在很远很远的地方，有一座美丽的小岛坐落在水晶之海正中间，它的名字叫作奇遇岛。岛上有一片小小的空地，就藏在荆棘藤蔓和长刺的灌木中。空地上长着怪里怪气的噼啪树。这棵树一点儿也不好看，树干歪歪扭扭的，还长满了瘤子和疙瘩；树皮粗糙的枝条上出人意料地长着许多小小的花蕾，但是这些花蕾永远不会绽放。
奇遇岛上有一个广为流传的故事：永远不要碰噼啪树的花蕾，更不要把它们吃进肚子里去。因为如果吃了它的花蕾，这棵树就会越变越强壮，而吃下花蕾的人却会越来越衰弱。家长和老师会来来回回地把这件事讲给孩子们听：“千万不要靠近噼啪树，千万不要吃树上的花蕾！因为那些花蕾太甜、太诱人了，你只要吃过一次，就一定会忍不住再吃很多次的！”
这样的话乍听有点儿让人摸不着头脑，而且说到底，故事只是故事而已嘛。
Beyond the horizon, farther than far, in the middle of the Crystal Sea, is a beautiful island called Serendipity. On this island was heavy, dank thicket of thorny vines and branches that hid a small gloomy glade. In this glade there grew the strangest tree, the Crickle-Crack tree all twisted and gnarled. The tree was not pretty to look at all. On its scabbed bark branches grew mutated little flowers that only budded and never blossomed.
There is a story told by all on the Island of Serendipity that you are never to touch, let alone eat, the blossoms of the Crickle-Crack tree, for if you eat the blossoms you will grow weak and the tree will grow stronger. Families and teachers alike said the same thing over and over, “Never go near the tree and never, ever eat the buds. For the buds are too sweet and you’ll never be able to eat just one!”
When you heard it the first time it didn’t make a lot of sense, and then, again, it was only a story.
这片阴沉沉的小空地附近住着不少动物，比如熊、鹧鸪、兔子和负鼠。这里还生活着一只差不多是上学年纪的小松鼠，他的名字叫吱吱。
吱吱的生活中充满了爱与活力，他每天都拖着长长的银色大尾巴在树枝间钻来钻去，好奇地到处冒险，叽叽喳喳地对过路的其他动物讲自己又有了什么好玩的新发现。
就像奇遇岛上的所有小动物一样，老师和家长也对吱吱讲过噼啪树的故事。但是，和他听过的其他故事一样，他不知道这个故事到底是不是真事儿。
Now, near this hidden, gloomy glade lived a lot of creatures: partridges and possums, bears and bunnies and a young school-aged squirrel named Squeakers.
Squeakers was filled with love and life. Day after day he would scamper about the branches of the trees of island with his long silver tail bobbing behind him,looking for a bit of this and a bit of that. As he scampered about he would chitter and chatter to the other creatures as they walked by, telling them of all the wonderful things that he had seen.
Like all the creatures on the Island of Serendipity, Squeakers had been warned of the Crickle-Crack tree by his parents and teachers , but like a lot of stories he had been told, he didn’t know if it was true or not.
有一天，吱吱正穿越森林，走在上学的路上。他偶然路过了一片之前从来没见过的荆棘丛。
“这可真奇怪！”他一边想着，一边用力地拉开长着尖刺的藤蔓，“我还以为这片森林里没有我没去过的地方呢。”他扒开荆棘丛偷偷地看了一眼，发现眼前是一片阴森森的小空地，上面长着一棵怪模怪样的大树。
这个新发现让吱吱兴奋极了，他甚至觉得上学迟到一会儿也没什么大不了的。他小心翼翼地钻过荆棘丛，跑到那棵大树脚下。这可真是他见过的最奇怪的树！疙里疙瘩的树干上歪七扭八地伸出不少弯弯的树枝，树枝上长着许多雪白的小花蕾，小花蕾闪着奇妙的微光。
“哇！”吱吱惊讶地在树下坐了下来，“这一定就是爸爸妈妈跟我说过的噼啪树！”
One day, Squeakers, as he scampered through the forest on his way to school,happened upon a weird thicket of thorny vine; a place he had never seen before.
“This is strange,” he thought, as he pulled at the vines. “I thought I had seen all that there was to be seen in the forest.” He peered inside and in the middle of the thicket he could see a dark, gloomy glade wherein stood an odd-looking tree.
Curious about this discovery and sure that it was alright to be just a little late to school, he carefully slipped into the thicket of thorn and vine, and there was the tree in all its twisted glory — the oddest tree he had ever seen. Twisted branches wrapped themselves around a gnarled truck, and here and there, growing at the ends of the twisted branches, were tiny, tight, white buds.
“Wow!” he muttered in wonder as he sat looking at the tree. “This must be the Crickle-Crack tree that Mother and Father always warned me about.”
微风拂过这棵古怪的老树，树上稀疏的叶子被吹得沙沙作响，就像在对吱吱说：“来拿一个花蕾吧！反正是白拿的，来拿一个吧！”
吱吱还记得大家是怎么说噼啪树的：“千万不要靠近噼啪树，千万不要吃树上的花蕾！因为那些花蕾太甜、太诱人了，你只要吃过一次，就一定会忍不住再吃很多次的！”
“可是我不明白，”吱吱自言自语道，“这样一棵老树上的花蕾怎么可能那么甜、那么诱人呢？也许我可以尝一个，就尝一个。”他一边想着，一边从树枝上摘了一个花蕾，飞快地把它塞进了自己的嘴里。花蕾慢慢地在嘴里融化了，吱吱有点儿失望，因为它尝起来一点儿也不甜，甚至有点儿苦。就在吱吱仔细地品尝着花蕾的味道的时候，一边的噼啪树似乎高兴地发出了一阵邪恶的笑声。
The old, gnarled tree seemed to sigh as the wind whispered through its tattered leaves. To Squeakers it seemed to be saying, “Take a bud from me, they’re free!Take a bud from me!”
Squeakers remembered what he had been told about the Crickle-Crack tree,“Never go near the tree and never, ever eat the buds. For the buds are too sweet and you’ll never be able to eat just one!”
“I wonder,” said Squeakers, “how a bud from an old tree can be too sweet?Maybe, I’ll try… just one.” With that, he quickly plucked a bud from the end of a branch and popped it into his mouth. The bud slowly dissolved, and Squeakers was disappointed to find that it didn’t taste sweet at all. If anything, the bud tasted a little bit bitter. As he stood there savoring the flavor, the Crickle-Crack tree creaked and groaned in glee.
Just When Squeakers was sure that all the stories had been wrong, things around him began to change. The grass seemed to glow a little greener right before his eyes. The songs of the singing birds seemed a little louder. Squeakers began to think that he saw more than he saw and heard more than he heard.
“Wow!” he exclaimed. “Everyone was wrong! The buds of the Crickle-Crack tree are great. I don’t want to eat another, and I don’t have to eat another but I think I will anyway.”
So, he ate another bud, and then another and another. Soon he was dancing to songs that had never been sung and the Crickle-Crack tree groaned in evil satisfaction.
就在吱吱认定故事里说的都是假的时，一切突然看起来有点儿不一样了。草地似乎变得更绿了，鸟儿的歌声也变得更响亮了。吱吱开始看见一些从来没见过的东西，听见一些从来没听过的动静。
“哎呀，看来大家都说错了！”吱吱说，“噼啪树的花蕾不是很棒吗？我其实不想再吃了，也没必要再吃了，但我还是要再吃一个。”
吱吱就再吃了一个，接着又吃了一个，一个接一个地吃了很多花蕾。很快，吱吱就开始随着只有他能听见的歌声跳起舞来了。噼啪树的大笑声变得越来越满足、越来越邪恶。
这一天很快就在这种晕晕乎乎的感觉里过去了。吃花蕾的时候是早上，但是，等到花蕾的劲头终于过去，吱吱发现周围已经暗了下来，太阳都快要落山了。
“糟糕！我本来应该去学校的！”他懊恼地嘟囔着，“现在天都快黑了，我回家以后一定会有麻烦的！”
他开始匆匆忙忙地准备回家。但是，他转念一想，又在跑出去之前抓了满满一把花蕾带了回去。
吱吱一到家，就直接上楼想回自己的房间。妈妈连忙叫住他：“你今天在学校过得还好吗？”那些花蕾似乎让吱吱轻而易举地说出了谎话：“妈妈，我过得还不错！”
“你不吃晚饭吗？”妈妈问，“今天有你最爱吃的树莓豆子浓汤。”
“妈妈，我还不饿呢。”吱吱又说了一句谎话，“我放学后和同学们一起吃了好多山核桃什么的。”他飞快地溜回了房间，有点儿为自己的机智而沾沾自喜。
As the forest spun and whirled around him, the day simply disappeared. It started off as morning and then, just like that, the sun was setting. To soon,Squeakers found himself in the fading darkness of sunset as the effects of the buds began to wear off.
“Oh no! I was supposed to be in school today,” he groaned, “and now it’s nearly dark. Boy am I going to be in trouble when I get home!”
He started to leave and then, as an afterthought, he grabbed a handful Crickle-Crack buds and scampered home.
Once home as he started upstairs to his room, his mother called out to him, “How was your day at school?” The Crickle-Crack bud easily lied for him as he muttered,“Just fine, Mom!”
“Aren’t you going to have supper?” she asked. “We’re having your favorite, beanberry stew.”
“Oh, Mom, I’m just not hungry. Besides, I ate some hickory nuts with the guys after school,” he lied again, and with that he sneaked into his room, pleased with his deception.
吱吱躺在**，准备开始看书，但他总是忍不住要打盹儿。“这样可不行，我必须把这段看完，要不然明天到了学校可就麻烦了。我不如再吃一个噼啪树的花蕾吧！”他从藏在床头柜抽屉里的一把花蕾中拿出了一个，把它塞进嘴里。这样一来，吱吱感觉自己一下子又有了精神，可以接着看书了——至少他觉得自己是在看书。
过了很久很久以后，妈妈打开了他的房门：“吱吱，你该睡觉啦，明天再看书也不晚呀。”
妈妈都这样说了，吱吱只好吹灭了床头的蜡烛，努力让自己睡着。可是，不管他多想睡，都只能在**翻来覆去地睡不着。到了天蒙蒙亮的时候，吱吱终于睡着了。他做了可怕的噩梦，梦见一棵阴森邪恶的大树对着他的窗框又是敲又是挠。吱吱被吓醒了，感觉自己累得好像根本就没有睡过一样。
他的样子看起来糟透了，眼睛底下冒出了大大的黑眼圈，一条大尾巴也耷拉了下来。唉，吱吱已经筋疲力尽了！
He lay on his bed and tried to read, but he kept falling asleep. “This is no good. I have to read this story or I’ll be in trouble in school tomorrow. Maybe I should eat another Crickle-Crack bud.” He took a bud from his dresser drawers where he had hidden his handful of buds and popped it into his mouth. Just like that, he felt wide awake and read and read or at least he thought he read.
Much, much later his mother opened his door and said, “Squeakers, it’s time for bed. Best put out your candle and go to sleep, your book can wait until tomorrow.”
As he was told, Squeakers put out the candle and tried and tried to fall asleep.But no matter how he tried, he couldn’t fall asleep. He lay on his bed and tossed and turned in the filtered moonlight. Finally, at nearly the crack of dawn, he fell into a fitful sleep filled with nightmares of an evil tree knocking and scraping at his window-sill. Squeakers woke, but felt like he had hadn’t slept at all.
He looked terrible. He had big black circles under his eyes and his tail kind of drooped. He was pooped!
早上，吱吱像平常一样带好书本去上学。他跑着穿过森林，再次路过了噼啪树藏身的那片荆棘丛。他并不打算回到那里去，实际上，他已经决定再也不吃噼啪树的花蕾了。但是，当那棵老树的歌声再次在他的耳边响起时，他不由自主地又停下了脚步。
虽然荆棘丛的尖刺划坏了他的皮毛，但他还是钻了进去，摘了满满一把花蕾，匆匆忙忙地往学校跑去了。吱吱跑开的时候，一个花蕾从他的手里落下来，悄悄地滚到了小路的一边。
Like he did every morning, Squeakers grabbed his books and dashed out of the tree, heading toward school. He ran through the forest and right past the thorny thicket that hid the Crickle-Crack tree. He hadn’t planned on going back.If anything, he had resolved never ever to touch a Crickle-Crack blossom again,but the tree sang its song and Squeakers stopped to listen.
As the thorns tore at his flesh and fur he crawled into the thicket grabbed a handful of buds, slipped back outside, and scurried on to school. As he ran, one of the buds fell from his furry paw to the side of the path.
虽然差一点儿就迟到了，但吱吱总算及时赶到了学校，在老师开始讲课前到座位上坐了下来。他很想专心地听老师讲课，但实在是太困了，眼皮止不住地要打架。这时候，吱吱突然想起了自己手里的噼啪树花蕾，连忙往嘴里塞了一个。
这让他马上有了精神，不光是眼睛亮了，连耷拉下去的尾巴也再次变得毛蓬蓬的。但他还是没办法认真听讲，脑子里总是忍不住想去玩，或者做其他傻乎乎的事情。想着想着，吱吱突然忍不住咯咯大笑起来。班里的其他同学尽量不让自己被他影响，继续听老师讲课，但吱吱就是笑个不停，而且越笑越响。最后，老师忍无可忍了，叫他去对着一旁的老橡树罚站，什么时候能不笑了再回来。
这却让吱吱更想笑了，他把鼻子顶在老橡树上，不停地笑啊笑啊。等到终于停下来的时候，他就会再往嘴里塞一个花蕾，这样他就又开始笑得停不下来啦！
Squeakers got to school in the nick of time and hurriedly took his place on the log just as the teacher began. He sat there trying to pay attention, but his eyes kept shutting and he almost fell asleep. Then, he remembered the Crickle-Crack buds in his hand and popped one into his mouth.
Just like that, he was wide-awake bright-eyed and bushy-tailed again.Unfortunately he was having a hard time paying attention to the teacher as his mind wandered to silliness and games, and then, he began to giggle out loud. All the other students in class tried to ignore him, but he simply laughed louder still.Finally, the teacher ordered him to stand alone, facing the old oak tree until he could stop his giggling.
Squeakers thought this was even funnier yet, and he laughed and laughed with his nose pushed into the bark of the wise, old tree. Every time he stopped laughing, he would pop another bud in his mouth, and the whole process would start all over again!
课间休息过去了，午休也过去了，吱吱还是站在老橡树前头，像个小疯子似的不停笑着。其他同学实在想不明白吱吱这是怎么了，因为他平时一直是个好学生。最终，一只小兔子走过去问他：“你为什么要笑啊？什么事情这么好笑，让你宁愿罚站也要笑个不停呢？”
“哈哈，那可不是什么‘事情’，”吱吱笑着回答，“应该说是什么‘东西’才对！”
“不是‘事情’而是‘东西’，那是什么意思？”小兔子完全没有听明白。
“就是这个东西！”吱吱摊开手掌，给小兔子看那些被他捏扁了的花蕾，“你也可以来一个呀！”吱吱想给小兔子一个花蕾，但聪明的小兔子没有拿。吱吱就把剩下的花蕾一股脑儿地塞进了自己的嘴里。
小兔子感觉事情非常不对劲，就跑去告诉了老师。老师立刻通知了吱吱的家长，吱吱的爸爸妈妈飞快地赶到了学校。吱吱开始觉得晕乎乎的，眼前的一切似乎都飞快地转起圈圈来。这只可怜的小松鼠感觉难受极了！
Recess came, then lunch, and still Squeakers stood at the tree giggling crazily. The other kids in school didn’t know what to think. Squeakers had always been such a good student. Finally, a bunny, one of his fellow students, asked, “Why are you laughing? What could be so funny that you would want to be punished all day?”
“Oh, ho!” laughed Squeakers. “It’s not a what. It’s an it!”
“What’s an it?” asked the bunny, totally confused.
“These are it!” said Squeakers as held out his paw and showed the bunny his smashed of Crickle-Crack buds. “You can have one, too!” He tried to give a bud to the bunny, but the bunny wisely refused. So, Squeakers shoved the rest of the buds in his mouth.
The little bunny knew there was something very wrong and told the teacher,who told Squeakers’ parents, who came rushing to school.
Squeakers’ head began to reel, and the world began to spin around and around and around. This poor, little squirrel was very sick indeed!
回到家以后，吱吱哭着对妈妈说：“我错了，妈妈！我真的不想做坏事的！”
“只要噼啪树还在，就肯定有坏事！”爸爸气呼呼地说，“我们早就应该把那棵邪恶的树砍掉了！”他拿起斧子冲出房门，和一大群邻居一起走进森林，去找那片被荆棘包围的阴森森的空地了。
Later, at home in his room he cried, “I am so sorry, Mother! I never meant any harm!”
“Harm always comes from the Crickle-Crack tree!” His father said angrily. “That evil tree should have been cut down years ago!” He grabbed his ax and stormed out the door. Joined by his neighbors they moved into the forest toward the thorny thicket and the gloomy glade.
爸爸和邻居们一找到那个地方，就奋力钻过荆棘丛，开始用手里的斧子砍起树来，一直到把它砍成了一堆破破烂烂的碎木头。
“别忘了掉在地上的花蕾！”吱吱的爸爸喊道，“得把它们都捡起来一起烧掉！”
全都收拾干净以后，爸爸在噼啪树的碎片上点起了一把火。他们站在安全的地方，看着黑沉沉的浓烟像毒蛇钻进沼泽里一样缓缓地升上天空，看着噼啪树和花蕾完全烧成了细细的灰烬。直到他们把灰烬全都埋进了地底，爸爸和邻居们才终于放心了。
Once there, they forced their way passed the thorns and began chopping and hacking at the tree until it was nothing more than a pile of rotten wood.
“Gather all the buds that have fallen to the ground and throw them on the pile,too!” shouted Squeakers’ father. “All must be burned!!”
When all was in place he set the chopped tree on fire and stood back safely,watching the greasy smoke rise into the sky like a snake slithering into a swamp.They watched and watched, until all was burned to a fine gray ash. Then, to make absolutely sure that tree was totally destroyed, they even buried the ash.
噼啪树被毁掉了，森林里的生活逐渐回归正常。吱吱一点点地从花蕾的影响下恢复了，他也认识到了自己的错误。在爸爸妈妈和邻居们的关爱与支持下，吱吱现在清楚地知道噼啪树多么邪恶，也明白了为什么那些花蕾给他带来了那么大的伤害。
一切似乎都好了起来……
但是，就在那片荆棘丛下面的小路边，一个小小的、永远不会开花的雪白花蕾悄悄地扎了根。全新的噼啪树在那里生根发芽了。
Satisfied that the tree was destroyed, all went back to normal in the wood.Squeakers slowly recovered from the effects of the buds, and understood that it had been wrong to take them. The love and understanding of his parents and neighbors had helped him see how bad the tree was, and how the buds had hurt him.
All went back to normal…
But near the path, beneath a bit of thorny thicket, a tiny white bud that would never blossom thrust its shoots into the ground, and a new Crickle-Crack tree began to grow.
千万小心，擦亮双眼，别被噼啪树的花蕾欺骗。
BE AWARE
OF ALL YOU SEE AND NEVER BE TEMPTED BY THE CRICKLE-CRACK TREE.