《神奇树屋》 第二十五册 Stage Fright On A Summer Night 09 Sweet Sorrow

　　"Tut, tut, you're a sorry sight, man," Will said to thebear's owner. "Trying to sell an old tame bear to thefights. Well, I've been planning to write a play with apart for a bear. So take this money for him and begone."Will handed some gold coins to the bear's owner.

The man's eyes grew wide. He laughed.

"You can have him!" the man said. And he took off.

"Thank you, and good riddance!" called Will. Thenhe turned to Puck. "Take our new player to thestables. Tell the actors they needn't be afraid of him.

He's tamer than most of them.""Come this way," Puck said. He put his arm aroundthe bear and gently led him out from the trees. "You'lllove the stage, old man.""Bye, Puck! Bye, Dan!" said Annie.

Puck smiled and waved. The bear stared for amoment at Jack¹ and Annie. He had a grateful look inhis eyes. Then he lumbered² off with Puck.

"Thanks, Will, for helping³ Dan," said Annie. "Andfor helping us.""Thank you both for helping me," said Will. "Yousaved the day.""The night, you mean," said Jack.

"Indeed, the night," said Will. "Oh, here is your bag.

You forgot it." He gave Jack his leather bag. Then heheld up their two scrolls⁴ with their lines on them.

"And you can take these," said Will. He handedthem to Jack, and Jack put them in his bag.

"Where are you off to now?" said Will.

"The other side of London Bridge," said Annie.

"Ah, I can take you there in my boat," said Will.

"Follow me."Will led them along a dusty path toward the river.

The last rays of the sun slanted⁵ through the trees.

Soon they came to a small rowboat docked on theThames.

"Climb in," said Will.

Jack, Annie, and Will climbed in. Will untied⁶ theboat from the dock. Then he began rowing across theriver.

The water reflected the purple and pink in the sky.

Only a few white swans now glided⁷ over theshimmering ripples⁸. The river smelled as bad asbefore, but Jack didn't mind now. He had grown usedto it.

Jack pulled out his notebook and pencil. "What areyou doing?" Will asked.

"I wanted to write some of my memories in mynotebook," said Jack.

"Ah, and I'll note you both in my book of memory,"said Will.

Jack smiled.

"I have a question, Will," said Annie. "Why doesQueen Elizabeth have black teeth?""Too much sugar." said Will.

"I hope it doesn't make her feel bad-- looking thatway, I mean," said Annie.

"Oh, no, she's not the least hurt," said Will. "Thequeen has no idea how she looks. She hasn't peekedin a good mirror for twenty years.""Is that true?" said Annie.

"'Tis," said Will. "The queen pretends to be youngand beautiful. Just as you pre-tended to be a boy, andthe bear pretended to be an actor. You see, all theworld's a stage."Jack liked that idea. He wrote in his notebook:

All the world is a stageJack looked up at London Bridge as they passed by.

The shops on the bridge were closed now. The theatercrowd was thinning out.

The scary black birds were no longer on therooftops. They had swooped⁹ down were picking atthe garbage left on the cobblestones.

The show was over.

By the time they came to the riverbank, night wasfalling. It was much cooler. Will tied up his rowboatand climbed ashore¹⁰ with Jack and Annie.

"Thanks a lot," Jack said to Will. "We can go therest of the way by ourselves.""Where do you live?" said Will.

"In Frog Creek¹¹," said Annie.

"What path do you take?" asked Will.

"You'll never believe this," said Annie. "We climbup the rope ladder to a tree house in that tree overthere. And we open a book--""Then we make a wish," said Jack, "and we go tothe place in the book."Will smiled.

"Thy life's a miracle, isn't it?" he said.

"Yes!" said Annie. Jack nodded. He liked the wayWill looked at things.

"I have an idea," said Will. "Why don't you bothstay here instead? You can live and act at the GlobeTheater. I'll ask the queen to exclude you from thelaw about girls going onstage, Annie--because ofyour-great talent. And I will teach you both to writeplays.""Really?" said Jack and Annie together.

Jack couldn't imagine anything more fun. Then hethought of his parents back in Frog Creek.

"But our mom and dad--" he said.

"We would really miss them," said Annie.

Will smiled.

"I understand," he said. "And I would miss you if Iwere them." He put his hand over his heart. "So, goodnight, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow.""Yes, 'tis," said Annie, nodding.

"Farewell!" said Will. He waved.

Jack and Annie waved back. Then Will turned onhis heels and headed back to his rowboat.

Jack and Annie walked to the rope ladder andclimbed up to the tree house. When they got inside,they looked out the window.

Will was rowing back across the Thames River. Asingle white swan glided across the ripples beside hisboat. A silver moon was rising in the sky.

At that moment, Jack did feel sweet sorrow. Hewanted to stay in merry olde England just a littlelonger.

"Wait, Will!" he shouted.

But Annie picked up the Pennsylvania book.

"I wish we could go home," she said.

The wind started to blow.

The tree house started to. spin.

It spun¹² faster and faster.

Then everything was still.

Absolutely 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 lumbered   

砍伐（lumber的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• A rhinoceros lumbered towards them. 一头犀牛笨重地向他们走来。
• A heavy truck lumbered by. 一辆重型卡车隆隆驶过。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 scrolls   

n.（常用于录写正式文件的）纸卷( scroll的名词复数 )；卷轴；涡卷形（装饰）；卷形花纹v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的第三人称单数 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕

参考例句：

• Either turn it off or only pick up selected stuff like wands, rings and scrolls. 把他关掉然后只捡你需要的物品，像是魔杖(wand)，戒指(rings)和滚动条(scrolls)。 来自互联网
• Ancient scrolls were found in caves by the Dead Sea. 死海旁边的山洞里发现了古代的卷轴。 来自辞典例句

5 slanted   

有偏见的； 倾斜的

参考例句：

• The sun slanted through the window. 太阳斜照进窗户。
• She had slanted brown eyes. 她有一双棕色的丹凤眼。

6 untied   

松开，解开( untie的过去式和过去分词 )； 解除，使自由； 解决

参考例句：

• Once untied, we common people are able to conquer nature, too. 只要团结起来，我们老百姓也能移山倒海。
• He untied the ropes. 他解开了绳子。

7 glided   

v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔

参考例句：

• The President's motorcade glided by. 总统的车队一溜烟开了过去。
• They glided along the wall until they were out of sight. 他们沿着墙壁溜得无影无踪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 ripples   

逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The moon danced on the ripples. 月亮在涟漪上舞动。
• The sea leaves ripples on the sand. 海水在沙滩上留下了波痕。

9 swooped   

俯冲，猛冲( swoop的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The aircraft swooped down over the buildings. 飞机俯冲到那些建筑物上方。
• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it. 鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来，并把它杀死。

10 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

11 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。

12 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。