英语读物《神奇树屋》 第十三册 Vacation Under the Volcano 9 Save Us!

　　"The bridge must have caved in!" cried Annie.

They stared at the dried-up stream. Pumice hadpiled up in huge drifts, like snow.

"We'll have to get through that stuff to get across!"said Jack¹.

He and Annie slid down the bank onto the piles ofpumice. As they started to move across it, more andmore fell.

Jack tried to move through the millions of warm,grayish white pebbles². But he was trapped.

"I'm stuck!" cried Annie.

"Me too!" said Jack.

"Remember what Morgan said!" said Annie.

At the moment, Jack couldn't remember anything.

He was too tired and dazed.

"'In your darkest hour, only the ancient story cansave you!"' cried Annie. "Where's your bag?"Jack lifted his bag into the air, above the sea ofpumice. Annie grabbed it and pulled out the ancientscroll. She held it up to the dark sky.

"Save us, story!" she shouted.

Jack felt himself sink deeper and deeper into thepumice. Suddenly he heard a deep voice say, "Rise,son!"Then someone lifted Jack up into the air.

A great flash of fire lit the dusty darkness. In thered light, Jack saw the biggest, strongest man he'dever seen in his life. The man looked like a gladiator-buteven bigger than the ones they had seen earlier.

He held Jack with one hand and Annie with theother. He placed them both on the other bank of thestream.

"Run!" the giant gladiator boomed. "Before it's toolate!"Jack and Annie didn't stop to ask any questions.

Together, they charged through the olive grove³.

They jumped over fallen branches. They leapedover great cracks in the earth. Finally they came tothe tree with the magic tree house.

They grabbed the rope ladder and scrambled⁴ up tothe tree house.

"Where's the Pennsylvania book?" Jack shouted. Hewas too blinded by ash and dust to find the book thatalways took them home.

"I've got it!" cried Annie. "I wish we could go there!"Jack felt the tree house start to spin.

It spun⁵ faster and faster and faster.

15Then everything was still.

Absolutely, wonderfully, peacefully still.

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 pebbles   

[复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pebbles of the drive crunched under his feet. 汽车道上的小石子在他脚底下喀嚓作响。
• Line the pots with pebbles to ensure good drainage. 在罐子里铺一层鹅卵石，以确保排水良好。

3 grove   

n.林子，小树林，园林

参考例句：

• On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
• The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。

4 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。