英语灵异故事-Burning Down the House(烧毁房子) 05

Her and her family was sleeping peacefully when her mother smelled smoke. She woke up and got her robe¹ on so she could have a look around. When she opened her bedroom door she saw smoke pouring out of the small office. This room is situated² directly across the hall from her room. She immediately turned and woke her husband up and rushed to Michelle's room that was situated at the end of the hall. Her room faced the stairwell so when they were all together they ran down the stairs and out the front door. They ran to the neighbor's house and called for the firemen. The firemen came but were unable to save the bulk³ of the house. They have since rebuilt on the same property.

　　They were to find out later what the cause of the fire was. This is the part I hate talking about. Because the cause of the fire was unknown. They never did find out what it was from. They did however find out where it started. You guessed it, in the closet where the Ouija board was found and always kept with the other games family liked to play. The only problem was that the Ouija board was hardly even singed⁴ in the fire. The firemen found it among all the ashes in the worst part of the house. Michelle and her mother took the board to the garbage dump⁵ and left it there. They have never seen it since. Now that I look back on the situation Kelly and I were probably used to warn Michelle and her family about the fire. I wish we would have known then what was going to happen. I'm just glad no one got hurt.

当时，她和家人睡得正香，她妈妈忽然闻到了烟味。她妈妈醒了过来，穿上睡袍，出去查看。打开卧室门后，她看到烟从那间小办公室里涌了出来。那个房间在她卧室的正对面，中间隔着走廊。她马上回去，叫醒了她的丈夫，迅速跑向Michelle的房间。Michelle的房间在走廊的尽头，正冲着楼梯，所以一家人都出来后，他们就跑下楼梯，跑出大门。他们跑到邻居家中，报了火警。消防队赶来了，但是房子大部分已经损坏了。之后，他们开始在那块土地上重建房子。

　　后来，他们开始调查火灾的起因。我不想提起这件事情，因为火灾的起因没有找到。他们没有发现火灾因何而起，但是好歹发现了火是从什么地方蔓延出来的。你猜对了！就是从发现占卜板的那个壁橱里开始的，占卜板一直放在那里，此外壁橱里还存放着Michelle一家人喜欢玩的其他玩具。唯一让人困惑的是，那个占卜板一点也没有被烧坏。消防人员在损坏得最厉害的地方发现了它，它被埋在一堆灰烬里。Michelle和她妈妈把那块占卜板扔到了垃圾堆里，之后再也没有见到过它。现在回想起来，占卜板可能想让我和Kelly警告Michelle和她的家人那场火灾。我多么希望我们当时知道会发生什么事情。所幸没有人受伤，我对此感到庆幸。

1 robe   

n.长袍，长衣，浴衣

参考例句：

• She was sitting at her mirror in a robe.她穿着长裙坐在镜子前。
• She put her robe on the chair.她把睡袍搭在椅子上。

2 situated   

adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的

参考例句：

• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。
• She is awkwardly situated.她的处境困难。

3 bulk   

n.容积，体积；大块，大批；大部分，大多数

参考例句：

• The bulk of the population concentrates in the cities.大部分人口集中在城市里。
• Your money could bulk up to a fortune if you save everything you can.如果你尽可能节约的话，你会积蓄一笔财富。

4 singed   

v.浅表烧焦( singe的过去式和过去分词 )；（毛发）燎，烧焦尖端[边儿]

参考例句：

• He singed his hair as he tried to light his cigarette. 他点烟时把头发给燎了。
• The cook singed the chicken to remove the fine hairs. 厨师把鸡燎一下，以便去掉细毛。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 dump   

n.垃圾场；v.倾卸，切断电源，倾倒

参考例句：

• Where can I dump this rubbish?我将这些垃圾倒在什么地方？
• They wheeled the rubbish out to the dump.他们把垃圾用车运到垃圾场去。