the Palace

美音、自然拼读、分级阅读与词汇复习

I thought the massive wall I created when the creatures were chasing Uncle Jasper, Seth, Odie, and me was impressive.

我以为生物们在追贾斯珀叔叔 赛斯、奥迪和我时 所造出的巨大墙 令我印象深刻

Now, as we witness the intricacy, complexity, and delicacy of the Queen’s palace, my wall seems crude—the difference between a child scribbling with crayons and the Mona Lisa.

现在,当我们见证了王后宫殿的复杂、复杂和精致,我的墙看起来很粗糙——一个用蜡笔打字的孩子和蒙娜丽莎之间的区别。

Towers stretch into the atmosphere, seemingly supported by nothing more than tendrils of stone surrounding prismatic stained glass windows.

塔身伸入大气中,似乎仅由坚硬的玻璃玻璃窗周围的石质图案支撑。

The central building sparkles as if covered with precious stones.

中央建筑一闪一闪 仿佛被宝石所覆盖

After days of trudging silently through nearly pitch-black forests and avoiding the mutated cephaloids, this beacon of beauty and civilization is a wonder to behold.

在经过了数天的悄悄地穿行了近乎漆黑的森林,并避开了被变异的克帕洛德人后,这个美丽和文明的灯塔令人惊奇。

Even as we watch from the underbrush at the edge of the trees, the building changes.

即便我们从树边的倒灌木棚看时,建筑物也会变.

A tower transforms into an arched walkway between two other towers.

一座塔会变成另一两座塔之间的拱形走道.

A wall extends outward, creating a new room as windows appear, grow, and fill with glass.

墙向外延伸,随着窗户的出现、成长和被玻璃填满而形成一个新的房间。

The roof of the main building seems to disintegrate, then congeal itself into another story.

主楼的屋顶似乎已经分崩离析,再把自己收缩成另一个故事.

“If she’s using this kind of power, we may already be too late,” Uncle Jasper whispers.

" 如果她在使用这种权力,我们可能已经太迟了, " 贾斯珀叔叔低语了。

“I’m not giving up on Sarah, Jake, and Anna,” I retort, probably too loudly.

“我不会放弃莎拉、杰克和安娜,”我退缩了,可能太大声了。

“I’m not suggesting that, but navigating the castle will be like going through a labyrinth that changes with the Queen’s whims.”

" 我不是在暗示,但是在城堡中航行就像穿过一个迷宫,随着女王的一时冲动而改变. “

“If I can build the Great Wall of China in a matter of seconds, I can find our friends in there.”

“如果我能在几秒钟内建造出中国的长城,我可以在那里找到我们的朋友。 “

“The Queen would know the moment you used your power,” Uncle Jasper sighs.

“女王会知道你用你的力量的那一刻,”贾斯珀叔叔叹气。

“Then we’ d be trapped, and she’ d take Sarah, Jake, and Anna somewhere else.

" 然后我们被困住,她把莎拉、杰克和安娜带到了别的地方。

If we had the other cephaloids, we could create a distraction.”

如果我们有其他的 Cephaloids, 我们可以制造分心。 “

Seth snorts and says, “I’m not the one who scuttled in the opposite direction and then had the girl construct an insurmountable wall between us and them.”

塞斯吸了口水,说:“我不是那个朝相反方向砍去,然后让女孩在我们和她们之间筑起一堵不可逾越的墙的人。 “

Seth and Uncle Jasper repeated this argument continuously during our trek, and hearing it again sets my teeth on edge.

赛斯和贾斯珀叔叔在旅途中不断重复这个论点,听到它再次让我的牙齿陷入了边缘.

Uncle Jasper has a point about my power, though that doesn’t help with my desire to imagine the entire palace being pulled apart brick by brick, pane by pane.

贾斯珀叔叔对我的能力有一点看法,

I take a deep breath, then another one, focusing my mind on absolutely nothing.

我深呼吸,然后又呼吸一次, 集中精力于绝对没有。

Over the past days, Seth has been teaching me different techniques to clear and calm my mind because if I focus too much on one thing, it could manifest—and alert the Queen.

过去几天,赛斯一直在教我不同的技巧来澄清和平息我的思想,因为如果我过于专注于一件事,那它就能够显现出来——并提醒女王.

“So it’s subterfuge, then,” Seth says with a mischievous smile from his perch on Odie’s back.

“所以,这是潜入, Seth说,

After their initial tension, they have become quite a pair, with Seth calling Odie his mighty steed.

在他们最初的紧张状态后,他们已经变得相当一对了,赛斯称奥迪为他强大的战马.

“Most excellent.

“最出色的是,

I’ve already devised a sufficiently simple strategy.

我已经设计了一个足够简单的策略。

As these structures engage in their transformations, they essentially become fluid, meaning one could simply pass through—” “Or get buried alive,” Uncle Jasper snaps.

随着这些结构的转变,它们基本上变得活泼,意味着人们可以简单地通过......”。 " 或者被活埋" 贾斯珀叔叔断了

“It’s too risky.”

“这太冒险了。 “

“What other choice do we have?”

“我们还有别的选择吗? “

I interrupt, my frustration boiling over.

我打断一下,我的挫折感正在沸腾

“Do you have something that would get us in any faster?

“你有什么能让我们更快进入的东西吗?

I could go up and knock on the front door.”

我可以上去敲门 “

Uncle Jasper is quiet for a while as he looks at the ground.

贾斯珀叔叔在看地时很安静

Finally, he says, “Okay, but we go after dark.”

最后,他说,“好吧,但我们是在天黑后走的。 “

“The Queen may be finished making her modifications by then,” Seth warns.

Seth警告说,

“ After dark,” Uncle Jasper replies firmly, leaving no room for argument, and we go about making ourselves comfortable as we wait for the sun to set.

“...... 在天黑后,“贾斯珀叔叔坚决回答,没有留任何辩论的余地,我们在等待太阳落下时,继续让自己感到舒适。

I lie down in a tuft of long grass between two tree roots and am soon fast asleep.

我躺在两棵树根之间的长草地上 很快就睡着了

Uncle Jasper shakes me awake, and I rub my eyes and stretch.

贾斯珀叔叔让我醒了 我擦了眼睛并伸展了

Just beyond the tree line, the night sky spreads overhead, but the stars are nothing compared to the shimmering beauty of the palace.

就在树线外,夜空会向上蔓延,但相较于宫殿中闪闪发光的美貌,星星却无所事事.

It’s as if each window has a flickering flame behind it, and each piece of stone is covered with shifting, reflective scales.

每一块石头上都覆盖着可移动而反射的平面。

“It’s beautiful,” I say.

" 这是美丽的, " 我说。

“Sure, except all that light is going to make our job more difficult,” Uncle Jasper grumbles.

“当然,除了这些光将使我们的工作更加困难之外,”贾斯珀叔叔抱怨道。

“It seems quiet, so we should make our move now.”

“这似乎很平静,因此我们现在应该采取行动。 “

A few moments later, we’re running down the hill, crouching as low as we can, trying to stay silent.

几分钟后,我们跑下山去, 蹲得尽可能低,

Even Odie picks up on the tension and becomes almost like a shadow—albeit a shadow with a cephaloid on its back.

连Odie也抓住了紧张,变得几乎像一副影子——尽管背上是一副有青色素的影子。

We arrive at one of the palace’s outer walls.

我们到达了宫殿外墙之一。

Both Jasper and I look at Seth with an expression that asks what we should do next.

贾斯珀和我都用一种表达来看待赛斯 问我们下一步该做什么

He seems unperturbed, as if he knows what will happen.

他似乎毫无烦恼 好像他知道会发生什么事

Suddenly, an opening appears on the wall and becomes a large window.

突然,墙上出现了一扇开口,变成了一扇大窗.

From the top, what looks like shimmering liquid glass cascades down.

从顶部看,像闪光的液态玻璃级联倒下。

Without a word, the four of us bolt through the opening and into the castle.

没有一句话,我们四个人就冲入城堡

We stand in what could be a dining hall (if someone wanted to feed the population of a small city) at the end of a table so long it disappears into the distance.

我们站在一个餐厅里(如果有人想喂饱一个小城市的人口),

Empty chairs sit at regular intervals before extravagant table settings.

空椅子在奢侈的桌子设置之前定期坐着。

Somehow, though, everything appears off-kilter, as if the lines and edges don’t meet at the right angles, or the wrong things are exaggerated in the decorations.

似乎线条和边缘没有在正确的角度相会, 或是装饰中夸大错误。

The effect is unnerving.

效果是让人不安。

Across the room, we find a thick wooden door held together by iron straps.

在房间里,我们发现一个厚厚的木门 被铁带绑住

It opens easily.

它很容易打开。

Uncle Jasper quickly ushers us through, and we’re in another hall, this one with low ceilings and burning torches set into the walls.

贾斯珀叔叔很快带我们穿过, 我们又在另一间大厅,

Wooden doors identical to the one we have just come through line the hall at random.

木头门和我们刚走的一样 随意穿过大厅

An earthy smell permeates everything, reminding me of a cave.

土气味渗透了一切 让我想起了洞穴

Uncle Jasper picks up one of the torches, and we follow him, trying not to make noise on the stone floor.

贾斯珀叔叔拿起一把火把 我们跟着他 尽量不要在石地板上出声

The hall curves and bends, seemingly back in on itself, though it never crosses itself.

大厅会弯曲而弯曲,看起来自己又回到了过去,虽然它从未跨越过自己.

We hear nothing, see nothing, until we come around a bend and suddenly find a fluffy white cat sitting atop a ledge near the ceiling.

我们一无所闻,一无所见 直到我们来到一个弯道 突然发现一头毛发的白猫 坐在天花板附近的一旁

Seth has to restrain Odie’s excitement by wrapping tentacles around his muzzle, but the dog’s excited whines still emanate.

赛斯必须通过将触角包裹在他的口袋上来抑制奥迪的兴奋,

“You’re awfully brave,” the cat hisses in a voice I recognize but can’t place, “or incredibly stupid.”

「你非常勇敢」, 猫的口号我认得, “

“I would hope the former, but the latter could be relevant,” Seth quips.

“我希望前者,但后者可能具有相关性,”赛斯被批判。

“Who might you be?”

“你是谁? “

“Someone who wants to help you,” the cat says, though something about the way it licks its lips makes his statement unbelievable.

这只猫说, “有人想帮助你,”虽然关于舔嘴唇的方式,

“I’ve been waiting.

“我一直在等待。

We should keep moving forward.”

我们应该继续前进。 “

With the last sentence, something snaps into place in my mind and I realize who the cat is: “Thomas?”

用最后一句,我脑海中有些东西突然出现,我意识到猫是谁:“托马斯? “

“Very good, young Qynn,” the cat purrs and licks his paw.

“非常好,年轻的Qynn,” 猫会舔他的爪子。

“Thomas was the boy who led us through the Hollow and the Cave of the Lost to find you and Anna,” I explain to Uncle Jasper.

我向贾斯珀叔叔解释,“托马斯是带领我们穿过 " 洞穴 " 和 " 迷失之洞 " 来找到你和安娜的男孩。”

“What happened to you?

“你怎么了?

How’ d you get here?”

你怎么来到这里的? “

“He was one of those kids?”

“他是那些孩子之一吗? “

Uncle Jasper asks.

贾斯珀叔叔问。

“We can’t trust him—he’s one of the Queen’s minions.

" 我们不能相信他,他是女王的走狗之一。

Those children lured me and Anna into this world so she could capture us.”

那些孩子引诱我和安娜进入这个世界 这样她就能抓住我们 “

“I won’t lie.

" 我不会撒谎。

I did bring you all here, but not entirely for the reasons you think,” Thomas sighs.

我确实把你们都带到了这里,但并非完全出于你们认为的原因,“托马斯·叹息。

“This is my world.

“这是我的世界。

I’m part of it, but I was trapped on the other side of the door—we all were.

但我被困在门的另一边,

You see, for you to cross into our world, it requires very little energy because reality for you is solid and consistent.

你看,要你跨入我们的世界, 它需要很少的能量, 因为现实对于你来说是坚固和连贯的。

Something like me requires an incredible amount of energy, not only to cross over but also to maintain my existence.”

像我这样的人需要惊人的能量 不仅需要交叉 还要保持我的存在 “

Thomas jumps down from his perch and sits before us, looking each one of us in the eye as he speaks: “We discovered this when Mother sent us over.

托马斯从他的地盘上跳下来,坐在我们面前,在说话的时候看着我们每个人的眼睛: “当母亲送我们过来时,我们发现了这一点。

Mother was already weak from creating us.

母亲已经无力创造我们

Sending us to your world took an even greater toll; she didn’t have enough will left to bring us back.

送我们去你们的世界,

“We were to find people with strong imaginations that Mother could convince to help her maintain her world here, and once she was strong enough, she would bring us back.

“我们发现人们有着强烈的想象力,母亲可以说服他们帮助她维护自己的世界,一旦她足够强大,她就会把我们带回来。

“Many of us were lost in your world for a long time, unable to pull ourselves together enough to even be seen, but over time we learned that if we were around certain people with exceptional imaginations, we could manifest.

“我们许多人在你们的世界中迷失了很长时间,无法团结在一起,甚至无法被人看到,但随着时间的推移,我们了解到,如果我们在有非凡想象力的某些人周围,我们就能表现出来。

“Eventually, we learned to spur people’s imaginations to make ourselves stronger, and then we brought them over to our world.

“最终,我们学会了激发人们的想象力,使自己更强大,然后我们把他们带到我们的世界去。

Jasper, you were not the first—there were others before you.

贾斯珀,你不是第一个... 在你之前还有其他人

Mother never came to bring us back, but we held on to our hope that someday we could go home.”

母亲从不来带我们回来 但我们一直希望有一天我们能回家 “

Thomas is silent for a moment, as if lost in memory or sadness, before starting again.

托马斯沉默了一会儿,仿佛在记忆或悲伤中迷失了,然后重新开始。

“When you, Sarah, and Jake came to the mill, you were so strong that we could all manifest easily.

“当你、莎拉和杰克来到磨坊时,你如此坚强,我们都能轻易地表现出来。

That had never happened before, and so I thought you must be the ones who could make Mother strong enough.

这种事以前从未发生过 所以我觉得你一定能让妈妈足够强壮

Then, when you went through the door, I don’t know what came over me, but I followed you.

然后,当你穿过门时,我不知道我怎么了,但我跟着你。

To my surprise, I made it, though I was much changed.”

令人惊讶的是,我做到了,虽然我改变了很多。 “

“That must have been Sarah,” I say, and Thomas the cat nods.

“那一定是莎拉,”我说,还有猫点头的托马斯。

“I convinced Sarah and Jake to trust me and brought them to Mother, expecting.

“我说服莎拉和杰克信任我,并将他们带到母亲面前,期待。

I don’t know what I expected.

我不知道自己期望什么。

Once she had the two of them in her clutches, she walked away from me like I was nothing—again.

一旦她把她们两个放在她手里,她就把我从我身边走开,就像我什么都不是一样。

She has more power than ever, and she made no effort to save my brothers and sisters in your world.”

她拥有比以往更多的力量,她没有为拯救你世界中我的兄弟姐妹而努力. “

“I still don’t trust you,” Uncle Jasper says.

我仍不信任你,

“That’s understandable,” Thomas replies, “since you have no reason to, yet.

“这是可以理解的,”托马斯回答说,“因为你还没有理由这样做。

I was telling the truth when I said I wanted to help you, and to prove it, I’ll take you to Anna.”

我说的是实话,当时我说我想帮助你,为了证明这一点,我带你去见安娜。

With that, Thomas bounds down the hallway, and we follow as fast as we can.

托马斯沿着走廊走,我们尽可能快地走

After a few minutes, he stops short in front of a door that looks completely out of place.

几分钟后,他停在一扇看似完全出乎意料的门前.

It is white, with four panels and a knob— the kind of door you’ d see in any modern house.

这是白色的,有四个面板和一个把手 -- -- 这是你在任何现代房子里看到的门。

“In there,” Thomas says, almost fearfully.

托马斯说:“在那里,”几乎令人恐惧。

Uncle Jasper hesitantly reaches for the knob, holding me back with his other hand.

贾斯珀叔叔犹豫不决地抓住了把手 用他的另一只手把我拖回了家

A gust of fresh air hits us as we look inside to see a room about the size of my bedroom at home.

一阵新鲜空气打中了我们 我们看着里面看到一个房间 和我家里卧室大小差不多

A crib sits in one corner and a bed in the other.

一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一

The place looks neglected: cracked walls with peeling wallpaper that once held bright balloons, tattered bedding, and a worn floor with piles of sand in the corner.

这个地方看起来被忽略了:墙壁被破碎了,墙上曾拿着明亮的气球,被破碎了的被褥,一地被磨损了,角落有一堆沙子。

In the center of the room, a woman sits in a creaking rocking chair, holding a bundle of blankets.

在房间中央,一个女人坐在摇摇晃晃的椅子上,拿着一捆被子.

The woman coos and sings a sweet song.

女相和唱出一首甜歌来.

She pulls her black hair streaked with gray away from her face, and Uncle Jasper gasps, “ Anna.”

她把头发从脸上取出灰发,

“She can’t hear you,” Thomas explains.

托马斯解释道,

“She’s so lost in the illusion that it’s become her reality.

“她如此迷失在幻觉中,

We’re like ghosts to her.”

我们就像幽灵一样。 “

“She looks so happy,” Uncle Jasper says.

贾斯珀叔叔说,

“She would.

“她会的。

To her, everything here seems perfect and wonderful.”

对她来说,这里的一切看起来都完美而美妙. “

“What’s she holding?”

她拿着什么? “

I ask.

我问.

“In her mind, it’s baby Sarah in all her wiggling pink cuteness,” Thomas says.

托马斯说,

“Why don’t we see a baby?”

我们为什么不看到婴儿? “

“Because she’s so far into the illusion that Mother only has to keep a modicum of maintenance to satisfy her.

她认为母亲只需保留一点生活费就可以满足。

Often, people see what they want to see to keep from facing the truth.

人们往往看到他们想要看到的,以免面对真相。

It’s easier to stay in a world of fantasy than deal with the pain of reality.”

面对现实的痛苦, “

“What do we do now?”

“我们现在该怎么办? “

I ask.

我问.

“How do we snap her out of it?”

“我们如何让她摆脱困境? “

“I know a way,” Uncle Jasper says.

贾斯珀叔叔说,