内容简介
Ramona Quimby is the youngest of all the famous characters in Mrs. Cleary's wonderful Henry Huggins stories. She is also far and away the most deadly. Readers of the earlier books will remember that Ramona has always been a menace to Beezus, her older sister, to Henry, and to his dog Ribsy. It is not that Ramona deliberately sets out to make trouble for other people. She simply has more imagination than is healthy for any one person.
In this book Ramona and her imagination really come into their own. Starting with a fairly mild encounter with the librarian, which is harder on Beezus than anyone else, Ramona goes from strength to strength, winding up by inviting her entire kindergarten class to a part at her home without mentioning it to her mother. The riot that ensues is probably the most hilarious episode in this extremely funny book, which proves that Mrs. Cleary's imagination is almost as lively as Ramona's.
作者简介
Beverly Cleary was born in McMinnville, Oregon, and until she was old enough to attend school she lived on a farm in Yamhill, a town so small it had no library. Her mother arranged to have books sent to their tiny town from the state library and acted as a librarian in a room over a bank. It was there that Mrs. Cleary learned to love books. Generations of children have grown up with Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, Ralph Mouse, and all of their friends, families, and assorted pets. Beverly Cleary continues to capture the hearts and imaginations of children of all ages throughout the world.
精彩书摘
Beatrice Quimby's biggest problem was her little sister Ramona. Beatrice, or Beezus (as everyone called her, because that was what Ramona had called her when she first learned to talk), knew other nine-year-old girls who had little sisters who went to nursery school, but she did not know anyone with a little sister like Ramona.
Beezus felt that the biggest trouble with fouryear-old Ramona was that she was just plain exasperating. If Ramona drank lemonade through a straw, she blew into the straw as hard as she could to see what would happen. If she played with her finger paints in the front yard, she wiped her hands on the neighbors' cat. That was the exasperating sort of thing Ramona did. And then there was the way she behaved about her favorite book.
It all began one afternoon after school when Beezus was sitting in her father's big chair embroidering a laughing teakettle on a pot holder for one of her aunts for Christmas. She was trying to embroider this one neatly, because she planned to give it to Aunt Beatrice, who was Mother's younger sister and Beezus' most special aunt.
With gray thread Beezus carefully outlined the steam coming from the teakettle's spout and thought about her pretty young aunt, who was always so gay and so understanding. No wonder she was Mother's favorite sister. Beezus hoped to be exactly like Aunt Beatrice when she grew up. She wanted to be a fourth-grade teacher and drive a yellow convertible and live in an apartment house with an elevator and a buzzer that opened the front door. Because she was named after Aunt Beatrice, Beezus felt she might be like her in other ways, too.
While Beezus was sewing, Ramona, holding a mouth organ in her teeth, was riding around the living room on her tricycle. Since she needed both hands to steer the tricycle, she could blow in and out on only one note. This made the harmonica sound as if it were groaning oh dear, oh dear over and over again.
Beezus tried to pay no attention. She tied a small knot in the end of a piece of red thread to embroider the teakettle's laughing mouth. "Conceal a knot as you would a secret," Grandmother always said.
Inhaling and exhaling into her mouth organ, Ramona closed her eyes and tried to pedal around the coffee table without looking.
"Ramona!" cried Beezus. "Watch where you're going!"
When Ramona crashed into the coffee table, she opened her eyes again. Oh dear, oh dear, moaned the harmonica. Around and around pedaled Ramona, inhaling and exhaling.
Beezus looked up from her pot holder. "Ramona, why don't you play with Bendix for a while?" Bendix was Ramona's favorite doll. Ramona thought Bendix was the most beautiful name in the world.
Ramona took the harmonica out of her mouth. "No," she said. "Read my Scoopy book to me."
"Oh, Ramona, not Scoopy," protested Beezus. "We've read Scoopy so many times."
Instead of answering, Ramona put her harmonica between her teeth again and pedaled around the room, inhaling and exhaling. Beezus had to lift up her feet every time Ramona rode by.
The knot in Beezus' thread pulled through the material of her pot holder, and she gave up trying to conceal it as she would a secret and tied a bigger knot. Finally, tired of trying to keep her feet out of Ramona's way, she put clown her embroidery. "All right, Ramona," she said. "If I read about Scoopy, will you stop riding your tricycle around the living room and making so much noise?"
"Yes," said Ramona, and climbed off her tricycle. She ran into the bedroom she shared with Beezus and returned with a battered, dog-eared, sticky book, which she handed to Beezus. Then she climbed into the big chair beside Beezus and Waited expectantly.
Reflecting that Ramona always managed to get her own way, Beezus gingerly took the book and looked at it with a feeling of great dislike. It was called The Littlest Steam Shovel. On the cover was a picture of a steam shovel with big tears coming out of its eyes. How could a steam shovel have eyes, Beezus thought and, scarcely looking at the words, began for what seemed like the hundredth or maybe the thousandth time, "Once there was a little steam shovel named Scoopy. One day Scoopy said, 'I do not want to be a steam shovel. I want to be a bulldozer.'"
"You skipped," interrupted Ramona.
"No, I didn't," said Beezus.
"Yes you did," insisted Ramona. "You're supposed to say, 'I want to be a big bulldozer.'"
"Oh, all right," said Beezus crossly. "'I want to be a big bulldozer.'"
Ramona smiled contentedly and Beezus continued reading. "'G-r-r-r,' said Scoopy, doing his best to sound like a bulldozer."
Beezus read on through Scoopy's failure to be a bulldozer. She read about Scoopy's wanting to be a trolley bus ("Beep-beep," honked Ramona), a locomotive ("A-hooey, a-hooey," wailed Ramona), and a pile driver ("Clunk! Clunk!" shouted Ramona). Beezus was glad when she finally reached the end of the story and Scoopy learned it was best for little steam shovels to be steam shovels. "There!" she said with relief, and closed the book. She always felt foolish trying to make noises like machinery.
前言/序言
《小小探险家系列:迷雾森林的秘密》 作者: [虚构作者名,例如:艾米丽·卡特] 译者: [虚构译者名,例如:李明] 适合年龄: 8-12岁 装帧: 精装 页数: 约320页 内容简介: 在宁静祥和的橡树镇边缘,坐落着一片古老而神秘的森林——迷雾森林。传说这片森林深处隐藏着一个失落已久的秘密,但很少有人敢于深入探索,因为那里常年笼罩着一层薄薄的、令人捉摸不透的雾气,据说那是某种古老力量的守护。 我们的故事围绕着三个性格迥异却又无比要好的小伙伴展开: 主人公一:莉莉安·“莉莉”·格林 (Lillian "Lily" Green) 莉莉是个充满好奇心和冒险精神的女孩,她有一头蓬松的红色卷发和一双总是闪烁着求知欲的翠绿色眼睛。她对自然科学和古老传说有着异乎寻常的热情。莉莉的口袋里永远塞满了放大镜、记事本、各种奇形怪状的石头和她自己绘制的简易地图。她坚信迷雾森林里的雾气并非普通的自然现象,而是某种未被发现的生物或能量场的体现。她最大的愿望是成为一名真正的博物学家,解开自然界的一切谜团。 主人公二:迈克尔·“迈克”·陈 (Michael "Mike" Chen) 迈克是团队中的技术担当和务实派。他戴着一副略大的方形眼镜,思维缜密,对机械和逻辑推理有着惊人的天赋。他总是随身携带着一个自制的“多功能工具包”,里面塞满了指南针、绳索、应急灯,甚至还有一个他自己组装的简易信号发射器。尽管他对那些鬼怪传说持怀疑态度,但他对“解密”过程本身非常着迷。迈克认为,任何谜团都有其科学的解释,而他们要做的,就是找到那个解释。 主人公三:山姆·“山姆叔叔”·詹金斯 (Sam "Uncle Sam" Jenkins) 山姆是三人组里最年长、最沉稳的一员(虽然他只有11岁)。他拥有一股与年龄不符的沉静气质,擅长交际和谈判,并且对当地历史有着深入的了解。他的祖父曾是橡树镇的护林员,留下了许多关于森林的笔记和传说故事。山姆的专长是解读古老的符号和辨认植物的特性。他负责保障团队的安全,并时常扮演着调和莉莉的冲动和迈克的过度分析的角色。 故事开端:失落的星盘 故事的导火索是一张泛黄的羊皮纸地图。这张地图是山姆的祖父留下的遗产的一部分,地图上标注着一个只有在特定时间——夏至日午夜——才会显现的标记,它指向迷雾森林深处的一处被称为“回音石阵”的地方。随地图附带的,是一枚古老而锈迹斑斑的黄铜圆盘,莉莉兴奋地断定,这可能是一个失落已久的“星盘”,用于定位某种隐藏的能量点。 橡树镇的老人们对此讳莫如深,他们告诫孩子们远离迷雾森林,称那里是“被时间遗忘的地方”。但正是这些警告,激发了三个小伙伴更强烈的探索欲望。 深入迷雾:挑战与发现 在做好充分准备后,三人组决定在夏至夜,趁着月色掩护,潜入迷雾森林。 第一重考验:迷失方向。 森林里的雾气不仅浓密,而且似乎具有迷惑性。指南针开始失灵,熟悉的地标仿佛瞬间消失。迈克不得不抛弃传统的导航方法,转而依靠他对苔藓生长方向和水流声的细微观察来判断方位。他们发现,雾气似乎会随着他们的思维波动而变化,只有保持绝对的平静和专注,才能勉强辨认出正确的路径。 第二重考验:古老的守护者。 在穿越一片布满巨大蕨类植物的区域时,他们遭遇了一群行动迅捷、动作敏捷的“夜行者”——一种从未在当地生物图鉴中出现过的、长着奇异羽毛的小型生物。这些生物并非恶意,但它们守护着通往石阵的唯一桥梁。莉莉利用她收集的夜间会发光的浆果作为诱饵,成功分散了它们的注意力,赢得了通过的时间。 第三重考验:符号之谜。 抵达回音石阵后,他们发现那些巨大的石头上刻满了复杂的、仿佛星空排列的符号。这些符号正是羊皮纸地图上缺失的那一部分关键信息。迈克利用他的笔记本电脑(带着一个自制的高能电池包)拍摄下符号,并利用祖父留下的笔记中记载的古代天文知识进行比对。他发现,这些符号不是文字,而是一套复杂的坐标系统。 星盘的真正用途 当夏至日的午夜钟声敲响时,星盘的中心开始发出微弱的光芒。莉莉按照迈克计算出的坐标,将星盘对准了石阵中特定的三块石头。 那一刻,迷雾彻底散开,但出现的景象并非他们预想中的宝藏或金银财宝,而是一片充满奇特光影的地下空间。 他们发现,迷雾森林的“秘密”并非某种实体,而是一个古老文明遗留下来的“自然能源观测站”。星盘是用来校准这个观测站能量流动的关键工具。这个能量流与森林中独特的生态系统息息相关,它能让某些植物以惊人的速度生长,也能解释为什么森林中的雾气具有轻微的磁场干扰效应。 成长的领悟 在接下来的几个小时里,三人组不仅仅是解开了谜题,更重要的是学会了合作的真正意义: 莉莉学会了克制自己的冲动,将激情转化为专注的观察。 迈克认识到,科学不仅是冰冷的公式,它也可以用来解读自然界最神奇的现象。 山姆巩固了自己作为团队粘合剂的角色,理解了传承的力量。 他们决定保守这个发现的秘密,只是稍微调整了星盘的校准,确保森林的能量平衡不被破坏。当他们黎明时分悄悄回到家中时,橡树镇依旧沉睡,没有人知道,三个孩子刚刚完成了一次超越想象的探险,并成为了守护迷雾森林秘密的新一代“守护者”。 本书亮点: 硬核解谜与自然科学的完美结合: 融合了天文、地质学和植物学的知识点,让阅读过程充满学习的乐趣。 团队合作的典范: 展现了不同性格的孩子如何通过互相弥补缺点,达成共同目标。 氛围营造: 细腻地描绘了夜晚森林的神秘、紧张与最终的壮丽景象,代入感极强。 本土化的冒险: 故事背景设定在一个看似普通却暗藏玄机的“小镇”,非常贴近小读者的生活经验。 《小小探险家系列:迷雾森林的秘密》是一部关于勇气、智慧和友谊的冒险故事,它鼓励小读者们用好奇心去探索身边未被发掘的世界,并相信即使是最浓厚的迷雾,也终将被求知的勇气所驱散。