《神奇树屋》 第二十三册 Twister on Tuesday 02 Signs of Life

　　Jack¹ opened his eyes.

He was wearing pants with suspenders and a shirtwith the sleeves rolled up. In place of his backpackwas a leather bag.

Annie was wearing a long dress and a sunbonnet.

"I like my hat," she said. "It'll keep the sun off myface.""Yeah, except the sun's not shining," said JackHe and Annie looked out the window.

The sky was cloudy.

The tree house had landed in a small grove² of treesnear a creek³. Beyond the trees was a wide, openprairie. Green grass and wild-flowers swayed in achilly wind.

In the distance, a train puffed⁴ across the prairie.

Sparks of fire came out of its smoke-stack. Hugeclouds of black smoke billowed into the gray sky.

"Wow," said Jack.

He looked at the picture of the train in their bookand read:

After the Civil War, the U.S. government builtrailroads to link the eastern and western parts of thecountry. By the 1870s, steam engines carried peopleacross the Kansas prairie.

Jack pulled out his notebook and wrote:

1870s trains across Kansas"Let's get going," said Annie. "We have to find thatspecial writing for Morgan."She started down the ladder.

Jack packed his things in his leather bag andclimbed down after her.

When he stepped onto the ground, Jack lookedtoward the west.

The train was gone. Only a thin trail of smokefloated across the sky.

"That train was cool," said Jack.

"Yeah, and so is that," said Annie. She pointed⁵ inthe other direction.

Far away, in the distance, a line of covered wagonsrolled through the rippling⁸ grass. Their whitecoverings billowed in the breeze.

Jack pulled out the research book. He found apicture of the wagon⁶ train. He read aloud:

Wagons⁷ were the most common way for families totravel west. They could carry clothes, tools, food, andwater. A line of wagons was called a "wagon train."The white cloth coverings over the wagons also madethem look like sailing ships, or schooners⁹. For thisreason, covered wagons were sometimes called"prairie schooners."Jack looked at the wagons again. They did look likeships sailing across a rippling green sea.

He wrote in his notebook:

Covered wagons = prairie schooners"Let's get a closer look," said Annie. She took offacross the grass.

Jack put away his things and ran after her. As theyran, the wind began to blow harder. The cloudsoverhead grew darker.

"Wait--wait!" Jack finally called to Annie. "We'llnever catch up to it!"They both stopped running. Panting, they watchedthe wagon train vanish over the horizon.

Jack took a deep breath.

"What now?" he said.

They looked around.

All Jack could see was the distant grove of treeswith the tree house.

With the train and wagon train gone, there were nosigns of life anywhere--no pioneer cabins, no NativeAmerican tepees.

"How can we find the special writing?" said Jack.

"There's nothing out here.""Oh yeah?" said Annie. "What's that?"She pointed to a rusty¹⁰ pipe sticking out from the topof a small hill.

Streaming from the pipe was a column of blacksmoke.

"Oh, man," said Jack, "that's definitely a sign oflife."
 

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 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。

3 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

4 puffed   

adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• He lit a cigarette and puffed at it furiously. 他点燃了一支香烟，狂吸了几口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He felt grown-up, puffed up with self-importance. 他觉得长大了，便自以为了不起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

6 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

7 wagons   

n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车

参考例句：

• The wagons were hauled by horses. 那些货车是马拉的。
• They drew their wagons into a laager and set up camp. 他们把马车围成一圈扎起营地。

8 rippling   

起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的

参考例句：

• I could see the dawn breeze rippling the shining water. 我能看见黎明的微风在波光粼粼的水面上吹出道道涟漪。
• The pool rippling was caused by the waving of the reeds. 池塘里的潺潺声是芦苇摇动时引起的。

9 schooners   

n.（有两个以上桅杆的）纵帆船( schooner的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You've already drunk three schooners of sherry. 你已经喝了三大杯雪利酒了。 来自辞典例句
• Might l beg the honour of pouring the privileged schooners myself? 请问我能不能自己倒尊贵的大杯酒？ 来自电影对白

10 rusty   

adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的

参考例句：

• The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
• I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用，我的法语又荒疏了。