The Shadow People

The Shadow People, written by Anne Weill. Illustrated by Stephen Marchese.

《影子人》，安妮·韦尔 著 斯蒂芬·马切塞 绘

On the Stone Steps Lila made a penguin shadow puppet dance on the steps. She called out to Emma and Rob to come see, but they were too busy working on the group project. Lila's class was on a field trip at the zoo. Emma and Rob were in Lila's group. They had decided to do their report on penguins. Emma was taking photographs of the birds while Rob was writing down some information about them from a sign. Lila was sitting on the stone steps next to the penguin area. She was trying to compose a poem about penguins but became distracted making penguin shadow puppets. That's when Lila noticed another school group pass by. To her surprise, these children did not have shadows.

石阶边，莱拉正操控企鹅手影在台阶上跳舞。 她喊艾玛和罗伯过来看，可他俩正忙着做小组项目。 莱拉的班级正在动物园开展户外研学。 艾玛和罗伯都在莱拉的小组里。 他们决定写一篇关于企鹅的研学报告。 艾玛在给企鹅拍照，罗伯在抄标牌上的企鹅介绍。 莱拉坐在企鹅区旁的石阶上。 她本来想写一首关于企鹅的诗，结果分心玩起了企鹅手影。 就在这时，莱拉注意到另一所学校的队伍走了过去。 让她惊讶的是，这些孩子居然没有影子。

In the Reptile House. Lila knew a lot about shadows. She had studied light in science class. A shadow happens when something blocks sunlight. Trees cast shadows. People cast shadows. But these people did not. Why? Lila wanted to find out. She followed the other school group into the Reptile House. It was dark and creepy inside. Lila heard the voices of children, but could not see anyone. It seemed the children from the other school had disappeared.

爬行动物馆里。 莱拉懂不少关于影子的知识。 她在科学课上学过光的原理。 物体挡住阳光的时候就会产生影子。 树会投下影子。 人会投下影子。 可这群人却没有影子。 这是为什么呢？ 莱拉想要找出答案。 她跟着这支外校队伍走进了爬行动物馆。 馆里又黑又吓人。 莱拉听到了孩子的说话声，却一个人都看不到。 这群外校的孩子好像凭空消失了。

Lila fled the Reptile House and went back to her spot on the stone steps. How strange, she thought. Those people had no shadows, and then they disappeared into the dark. She was about to tell Rob and Emma when she saw the strange school group walk out of the Reptile

莱拉逃出爬行动物馆，回到了自己待的石阶位置。 太奇怪了，她想。 那些人没有影子，接着就消失在了黑暗里。 她正打算告诉罗伯和艾玛，就看到那支奇怪的队伍走出了爬行动物

The Hypercube. Hey, Lila, called Emma. Are you done with your poem yet? Lila quickly scribbled down a few lines and then leapt up to join her classmates. As she hurried toward them, she noticed something shiny on the ground. Lila picked up the shiny object. It was a pendant on a chain. The pendant was a peculiar shape. She had never seen anything like it before. Wow, said Rob. He was standing next to Lila looking at the pendant. That's cool!

超立方体。 “嘿，莱拉，”艾玛喊道。 “你的诗写完了吗？” 莱拉匆匆写了几行，就跳起身去找同学们。 她匆忙赶过去的时候，留意到地上有个闪闪发亮的东西。 莱拉捡起了那个亮闪闪的东西。 原来是一条链子，挂着一枚吊坠。 这枚吊坠的形状十分特别。 她从来没见过这样的东西。 “哇哦，”罗伯说。 他站在莱拉身边，看着这枚吊坠。 “太酷了！”

It's a hypercube, added Emma. What's a hypercube? asked Lila. A hypercube is a four -dimensional object, said Emma. But I thought there were only three dimensions of space, said Lila. There are on our planet, but some people think there may be other worlds with more than three. We typically can't see things that have four dimensions. The hypercube should be invisible to us.

“这是超立方体，”艾玛补充道。 “超立方体是什么呀？” 莱拉问道。 “超立方体是四维物体，”艾玛说。 “可是我以为空间只有三个维度呀，”莱拉说。 “我们星球上是这样，但有些人认为可能存在其他世界，维度超过三个。” “我们一般看不到四维的东西。” “超立方体对我们来说本来应该是隐形的。”