3 THINGS THAT HOP

CHAPTER 3 THINGS THAT HOP As I darted through the yard to the barn, I tried to imagine what new magical creature might be waiting for me. A pegasus? A griffin? When I got in the barn, Sassafras was already there waiting for me. I took a single deep breath and opened the door to find… "Pip?" My shoulders slumped. It's not that I wasn't excited to see Pip, it's just—I shook it off and knelt down to greet my frog friend. Pip gave Sassafras a quick hug and started pacing and gesturing. "Zoey, it's the hophops. I can't believe this! Why, oh why did the hophops

当我穿过院子奔向谷仓时，我试着想象会有什么新的神奇生物在等着我。 飞马座吗?格里芬吗?当我进入谷仓时，萨萨法拉斯已经在那里等我了。 我深吸一口气，打开门，发现……“匹普？”我的肩膀耷拉下来。 并不是看到皮普我不兴奋，只是我把它甩掉，跪下来迎接我的青蛙朋友。 匹普给了萨萨法斯一个快速的拥抱，开始踱步和打手势。 “佐伊，是啤酒花。我真不敢相信!为什么，哦，为什么啤酒花

have to come? And why NOW?!" "Whoa there, Pip. What happened? And what are hophops?" Pip stopped and stared at me for a moment. "Oh, right. I always forget how little humans know." He put a webbed hand on his forehead. "OK, so hophops are like… the jumpy things that eat a lot?" Jumpy things? "Ummm, kangaroos?" "No, no, no. Smaller. You know. Small jumpy things." "Bunnies? Frogs?" Pip gave me a look. "Frogs? Really, Zoey?" We both started laughing. Then Pip got serious again. "Oh, that's right. You call them something like treehops? No. Shrubhops? No, that's not it either." He looked around our yard. "Oh, that's it! Grassyhops!"

一定要来？为什么是现在？”“喂，匹普。 发生了什么事?什么是啤酒花？”匹普停了下来，盯着我看了一会儿。 “哦,对。我总是忘记人类所知甚少。” 他把有蹼的手放在额头上。 “好吧，所以啤酒花就像……那种吃得很多的神经质的东西？”神经兮兮的东西? “嗯,袋鼠?”“不，不，不。 小。你知道的。又小又跳的东西。” “小兔子吗?青蛙?”匹普看了我一眼。 “青蛙?真的,佐伊吗?”我们都笑了起来。 然后皮普又严肃起来。 “哦，对了。你把它们叫做树麻之类的东西？ 否。Shrubhops吗?不，那也不是。” 他环视了一下我们的院子。 “哦，对了！”Grassyhops !”

"Grasshoppers?" Pip clapped his webbed hands together. "Yes! Grasshoppers. Hophops are like the magical version of those, but very small. Usually they just eat a bit here and there—some magical plants and some forest plants. But every once in a while, a big bunch hatches at once and they rush through the forest, eating just about everything in their path." "Whoa," I said. "Meow!" said Sassafras. "I know," said Pip. "So anyway, that's bad

“蚱蜢?”匹普拍了拍他那带蹼的双手。 “是啊!蚱蜢。啤酒花就像是它们的神奇版本，但是非常小。 通常它们只是在这里和那里吃一点——一些神奇的植物和一些森林植物。 但每隔一段时间，就会有一大群孵化出来，它们会冲过森林，吃掉路上的所有东西。” “哇，”我说。“喵！”萨萨法斯说。 “我知道，”匹普说。“不管怎样，这很糟糕

and all, but this time it's REALLY, REALLY bad. Because the path they took where they ate everything? Well, it went over a bunch of forest roses." I swallowed hard. "They ate all the forest roses? But they were just about to bloom." I turned to Sassafras with sad eyes. "We're going to miss them AGAIN this year." "No… well, yes… maybe…" Pip said and started muttering to himself again. "I'm so confused, Pip!" I sat down, and Sassafras crawled into my lap and bopped my chin to try to make me feel better. Pip paused and thought a moment, then grabbed a stick and walked over to a nearby patch of dirt. "It's like this, Zoey." He drew a round circle with big eyes. "This is a bip." "A what?" I asked. He sighed. "Just listen, and it will all make sense. So, as I was saying, this is a bip." Then he drew an arrow and a rose leaf. "This is a forest rose leaf, and that's where allll the bips live. The bips make the forest roses grow." He drew another arrow from the rose leaf and added a

但这次真的，真的很糟糕。 因为他们吃什么都走的那条路？ 嗯，它从一束森林玫瑰上飞过。” 我使劲咽了口气。“他们吃了所有的森林玫瑰？” 但它们马上就要开花了。” 我带着悲伤的目光转向黄樟。 “今年我们又会想念他们的。” “不……嗯，是的……也许……”匹普说，又开始自言自语起来。 “我很困惑，匹普！”我坐了下来，黄樟爬到我的腿上，拍打着我的下巴，试图让我感觉好一点。 匹普停顿了一下，想了一会儿，然后抓起一根棍子，走到附近的一块泥土旁。 “是这样的，佐伊。”他用大眼睛画了一个圆。 “这是一个髋部。”“什么?”我问。 他叹了口气。“听着，你就明白了。 所以，正如我所说的，这是一个髋部。” 然后他画了一支箭和一片玫瑰叶。 “这是一片森林玫瑰叶，所有的河马都住在那里。 矮树让森林里的玫瑰茁壮成长。” 他从玫瑰叶上又画了一支箭，加了一个

rose bloom. Then he added another arrow and sketched something and scribbled it out. And tried again. Pip muttered some more and sighed. "Well… that's close enough. OK, so forest roses are really important because they are the first food of baby hippogriffs." "BABY HIPPOGRIFFS?!?!" I squealed. I love all baby animals, but magical baby animals are my extra-favorites. He pointed the stick to the word he'd written. "Baby hippogriffs are born with wings that aren't fully developed. They need the magic from the forest roses to make their wings work."

玫瑰开花。然后，他又加了一支箭，画了些什么，又草草地写了出来。 又试了一次。匹普又咕哝了几句，叹了口气。 “嗯……很接近了。 好吧，所以森林玫瑰真的很重要，因为它们是幼鹰头马身有翼兽的第一食物。” “小鹰? ! ? !”我叫苦不迭。 我喜欢所有的小动物，但神奇的小动物是我特别喜欢的。 他用棍子指着自己写的字。 “小鹰头马身有翼兽出生时翅膀还没有完全发育。 它们需要森林玫瑰的魔法来让翅膀转动。”

"AHA!" I cheered. "That's why those roses smell so good—they're magical!" But then I thought about the poor baby hippogriffs, and my smile faded. ""So, without the bips, there won't be roses, and without the roses, the baby hippogriffs won't be able to fly?" Pip nodded sadly. "But… couldn't they wait until next year to eat next year's roses? Would their wings work then?" Pip sighed. "Yes, but baby hippogriffs need their wings to escape from predators. Without

“啊哈!”我欢呼雀跃。“这就是为什么那些玫瑰闻起来这么香——它们很神奇！”但一想到可怜的小鹰头马身有翼兽，我的笑容就消失了。 “那么，没有臀部就不会有玫瑰，没有玫瑰，小鹰头马身有翼兽就不会飞？”匹普伤心地点点头。 “但是……他们不能等到明年再吃明年的玫瑰吗？” 它们的翅膀会起作用吗？”皮普叹了口气。 “是的，但是小鹰头马身有翼兽需要翅膀来躲避捕食者。 没有