《神奇树屋》 第二十六册 Good Morning, Gorillas 01 Dark and Rainy

　　Tap-tap-tap.

Jack¹ sat up in bed. Rain tapped against his window.

His clock said 5 A.M. It was still dark outside.

Annie peeked² into his room.

"Are you awake?" she whispered.

"Yep," said Jack.

"Ready to find some special magic?" she asked.

"Maybe we should wait," said Jack. "It's so dark andrainy.""No waiting," said Annie. "I'll get an umbrella. Youbring a flashlight. Meet you downstairs.""Okay, okay" said Jack.

He jumped out of bed. He pulled on his clothes andput on a jacket. Then he grabbed his backpack andflashlight.

Jack slipped downstairs and out the front door.

Annie stood on the porch in jeans and a T-shirt. Theair was chilly³ and breezy.

"Don't you need a sweater or something?" said Jack.

"I'm okay," she said. "Let's go."Annie raised the umbrella. Jack turned on theflashlight. They followed a circle of rainy light downtheir street into the woods.

They headed through the Frog Creek⁴ woods. Theflashlight lit up the trees--the wet leaves and darkbranches. Then it shined on a dangling⁵ rope ladder.

Jack raised the flashlight beam. "There it is," hesaid.

A circle of light lit the magic tree house. "Morgan'snot there," said Annie. "I can tell." "Maybe she left usa message," said Jack. Jack grabbed the rope ladderand started up. Annie put the umbrella down andfollowed. When they climbed inside, Jack shined theflashlight around the tree house.

Morgan le Fay wasn't there. But the scrolls⁶ fromtheir trip to old England were.

"Here's proof we found a special magic yesterday,"she said.

"Yeah," said Jack, smiling. "Theater magic." He hadgreat memories of acting⁷ in a play by their friendWilliam Shakespeare.

"Did Morgan leave us a new secret rhyme?" askedJack.

He shined the flashlight on a a book lying under thewindow. A piece of paper was sticking out of thebook.

"Yes!" said Annie. She picked up the book andpulled out the paper.

Jack shined his light on the paper while Annie readaloud:

Dear Annie and Jack,Good luck on your second journey to find a specialmagic. This secret rhyme will guide you:

To find a special kind of magic in worlds so farapart, speak a special language, talk with your handsand heart.

Thank you, Morgan"What kind of language does she mean?" Jackasked.

"I guess we'll find out," said Annie. "Where are wegoing?"Jack shined the flashlight on the cover of the book.

It showed huge trees partly hidden by mist. The titlewas:

AN AFRICAN RAIN FOREST"Rain forest?" said Jack. "Good thing we broughtour umbrella and flashlight. Remember the rain in theAmazon rain forest? Remember how dark it wasunder the treetops?""Yeah," said Annie. "Remember the spiders andscary ants?""Well... ," Jack said, "not all rain forests have thesame bugs⁸.""Remember the river snakes?" said Annie. "And thecrocodiles?""Well . . . ," said Jack, "not all rain forests have bigrivers. There are different kinds of rain forests, youknow.""Right," said Annie. She pointed⁹ to the cover of thebook. "I wish we could go there."The wind started to blow.

"Oh, remember the jaguar¹⁰?" said Annie. "And thevampire bats?""Wait!" said Jack.

But it was too late. The wind was blowing harder.

The tree house started to spin.

It spun¹¹ 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 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

3 chilly   

adj.凉快的，寒冷的

参考例句：

• I feel chilly without a coat.我由于没有穿大衣而感到凉飕飕的。
• I grew chilly when the fire went out.炉火熄灭后，寒气逼人。

4 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。

5 dangling   

悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口

参考例句：

• The tooth hung dangling by the bedpost, now. 结果，那颗牙就晃来晃去吊在床柱上了。
• The children sat on the high wall,their legs dangling. 孩子们坐在一堵高墙上，摇晃着他们的双腿。

6 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

7 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

8 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 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。

10 jaguar   

n.美洲虎

参考例句：

• He was green with envy when he saw my new Jaguar car.看见我那辆美洲虎牌新车，他非常妒忌。
• Should you meet a jaguar in the jungle,just turn slowly,walk away.But slowly,never look back.你在丛林中若碰上美洲虎，就慢慢转身走开，可一定要慢，切莫回头看。

11 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。