8 Creeping

CHAPTER EIGHT Creeping Willow was in a major grump. She was sitting on Ted's bed with a blanket over her head. 'Oh, come on, Willow,' said Ted. 'Cheer up. We can still be monster hunters! We're just… not allowed to go out and hunt any monsters.' 'HMPH,' said Willow, yanking off the blanket. 'This place is full of scaredy cats and wusses. Like you!' 'I just don't want to get eaten.' Ted shrugged. 'Is that so wrong?' She had bought the copy of Professor Cuthbert's with her. It was full of drawings, top facts and general chit-chat about all sorts of peculiar beasts. Check it out:

第八章匍匐的柳树大发脾气。 她坐在泰德的床上，头上盖着一条毯子。 “哦，别这样，威洛。”泰德说。 “振作起来。我们仍然可以成为怪物猎人！我们只是不被允许出去猎杀怪物。“嗯，”威罗说着，扯开毯子。 这地方到处都是胆小鬼和胆小鬼。 喜欢你!“我只是不想被吃掉。”泰德耸耸肩。 “这有那么错吗？”她买了卡斯伯特教授的那本。 里面满是图画、最重要的事实和关于各种奇特野兽的闲聊。 看看吧：

The Jackalope The Jackalope looks like a massive rabbit with deer horns stapled to its head. One must never startle a Jackalope while it is in the middle of doing a wordsearch as they get very bad-tempered about it. The Hootie Hamnah The only safe way to approach a Hootie Hamnah is by wriggling on your belly and balancing a tray of egg-and-cress sandwiches on your head. They have exceptionally ticklish nostrils. Do not, we repeat, DO NOT speak Flemish anywhere near one.

Jackalope长得像一只头上钉着鹿角的大兔子。 当Jackalope正在做单词搜索时，千万不要惊吓它，因为它的脾气会很坏。 接近Hootie Hamnah的唯一安全方法是在你的肚子上扭动，并在你的头上平衡一盘鸡蛋和连衣裙三明治。 它们的鼻孔特别怕痒。 不要，我再说一遍，不要说佛兰德语。

The Talking Potato At first glance, The Talking Potato just looks like your friendly everyday spud. The kind of potato you would eat with butter and baked beans. But if the potato starts talking, you know you are dealing with a Talking Potato, which is a very different thing. Mainly because it has a face and can shout at you. The Emily Davies Emily Davies is a unicorn who smells of flowers and eats rainbow cakes. She is the loveliest monster evaaaaah. In fact, I am going to ask for her hoof in marriage. 'This book is amazing!' said Ted.

乍一看，会说话的土豆看起来就像你日常生活中友好的土豆。 就是那种你会和黄油和烤豆一起吃的土豆。 但是如果土豆开始说话，你就知道你面对的是一个会说话的土豆，这是非常不同的事情。 主要是因为它有一张脸，可以对你大喊大叫。 艾米丽·戴维斯是一只独角兽，她闻着花香，吃着彩虹蛋糕。 她是最可爱的怪物。 事实上，我要向她求婚。 “这本书太棒了！”泰德说。

'I'm gunna read every single page and become a MONSTER EXPERT,' Willow announced. A smelly sock hit her in the face. 'Will you two keep it down?' moaned Nancy. 'I'm trying to have a nap.' 'Sorry, Nance,' said Ted softly. Nancy turned over to face the wall of the fox den. She shut her eyes. And then she heard the dream voice again. 'Look after him, my brave little one.' Nancy's eyes pinged open. Whose voice was that and why was it in her head? She took a deep breath and closed her eyes again. This time, she heard the sloshing of water… and the squawking of distant birds. Seagulls? She couldn't be sure. She opened her eyes again, and the noises stopped. What was happening to her? She looked over at Ted and Willow, who were quietly reading Professor Cuthbert's under the covers with a torch. She fiddled about with her pillow and shut her eyes again. This time, she heard music. A flute or something… playing the same melody, over and over again. How could the tune sound happy and sad at the same time? When she opened her eyes, she could still hear it. But she knew it was just in her head. 'Nance,' said Ted's soft voice. He had quietly slunk over to her while she had her eyes shut. 'What's up? Those dreams again?' Nancy nodded. 'Now I don't even need to be properly asleep. It's like a sound playing over and over again, and the more I listen, the

“我要读完每一页，成为一个怪物专家，”威洛宣布。 一只臭袜子打在她脸上。 “你们两个小声点好吗？”南希呻吟着说。 “我想打个盹。“对不起，南希，”特德轻声说。 南希转过身来，面对着狐狸窝的墙。 她闭上眼睛。然后她又听到了梦中的声音。 “照顾他，我勇敢的小家伙。”南希突然睁开了眼睛。 那是谁的声音，为什么会在她的脑海里？ 她深吸了一口气，又闭上了眼睛。 这一次，她听到了水声，还有远处鸟儿的叫声。 海鸥?她不能肯定。 她再次睁开眼睛，声音停止了。 她发生了什么事？ 她看了看泰德和威洛，他们正拿着手电筒在被子底下安静地读卡斯伯特教授的书。 她拨弄着枕头，又闭上了眼睛。 这一次，她听到了音乐。 长笛之类的东西，一遍又一遍地演奏着同样的旋律。 这首曲子怎么能同时听起来既快乐又悲伤呢？ 当她睁开眼睛时，她仍然能听到那声音。 但她知道那只是她的幻觉。 “南希，”泰德温柔的声音说。 趁她闭着眼睛，他悄悄溜到她身边。 “有什么事吗?又做那些梦了？”南希点了点头。 “现在我甚至不需要好好睡觉。 就像一个声音一遍又一遍地播放，我听得越多，就

more real it seems. It's weird.' Ted waved his notebook and pencil at her. 'Tell me, quick,' he said. 'The main thing now is this tune I'm hearing,' said Nancy. 'Hum it!' said Ted. Nancy wasn't very musical. But she took a deep breath and tried to hum. 'BAHAHAHAAHA!' said Willow. 'Are you singing?' 'No!' snapped Nancy, feeling like a wally. 'Shut up, bunny.' 'Not helpful, Willow!' said Ted. Nancy lay down and put her pillow over her head. 'Just forget it,' she grunted. 'I don't wanna talk about it any more.' I used to have the same dream over and over again. Or at least I think I did. Maybe I was just trapped in a washing machine. It was the middle of the night. Grimwood was quiet. 'Will the monster outside eat us up, Mumsie?' asked little Flopsy the rabbit. 'Not if we stay down here, my little nugget,' said Flopsy's mumsie.

看起来更真实。这很奇怪。”泰德向她挥舞着他的笔记本和铅笔。 “快告诉我，”他说。 “现在最重要的是我听到的这首曲子，”南希说。 “哼!泰德说。南希不太会音乐。 但她深吸了一口气，试着哼起来。 “BAHAHAHAAHA !威罗说。 “你在唱歌吗？”“不!南茜厉声说，觉得自己像个傻瓜。 “闭嘴，兔子。“没用，威洛！”泰德说。 南希躺下，把枕头盖在头上。 “算了吧，”她咕哝着说。 “我不想再谈这件事了。”我过去常常一遍又一遍地做同一个梦。 至少我是这么认为的。 也许我只是被困在洗衣机里了。 那是半夜。 格里姆伍德很安静。“外面的怪物会把我们吃掉吗，妈妈？”小兔子Flopsy问。 “如果我们呆在下面就不会了，我的小宝贝。”弗洛普西的妈妈说。

Unlike Flopsy, or Flopsy's mumsie, Pamela was not worried. She had her night-vision goggles on and was jabbering into a broken mobile phone. 'AGENT PAMELA REPORTING FOR DUTY!' she squawked. 'I have been watching my hidden cameras for six hours,' she hissed. 'As yet, I have seen no freaky monsters.' She scanned the ground, looking for activity. 'No wiggly wormies… no little birdies… not even any tiny little ants wearing tiny little ant shoes,' she said sadly. Pamela sighed. Then suddenly, she noticed a shadow moving on one of her many screens. 'We have a sighting!' she shrieked. 'Camera five!' The camera was being jiggled about by something, all right. Pamela fiddled with some buttons and levers to make the picture clearer. Was she about to see the actual MONSTER?? The black shadow was lurching through the undergrowth. It seemed to have a pointy head. And a pointy beak. And it was holding a kazoo.

与弗洛普西或弗洛普西的妈妈不同，帕梅拉并不担心。 她戴着夜视镜，对着一部坏掉的手机叽叽喳喳地说着什么。 “帕梅拉探员报到！”她尖声说。 “我已经盯着我的隐形摄像机看了六个小时了，”她嘶嘶地说。 “到目前为止，我还没有看到任何怪异的怪物。”她扫视地面，寻找动静。 “没有扭动的虫子……没有小鸟……甚至没有穿小蚂蚁鞋的小蚂蚁，”她悲伤地说。 帕梅拉叹了口气。突然，她注意到一个影子在她的屏幕上移动。 “我们看到东西了！”她尖叫道。 “相机五!”摄像机被什么东西晃来晃去。 帕梅拉摆弄着一些按钮和杠杆，使画面更清晰。 她会看到真正的怪物吗？？ 黑影在矮树丛中蹒跚而行。 它似乎有一个尖尖的头。 还有尖尖的嘴。它拿着卡祖笛。