Chapter 3

Chapter THREE I gazed longingly at the cuddly bittens as we left the gift shop and exited the building. Now we were standing at a sort of crossroads. There was a big wooden sign stuck into the ground that had arms pointing in all directions, showing visitors the way to all the different animals. 'I want to see the glow snakes first!' I

当我们离开礼品店走出大楼时，我渴望地凝视着这些可爱的小狗。 现在我们站在一个十字路口。 地上插着一个巨大的木制标志，上面的手臂指向各个方向，向游客展示各种动物的路线。 “我想先看看发光蛇！”我

heard Hazel say to Carlotta. 'I want to see the cauldron-bellied fish!' said another witch called Kira. 'I want to see the star-spotted eels!' said someone else. Miss Spindlewick called for silence. 'You all have one hour to start going around the sanctuary,' she said. 'And then we will meet back here for lunch. Remember to take notes and use the cameras to take photographs. And, most importantly, stay in your pairs! We are here to learn, and I don't want you getting distracted. Right, off you go, witches!'

听到黑兹尔对卡洛塔说。 “我要看大肚鱼！”另一个叫吉良的女巫说。 “我要去看星点鳗鱼！”另一个人说。 斯平德威克小姐叫大家安静。 “你们都有一个小时的时间开始参观保护区，”她说。 “然后我们回到这里吃午饭。 记得记笔记，用相机拍照。 最重要的是，要两人一组！我们是来学习的，我不希望你分心。 好了，你们走吧，女巫们！”

I waved sadly at Carlotta as she disappeared off with Hazel in the direction of the glow snakes and then I turned back to Lavinia. 'Shall we go and see the bittens first?' I said. 'I do reeeally want to see them!' Lavinia looked at me snootily. 'The bittens are right at the bottom end of the sanctuary,' she said. 'We may as well start with something closer. I want to see the giant spiders. They're in the opposite direction. Let's go there first.'

我伤心地向卡洛塔挥了挥手，她带着黑兹尔朝发光蛇的方向消失了，然后我转身向拉维尼娅走去。 “我们先去看看狗狗好吗？”我说。 “我真的很想看看他们！”拉维尼娅傲慢地看着我。 她说：“被咬的地方就在保护区的底部。” 我们不妨从更近的地方开始。 我想看大蜘蛛。 它们在相反的方向。 我们先去吧。”

'Ugh!' I thought. The giant spiders were the last creatures I wanted to look at. But I didn't want to cause an argument with Lavinia this early in the day, so I traipsed after her as we made our way towards the giant spiders. 'Aren't they just so elegant!' said Lavinia, as we arrived at the spider enclosure and peered in. The enclosure was a very large cage covered in sticky webbing, with plenty of room for the spiders to scuttle around and play in. The spiders looked happy, and I supposed I could see what Lavinia meant by them being elegant, but I still couldn't help shuddering at their size. They were so big!

“啊!”我想。巨大的蜘蛛是我最不想看到的生物。 但我不想一大早就和拉维尼娅吵起来，所以在我们朝大蜘蛛走去的路上，我慢吞吞吐地跟在她后面。 “它们真漂亮！”拉维尼娅说，这时我们到了蜘蛛围场，往里瞧了瞧。 围栏是一个很大的笼子，上面覆盖着黏糊糊的网，有足够的空间让蜘蛛跑来跑去，在里面玩耍。 蜘蛛们看起来很高兴，我想我能理解拉维尼娅说它们优雅的意思，但它们的体型还是让我忍不住打了个寒颤。 它们太大了！

Some of them were bigger than me! And they all had huge fangs. Lavinia handed me the clipboard. 'You take notes,' she ordered. 'I'll take the photos.'

有些比我还大！它们都有巨大的尖牙。 拉维尼娅把剪贴板递给我。 “你记笔记，”她命令道。 “我来拍照片。”

Lavinia began to snap away with the camera while I chewed the end of the pencil and wondered what to write about the spiders. In the end, I wrote: BIG AND HAIRY. 'You need to write more than that,' said Lavinia, bossily. 'Let me dictate.' 'Why don't you write and I'll take pictures?' I suggested. Taking the photos looked like fun! 'I don't think that's sensible,' said Lavinia. 'You might drop the camera and then we'll get in trouble.' Hurriedly, she stowed the camera away in her backpack. I rolled my eyes. 'I won't drop it.' I said.

拉维尼娅开始拿起相机，而我咬着铅笔头，想着该怎么写蜘蛛。 最后，我写了：又大又多毛。 “你得多写点。”拉维尼娅专横地说。 “让我口授。“你为什么不写信，我来拍照呢？ ”我建议。 拍这些照片看起来很有趣！“我认为这是不明智的，”拉维尼娅说。 “你可能会把相机掉在地上，这样我们就有麻烦了。”她赶紧把相机塞进背包里。 我翻了个白眼。“我不会丢下它的。”我说。