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A cold wind rattled1 the windowpanes. But insidethe house, it was warm and cozy2. Jack3 and Anniewere making Christmas cookies with their mom. Jackpressed a star-shaped cookie cutter into the dough4.
"Hey, it's snowing outside," said Annie.
Jack looked out the window. Huge snow-flakeswere falling from the late-afternoon sky.
"You want to go out?" asked Annie.
"Not really. It'll be dark soon," said Jack.
12"That's right," said their mom. "Today's the first dayof winter. It's the shortest day of the year."Jack's heart skipped a beat. "You mean it's thewinter solstice?" he said.
"Yes," said their mom.
Annie gasped5. "The winter solstice?" she said.
"Yes...," their mom said, puzzled.
Jack and Annie looked at each other. Last summer,Merlin the magician had called for their help on thesummer solstice. Maybe he would need them againtoday!
Jack put down the cookie cutter and wiped hishands on a towel. "Actually, Mom, it might be fun toplay in the snow for just a few minutes," he said.
"Whatever you want," their mom said. "Just dresswarmly. I'll finish up with the cookies and put themin the oven.""Thanks!" said Jack. He and Annie raced to thecloset and pulled on their boots. They threw onjackets, scarves, gloves, and caps.
13"Be home before dark," their mom said.
"We will!" called Jack.
"Bye, Mom!" Annie shouted.
Jack and Annie slipped out of their house into thesnowy cold. Their boots squeaked6 as they ran acrosstheir white yard and headed toward the Frog Creekwoods.
At the edge of the woods, Jack stopped. He couldn'tbelieve how beautiful the trees looked. White powdercovered the branches of the hemlocks9 and pines.
"Look," said Annie. She pointed10 to two pairs offootprints that led out to the road and then back intothe woods. "Somebody else has been here.""It looks like they were walking out of the woods-butturned back," said Jack. "Let's hurry!" If the magictree house had come back today, he didn't wantanyone else finding it first!
Jack and Annie walked quickly through the woods,following the two sets of footprints.
14"Stop!" said Annie. She pulled Jack behind a tree.
"Over there!"[ILLUSTRATION: Two people walking towards atree house.]
15[ILLUSTRATION: Annie and Jack hiding behind atree as they watch two people walk in front of them.]
16Through the falling snow, Jack saw two people inlong, dark cloaks. They were hurrying toward a talloak--and high in the oak was the magic tree house!
"Oh, no!" said Jack.
The tree house was back! And someone else hadfound it!
"Hey!" Jack yelled. "Stop!" The tree house had comefor him and Annie--no one else!
Jack started running. Annie followed. Jack slippedand fell in the snow, but he scrambled11 up and keptgoing. By the time he and Annie got to the treehouse, the two people had climbed up the rope ladderand disappeared inside.
"Come out!" Jack yelled.
"This is our tree house!" shouted Annie.
Two kids poked12 their heads out of the tree housewindow. They both looked like they were aboutthirteen years old. The boy had tousled red hair andfreckles. The girl had sea-blue eyes17and long, curly black hair. Their cheeks were rosyfrom the cold. They laughed when they saw Jack andAnnie.
"Excellent!" said the boy. "We came to find you, butyou have found us instead.""Teddy!" cried Annie. "Kathleen! Hi!"Teddy was the young sorcerer who worked withMorgan in her library in Camelot. Kathleen was theenchanted selkie girl who'd helped Jack and Annie onthe summer solstice by magically turning them allinto seals.
Jack was stunned13. He had never imagined that theirtwo friends from Camelot might someday visit FrogCreek! "What are you guys doing here?" he shouted.
"Climb up and we will tell you!" said Teddy.
Jack and Annie hurried up the rope ladder. Whenthey climbed inside the tree house, Annie threw herarms around Teddy and Kathleen. "I can't believe youcame to visit us!" she said.
18"It pleases me to see you, Annie," said Kathleen.
"And you also, Jack." Her large blue eyes sparkled.
"It pleases me, too," Jack said shyly. He still thoughtKathleen was the most beautiful girl he had everseen. Even when she'd been a seal, she'd been lovely.
"We went looking for you!" said Teddy. "Weclimbed down and walked through the woods to aroad.""But the road was full of monsters!" said Kathleen.
"A big red creature nearly ran over us! It made ahonking sound!""Then before we knew it, a giant black monstercharged at us! It had a ferocious14 growl15!" said Teddy.
"We came back here to gather our wits.""Those weren't monsters!" said Annie, laughing.
"They were just cars!""Cars?" said Teddy.
19"Yeah, they have motors and people drive them,"said Jack.
"Motors?" said Teddy.
"It's hard to explain," said Annie. "Just remember-in our world, you have to watch out for cars everytime you cross a road.""Indeed we will," said Teddy.
"Why have you come here?" asked Jack.
"We found a message for you in Merlin'schambers," said Teddy, "and decided16 to deliver itourselves.""So we climbed into the tree house outsideMorgan's library," said Kathleen. "Teddy pointed tothe words Frog Creek7 in the message and made awish to come here. The next thing we knew, we werehere in these woods."Teddy pulled a small gray stone from his cloak.
"And this is the message we brought you," he said.
Jack took the stone from Teddy.
20The message was written in tiny handwriting. Jackread it aloud:
To Jack and Annie of Frog Creek:
My Staff of Strength has been stolen.
On the winter solstice, journey to theLand-Behind-the-Clouds. Travel toward the settingsun and retrieve17 mystaff--or all will be lost.
Merlin"Oh, wow," said Annie. "That sounds serious.""Yeah," said Jack. "But why didn't Merlin send usthe message himself?""We do not know," said Teddy. "Neither Merlin norMorgan has been seen for days.""Where did they go?" asked Annie.
"'Tis a mystery," said Teddy. "Last week I journeyedto the selkie cove8 to bring Kathleen21to Camelot. She is going to be a helper in Morgan'slibrary. But when we returned, we could not findMerlin or Morgan.""We only found this message for you," saidKathleen.
"Aye, and I thought that when Merlin does return,"said Teddy, "he will be greatly pleased to have hisstaff back. Much of his power comes from its ancientand mysterious magic.""Wow," said Annie.
"In his message, he tells us to go to the Land-Behind-the-Clouds," said Jack. "Where's that?""'Tis a land far north of my cove," said Kathleen. "Ihave never journeyed there.""Nor I," said Teddy. "But I have read about it inMorgan's books. 'Tis as bleak18 as a frozen white desert.
I am eager to see it for myself.""So you and Kathleen are coming with us?" saidAnnie.
"Indeed!" said Kathleen.
"Great!" said Jack and Annie together.
22"If we all work together, we can do anything, aye?"said Teddy.
"Aye!" said Annie.
I hope so, thought Jack.
Annie pointed at the words Land-Behind-the-Clouds in Merlin's message. "Okay, ready?" she saidto the others.
"Yes!" said Kathleen.
"I guess so," said Jack.
"Onward19!" said Teddy.
"I wish we could all go there!" Annie said.
The tree house started to spin.
It spun20 faster and faster.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
收听单词发音 |
1
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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2
cozy
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| adj.亲如手足的，密切的，暖和舒服的 | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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dough
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| n.生面团；钱，现款 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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squeaked
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| v.短促地尖叫( squeak的过去式和过去分词 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者 | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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9
hemlocks
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| 由毒芹提取的毒药( hemlock的名词复数 ) | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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12
poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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13
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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14
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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15
growl
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| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
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16
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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17
retrieve
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| vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索 | |
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18
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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19
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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