4 The crow who fell to Earth

CHAPTER FOUR The crow who fell to Earth It was the middle of the night, and the sky above Grimwood was inky black, splattered with bright white stars. All was quiet. Ted was sitting outside, snuggled under a blanket. Next to him lay his notebook, a pencil, a flask of hot tea and a load of old toilet rolls stuck together with sticky tape. He picked up the long, wobbly tube and looked up at the sky with it.

四落在地上的乌鸦这是半夜，格里姆伍德上空漆黑一片，闪烁着明亮的白色星星。 一切都很安静。泰德坐在外面，蜷缩在毯子下面。 他的旁边放着他的笔记本、一支铅笔、一壶热茶和一大堆用胶带粘在一起的旧卫生纸。 他拿起那根长长的、摇摇晃晃的管子，用它仰望天空。

'Oi,' barked Nancy. 'What you doing with those old bog rolls?' 'It's my new telescope,' said Ted proudly. 'I'm stargazing.' Nancy frowned up at the sky. She was still unsure about stars. In the Big City you didn't see them much, what with all the smoke and smog. She worried that they might fall down from the sky and land on her head– but she kept that to herself. Nancy liked to look hard and tough at all times, and definitely not like someone who was a bit scared of stars. 'Oooh, look!' squeaked Ted, pointing a paw at the sky. 'There's the Big Dipper… there's… the chicken nugget… and there's… the wonky paperclip.' 'Let me have a go on that thing then,' said Nancy, nodding at Ted's bog-roll telescope. Ted handed it over. As Nancy peered through it she fell silent. The stars were kind of beautiful, she had to admit. 'No matter who you are or where you live, we all look at the same stars,' said Ted dreamily. 'I like thinking about that.' But Nancy didn't reply, as she was distracted by a particularly shiny star. It was so bright it seemed to be flashing. It also seemed to be moving. 'Ted,' she said. 'Look up at that one.' Ted squinted. 'WOAH!' he cried out. 'A shooting star!' 'And it's shooting this way,' said Nancy, her fur standing on end.

“喂，”南希叫道。“你拿那些旧卷筒干什么？”“这是我的新望远镜。”泰德自豪地说。 “我看星星。”南希对着天空皱起了眉头。 她对星星还没有把握。 在大城市里，你很少看到它们，因为到处都是烟雾和烟雾。 她担心它们会从天上掉下来，砸在她的头上——但她没有把这件事告诉别人。 南希喜欢在任何时候看起来都很坚强，绝对不像一个有点害怕明星的人。 “噢,瞧!泰德尖叫着，用一只爪子指着天空。 “有北斗七星，有鸡块，还有摇摇晃晃的回形针。“那就让我试试那玩意儿吧，”南希说着，朝泰德的卷筒式望远镜点了点头。 泰德把它递了过来。南希从里面往里看时，沉默了。 她不得不承认，星星有点美。 “不管你是谁，也不管你住在哪里，我们都仰望着同样的星星。”泰德如梦似幻地说。 “我喜欢思考这个问题。”但南希没有回答，因为她被一颗特别闪亮的星星分散了注意力。 它太亮了，好像在闪光。 它似乎也在动。 “泰德，”她说。“抬头看那个。”泰德眯起了双眼。 “哇!他叫道。“流星！”“而且是朝这边射，”南希说，她的毛竖了起来。

The mysterious ball of light did seem to be whizzing closer and closer, and getting faster and faster. In fact… it was going to crash right into Grimwood! Holy moley! 'AAAARGH!' yelped Ted. Without thinking, Nancy wrapped her tail around her little brother and bundled him to the ground. There was an enormous BANG. The sky flashed bright white for a moment, then went dark. After a few seconds of silence, Nancy leapt to her feet. Then there was a noise. It sounded like muffled shouting. 'Over there,' she growled. 'Come on.' She lifted Ted by the scruff of his neck and dragged him along as she ran towards the noise. 'B-b-but, Nance,' whimpered Ted, who was sliiiiiightly less brave than his big sis. 'We don't know who that is. Or WHAT it is! What if it's something unfriendly?' Nancy didn't stop to answer. They darted through the forest, leaping over the fallen trees and thickets of undergrowth. They heard the noise again, louder this time. '…ooga!'

神秘的光球似乎越来越近，越来越快。 事实上，它差点撞上格里姆伍德！天moley !“AAAARGH !泰德叫道。 南希不假思索地用尾巴缠住小弟弟，把他捆在地上。 砰的一声巨响。 天空闪过一阵明亮的白色，然后就暗下来了。 沉默了几秒钟后，南希跳了起来。 然后传来了一声巨响。听起来像是低沉的喊叫。 “在那边，”她咆哮道。 “来吧。”她抓住泰德的颈背，拖着他跑向嘈杂的地方。 “可是——可是，南希，”特德呜咽着说，他比他的大姐姐略显胆怯。 “我们不知道那是谁。 或者它是什么！如果是不友好的事情怎么办？”南希没有停下来回答。 他们飞快地穿过森林，跳过倒下的树木和茂密的灌木丛。 他们又听到了声音，这次声音更大了。 “……ooga !”

'…OOOOOOOGA!!!' The foxes peered into the near darkness. 'Hello?' shouted Nancy. '…AWOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Ted and Nancy gasped. They would recognize that awooga anywhere. 'It's Sharon the Party Crow!' they chanted and, on hearing her name, Sharon managed to feebly wave a neon glowstick in the air. The foxes knew Sharon the Party Crow from the Big City. She was a party LEGEND and could start a shindig anytime, anywhere. Once, she'd held a rave by the Speedy Chicken bins that went on for so long a pigeon grew a beard. She could let off a dozen party poppers with her beak in one go.*

“……OOOOOOOGA ! !”狐狸在黑暗中窥视。 “喂?南希喊道。“……AWOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA !泰德和南希倒吸了一口气。 他们在任何地方都能认出这个名字。 “是派对乌鸦沙伦！”听到她的名字后，沙伦无力地在空中挥舞着一支霓虹灯棒。 狐狸们认识从大城市来的派对乌鸦沙伦。 她是派对上的传奇人物，可以随时随地开始一场派对。 有一次，她在飞毛腿鸡的垃圾箱旁举办了一场狂欢会，持续了很长时间，连鸽子都长出了胡子。 她可以用她的嘴一口气放掉一打派对上的爆竹

Another time she started a conga line that was so long it ended up in Antarctica. Nobody could party harder than Sharon. However, now she seemed to be stuck upside down in the branches of a beech tree. *Health and safety guru Eric D here! Please do not do this as you will probably die.

还有一次，她开始了一条康加舞线，这条线太长了，最后到了南极洲。 没有人比莎伦更能狂欢了。 然而，现在她似乎被倒挂在一棵山毛榉树的树枝上。 *健康和安全专家Eric D在这里！请不要这样做，因为你可能会死。