Chapter 14

ChAPTER FOURTEEN The Swindlers were frogmarched down a wooden gangway and through a heavily bolted door. Once inside, Kate gasped- it was some sort of lawless library, but instead of books on shelves the whole place was crammed with things. A chandelier of spoons swung from the sloping ceiling, telescopes, nets, arrow heads and compasses spilled out of crooked nests on shelves that went higher

第十四章 几个骗子被押着走过木质舷梯，穿过一扇上了好几道插销的门。 刚一进去，凯特就倒吸了一口凉气——这地方像是个没规矩的藏宝馆，架子上摆的不是书，整个地方塞满了各式各样的玩意儿。 勺子拼成的吊灯在斜屋顶下晃荡，望远镜、渔网、箭头、指南针从架子上歪歪扭扭的收纳槽里往外冒，架子摞得老高老高

and higher until Kate's neck started to strain. She saw strange instruments made of frying pans and washing line, patchwork parachutes and mosquito nets hanging from wonky wooden beams. If she wasn't so kidnapped she would have been completely awestruck.

越来越高，凯特仰得脖子都酸了。 她看见用煎锅和晾衣绳做的奇怪仪器，拼布降落伞和蚊帐挂在摇摇晃晃的木梁上。 要不是自己被绑架了，她肯定会看得目瞪口呆。

The green bird started to walk around them. "And what would three little critters like yourselves be doing jimmying about in our parts?" "Um, just going for a night-time... drive?" said Kate. "But we got lost." "You wouldn't be lugging your pudding feet in any particular direction?" Kate could feel Rupert getting annoyed beside her. He was very sensitive about his feet. "No..." lied Kate. "Not at all." But the bird could tell she was lying, she was sure of it. "You wouldn't be... bottomists?" Rupert let out a squeak of laughter, which Kate hastily covered with a cough.

那只绿鸟开始绕着他们踱步。 “你们三个小毛孩，在我们的地盘鬼鬼祟祟的，想干嘛呀？” “嗯，就是夜里出来……兜兜风？”凯特说。 “但我们迷路了。” “你们该不会是拖着小短腿，特意往某个方向走的吧？” 凯特能感觉到身边的鲁珀特已经生气了。 他对自己的脚特别敏感。 “没有……”凯特撒谎道。 “完全没有。” 但她敢肯定，这只鸟已经看出来她在说谎了。 “你们该不会是……底栖学家吧？” 鲁珀特笑出了 squeak 声，凯特赶紧咳嗽一声帮他打掩护。

"Do you mean botanists?" asked Bertie innocently. Kate trod on his foot. The green bird's eyes narrowed. "That's what I said." "Yes, yes, that's what we mean, but no, we're not... um... bottomists," said Kate. "Righty-malighty," said the glittering bird. "And so if you're not bottomists, what are you doing with these?" The trumpetberries! "These nummy berries are very special to us birds. But we think you

“你是说植物学家吗？”伯蒂天真地问。 凯特踩了他一脚。 绿鸟的眼睛眯了起来。 “我说的就是这个。” “对，对，我们听懂了，不过我们不是……嗯……底栖学家。”凯特说。 “哎呀呀，”这只浑身亮闪闪的鸟开口道。 “既然你们不是底栖学家，那你们拿着这些东西干嘛？” 是喇叭莓！ “这些甜甜的小果子对我们鸟类来说特别珍贵。 而且我们觉得你

already know that. The last time we saw these delicious morsels we were being wrongfully, rude-fully, un-in-justifiably HUNTED." "We don't know what you're—" "We're just... we... they..." stammered Kate. "We're so sorry!" cried Bertie. "We shouldn't have come here at all!" The long-legged bird stopped its stalking circles and looked straight at Bertie. "More of that, please." "We wanted to find a rare bird called the silver wibbler- perhaps you've heard of it?" The bird didn't answer directly. "And

早就知道这一点了。 上次我们见到这些美味小果子的时候，我们正被人无缘无故、粗鲁无礼、毫无道理地追杀呢。” “我们不知道你在说——”“我们只是…… 我们……它们……”凯特结结巴巴地说。 “我们非常抱歉！” 伯蒂喊道。 “我们根本就不该来这里的！” 那只长腿鸟停下了转圈踱步的脚步，直直看向伯蒂。 “多说点这种话。” “我们想找一种叫银晃鸟的稀有鸟类——说不定你听说过它？” 那只鸟没有直接回答。 “那

why did you want to find this... silver wibbler?" "B-because no one ever has before! Because I just wanted to be good at something- to impress General Hornbill! And I made two really good friends along the way, and now- sob sob...I just wanted to be the hero for once!" Martha-mother-of-crisps! thought Kate. She would have to call him "Blurtie" from now on- at least, it there was a "from now on" from now on at all. The bird took a long, hard look at Bertie's blotchy face. "You wanna be a real hero, kid?" He sniffed and nodded. "You gotta know the trees, know the

你们为什么想找这只……银晃鸟？” “因、因为从来没有人找到过它啊！ 因为我就是想擅长做一件事——想让犀鸟将军刮目相看！ 路上我还交到了两个特别好的朋友，现在……呜呜呜……我就想当一次英雄而已啊！” 我的薯片神啊！凯特心里想。 以后她得叫他“大嘴巴伯蒂”了——当然，前提是他们还有“以后”才行。 那只鸟久久地、认真地看着伯蒂哭花了的脸。 “小家伙，你想当真正的英雄吗？” 他抽了抽鼻子，点了点头。 “你得了解每一棵树，了解