《神奇树屋》 第二十三册 Twister on Tuesday 03 One Room Schoolhouse

　　"Let's check it out," said Annie.

She and Jack¹ walked up the little hill. At the top,they saw that the rusty² pipe was rising out of awooden roof.

They walked around to the other side of the hill.

Beneath the wooden roof was a door. The doorseemed to open into the hill itself.

"What is this?" said Annie.

"Let's find out," said Jack.

He studied their research book until he found ablack-and-white photograph. The photograph showedthe same hill with the door.

Jack read aloud:

Since the prairie did not have many trees, woodwas hard to find. So pioneers often made their housesout of sod bricks³, which were blocks of earth cut outof the prairie. Sometimes a sod house was dug out ofthe side of a hill. It was called a "dugout."Jack pulled out his notebook. He wrote:

Sod bricks = blocks of earthDugout= sod house carved out of hillsideThen Jack read more to Annie:

Tornados⁴, or twisters, are common on the prairie, somany dugouts had storm cellars⁶. A storm cellar⁵ waslike a rough basement below the ground.

During a twister, a storm cellar is the safest place tobe.

"Wow, maybe we'll see a twister," said Annie.

"I hope not," said Jack. Then he read on:

A pioneer family built this dugout for a home.

When they moved, the dugout became a schoolhouse.

The schoolhouse had only one room. It also had astorm cellar beneath it.

Jack quickly wrote:

Some dugouts have storm cellars"Hey! This is the place!" said Annie. Jack looked upfrom his writing.

"What place?" he asked.

"Where's the best place to find our special writing-somethingto learn?" asked Annie. Jack smiled.

"A school," he said.

Annie ran to the wooden door and knocked loudly.

A moment later, the door creaked open. A girlpeeked out. Her hair was in a tight bun, as if she werea grownup. But she didn't look more than sixteen orseventeen years old.

"Hi, I'm Annie," said Annie. "This is my brother,Jack."The girl opened the door wider.

"Hello, Jack and Annie," she said. "I'm your teacher,Miss Neely.""You're the teacher?" said Jack. Miss Neely seemedway too young to be a teacher.

"Yes!" she said, smiling. "Come in. You're late.

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 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。

3 bricks   

n.砖( brick的名词复数 )；砖块；积木；可靠的朋友

参考例句：

• He compounded water, sand and soil and formed bricks. 他用水拌和沙和泥土做成砖块。
• The United Auto Workers hit the bricks against General Motors. 联合汽车工人工会举行罢工，反对通用汽车公司。

4 tornados   

n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• And the national weather service reports several tornados touch down. 国家气象中心报告预测龙卷风将来袭。 来自互联网
• They had stock footage of lightning, tornados, and hurricanes. 他们存有关于闪电、龙卷风和飓风的电影胶片。 来自互联网

5 cellar   

n.地窖，地下室，酒窖

参考例句：

• He took a bottle of wine from the cellar.他从酒窖里拿出一瓶酒。
• The little girl hid away in the cellar.小姑娘藏在地下室里。

6 cellars   

n.地下室，地窖( cellar的名词复数 )；酒窖

参考例句：

• Some families stocked their cellars with food and water. 有些家庭在地窖里储备了食品和水。 来自辞典例句
• One day we went down to the cellars with Wilcox. 一天，我们和威尔科克斯一起下到地窖里。 来自辞典例句