Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

第五章

Isabel's friends had just returned from the quiz and were chattering loudly as she burst through the shiny blue door. "Listen up!" Isabel jumped up and down on her bed to get everyone's attention. As silence fell, Isabel glanced round the room. The girls each had identical blue and silver duvets, a small wardrobe and a chest of drawers with a sapphire-studded lamp. Everyone had personalised their area with posters, photographs and trinkets. Isabel's heart beat frantically. What if she had to leave all this and her friends behind? "Guess what I just overheard!" she said. When Isabel finished, everyone spoke at once. Sapphire dorm was unanimous– not one of them wanted to be evacuated from the academy.

伊莎贝尔的朋友们刚从测验中回来，当她冲进闪亮的蓝色大门时，他们大声地叽叽喳喳。 “听好了!”伊莎贝尔在床上跳上跳下，以引起大家的注意。 寂静下来后，伊莎贝尔环视了一下房间。 每个女孩都有一模一样的蓝色和银色羽绒被，一个小衣橱和一个五斗橱，里面放着一盏镶有蓝宝石的台灯。 每个人都用海报、照片和小饰品装饰自己的区域。 伊莎贝尔的心疯狂地跳动着。 如果她不得不离开这一切和她的朋友们呢？ “猜猜我听到什么了！”她说。 伊莎贝尔讲完后，每个人都立刻说话了。 蓝宝石宿舍的人一致同意——没有一个人想从学院撤离。

"It can't happen," said Olivia firmly. "Ms P will work it out. The whole of Unicorn Island is in danger if the academy closes and there's no one here to guard the lake." There were murmurs of agreement.

“这是不可能的。”奥利维亚坚定地说。 “P女士会解决的。如果学院关闭了，没有人来守卫这个湖，整个独角兽岛都有危险。” 有人低声表示同意。

Sophia lifted her chin. "I wish I knew who it was. I'd try to stop them." "I bet it's the person in the black cloak," said Ava. Earlier that term she and Sophia had been chased down the mountain by a cloaked figure riding a unicorn and firing spells at them. "Me too," said Scarlett. They all nodded and started to get ready for bed. "So how was the quiz?" Isabel asked Scarlett, suddenly remembering that she'd missed it. "Did you win?" "It was great fun– we came third." Scarlett disappeared as she pulled her pyjama top over her head. "Third?" said Isabel, thinking she'd misheard. How could Scarlett think it had been fun if they'd only come third? "It was my fault. If I hadn't got my birds muddled we'd have come second." Sophia dissolved into giggles.

索菲亚抬起下巴。“我希望我知道是谁。 我会尽力阻止他们。”“我打赌是那个穿黑斗篷的人，”艾娃说。 那个学期的早些时候，她和索菲亚被一个骑着独角兽的披着斗篷的人追赶下山，并向她们发射咒语。 “我也是，"思嘉说。他们都点了点头，开始准备睡觉。 “测验怎么样？”伊莎贝尔问思嘉，忽然想起自己错过了。 “你赢了吗？”“太有趣了，我们得了第三名。” 思嘉一把睡衣盖在头上就不见了。 “第三？”伊莎贝尔说，她以为自己听错了。 如果他们只是第三名，思嘉怎么会觉得好玩呢？ “这是我的错。要不是我把鸟儿弄糊涂了，我们就得第二名了。” 索菲亚咯咯地笑了起来。

Ava took up the story. "Ms Rosemary wanted the name of the bird that feeds on raspberry clams. It's a red bill, of course, but Sophia shouted out red bum. We laughed so much we missed the next two questions." "Red bum?" said Isabel, raising her eyebrows. "I can't believe you said that, Sophia, and lost marks for the team." "No one minded," said Sophia, shrugging. "We were having too much fun," said Olivia. Isabel frowned, bewildered. She sometimes felt she just didn't get her friends. How could losing a competition ever be fun? It rained through the night and all of the following day. Rumours started to fly that the school was going to be evacuated. All of Isabel's free time was taken up sorting books for Ms Nettles. "It's a horrid job," she moaned to Scarlett as

艾娃接了这个故事。罗斯玛丽女士想知道这种以覆盆子蛤为食的鸟的名字。 当然是红色的钞票，但是索菲亚喊的是红色的屁股。 我们笑得太厉害了，错过了接下来的两个问题。” “红屁股？”伊莎贝尔扬起眉毛说。 “我真不敢相信你说了那样的话，索菲亚，还丢了全队的分数。” “没人介意，”索菲亚耸耸肩说。 “我们玩得太开心了，”奥利维亚说。 伊莎贝尔皱起眉头，不知所措。 她有时觉得自己就是不懂朋友。 输掉一场比赛怎么会有趣呢？ 雨下了一夜，第二天又下了一整天。 谣言四起，说学校要疏散了。 伊莎贝尔所有的空闲时间都花在了为奈特尔斯女士整理书籍上。 “这是一件可怕的工作，"她对思嘉呻吟道

they parted company by the stairs. "The books are dusty and they stink." Scarlett shuddered. "Ugh! Watch out for book beetles! My uncle had them and they nibbled everything." Her eyes lit up. "If you find one, catch it and put it in Valentina's bed!" Isabel reluctantly shook her head. "No way. I'm in too much trouble already. No more pranks for me." Isabel didn't waste time and worked quickly, putting the good books into one pile and the others into the bin. One dusty book, with a dark- green leather cover, caught Isabel's eye. It was much thicker than the rest and she needed both hands to lift it. As Isabel blew the dust away, she felt a tickle. A large brown beetle with yellow and black spots scuttled from the book and on to her hand. "Ew! Get off!" Isabel tossed the book on to the floor but the beetle clung to her hand, its antennae waving frantically.

他们在楼梯旁分手。 “这些书满是灰尘，臭气熏天。” 思嘉战栗。“哎!小心书甲虫！我叔叔养了它们，它们什么都咬。” 她的眼睛亮了起来。“如果你找到一个，抓住它，把它放在瓦伦蒂娜的床上！”伊莎贝尔勉强摇了摇头。 “没门。我已经有太多麻烦了。 别再给我搞恶作剧了。”伊莎贝尔没有浪费时间，工作很快，把好书放在一堆，其他的放在箱子里。 一本满是灰尘、深绿色皮革封面的书引起了伊莎贝尔的注意。 它比其他的要厚得多，她需要两只手才能举起它。 伊莎贝尔吹走灰尘时，她感到一阵痒痒。 一只长着黄色和黑色斑点的棕色大甲虫从书里钻了出来，落在了她的手上。 “哟!下车!”伊莎贝尔把书扔到地板上，但甲虫紧紧抓住她的手，触角疯狂地摆动着。