《神奇树屋》 第二十九册 Christmas in Camelot 12 Fire With Fire

　　The four real Keepers of the Cauldron crawled closer to Jackand Annie, hissing² and snorting blue fire.

"What do we do now?" whispered Annie.

"I don't know," said Jack¹. "We're trapped.""I have an idea" whispered Annie. "Let's drink the water.""What?" said Jack.

"It's the Water of Memory and Imagination, right?" saidAnnie. "So maybe if we drink it, we can imagine a way toescape!""That's crazy," said Jack.

The Keepers crawled closer, snorting more blue flame andfilling the air with their rotten stench.

"Okay, okay, let's try it," said Jack. Annie took a sip³ from thesilver cup, thenhanded it to Jack. His hands trembled as he held the cup to hislips and took a sip. The water tasted sweet, bitter, and spicy⁴, allat the same time.

Jack gave the cup back to Annie. "Now imagine we're saved!"she said. Jack closed his eyes. He tried to imagine being saved.

He pictured the four Keepers crawling back through theirdoorways.

"Okay. Ready to fight?" said Annie. Jack opened his eyes.

"What? Fight?" Annie set the silver cup on the floor. "Now!" shesaid.

Suddenly, Jack felt like he'd been hit by a bolt of lightning.

His fears slipped away. He was filled with strength and fury.

Without thinking, he lunged with Annie toward the wood fireunder the cauldron They each grabbed two long, straightbranches from the edge of the fire. They raised them high in theair. The branches blazed with purple fire like flaming swords.

"AAAHHH!" Jack and Annie shouted.

The four Keepers hissed⁷ louder than before. Great balls of bluefire exploded from their mouths and nostrils⁸!

Jack and Annie slashed⁹ the air with their fiery¹⁰ weapons,jabbing at the Keepers. They fought fire with fire, blue flamewith purple flame.

"Back! Back!" they shouted.

With each jab and shout, Jack felt stronger and braver.

Waving their burning branches, he and Annie drove the Keeperstoward the walls.

The Keepers' blue flames grew weaker and weaker, as if theywere running out of fuel. Finally, one by one, each Keeper slunkback into the doorway⁵ from which it had come.

When all the Keepers had disappeared, Jack and Annie placeda burning branch in front of each of the four doorways⁶ to keepthe monsters from coming back out.

Then they brushed off their hands.

"Let's go," Annie said coolly.

Jack nodded.

Annie carefully picked up the silver cup of water from thecauldron. Then she and Jack squeezed through the narrow crackand strode through the bright crystal cave.

They stepped out into the daylight.

The glass key was still in the keyhole.

Jack calmly locked the door behind them. He handed the keyto Annie.

Then Jack's knees gave way, and he sank to the ground.

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 hissing   

n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The steam escaped with a loud hissing noise. 蒸汽大声地嘶嘶冒了出来。
• His ears were still hissing with the rustle of the leaves. 他耳朵里还听得萨萨萨的声音和屑索屑索的怪声。 来自汉英文学 - 春蚕

3 sip   

v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量

参考例句：

• She took a sip of the cocktail.她啜饮一口鸡尾酒。
• Elizabeth took a sip of the hot coffee.伊丽莎白呷了一口热咖啡。

4 spicy   

adj.加香料的；辛辣的，有风味的

参考例句：

• The soup tasted mildly spicy.汤尝起来略有点辣。
• Very spicy food doesn't suit her stomach.太辣的东西她吃了胃不舒服。

5 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

6 doorways   

n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The houses belched people; the doorways spewed out children. 从各家茅屋里涌出一堆一堆的人群，从门口蹦出一群一群小孩。 来自辞典例句
• He rambled under the walls and doorways. 他就顺着墙根和门楼遛跶。 来自辞典例句

7 hissed   

发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对

参考例句：

• Have you ever been hissed at in the middle of a speech? 你在演讲中有没有被嘘过？
• The iron hissed as it pressed the wet cloth. 熨斗压在湿布上时发出了嘶嘶声。

8 nostrils   

鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her nostrils flared with anger. 她气得两个鼻孔都鼓了起来。
• The horse dilated its nostrils. 马张大鼻孔。

9 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。