The cyclone

Lyman Frank Baum

萊曼·弗蘭克·鮑姆（Lyman Frank Baum，1856—1919），美國兒童文學作家，1856年出生于紐約州。他的父親是個桶匠，后來到賓夕法尼亞州開采石油并發了財。鮑姆的童年是在父親的大莊園里度過的，他從小體弱多病，受到家人的特別關照。他對童話和幻想故事非常迷戀，這也使他創作了多部兒童文學作品。

本文節選自萊曼·弗蘭克·鮑姆的《綠野仙蹤》，節選時有刪改。善良的小姑娘多蘿茜被一場龍卷風刮到了一個陌生而神奇的國度——奧茲國，她陸續結識了沒有腦子的稻草人、沒有心臟的鐵皮人和十分膽小的獅子，遇到了許多稀奇古怪的事情。最終，他們憑借自己非凡的智慧和頑強的毅力，都如愿以償地完成了自己的心愿……

Dorothy lived in a small house in Kansas, with Uncle Henry, Aunt Em, and a little black dog called Toto.

There were no trees and no hills in Kansas, and it was often very windy.Sometimes the wind came very fast and very suddenly.That was a cyclone, and it could blow trees, people and buildings away.There were cellars (地下室) under all the houses.And when a cyclone came, people went down into their cellars and stayed there.One day, Uncle Henry came out and looked up at the sky.Then he ran quickly back into the house.

“There's a cyclone coming,”he called to Aunt Em and Dorothy.“We must go down into the cellar!”

They ran to the door of the cellar, but Toto was afraid, and he ran under the bed.Dorothy ran after him.

“Quick!”shouted Aunt Em from the cellar.“Leave the dog and come down into the cellar!”

Dorothy picked up Toto and ran to the cellar door.But before she got there, the cyclone had hit the house.And then a very strange thing happened.The house moved,and then it went slowly up into the sky.Aunt Em and Uncle Henry were down in the cellar under the ground, but the house,Dorothy and Toto went up to the top of the cyclone.Dorothy looked through the open cellar door and saw hills and houses, a long way down.She closed the cellar door quickly.The wind blew the house along for many hours.At first,Dorothy was afraid.

“But we can't do anything about it,”she said to Toto.“So let's wait and see.”And after two or three hours, she and Toto went to sleep.When Dorothy opened her eyes again, the house was on the ground and everything was quiet.She picked up Toto, opened the door, and went out.They saw tall trees and beautiful flowers, and little houses with blue doors.Dorothy gave a little cry.“This isn't Kansas, Toto! And who are these people?”

There were three very short men in blue hats, coats and trousers, and a little old woman in a beautiful white dress.The woman walked up to Dorothy and said,“Thank you! Thank you! Now the people are free!”

“Why are you thanking me?”Dorothy asked.

“You killed the Witch (女巫) of the East,”said the woman.“She was a bad witch, and her people, the Munchkins,were very afraid of her.Now she is dead.We and the Munchkins want to thank you.”The little old woman and the three little men all smiled happily at Dorothy,but Dorothy did not understand.

“But I didn't kill anybody!”she said.

“Your house fell on the Witch,”laughed the little woman.“Look! You can see her feet!”

Dorothy looked, and saw two feet,with red shoes, under the house.Suddenly,one of the Munchkins gave a shout.“Look!Her feet are disappearing in the hot sun.”A second later, there were only the red shoes.

“Good,”said the little woman.She picked up the shoes and gave them to Dorothy.“They're your shoes now.You must wear them, because a witch's shoes can sometimes do wonderful things.”

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