Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 Mel looked into the woods but couldn't see a thing. It was too dark. She put down the shovel and pushed away her jitters. She had no reason to feel scared. There was no crime in Glacier. Pops didn't even have a lock for the cabin door. Their worst fear was that a skunk would sneak into the house and stink everything up.

梅尔向树林里望去，但什么也看不见。 天太黑了。她放下铲子，消除了紧张不安。 她没有理由感到害怕。 冰川镇没有犯罪。 老爷子连舱门的锁都没有。 他们最担心的是一只臭鼬溜进房子里，把所有东西都弄得臭烘烘的。

Mel took a step toward the cabin. And then she heard it. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. At first she thought it was thunder. But the sky was perfectly clear. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Mel stopped, her heart pounding. Should she run? Stay still? What was out there? She remembered Grandpa's story about the porcupine. Was this animal trying to scare her away? She swallowed hard and slowly turned to look. She froze. The shape of an enormous animal hovered at the edge of the woods. A second later, it stepped out of the shadows, into a pool of moonlight. Mel gasped. The creature had shaggy fur and dark eyes. But it was the hump that rose up between its shoulders that told Mel what it was. A grizzly bear.

梅尔向小屋走了一步。 然后她听到了。Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr。 起初她以为是雷声。 但是天空非常晴朗。 Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr。梅尔停了下来，心怦怦直跳。 她应该参选吗？呆着别动? 外面有什么？她想起了爷爷关于豪猪的故事。 这只动物想把她吓跑吗？ 她使劲咽了一口唾沫，慢慢地转过身去看。 她愣住了。一个巨大的动物的形状在树林的边缘盘旋。 一秒钟后，它从阴影中走出来，进入月光池。 梅尔·气喘吁吁地说。这只动物有蓬乱的皮毛和黑色的眼睛。 不过，是它两肩之间隆起的驼峰告诉了梅尔它是什么。 一只灰熊。

Mel blinked. It seemed impossible, like it had leaped out of Kevin's imagination. Except that Mel could see it. She could hear it. And now a voice in her mind was screaming in panic. Run! Run! But somehow Mel shut out the screeching voice in her brain. She didn't run or shriek. Because if she did that, the grizzly would almost definitely come after her — and probably attack. Mom had told her that. Over and over. Grizzly attacks were very rare. No person had ever been killed by a grizzly in Glacier. In fact, most people who came here never saw one, even if they searched for weeks. Still, Mom always wanted Mel to be prepared… for anything. And so now Mel did exactly what Mom had told her to do. As the grizzly slowly rose up onto its hind legs, she didn't look it in the eye. She didn't want to make it feel threatened. With her

梅尔·眨了眨眼睛。这似乎是不可能的，就像从凯文的想象中跳出来一样。 除了梅尔能看到。 她能听到。现在她心里有个声音在惊恐地尖叫。 快跑!快跑!但不知怎的，梅尔抑制住了她脑子里那刺耳的声音。 她没有跑，也没有尖叫。因为如果她那样做了，灰熊几乎肯定会追上她，而且很可能会攻击她。 妈妈告诉过她。再三。 灰熊的袭击非常罕见。 在冰川镇从来没有人被灰熊杀死过。 事实上，大多数来到这里的人从未见过，即使他们找了几个星期。 尽管如此，妈妈还是希望梅尔做好准备……应对一切。 于是梅尔完全按照妈妈说的去做了。 当灰熊慢慢地用后腿站起来时，她没有直视它的眼睛。 她不想让它觉得受到威胁。 与她的

eyes glued to the ground, she walked backward toward the cabin. Very slowly. Out of the corner of her eye, Mel saw the grizzly drop back down onto all fours. She felt its eyes drilling into her. Its growls and grunts rumbled her ears. Step by shaking step, Mel kept walking backward. The cabin was only a few yards away. But it seemed like hours before she got there. And then Mel couldn't stop herself. She turned and practically flew up the rickety wooden stairs to the porch. She burst into the cabin and slammed the heavy wooden door shut behind her. "Mel?" Pops said. He and Kevin were right there on the couch. Pops was reading Kevin his bedtime story. "What happened?" Mel didn't say anything. She was looking out the small square window in the door. It was very dark outside. But there was just enough moonlight to see that there was nothing on the porch. Mel's

她两眼盯着地面，向后朝小屋走去。 非常缓慢。梅尔从眼角看到灰熊又四肢着地了。 她感到它的眼睛在钻入她的身体。 它的咆哮和咕噜声使她耳鸣。 梅尔一步一步摇摇晃晃地向后走。 小屋离这儿只有几码远。 但她好像过了好几个小时才到。 然后梅尔控制不住自己。 她转过身，几乎是飞快地爬上摇摇晃晃的木楼梯，来到门廊。 她冲进小屋，砰的一声关上了沉重的木门。 “梅尔?”持久性有机污染物。他和凯文就在沙发上。 老爷子在给凯文读睡前故事。 “发生什么事了?”梅尔什么也没说。 她正从门上的方形小窗户往外看。 外面很黑。但月光刚好足够看清门廊上什么也没有。 梅尔的

knees went weak with relief. The bear hadn't followed her. She spun around and locked eyes with Pops. "I s-saw… a grizzly," she stammered. Pops put the book down. "Where?" "Right outside! It came out of the woods by the beach and… I thought maybe it followed me." Mel saw the doubt on Pops's face. "Are you sure?" Pops said. "Grizzlies don't bother with people. You know that." "Of course I know tha—" Mel started, but Kevin cut her off. "I want to see the grizzly!" He leaped off the couch. Before Mel could stop him, he'd flung open the door. And there it was, standing on the porch. The grizzly was on all fours, staring at her little brother. "Kevin!" Mel snatched her brother and kicked the door shut with her foot.

松了一口气，膝盖发软了。 熊并没有跟着她。 她转过身来，和老爷子对视了一下。 “我看见……一只灰熊。”她结结巴巴地说。 老爷子把书放下。“在哪里?”“外面!它从海滩边的树林里出来……我想它可能跟着我。” 梅尔看到老爷子脸上的疑惑。 “你确定吗？”持久性有机污染物。 “灰熊不会和人打交道。 你知道的。”“我当然知道——”梅尔开口了，但凯文打断了她的话。 “我要去看灰熊！”他从沙发上跳了起来。 梅尔还没来得及阻止他，他就猛地把门打开了。 它就站在门廊上。 灰熊趴在地上，盯着她的小弟弟。 “凯文!”梅尔一把抓住她哥哥，用脚把门踢上。

They all stood there for a moment, frozen in shock. Mel couldn't help herself. She held Kevin tight and stepped to the small window. Pops leaned in to look, too. The bear was still there. It was pacing back and forth, sniffing the ground. "There's something wrong with that bear," Pops said. "Look how thin it is." Pops was right. The bear was very big. But its light-brown coat seemed to hang off its skeleton. Mel could see the outline of its spine poking up through its fur. Kevin reached out and knocked on the window. "Hi, bear! Hi, bear!" "No, Kevin, don't!" Mel warned him, grabbing his hand. Too late. The bear looked up at them. It slowly rose onto its hind legs. Then, with the speed of a striking cobra, the enormous bear lunged at the door. Its

他们都在那里站了一会儿，吓呆了。 梅尔忍不住了。 她紧紧地抱着凯文，走到小窗户前。 老爷子也凑过去看了看。 熊还在那儿。它来回踱步，嗅着地面。 “那只熊有点不对劲，”老爷子说。 “看它多薄。”老爷子是对的。 熊非常大。但它的浅棕色皮毛似乎挂在骨架上。 梅尔可以看到它的脊骨轮廓从皮毛中伸出来。 凯文伸出手敲了敲窗户。 “嗨,熊!你好,熊!”“不，凯文，不要！”梅尔抓住他的手警告他。 太迟了。熊抬头看着他们。 它慢慢地用后腿站起来。 然后，以眼镜蛇攻击的速度，这只巨大的熊向门扑去。 它的