《神奇树屋》 第三十一册 Summer of the SeaSerpent 01 Summer Solstice

　　Jack¹ was sitting on the porch reading thenewspaper. It was a warm summer day, but the porchwas shady and cool.

Annie poked² her head out of the screen door. "Hey,Mom says she'll drive us to the lake this afternoon,"she said.

Jack didn't raise his eyes from the weather page.

"Did you know today is the summer solstice?" he said.

"What's that?" asked Annie.

"It's the official first day of summer," said12Jack. "There's more daylight today than on anyother day of the year.""Cool," said Annie.

"Starting tomorrow, the days will get shorter andshorter," said Jack.

A loud screech³ came from overhead.

"Look," said Annie, "a seagull!"Jack looked up. A large white gull⁴ was circling inthe bright noon sky. "What's he doing here?" askedJack. "The ocean's two hours away."The gull swooped⁵ down and screeched⁶ again.

"Maybe he's a messenger from Morgan or Merlin,"said Annie. "Maybe one of them sent him to tell usthe tree house is finally back."Jack's heart began to pound. He put down thenewspaper. "You think so?" he asked.

Jack and Annie hadn't seen the magic tree housesince their Merlin Mission to a haunted castle lastHalloween. Jack had begun to worry that the treehouse might never come back.

13"Look, he's flying toward the woods," said Annie.

Jack jumped up. "Okay," he said. "Let's go.""We'll be back soon, Mom!" Annie called. Then sheand Jack dashed across their yard. They ran downtheir street and into the Frog Creek⁷ woods.

The shady woods were dappled with sunlight. Theair smelled fresh and clean. Jack and Annie hurriedpast the leafy trees, until they came to the tallest oak.

High in the oak branches, the magic tree house waswaiting for them.

"Wow," Jack and Annie said together. The treehouse looked exactly the same as when they'd lastseen it.

Annie grabbed the rope ladder and started up. Jackfollowed. When they climbed inside the tree house,no one was there.

"Look, our Royal Invitation is still here," said Annie.

She picked up the card that had taken them toCamelot on Christmas Eve.

14"And our leaf from Merlin is still here," said Jack.

He picked up the yellow autumn leaf that had sentthem on their Halloween mission.

"This is new," said Annie, She picked up a pale blueseashell. The shell was shaped like a small fan. Therewas writing on it.

"Hey, this looks like Merlin's handwriting!" saidAnnie. "We must be going on another mission forMerlin!" She read aloud the message from themagician:

[Image: A shell.]

15Annie looked up. "What rhyme?" she said. "Let mesee." Jack took the shell from her and turned it over.

On the other side was a poem. Jack read the poemaloud:

Before night falls on this long summer day, Ashining sword must find its way Into your hands andout of the gloom --Or Camelota king shall meet hisdoom. To begin your quest for this Sword of Light,Call for the help of the Water Knight⁸ Then passthrough the Cave of the Spider Queen-"Spider Queen?" Annie interrupted. She frowned.

Spiders were about the only thing she was afraid of.

"Don't think about it now," said Jack. "Let's keepgoing." He read on:

... pass through the Cave of the Spider Queen Andswim with a selkie clothed in green. Enter the Coveof the Stormy Coast, Dive 'neath the Cloak of the OldGray Ghost-16Jack stopped reading. "Old Gray Ghost?" he said.

"Don't think about it now," said Annie. "Keepgoing."Jack read more:

Answer a question with love, not fear.

With rhyme and sword, your home is nearBoth Jack and Annie were silent for a moment.

"That's a lot to do before nightfall," Jack finally said.

"Yeah," said Annie, "and I'm a little worried aboutthe spider part.""And the ghost part," said Jack.

"Hey," said Annie, "if we're going on anotherMerlin Mission, I'll bet Teddy will come with us! Hecan help us get through the scary parts.""Right," said Jack. Just hearing Teddy's name madehim feel braver.

"So," said Annie. "Onward⁹?" Onwardwas Teddy'sfavorite word.

"Onward!" said Jack. He pointed¹⁰ to the17handwriting on the pale blue shell. "I wish we couldgo to the time before Camelot!"The wind started to blow.

The tree house started to spin.

It spun¹¹ faster and faster.

Then everything was stillAbsolutely 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 poked   

v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
• His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 screech   

n./v.尖叫；(发出)刺耳的声音

参考例句：

• He heard a screech of brakes and then fell down. 他听到汽车刹车发出的尖锐的声音,然后就摔倒了。
• The screech of jet planes violated the peace of the afternoon. 喷射机的尖啸声侵犯了下午的平静。

4 gull   

n.鸥；受骗的人；v.欺诈

参考例句：

• The ivory gull often follows polar bears to feed on the remains of seal kills.象牙海鸥经常跟在北极熊的后面吃剩下的海豹尸体。
• You are not supposed to gull your friends.你不应该欺骗你的朋友。

5 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。

6 screeched   

v.发出尖叫声( screech的过去式和过去分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫

参考例句：

• She screeched her disapproval. 她尖叫着不同意。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The car screeched to a stop. 汽车嚓的一声停住了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 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。

8 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

9 onward   

adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先

参考例句：

• The Yellow River surges onward like ten thousand horses galloping.黄河以万马奔腾之势滚滚向前。
• He followed in the steps of forerunners and marched onward.他跟随着先辈的足迹前进。

10 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。

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。