見見老鼠凱薩琳和大象馬克。凱薩琳非常勇敢又喜歡冒險，但馬克的個性十分害羞，對許多事情都感到害怕。不過，朋友都喜歡黏在一塊兒，所以凱薩琳走到哪兒，馬克就會跟到哪兒。有時候，他們也會碰上非常棘手的情況...
The magic trunk 神奇的大皮箱
Mark and Kathleen were staying at Mark’s Aunt Sophie’s house for the weekend. They loved going there, because the house was full of interesting junk that they could play with. They were up in the attic rummaging through the junk and trash bags, when Kathleen noticed a dusty old trunk in the corner of the room. She tried to open it, but the lid was too stiff, so she called Mark over to help her out. With the help of a flashlight, he managed to find a key on the floor, so he put it in the keyhole and opened the chest.
As they stared into the open trunk, neither of them could believe their eyes — the trunk was a portal to a secret world! They could see rivers and beautiful fields of flowers. It looked perfect. “Let’s go and investigate,” said Kathleen. “I had a feeling you would say that,” said Mark, but even he was keen to explore this new world. They both closed their eyes and jumped in the trunk. When they opened their eyes, they were standing in a new world. There was a hole in the ground leading back to the attic.
“This is amazing,” said Kathleen, as she picked a strawberry and ate it. They wandered around for hours, eating the fruit, until Mark noticed something weird. “The trees seem much smaller than they did earlier,” he said. And he was right. In fact, everything was getting smaller. “Mark, I think this place is shrinking. We have to get back to the hole.” As they ran back toward the hole, they could see the horizon getting nearer and nearer. Everything was so small — they even stepped on trees as they ran. Finally they got to the hole, but it had shrunk so much they weren’t sure if they could fit inside. “This world is going to disappear soon. We have to get back, before we disappear too!” said Kathleen.
(JOHN PHILLIPS, STAFF WRITER)
馬克和凱薩琳週末都待在馬克的蘇菲姑姑家。他們好喜歡去蘇菲姑姑家，因為那裡滿是可以拿來玩的有趣廢棄物。他們在閣樓裡翻找廢棄物和垃圾袋時，凱薩琳在房間的角落發現了一只佈滿灰塵的老舊大皮箱。她想打開這只皮箱，不過它實在太難開了，所以她叫馬克過來幫忙。馬克靠著一隻手電筒，好不容易在地板上找到一把鑰匙，他把鑰匙插入鑰匙孔，打開了皮箱。
他們看著這只打開的皮箱，不敢相信自己的眼睛──這個皮箱是通往神秘世界的入口！他們可以看到河流和一片美麗的花海，那裡看起來美極了。凱薩琳說：「我們去調查看看吧。」馬克說：「我就知道妳會這樣說。」但這次連馬克都很想去這個新奇的國度探險。他們兩個閉上眼睛，跳進這只大皮箱。再張開眼時，他們已置身在新奇的國度了。地上有一個洞可以通回閣樓。
凱薩琳說：「這太神奇了！」她一邊撿起一顆草莓大口吃掉。他們逛了數小時，一路吃水果，直到馬克注意到一件奇怪的事情。他說：「這些樹好像比之前小了很多。」他說對了，事實上，所有東西都在變小。「馬克，我覺得這個地方在縮小，我們得回到洞口去。」在跑回洞口的途中，他們看見地平線愈來愈近。所有的東西都變得好小，他們奔跑時甚至還踩到樹。終於他們回到了洞口，不過洞口已經縮小到不知是否容得下他們。凱薩琳說：「這個地方不久後就會消失，我們得在跟著消失前回去！」
（翻譯：袁星塵）
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