兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第九冊 Dolphins at Daybreak 06

6 C-R-A-C-K

The octopus hugged the mini-sub. Each of its eight arms had two rows of suckers. The suckers stuck to the window.

The mini-sub stopped.

The octopus stared at Jack and Annie with huge， human-like eyes.

“I don’t think it wants to hurt us，” whispered Annie. “It’s just curious.”

“I—I’m going to research it，” said Jack.

His hands shook as he flipped through the pages of the ocean book.

He found a picture of an octopus and read aloud:

The octopus tends to be a gentle ， shy creature. Sometimes， though，curiosity gets the best of it and it comes out of hiding.

“Aw. See， I told you， he’s shy，” said Annie. She yelled to the octopus， “Hi!I’m Annie!He’s Jack!”

“Oh， brother，” moaned Jack. He read further:

But the octopus has huge strength.

Each of its arms，or tentacles，has many suckers，which act like rubber suction cups. It is nearly impossible to free an object from their grasp.

“Oh， great，” said Jack. “We’ll never get rid of this thing.”

Just then， Jack felt a drop hit his arm. Water.He looked up at the ceiling.

“Uh-oh，” said Annie.

A thin crack ran along the ceiling.Smaller cracks branched out from it.

Water dripped from the cracks.

“We found the cracks，” said Annie.

“The octopus better let go!Before the whole ceiling breaks!” said Jack.

“Let go， please. Please!” Annie shouted at the octopus.

The creature blinked， as if trying to understand her.

“Please!Please!Please!” she shouted.

“Come on， Annie，” said Jack. “It doesn’t care if you’re polite.”

The octopus blinked at Jack.

“Get out of here!” Jack yelled at it.“Now!Beat it !Scram!Go!”

The octopus shot a cloud of black liquid into the water and disappeared into the dark cloud. Its long tentacles trailed through the water.

The mini-sub started to rise slowly again.

“You hurt his feelings，” Annie said.

“I don’t think so...” Something bothered Jack.

He looked back at the ocean book. He read to himself:

The octopus squirts black ink to escape its enemies. One of its main enemies is the shark.

“Oh， no，” said Jack.

“What’s wrong?” asked Annie.

Jack looked out the window. The water was growing clear again.

A shadowy figure moved toward the mini-sub.

“What is that?” whispered Annie.

The fish was way bigger than the dolphins. And it had a very weird head.

Jack could feel his heart nearly stop.

“A hammerhead shark，” he breathed. “We’re really in trouble now.”

6裂縫

章魚抱住了小潛艇，它的每只手臂上均有兩排吸盤，吸盤吸住了窗戶，小潛艇停了下來。

章魚用它那酷似人眼的大眼睛注視著杰克和安妮。

“我不認為它想傷害我們。”安妮小聲說。“它只是好奇而已。”

“我，我來研究一下。”杰克說，他翻書的手在顫抖。

他找到有章魚圖片的那頁讀道：

章魚的本性溫柔、靦腆，但有時好奇心占了上風，讓它的膽子也大了起來。

“你看，我說吧，它真的很害羞呢!”安妮說。接著她對章魚喊道：“你好!我是安妮!他叫杰克!”

“噢，拜托。”杰克抱怨道。他繼續(xù)往下讀：

但是章魚力大無比，它的每一只手臂，或稱觸角上均有許多吸盤，這些吸盤像橡膠吸杯一樣，物體一旦被它抓住就別想逃脫它的手心。

“唉，這下完了。”杰克說，“我們永遠擺脫不了這東西了!”

這時，杰克感到胳膊上滴了滴什么東西，是水。他抬頭看了看天花板。

“哎呀!”安妮說。

只見天花板上有一條細長的裂縫，裂縫兩邊又伸出許多更小的裂紋。

水順著這些裂縫在往下滴。

“我們找到裂縫了。”安妮說。

“在整個天花板裂開之前，這只章魚最好能松手!”杰克說。

“請松手吧!求你了!”安妮朝章魚喊道。

章魚眨了眨眼睛，好像在盡力弄明白安妮的意思。

“求你了，求你了，快放手啊!”安妮喊著。

“算了吧，安妮。”杰克說，“它才不管你是不是彬彬有禮呢!”

章魚又對杰克眨了眨眼。

“快離開這兒!快!走開!滾!”杰克對它吼道。

章魚往水中噴了一團黑色的液體，隨即拖著長長的觸角，消失在那團黑霧中去了。

小潛艇又開始緩緩上升。

“你傷了它的心。”安妮說。

“我看未必……”杰克突然覺得有些不安。他又翻看起那本海洋書，默讀道：

章魚噴射墨汁是為了逃避敵人。章魚主要的天敵之一是鯊魚。

“噢，天哪!”杰克說。

“出什么事了?”安妮問。

杰克看出窗外，只見海水又清澈起來，一個模糊的影子在朝小潛艇移動。

“那是什么呀?”安妮小聲問。

只見那東西比海豚大多了，而且長著個奇異的腦袋。

杰克覺得自己的心都要不跳了。

“是一只錘頭鯊。”他喘了口氣說，“現(xiàn)在我們真遇到大麻煩了!”