1 Bottles

1. BOTTLES Every Saturday morning, Matilda sat on the dock in Dull-on-Sea harbor and fished for bottles, hoping to receive a message from her best friend, Jim Lad. Jim was a pirate, and he liked to keep in touch with Matilda by sending notes. When he'd written one, he would pop it into an old bottle, plug it up with a cork, and throw it over the side of his family's pirate ship into the sea.

1. 每周六早上，玛蒂尔达都会坐在滨海杜尔港的码头上捞瓶子，希望能收到她最好的朋友吉姆·拉德的消息。 吉姆是个海盗，他喜欢通过寄信与玛蒂尔达保持联系。 当他写完后，他会把它塞进一个旧瓶子里，用软木塞塞住，然后把它扔到他家海盗船的一边，扔进海里。

If Jim had a really urgent message, and they weren't too far from land, he might tie it to the leg of his grandpa's parrot, Squawk, who would fly to Matilda's house and tap on her window. Jim called this "air-mail," but to Matilda it always sounded more like "arrr-mail." But most of the time, Jim's notes arrived in bottles. Matilda's dad was sitting beside her, fishing for fish rather than bottles. He rarely caught anything, but he had a lot of very expensive equipment and a hat covered with hooks pointing skyward. He'd dozed off and was gently snoring. Matilda was feeling a bit sleepy too. She was mid-yawn when her fishing line

如果吉姆有非常紧急的消息，而且他们离陆地不远，他可能会把它绑在他爷爷的鹦鹉Squawk的腿上，这只鹦鹉会飞到玛蒂尔达的家，敲她的窗户。 吉姆称这是“航空邮件”，但对玛蒂尔达来说，这听起来更像是“航空邮件”。 但大多数时候，吉姆的纸条都是装在瓶子里的。 玛蒂尔达的爸爸坐在她旁边，钓的是鱼而不是瓶子。 他很少钓到什么东西，但他有很多非常昂贵的装备，还有一顶帽子，上面布满了指向天空的钩子。 他打了个盹，轻轻地打着鼾。 玛蒂尔达也有点困了。 她正在打呵欠的时候钓到了鱼线

suddenly snagged on something. She sat upright, spinning her reel expectantly, and spotted her hook tugging a faded green bottle across the water. Matilda could see there was a piece of parchment inside! She reeled it in, giddy with excitement, hoping it was a note from Jim Lad. She wrenched the cork out with her teeth, turned the bottle upside down, and shook furiously. The parchment tumbled out and unfurled to reveal a map. "Eh? Humph... What have you got there?" Matilda's dad mumbled, awoken by the clunk as Matilda put the bottle down. "Another note from Jim Lad?"

突然被什么东西绊住了。 她坐直了身子，期待地旋转着她的卷轴，发现她的钩子在水中拖着一个褪色的绿色瓶子。 玛蒂尔达看到里面有一张羊皮纸！她把信卷了进去，兴奋得头晕目眩，希望这是吉姆·拉德寄来的便条。 她用牙齿拧开瓶塞，把瓶子倒过来，剧烈地摇晃着。 羊皮纸翻了出来，展开来，露出一张地图。 “嗯?哼……你拿的是什么？”玛蒂尔达的爸爸咕哝着，被玛蒂尔达放下瓶子的撞撞声吵醒了。 “又是吉姆·拉德的信？”

"Nope! It's a map!" said Matilda, holding the roll of tattered parchment open. "And there's a big red X in the middle, right over a tiny island. Do you think it's a treasure map?" On the other side of the parchment was a note, but it wasn't in Jim's handwriting. "My dear fellow pirate... Do ye want to be rich?" Matilda read. "Hmmm. Maybe I should write to Jim. He'd be a 'fellow pirate,' and he loves treasure maps. We could go treasure hunting together! And," Matilda pointed out, "Jim and his parents have a ship, which would make searching for a treasure island much easier."

“不!这是一张地图！”玛蒂尔达说，手里拿着那卷破羊皮纸。 “中间有一个大大的红色X，就在一个小岛的上方。 你认为这是一张藏宝图吗？”羊皮纸的另一面有一张纸条，但不是吉姆的笔迹。 “我亲爱的海盗同伴……你想发财吗？”玛蒂尔达阅读。 “嗯。也许我应该给吉姆写信。 他会成为一名“海盗同伴”，而且他喜欢藏宝图。 我们可以一起去寻宝！而且，”玛蒂尔达指出，“吉姆和他的父母有一艘船，这样寻找金银岛就容易多了。”

"Good idea," said her dad. "But you'll have to check with your m—" Before he could finish his sentence, a parrot landed on his head. "GRUMPY MERMAID!" screeched Squawk. "GRUB AND GROG! TWELVE O'CLOCK!" "Hooray! Jim Lad's here!" Matilda squealed.

“好主意，”她爸爸说。 “但是你得核对一下你的m——”他还没说完话，一只鹦鹉就落在了他的头上。 “脾气暴躁的美人鱼！”Squawk尖叫道。 “吃点东西！”十二点!”“万岁!吉姆·拉德来了！”玛蒂尔达叫苦不迭。