英语读物《神奇树屋》 第十四册 Day of the Dragon King 4 The Great Wall

　　Jack¹ and Annie ran around the farmhouse². At theback was an oxcart filled with bags of grain. Therewas no one in sight.

The shouting behind them got louder.

Jack and Annie looked at each other, then divedinto the back of the wooden cart. They buriedthemselves in the middle of the bags of grain.

Jack's heart pounded as the shouts came closer. Heheld his breath and waited for the people to leave.

Suddenly the cart lurched forward. Someone wasdriving them away!

Jack and Annie peeked³ over the bags. Jack saw theback of the driver. He was calmly steering⁴ the oxcartover the dirt road. They were on their way to thewalled city!

Jack and Annie ducked down again.

"This is great!" whispered Annie. "All we have to dois jump out when we get into the city.""Yep," Jack said softly. "Then we'll find the ImperialLibrary, find the book, and get back to the magic treehouse.""No problem," whispered Annie.

"Whoa!" The cart slowly came to a halt.

Jack held his breath. He heard voices and the heavytramping of feet--lots of feet. He and Annie peekedout.

"Oh, man," he whispered.

A long line of men was crossing the road in front ofthe cart. They carried axes, shovels⁵, and hoes. Guardsmarched alongside them.

"Let's find out what's happening," said Jack.

He reached into his sack and pulled out the Chinabook. Pushing his glasses into place, he found apicture of the workers. He read:

The Dragon King forced many of his subjects tostart building a wall to protect China from invaders⁶.

Later emperors made the wall even longer. Finally, itstretched 3,700 miles along China's border. The GreatWall of China is the longest structure ever built.

"Wow, the Great Wall of China," said Jack.

"I've heard of that," said Annie.

"Who hasn't?" said Jack. "Those guys are going towork on it right now."Just then, someone grabbed Jack and Annie. Theylooked up. It was the driver of the cart.

"Who are you?" he asked angrily. "We--uh--" Jackdidn't know what to say.

The man's gaze fell on the open book in Jack'shands. His mouth dropped open. He let go of Jack andAnnie. Slowly he reached out and touched the book.

He looked back at Jack and Annie with wide eyes.

"'What is this?" he said.

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 farmhouse   

n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房）

参考例句：

• We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
• We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。

3 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

4 steering   

n.操舵装置

参考例句：

• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
• Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵，口吻也马上变得温和了。

5 shovels   

n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份

参考例句：

• workmen with picks and shovels 手拿镐铲的工人
• In the spring, we plunge shovels into the garden plot, turn under the dark compost. 春天，我们用铁锨翻开园子里黑油油的沃土。 来自辞典例句

6 invaders   

入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They prepared to repel the invaders. 他们准备赶走侵略军。
• The family has traced its ancestry to the Norman invaders. 这个家族将自己的世系追溯到诺曼征服者。