李明娟選譯

“Dad，” he said， “Theres a dinosaur living in the garage.”

“爸爸，”他說，“車庫里有一只恐龍?！?/p>

“Is there really， Jake？” said his dad. “Thats interesting. Now go away and play. Daddys busy now.” Jakes dad went back to reading his newspaper.

“真的嗎，杰克？”他父親說?！澳呛苡幸馑肌，F(xiàn)在走開自己去玩吧，爸爸現(xiàn)在很忙?！苯芸说母赣H又看起了報紙。

Jake thought that there was a dinosaur in the garage for some time. A few weeks ago， behind the old bicycle he used to ride when he was small， there was a big bag with the tent in it. They had only used it once on a camping holiday and his dad then said， “Forget this！Im never going camping again！Next year were staying in a hotel like other people！” Jake had found a big egg in the bag. At first， Jake thought that it was a broken football. But when he went to touch3 it， the thing was all hard， not like a football at all. It felt more like a kind of egg and he couldnt see a hole in it anywhere. No， Jake—being a clever boy—right now realised4 that it wasnt a football at all. It was an egg. He didnt tell anyone at the time， because he thought that his mum and dad would think that he was lying5 again. His mum and dad always thought that he was lying. “Telling stories” they called it.? And also because he didnt want anyone else to know about what he had found. Jake already knew that he had found a dinosaur egg. Right there. Right in his garage！

杰克懷疑車庫里有恐龍有一段時間了。幾周前，他小時候騎過的那輛舊自行車后面有一個裝著帳篷的大袋子，他們在一個野營假期只用了一次，然后他父親說：“算了！我再也不露營了！明年，我們就像其他人一樣去住旅館！”杰克在那個袋子里發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個巨大的蛋。起初，杰克認為那可能是另外一個破足球，當他觸摸時，那東西很硬，一點也不像足球。它看起來更像是一種蛋，他在上面都看不到任何一個孔。不，杰克是個聰明的男孩，他立刻意識到那根本不是足球，這是一個蛋。他當時沒有告訴任何人，因為他覺得爸爸媽媽會以為他又在撒謊。媽媽和爸爸總是認為他在撒謊。他們稱之為“講故事”。還因為他不想讓別人知道他的發(fā)現(xiàn)。杰克已經(jīng)知道自己找到的是個恐龍蛋。在那里，就在他家的車庫里！

They had been studying dinosaurs at school. Their teacher had told them all about dinosaurs， and how dinosaurs came out of eggs， like birds do today， but that a dinosaur egg was as big as a football， or even bigger.

他們在學校學過恐龍，老師教了他們所有關于恐龍的知識，以及恐龍是如何從蛋中孵出來的，就像現(xiàn)在的鳥類一樣，但是恐龍蛋卻像足球那樣大，甚至更大。

The next day he decided to tell his teacher. “Ive got a dinosaur living in my garage！” Jake said to his teacher. But the teacher didnt listen to him. He only pushed his glasses up his big nose and said， “Is that right Jake？ How interesting...”

第二天，他決定告訴老師。 “我的車庫里住著一只恐龍！”杰克對老師說。但是老師不信他的話。他只是把眼鏡往鼻梁上推了推，說道：“杰克，是嗎？很有意思……”

For the next few days Jake decided6 not to tell anyone about his dinosaur， but kept his secret to himself. He started to feed the dinosaur at first by giving it some milk. Then he gave it some of their dogs food.

在接下來的幾天里，杰克決定不向任何人透露恐龍的事，自己保密。起初，他用牛奶來喂它，然后給了它一些狗糧。

“Dont worry！” Jake said to the dog. “Its just for the dinosaur in the garage. Hes getting bigger every day！ Soon youll be able to play with him！” The dog didnt look happy.

“別擔心！”杰克對狗說。 “這只是為了車庫里的恐龍。它每天都在長大！很快你就可以和它一起玩了！”那只狗看上去并沒有很開心。

But it was true. The dinosaur was growing and growing. It was already as big as the dog. Jake couldnt hold his excitement， and the next day he told his teacher again， while his father still wasnt interested in the dinosaur.

但這是真的，恐龍在不斷成長，它已經(jīng)和狗一樣大了。杰克無法抑制自己的激動，第二天他又告訴老師了，而他的父親仍然對恐龍不感興趣。

“The dinosaur in my garage is getting bigger every day！” shouted Jake in the middle of the lesson. The teacher turned round and looked at Jake.

“我家車庫里的恐龍每天都在長大！”上課時，杰克大喊起來。老師轉過身看著杰克。

“Well Jake， if there really is a dinosaur living in your garage， why dont you take it out for a walk？ Why dont you bring it into school tomorrow for us all to have a look？” The teacher said. He pushed his glasses back up his nose， and looked at the rest of the class. “Dont you think Jake should bring his pet dinosaur in for everyone to see tomorrow？” he laughed， and all of the rest of the class laughed， too.

“杰克，如果車庫里確實有只恐龍，為什么你不帶它出去散步呢？你為什么明天不帶它來學校，讓我們大家看看呢？”老師說。他把眼鏡往鼻梁上推了推，看著全班同學，“你們認為杰克明天難道不應該帶他的寵物恐龍來給大家看看嗎？”他笑了，班上其他同學也都笑了。

The next day， Jake brought the dinosaur into school. It wasnt easy， because the dinosaur hadnt been out of his garage before. At first the dinosaur didnt want to go. Jake put some meat from the fridge on the floor for the dinosaur to eat. Now the dinosaur followed7 him out of the house， along the street and to the bus stop. Quite a few people seemed surprised， and some of them were even scared when Jake got on the bus with his dinosaur， but the dinosaur seemed quite happy. The dinosaur put his nose into an old ladys shopping bag and stole8 a chicken out of it. The old lady screamed9， and the ticket inspector10 came.

第二天，杰克將恐龍帶進了學校。這并不容易，因為恐龍以前從未離開過他的車庫。起初，恐龍不想走。杰克從冰箱里拿出一些肉，放在地板上讓恐龍吃?，F(xiàn)在，恐龍跟著他走出屋子，沿著街道走到了公交車站。不少人似乎感到很驚訝，而當杰克帶恐龍上巴士時，其中一些人甚至感到害怕，但恐龍似乎很高興?？铸垖⒈亲由爝M一位老太太的購物袋里，從中偷走了一只雞。老太太尖叫起來，檢票員走了過來。

“Oi！” said the ticket inspector. “Has that thing got a ticket？” Jake showed the ticket inspector the bus ticket which he had bought for the dinosaur. And then the ticket inspector went away， but the old lady was still very unhappy. Jake had to say sorry for the chicken his dinosaur had stolen， and then got off the bus at the next stop. He had to walk all the rest of the way to his school， and when he got there he was late.

“喂！”檢票員說，“那東西有票嗎？”杰克向檢票員出示了他為恐龍買的車票，然后檢票員就走了，但老太太仍然很不高興。所以杰克不得不為恐龍偷了那只雞而道歉，然后在下一站下車。剩下的路程他只得一路走到學校，到達的時候，他遲到了。

Everyone screamed when he walked into his classroom. Jake couldnt understand why. His teacher was looking at him in horror11. Actually， no， his teacher wasnt staring at Jake in horror， he was staring at the dinosaur in horror. Jake couldnt understand what the problem was. “But， sir，” he said to his teacher， “You told me to bring the dinosaur to school！”

他走進教室時，每個人都尖叫起來，杰克不明白為什么。他的老師驚恐地盯著他。實際上，不，他的老師不是在驚恐地盯著杰克，而是在驚恐地盯著恐龍。杰克不明白問題出在什么地方。“但是，先生，”他對老師說，“是您叫我把恐龍帶到學校的！”

His teacher had shouted， “Out！ Out！ Everybody out！” when Jake had come in with his dinosaur. The teacher and all the other children had run out of the classroom， leaving Jake on his own with his dinosaur. Jake couldnt understand why everybody was so afraid of his dinosaur. He thought his dinosaur was pretty friendly.

當杰克帶著恐龍進來時，他的老師大喊：“出去！出去！大家都出去！”老師和所有其他孩子都跑出了教室，只剩下杰克和他的恐龍。杰克不明白為什么每個人都這么害怕他的恐龍。他覺得恐龍很友好。

Less than one hour later Jake was sitting on his own in the school， only Jake and his dinosaur. There was lots and lots of noise outside. Jake could hear the police cars， people shouting， and the sound of helicopters12 flying overhead. He looked out of the window of his classroom and waved13 at all the people.

不到一個小時之后，杰克獨自坐在學校里，只有他和他的恐龍。外面很吵，杰克可以聽到警車聲，人們的喊叫聲，以及直升機在頭頂飛過的聲音。他從教室的窗戶向外望去，向所有人招手。

“Jake！” shouted one of the police officers outside， “Can you hear me？ Let us know if youre OK！” Jake smiled and waved at the police officers.

“杰克！”外面一名警察大喊，“你能聽到我說話嗎？如果你還安全，請告訴我們！”杰克向警察微笑還揮了揮手。

“Im fine！” he shouted. The dinosaur sat in the classroom and started to eat some of the childrens schoolbooks. Jake could see that it was getting bored. He took the dogs lead and put it on the dinosaur again， and took the dinosaur out of the classroom into the schoolyard， where all the people were.

“我很好！”他喊道。恐龍坐在教室里，開始吃孩子的課本。杰克可以看出來它開始覺得無聊了。他拿過狗繩重新套到恐龍身上，然后把它帶出教室，來到所有人都在的運動場。

As soon as they went outside， a policeman took Jake and a big net fell down on the dinosaur. A group of scientists took the dinosaur in the net， put him in a big truck and drove off.

他們一出來，一名警察就抓住了杰克，一張巨大的網(wǎng)落在恐龍身上。一群科學家們抓住了網(wǎng)里的恐龍，把它放在一輛大卡車上開車走了。

“Wait！” shouted Jake. “Where are they going with my dinosaur？”

“等等！”杰克大喊，“他們帶我的恐龍去哪里？”

“Theyre taking him to the zoo，” said a policeman. “Hell be safe there.”

“他們帶它去動物園，”警察說，“它在那里會很安全?！?/p>

Jake felt pretty sad when he got home. He didnt even care that he was on the television news， and his picture was on the front page of newspapers all over the world. He missed his dinosaur. When everyone had gone to bed that night， he went out to the garage again， and found another egg.

杰克回家后感到非常難過。他甚至都不在乎自己出現(xiàn)在電視新聞里，他的照片上了世界各地報紙的頭版。他想念他的恐龍。當晚，在大家都上床睡覺后，他又去了車庫，然后發(fā)現(xiàn)了另一個蛋。

【Notes】

1. dinosaur ?n. 恐龍

2. garage ?n. 車庫

3. touch ?v. 接觸;輕按

4. realise ?vt. 認識到，明白

5. lie ?vt. 謊騙 vi. 躺;說謊

6. decide ?vi. 決定，下決心

7. follow ?vt. 跟隨;遵循 vi. 跟隨;接著

8. steal ?vt. 剽竊;偷

9. scream ?vi. 尖叫

10. inspector ?n. 檢查員;巡視員

11. horror ?n. 驚駭;令人恐怖的事物

12. helicopter ?n. [航] 直升飛機

13. wave ?v. 揮手;揮手示意