢在皇家树堡度过时光。 他们在那里玩游戏，秘密交谈。 他们称它为新的皇家树堡，因为罗斯金烧掉了第一个。 现在，经过多次训练，罗斯金对喷火有了更好的控制，卢卡斯也有了一个新的树堡。

The children went down into the kitchen and asked Cook to help them with their picnic. They packed blueberry muffins, butter, peaches, and two small glass containers of milk in a basket. He added cloth napkins and a butter knife. Then the children walked the well- worn path to the tree house. At the bottom of the tree, Lucas tied the basket to a pulley. He used the pulley to hoist things up and down from the tree house. Clara yanked the rope, and up went the basket. Then Lucas

孩子们下楼走进厨房，请厨师帮他们准备野餐。 他们把蓝莓松饼、黄油、桃子和两小杯牛奶装在一个篮子里。 他又加上了布餐巾和一把黄油刀。 然后孩子们沿着破旧的小路走向树屋。 在树的底部，卢卡斯把篮子系在一个滑轮上。 他用滑轮把东西从树屋上下吊起来。 克拉拉一拉绳子，篮子就飞了上去。 然后卢卡斯

climbed the wooden ladder nailed to the side of the trunk.

爬上钉在箱子侧面的木梯。

Clara followed behind. As soon as she got to the top, she poured herself a glass of milk and hopped up on the table. The cook had prepared them a proper morning feast. "I had the craziest dream last night," Lucas said as he buttered a muffin. Clara placed a napkin in her lap. "What was it about?" she asked. "It was about the Mermaid Kingdom," he said. "And it seemed so real." "Just like when you fell overboard?" asked Clara with a slight smirk on her face. "Yes!" Lucas exclaimed. "Only this time I could breathe underwater! And I could see! And hear, too!"

克拉拉跟在后面。她一到山顶，就给自己倒了一杯牛奶，跳上了桌子。 厨师为他们准备了一顿像样的早餐。 “我昨晚做了一个最疯狂的梦，”卢卡斯一边给松饼涂黄油，一边说。 克拉拉在腿上放了一张餐巾。 “是关于什么的？”她问。 “这是关于美人鱼王国的，”他说。 “这一切看起来是那么真实。”“就像你从船上掉下去的时候一样？”克拉拉问，脸上带着一丝傻笑。 “是的!”卢卡斯喊道。“只有这一次我可以在水下呼吸了！”我能看见！听着！”