Chapter 6

CHAPTWE 6 Oscar threw himself to the ground and rolled in the dirt, frantically beating the flames that were crawling up his arms and reaching out to grab his face. He rolled and pounded until finally the burning stopped. He lay there, coughing and spitting out the ashes that coated his tongue. His heart hammered with fear. But he couldn't just lie there. The sparks were still everywhere. He had to find somewhere to hide. Gritting his teeth in pain, he managed to crawl back to an old chicken coop behind the kids' house. The wood was mostly rotted away, but the roof was just wide enough to protect Oscar. He sat hugging his knees to his chest, swatting away the

奥斯卡扑倒在地，在泥土中打滚，疯狂地扑打着爬上他手臂的火焰，并伸出手抓住了他的脸。 他不停地打滚，捶打着，直到最后火焰熄灭。 他躺在那里，咳嗽着，吐出粘在舌头上的灰烬。 他的心因恐惧而剧烈跳动。 但他不能就这么躺着。 到处都是火花。 他得找个地方躲起来。 他痛得咬紧牙关，爬回了孩子们房子后面的一个旧鸡舍。 木头大部分都腐烂了，但屋顶的宽度刚好能保护奥斯卡。 他坐着，把膝盖抱在胸前，拍打着

sparks that came too close. He breathed deep, trying to slow his hammering heart. He touched his forehead, gently rubbing his fingertips over the blistered skin. His scalp was badly singed, and there were burns up and down his body. But he barely felt the throbbing pain. His attention was focused on the sky. That glow Mama had noticed earlier was brighter now. It looked as though a giant hand had painted the sky bright orange. The fire had gotten bigger.

火花太近了。 他深吸一口气，试图让他那怦怦直跳的心慢下来。 他摸了摸额头，用指尖轻轻摩擦起水泡的皮肤。 他的头皮严重烧焦，全身上下都有烧伤。 但他几乎感觉不到悸动的疼痛。 他的注意力集中在天空上。 妈妈之前注意到的那道红光现在更亮了。 看起来就像一只大手把天空涂成了明亮的橙色。 火势变得更大了。

Much bigger. That's where the sparks and embers were coming from. The powerful wind was scattering them like burning dandelion seeds. The same thing had happened the night of the forest fire near Castle. Sparks and hunks of burning wood and bark had flown for miles, setting off new fires wherever they landed. Mama and Papa and Oscar had almost lost their barn. Some people lost everything — barns, houses, even fields. Ten people were killed. One family survived by diving into their pond and dunking under the water while the flames roared over them. Oscar took a breath, trying to loosen the choking fear that gripped his throat. He thought of what Mr. Morrow had said — that Chicago had one of the best fire departments in America. Maybe that was true, but there was no sign of them here. And once a fire got too big, not even an army of firefighters could put it out. Oscar had learned for himself during the Castle fire how a fire could

大得多。这就是火花和余烬的来源。 强风把他们像燃烧的蒲公英种子一样吹散了。 城堡附近发生森林大火的那天晚上也发生了同样的事情。 火花和燃烧的木头和树皮已经飞了几英里，无论落在哪里，都会引起新的火灾。 妈妈、爸爸和奥斯卡几乎失去了他们的谷仓。 有些人失去了一切——谷仓、房子，甚至田地。 造成10人死亡。一户人家在熊熊大火中潜入池塘浸泡，幸免于难。 奥斯卡深吸了一口气，试图放松哽住喉咙的恐惧。 他想起莫罗先生说过的话——芝加哥有全美最好的消防部门之一。 也许这是真的，但这里没有他们的踪迹。 一旦火势太大，即使是一大批消防员也无法将其扑灭。 奥斯卡在城堡大火中亲身体会到了火灾是如何

grow and grow, how it could become like a ferocious beast that would devour everything in its path. And what a fire was most hungry for was wood — like the thousands of shacks and stores that lined Chicago's streets, the miles of wooden sidewalks, the warehouses filled with coal and oil that would explode at the slightest spark. Oscar remembered how the forest looked, after the fire. He and Papa had ridden up there to see it for themselves. Oscar would never forget the sight of it. The fire had turned thousands of trees into twisted black stubs. The ground was a sea of ash. There was not a bird, not an insect to be seen. Oscar had tried not to look at the blackened bones that were scattered all around, the skeletons of the creatures that hadn't been able to escape. He and Papa had both loved that forest. They'd go up there with Mama, who loved telling them the names of every last tree and flower. Oscar and Papa had both fought back tears as they stood in the burned ruins. But then Papa had pointed to something on the ground — a tiny green shoot pushing up through the ash.

长啊长啊，它怎么能变成一只凶猛的野兽，吞噬它所经过的一切。 火最需要的是木头——就像芝加哥街道两旁成千上万的棚屋和商店，数英里的木制人行道，装满煤和石油的仓库，只要有一点点火花就会爆炸。 奥斯卡还记得火灾后森林的样子。 他和爸爸骑马到那里去亲眼看看。 奥斯卡永远不会忘记这一幕。 大火把成千上万棵树变成了扭曲的黑色残根。 地面是一片灰烬的海洋。 没有一只鸟，也没有一只昆虫。 奥斯卡尽量不去看那些散落在周围的烧焦的骨头，那些没能逃脱的生物的骨架。 他和爸爸都喜欢那片森林。 他们和妈妈一起去，妈妈喜欢告诉他们每棵树和每朵花的名字。 奥斯卡和爸爸站在被烧毁的废墟上，强忍着泪水。 但接着爸爸指着地上的什么东西——一根小小的绿芽从灰烬中伸出来。

"It will take a long time," Papa had said. "But one day the forest will grow back." Oscar shivered as he thought of what a huge fire like that could do to a city like Chicago. Could such an important city burn to the ground? It didn't seem possible. But hadn't Oscar learned that anything was possible? If a blizzard could kill his papa, couldn't a fire destroy an entire city? Oscar looked up, as though answers might be printed on the orange sky. But instead, his eyes found the two small and terrified faces peering down at him from the upstairs window of the house. Jennie and Bruno. The sight of them, lit up by the glowing sky, jolted him. Right at that second, the wind blew its dragon breath. More sparks and embers appeared, and out of nowhere, a large plank of flaming wood came

“这要花很长时间，”爸爸说。 “但总有一天森林会重新长出来的。” 奥斯卡想到这样一场大火会对芝加哥这样的城市造成怎样的破坏，不禁打了个寒颤。 如此重要的城市会被夷为平地吗? 这似乎是不可能的。但奥斯卡难道没有明白一切皆有可能吗? 如果一场暴风雪都能杀死他爸爸，一场大火难道不能摧毁整个城市吗? 奥斯卡抬起头来，似乎答案会被印在橘黄色的天空上。 但是，他的眼睛却看到了那两张惊恐的小脸正从楼上的窗户往下盯着他。 珍妮和布鲁诺。看到它们被明亮的天空照亮，他吓了一跳。 就在那一刻，风吹起了龙的气息。 更多的火花和余烬冒了出来，不知从哪里冒出来一大块燃烧的木头

soaring through the air. It was like an enormous flaming spear, hurled by an invisible warrior. It was heading right for the house! Boom! The wood smashed through the roof of the house, sending a column of flames high into the air. Oscar opened his mouth, but he was too horrified to even scream.

在空中翱翔。它就像一支巨大的燃烧着的长矛，被一个看不见的战士扔了出去。 它正朝房子飞过来!繁荣!木头砸碎了屋顶，一股火柱直冲云霄。 奥斯卡张开嘴，但他吓得连尖叫都不敢叫。