英语读物《神奇树屋》 第十三册 Vacation Under the Volcano 5 Books? Books?

　　Jack¹ and Annie ran up to the front entrance of thevilla. Jack pushed the door open.

"Go in. Hurry," said Annie.

They slipped into the main hall.

"Hello!" Annie called.

There was no answer. The place seemed empty.

The main hall had a large opening in the ceiling.

Below it was a small stone pool filled with water.

Jack looked at it carefully.

"Oh, I bet rain comes through the hole," said Jack.

"Then it lands in that pool so they can use it for theirwater."He started to take out his notebook to make a note.

"There's no time, Jack!" said Annie. "We have tolook in all the rooms for books!"10"Okay, okay, calm down," said Jack. He put awayhis notebook and followed Annie.

"Books? Books?" she said, peering into a room offthe hall. She moved to the next room. "Books?

Books?" Then she moved on to the next.

Jack trailed behind her. Even though she hadalready checked the rooms, he took a quick peek³ ineach of them. He wanted to see what a house inRoman times looked like. He'd write notes later.

The first two rooms had wooden beds. The wallshad pictures painted on them. The floors werecovered with tiny pieces of colored stoneThe third room had a low table with silver disheson it. Three sloping couches were placed around thetable. The couches were covered with pillows.

"This must be the dining room," said Jack. "Peoplefrom Roman times lay down on couches while theyate. Did you know that?"He looked around for Annie. Where was she?

"Jack! Come here!" Annie called.

Jack followed her voice. She was in a garden off thedining room. It had a stone patio⁴, palm trees, andgrape vines. In the middle was a pond with amermaid fountain.

Goldfish swam in the water.

"Look, there's another room!" said Annie. Shemoved to the door of a room off the garden .

She opened the door and peeked⁵ insideJack looked with her. Along the walls of the roomwere long shelves with rolls of paper on them"Rats!" said Annie. "No books." She closed the door.

"No books in this whole villa². Let's get out of here.""Just a minute," said Jack. "I have an idea."He pulled out his book on Roman times. He found asection called WRITING. He read:

Romans used pens made of small reeds. Their inkcame partly from the black ink of octopuses⁶. Theywrote their "hooks" on scrolls⁷ of papyrus⁸ (puh-PI-rus)paper.

"Aha!" said Jack. "That's a library of scrolls! I betour ancient lost story is in there!"

1 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。

2 villa   

n.别墅，城郊小屋

参考例句：

• We rented a villa in France for the summer holidays.我们在法国租了一幢别墅消夏。
• We are quartered in a beautiful villa.我们住在一栋漂亮的别墅里。

3 peek   

vi.偷看，窥视；n.偷偷的一看，一瞥

参考例句：

• Larry takes a peek out of the window.赖瑞往窗外偷看了一下。
• Cover your eyes and don't peek.捂上眼睛，别偷看。

4 patio   

n.庭院，平台

参考例句：

• Suddenly, the thought of my beautiful patio came to mind. I can be quiet out there,I thought.我又忽然想到家里漂亮的院子，我能够在这里宁静地呆会。
• They had a barbecue on their patio on Sunday.星期天他们在院子里进行烧烤。

5 peeked   

v.很快地看( peek的过去式和过去分词 )；偷看；窥视；微露出

参考例句：

• She peeked over the top of her menu. 她从菜单上往外偷看。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• On two occasions she had peeked at him through a crack in the wall. 她曾两次透过墙缝窥视他。 来自辞典例句

6 octopuses   

章鱼( octopus的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Snails and octopuses are molluscs. 蜗牛和章鱼是软体动物。
• Limpets, snails and octopuses are mollusks. 帽贝、蜗牛和章鱼都是软体动物。

7 scrolls   

n.（常用于录写正式文件的）纸卷( scroll的名词复数 )；卷轴；涡卷形（装饰）；卷形花纹v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的第三人称单数 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕

参考例句：

• Either turn it off or only pick up selected stuff like wands, rings and scrolls. 把他关掉然后只捡你需要的物品，像是魔杖(wand)，戒指(rings)和滚动条(scrolls)。 来自互联网
• Ancient scrolls were found in caves by the Dead Sea. 死海旁边的山洞里发现了古代的卷轴。 来自辞典例句

8 papyrus   

n.古以纸草制成之纸

参考例句：

• The Egyptians wrote on papyrus.埃及人书写用薄草纸。
• Since papyrus dries up and crumble,very few documents of ancient Egypt have survived.因草片会干裂成粉末所以古埃及的文件很少保存下来。