《神奇树屋》 第三十三册 Carnival at Candlelight 09 The Painting

　　The gondolier silently helped Jack¹ and Annie intothe boat. Then he untied² the gondola³ and pushed offfrom the landing.

As the boat glided⁴ through the shallow waters, Jacklooked back at Venice. Bathed in early sunlight, theGrand Lady of the Lagoondidseem timeless.

The gondola moved around the bend and up thenarrow canal near the walled garden. The gondoliertied the boat to a striped pole. He then offered hisgloved hand to Annie to help her out116of the boat. Annie climbed out and the gondolieroffered his hand to Jack.

As the gondolier helped Jack onto the landing, theboat rocked in the water. Jack tripped, pulling theglove off the gondolier's hand.

117"Oh, sorry," said Jack. As he handed the glove back,he gasped⁶. Onthe gondolier's finger was a pale blue glass ring.

Before Jack could say anything, the gondolierpulled his glove back on and pushed the boat awayfrom the landing.

"Hey--hey!" Jack sputtered⁷. "Teddy? Kathleen?

Wait! Come back!"Neither of the masked people looked back at Jackand Annie.

"Teddy and Kathleen? Where?" said Annie. "Hisglove--it came off! There was a blue glass ring on hisfinger!" said Jack.

118Jack and Annie watched the gondola disappear intoa blaze of sunlight shining on the water. Had it justglided around the bend? Or had it vanishedaltogether?

"Are you sure it was them?" said Annie. "Well, Iguessanybodycould wear a glass ring," said Jack. "But still . . .""Maybe Morgan and Merlin told them to watchover us," said Annie.

"Yeah, to make sure we'd be safe," said Jack. "Andbe patient and follow instructions," said Annie.

"Right," said Jack. "Well, Venice wasn't destroyedby a flood. So I guess we passed our first test.""I think we did," said Annie.

With Lorenzo's canvas tucked under his arm, Jackled the way into the walled garden. Annie followedhim to the rope ladder.

When they climbed into the tree house, Jack pulledMerlin's letter from his backpack. He119unfolded it and pointed⁸ to the wordsFrog Creek⁹.

"Iwish we could go there!" he said.

"Good-bye, Grand Lady of the Lagoon⁵!" said Annie.

The wind started to blow.

The tree house started to spin.

It spun¹⁰ faster and fastenThen everything was still.

Absolutely still.

A nippy wind rustled¹¹ the Frog Creek trees. Jack andAnnie were wearing their jeans and jackets again. Itwas dawn.

Annie sighed.

"Iwish we'd had a little more time to visit Venice,"she said.

"I'm glad Lorenzo gave us his painting to finish,"said Jack. "That'll be like living our trip all overagain.""Cool," said Annie.

"We'd better leave Morgan's research book here,"said Jack. He pulled the book out of his120backpack and put it on the floor. "And this." Hetook out Teddy and Kathleen's book of magic rhymes.

"Wait," said Annie. "Don't you think we shouldtake the book of rhymes with us? For safekeeping?"Jack nodded. "We can't use them in Frog Creek," hesaid. "We'll just keep it safe till we go on our nextmission.""That's what I was thinking," said Annie. "Come on.

Hurry, before Mom and Dad wake up."Jack put the book of rhymes back into his pack.

Carrying Lorenzo's canvas, Annie climbed down theladder. Jack followed.

As they walked through the chilly¹² dawn woods,Annie held up Lorenzo's canvas. The shimmeringlight and waters of Venice looked just like they had inreal life. "So what should we put in our painting?" sheasked.

"Gondolas¹³, of course," said Jack, "with people incostumes."121"Wearing black capes¹⁴ and bird masks," said Annie,"and fancy dresses and wigs¹⁵.""And we could paint the clock tower in thebackground," said Jack, "with the two men strikingthe bell.""And the watchtower, too," said Annie, "with thegold angel on top.""And the ruler's palace," said Jack.

"And the old man and Rosa walking along thecanal," said Annie, "and, of course, Lorenzo.""And the lion flying across the sky," said Jack, "andNeptune's spear rising out of the water.""With Neptune¹⁶ himself peeking¹⁷ out!" said Annie.

"We'll show just the top of his head and hismysterious eyes.""That's a lot of stuff for one painting," said Jack.

"We didn't even put ourselves in yet," said Annie.

"We'll paint ourselves on the back of the lion," saidJack, "wearing our clown suits and red slippers¹⁸."122"Yeah, with huge smiles on our faces," said Annie,"like we're thinking, Wow! Wow! Wow!" Jacklaughed.

A chilly dawn breeze swept through the bare trees.

The bells of a Frog Creek church began to chime. Jackand Annie took off running for home.

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 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。

3 gondola   

n.威尼斯的平底轻舟；飞船的吊船

参考例句：

• The road is too narrow to allow the passage of gondola.这条街太窄大型货车不能通过。
• I have a gondola here.我开来了一条平底船。

4 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》

5 lagoon   

n.泻湖，咸水湖

参考例句：

• The lagoon was pullulated with tropical fish.那个咸水湖聚满了热带鱼。
• This area isolates a restricted lagoon environment.将这一地区隔离起来使形成一个封闭的泻湖环境。

6 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 sputtered   

v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的过去式和过去分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出

参考例句：

• The candle sputtered out. 蜡烛噼啪爆响着熄灭了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The balky engine sputtered and stopped. 不听使唤的发动机劈啪作响地停了下来。 来自辞典例句

8 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。

9 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。

10 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。

11 rustled   

v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He rustled his papers. 他把试卷弄得沙沙地响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Leaves rustled gently in the breeze. 树叶迎着微风沙沙作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 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。

13 gondolas   

n.狭长小船( gondola的名词复数 )；货架（一般指商店，例如化妆品店）；吊船工作台

参考例句：

• When the G-Force is in motion, the gondolas turn as well. 当“惊呼狂叫”开始旋转时，平底船也同时旋转。 来自互联网
• Moreton Engineering &Equipment Co. Ltd. -Services include sales tower crane, gondolas, material hoist construction equipment. 山明模型工作室-制作建筑模型，包括售楼模型、规划模型、比赛模型等。 来自互联网

14 capes   

碎谷； 斗篷( cape的名词复数 )； 披肩； 海角； 岬

参考例句：

• It was cool and they were putting on their capes. 夜里阴冷，他们都穿上了披风。
• The pastor smiled to give son's two Capes five cents money. 牧师微笑着给了儿子二角五分钱。

15 wigs   

n.假发，法官帽( wig的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They say that wigs will be coming in again this year. 据说今年又要流行戴假发了。 来自辞典例句
• Frank, we needed more wigs than we thought, and we have to do some advertising. 弗兰克，因为我们需要更多的假发，而且我们还要做点广告。 来自电影对白

16 Neptune   

n.海王星

参考例句：

• Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun.海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Neptune turned out to be a dynamic,stormy world.海王星原来是个有生气、多风暴的世界。

17 peeking   

v.很快地看( peek的现在分词 )；偷看；窥视；微露出

参考例句：

• I couldn't resist peeking in the drawer. 我不由得偷看了一下抽屉里面。
• They caught him peeking in through the keyhole. 他们发现他从钥匙孔里向里窥视。 来自辞典例句

18 slippers   

n. 拖鞋

参考例句：

• a pair of slippers 一双拖鞋
• He kicked his slippers off and dropped on to the bed. 他踢掉了拖鞋，倒在床上。