《神奇树屋》 第二十三册 Twister on Tuesday 04 Reading Lesson

　　It was warm and dry inside the schoolhouse.

Several oil lamps lit the darkness.

"Class, meet Annie and Jack¹," the young teachersaid.

What class? thought Jack.

There were only three kids.

On one bench sat a small boy and a girl. The boylooked about Annie's age. The girl looked a littleyounger. On another bench sat a tall boy. He wastough-looking.

"Thank you. We're very grateful for it," said MissNeely. "And where do you live?""Well, we actually... ," Jack started. Then hestopped--he wasn't sure what to say.

"Actually, we don't live around here," Annie said.

"We're passing through.""You must be from the wagon² train I saw thismorning," Miss Neely said.

Annie nodded. Jack smiled.

Good work, Annie, he thought.

"We can only stay a little while," he said. "Howexciting for you," said Miss Neely.

"Heading west on a wagon train. Where are yougoing?""California," Annie said.

"California! That's wonderful! Isn't it, class?" MissNeely said to the others.

"Yes, ma'aml!" said the two younger children. Theolder boy barely³ nodded.

"Have you ever been to school before?" Miss Neelyasked Annie.

"Yes, ma'am," Annie said. "We both know how toread and write. Jack's one of the best readers you'llever meet.""My! Isn't that wonderful, class?" said Miss Neely.

"Yes, ma'am!" said the younger children.

The older boy gave Jack a scowl⁴.

"Not exactly the best," Jack said modestly.

"I love to read," said Miss Neely. "I'll read any bookI can get my hands on.""Me too," said Jack.

"Then perhaps you'd like to start off our firstreading lesson of the school year," said Miss Neely.

"Sure," said Jack.

"Sit with Jeb, then," said Miss Neely, "and Annie,you sit with Kate and her Will."Will and Kate quickly made room for Annie ontheir bench.

But Jeb didn't move over for Jack, not even an inch.

Jack barely had room to sit. He took a deep breathand sat on the end of the bench.

Miss Neely handed Jack a book.

"This is our only reader," she said. "It's called theMcGuffey Reader. Please read the first two lines ofthe poem on page fifty.""Oh, urn⁵.., sure, ma'am," said Jack.

He turned to page fifty. He pushed his glasses intoplace. Then he read aloud:

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

How I wonder what you are.""Very good!" said Miss Neely. "Now pass the readerto Jeb."Jack handed the book to Jeb.

"Jeb, please read the next two lines," said MissNeely.

The older boy cleared his throat and stared at thepage.

"Maybe Jeb can't read," Will said in a kind voice toMiss Neely.

Jeb's face got red.

"Shut up, Will," he muttered⁶.

"Oh!" said Miss Neely. She looked confused.

Jack felt sorry for Jeb. He wanted to give him some help.

Barely moving his lips, Jack whispered, "Up abovethe world so high, like a diamond~"Jeb turned on Jack with an angry look. "I don't needyour help," he said.

"Now, Jeb, don't get mad," said Miss Neely. "And,Jack, you shouldn't give people the answers.""I'm sorry," said Jack.

Miss Neely sighed and pulled out her pocket watch.

She was starting to look tired.

"Why don't you all go outside and have your noonmeal?" she said. "I'll stay in and prepare for our next lesson."Miss Neely opened the door of the sod hut. Annie,Kate, and Will bounced up from their seats andstarted cheerfully out of the schoolroom.

Jack turned to Jeb.

"Hey, sorry for what happened," Jack said. Jeb justglared at him and didn't say any-thing.

"Come on, Jack!" Annie called outside the hut. "Kate wants us to eat with them!"Jack hurried out the door. He didn't look back at Jeb.

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 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。

3 barely   

adv.仅仅，几乎没有，几乎不

参考例句：

• The male bird is barely distinguishable from the female.雄鸟和雌鸟几乎无法辨别。
• He took barely enough money to keep the children in bread.他赚很少的钱仅够孩子们勉强糊口。

4 scowl   

vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容

参考例句：

• I wonder why he is wearing an angry scowl.我不知道他为何面带怒容。
• The boss manifested his disgust with a scowl.老板面带怒色，清楚表示出他的厌恶之感。

5 urn   

n.（有座脚的）瓮；坟墓；骨灰瓮

参考例句：

• The urn was unearthed entire.这只瓮出土完整无缺。
• She put the big hot coffee urn on the table and plugged it in.她将大咖啡壶放在桌子上,接上电源。

6 muttered   

轻声低语，咕哝地抱怨( mutter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He muttered a curse at the other driver. 他低声咒骂另一位开车的人。
• She turned away and muttered something unintelligible. 她转向一旁，嘴里不知咕哝些什么。