英语读物《神奇树屋》 第十二册 Polar Bears Past Bedtime 05 You're It!

　　The dogs were barking wildly at two smallcreatures playing in the moonlight.

"Polar bear babies!" cried Annie.

One roly-poly cub¹ leaped onto the other. Then theyboth rolled through the snow.

"Hi, little bears!" Annie called.

The cubs² jumped up and shook themselves like wetpuppies. Then they scampered³ toward Annie, whorushed to greet them.

"Hi, hi, hi!" she called.

"Wait--" shouted Jack⁴. "Where's their mother?"He looked around for the mother bear, but she wasnowhere in sight. Maybe the y re orphans⁵, hethought.

Jack looked back at Annie. She was wrestling withthe little bears in the snow. She was laughing so hardthat she couldn't stand.

Jack started laughing, too. He carefully put the bearmasks into his pack. Then he ran to join Annie.

She was running with the cubs across the snowytundra. One of them raced to her, tagged her, thenraced away. Annie ran after the bear and tagged himback.

"You're it!" she said.

Jack and the other cub joined in. Soon Jack andAnnie and the two cubs were all chasing each otherover the moonlit snow.

They ran until the two cubs fell down ahead ofthem. The cubs lay perfectly⁷ still.

Panting, Jack and Annie stared at them.

"Are they hurt?" Annie wondered out loud.

Jack and Annie ran to the cubs.

Then, just as they leaned down to see if they wereall right, the cubs jumped up. They pushed Jack andAnnie over and scampered away.

"They were pretending!" said Jack. He laughed.

Jack and Annie charged after the cubs. They ranover the white tundra⁶ until they came to the frozensea.

Jack looked around.

"We're pretty far from the igloo. I don't hear thehuskies anymore," he said. "Maybe we should goback.""In a minute," said Annie. "Look!" The bear cubshad scooted up a snow bank.

They were on their backs, sliding down the bankonto the ice-covered sea.

Jack and Annie laughed.

"It's like sledding!" said Annie. "Let's try it!""Okay," said Jack, "but then we have to go back."Jack followed Annie up the snow bank. He clutchedhis pack in his arms.

Annie lay on her back. She whooped⁸ as she sliddown the ice.

Jack followed her.

"Watch out below!" he shouted.

The little bears were sitting at the bottom of thesnow bank. One gently whapped Jack in the face withher furry⁹ paw. Then she lay down.

"I'm tired, too," said Annie.

"Yeah," said Jack. "Let's rest for just a minute."Jack and Annie looked up at the orange moon asthey lay beside the cubs. All they could hear was thewind and the soft breathing of the cubs.

"That was fun," said Annie.

"It was," said Jack. "But we'd better head back to theigloo. The seal hunter's probably looking for us. Pluswe have to solve the riddle¹⁰."Jack rolled onto his side and tried to stand.

Crack.

"Uh-oh," he said. He went back down onto hisknees. "I think we're on thin ice.""What do you mean?" said Annie. She started tostand.

Another crack rang out.

"Uh-oh," she said.

She carefully lay back down.

The polar bear cubs moved closer to Jack andAnnie. They made little crying sounds.

Jack wanted to cry, too. But he took a deep breath.

"Let's see what our book says," he said.

He reached into his pack for the Arctic book. Hetook the masks out first and handed them to Annie.

"I took these from the igloo by mistake," he said.

As he started to reach for his Arctic book, he heardthe loudest crack of all.

CRACK!

'We're not even moving and the ice is cracking,"said Annie.

Just then, there was a new sound--a low, snortingsound. It came from the top of the snowbank, aboutfifty feet away.

Jack looked up.

Staring down at them was a bear.

"The polar bear mother," Annie. giant polarwhispered

1 cub   

n.幼兽，年轻无经验的人

参考例句：

• The lion cub's mother was hunting for what she needs. 这只幼师的母亲正在捕猎。
• The cub licked the milk from its mother's breast. 这头幼兽吸吮着它妈妈的奶水。

2 cubs   

n.幼小的兽，不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lioness guarding her cubs 守护幼崽的母狮
• Lion cubs depend on their mother to feed them. 狮子的幼仔依靠母狮喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 scampered   

v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The cat scampered away. 猫刺棱一下跑了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The rabbIt'scampered off. 兔子迅速跑掉了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

5 orphans   

孤儿( orphan的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The poor orphans were kept on short commons. 贫苦的孤儿们吃不饱饭。
• Their uncle was declared guardian to the orphans. 这些孤儿的叔父成为他们的监护人。

6 tundra   

n.苔原，冻土地带

参考例句：

• The arctic tundra is at the top of the world around the North Pole.北极冻原是指北极点周边的地区，是世界最高的地方。
• There is a large amount of methane gas under the Siberian tundra.西伯利亚的冻土地带之下有大量的甲烷气体。

7 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

8 whooped   

叫喊( whoop的过去式和过去分词 )； 高声说； 唤起

参考例句：

• The bill whooped through both houses. 此提案在一片支持的欢呼声中由两院匆匆通过。
• The captive was whooped and jeered. 俘虏被叱责讥笑。

9 furry   

adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的

参考例句：

• This furry material will make a warm coat for the winter.这件毛皮料在冬天会是一件保暖的大衣。
• Mugsy is a big furry brown dog,who wiggles when she is happy.马格斯是一只棕色大长毛狗，当她高兴得时候她会摇尾巴。

10 riddle   

n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜

参考例句：

• The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
• Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。