8 The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker

《胡桃夹子》

Clara was fed up. She wanted to go to a theme park but Uncle Fergus had come to stay. Uncle Fergus had brought presents. He gave Mum a tin of elephant sweets. He gave Dad a yellow tie. He gave Grandad a kit to make aliens. Then Uncle Fergus gave Clara a box. In the box was a strange little man with a funny arm. "What is it?" asked Clara. "It's a nutcracker," said Uncle Fergus. "You put a nut under its arm and crack the shell, like this. You'll love it!"

克拉拉受够了。她想去主题公园，但费格斯叔叔来住了。 费格斯叔叔带来了礼物。 他给了妈妈一罐大象糖果。 他送给爸爸一条黄色的领带。他送给爷爷一套制造外星人的工具。 然后费格斯叔叔给了克拉拉一个盒子。 盒子里有一个奇怪的小个子男人，他的胳膊很奇怪。 “这是什么?”克拉拉问。 “这是胡桃夹子。”费格斯叔叔说。 “你把一个坚果放在它的胳膊下，敲开它的壳，像这样。 你会喜欢它的!”

Uncle Fergus winked at Clara. Then he whispered, "It's a magic nutcracker. It will help you sleep and give you wonderful dreams." But Clara didn't want a nutcracker. It didn't look magic and she hated nuts. So she hid it. That night, Clara couldn't sleep, so she went downstairs to get the nutcracker. Perhaps it would help her to sleep after all. But the nutcracker wasn't there. Clara looked everywhere, but she couldn't find it.

费格斯叔叔向克拉拉眨了眨眼。 然后他小声说:“这是一个神奇的胡桃夹子。 它会帮助你入睡，让你做美妙的梦。” 但是克拉拉不想要胡桃夹子。 它看起来并不神奇，而且她讨厌坚果。 所以她把它藏起来了。那天晚上，克拉拉睡不着，所以她下楼去拿胡桃夹子。 也许这终究会帮助她入睡。 但是胡桃夹子不在那里。 克拉拉到处找，但她找不到。

All at once there was a flash of light and Clara began to shrink! Everything around her looked huge. Then she saw one of the aliens that Grandad had made. It was enormous! It reached out and tried to grab her. Clara had nowhere to run. She was trapped!

突然一道闪光，克拉拉开始退缩!她周围的一切看起来都很大。 然后她看到了祖父制造的一个外星人。 这是巨大的!它伸出手想抓住她。 克拉拉无处可逃。她被困!

Suddenly, there was a yell from above. "Nutcracker Man to the rescue!" Clara looked up. It was her nutcracker. The alien gave a roar and jumped on the nutcracker. But Nutcracker Man took the alien under his arm and cracked him. The alien broke into little pieces. "That was cracking good fun!" said Nutcracker Man. "How did you do that?" gasped Clara.

突然，上面传来一声喊叫。 “胡桃夹子人来拯救我们!”克拉拉抬起头来。 那是她的胡桃夹子。外星人吼了一声，跳到胡桃夹子上。 但胡桃夹子人把外星人夹在腋下，把他砸了。 外星人碎成碎片。 “太有趣了!”胡桃夹子人说。 “你是怎么做到的?”克拉拉喘着气说。

"No time to tell you now!" cried Nutcracker Man. An army of aliens was marching towards them. Nutcracker Man biffed and boffed the aliens. He cracked them with his nutcracker arm. But the aliens kept coming. Nutcracker Man was in trouble!

“现在没时间告诉你!”胡桃夹子人叫道。 一支外星人军队正向他们走来。 胡桃夹子人对外星人不停地拍打。 他用胡桃夹子般的手臂把它们掰碎。 但是外星人一直在来。 胡桃夹子人有麻烦了!