《神奇树屋》 第三十六册 Blizzard of the Blue Moon 07 Dianthus

     The unicorn¹ had a broad milk-white chest and graceful² neck.

A tuft of hair curled under his chin. A long, spiraled horn rosefrom the middle of his forehead. He stood very still and very tall.

His whole body seemed to be glowing.

Balor and Grinda just stared at him. They both lookedfrightened. But Annie stepped forward. "Hi, Dianthus," shewhispered. She reached out and gently touched the unicorn'swhite chest. "Feel, Jack³, feel his heart pounding.""Move away!" ordered Grinda. The girl stepped80between Jack and Annie. "He is ours and he is coming withus.""He'snotyours!" said Annie.

"Whoareyou, anyway?" said Jack. "Where did you come from?"Grinda glared at Jack. "We come from the same magic worldhecomes from," she said. "He belongs with us, notyou.

Balor!"The boy shoved Annie aside and tried to loop the black ropearound the unicorn's neck. But Dianthus reared up and wheeledaround, forcing Balor and Grinda out of his way.

Dianthus leapt across the tapestry⁴ room toward the garden.

Jack and Annie followed him through the open doorway⁵ into thesnowy cloister⁶. Balor and Grinda charged after them. Theypushed past Jack and Annie to Dianthus. Balor grabbed theunicorn's blue collar. "You are coming with us, stupid, like it ornot!""Don't pull on him!" yelled Annie. "And don't call him stupid!"81Dianthus tried to back up.

"Let go!" screamed Annie. "He doesn't want to go with you!""He has no choice," said Grinda. "As soon as that rope goesaround his neck, all three of us will be instantly transported backto the Castle of the Dark Wizard."82"No!" Jack shouted. He charged at Balor and tried to grab therope from his hand. Balor let go of the unicorn's collar andshoved Jack into the snow. Then he turned back to the unicornand began to swing the magic rope like a lasso.

Dianthus reared up again and kicked his legs. Breath from hisnostrils billowed into the icy air.

"A rhyme, Jack!" yelled Annie. "A rhyme!"Kneeling in the snow, Jack yanked the book from hisbriefcase. He frantically⁷ turned the pages, looking for a rhymethey hadn't used.

"Call a Cloud from the Sky?"he shouted to Annie.

"Anything!" she called. "Try it!"Jack read the rhyme aloud:

Down from high, out of the sky,Ee-no-fain-ee-ro-lie!

A thick white fog instantly filled the cloister. The fog was sodense that Jack couldn't even see his own hand.

"Balor, where are you?" shrieked⁸ Grinda.

83"Here!" the boy yelled.

Someone grabbed Jack. He struggled to break free. "Let mego!" he shouted.

"It's me!" whispered Annie. "Come on!"Jack stood up, clinging to Annie. They stumbled togetherthrough the garden. Feeling their way along the walkway, theycame to the door that led to the main hall.

"Dianthus, here!" Annie whispered.

Jack heard the soft crunch⁹ of the unicorn's hooves in thefrozen snow.

"Where did he go?" Balor shouted. "Find him!" yelled Grinda.

Jack reached out and felt the unicorn's soft mane. Anniepushed open the door. Then she, Dianthus, and Jack slippedinside the main hall.

Jack closed the door before Balor and Grinda could escape thegarden. There wasn't a wisp of fog in the main hall. Themuseum lady was still behind her desk. She stared at Jack,Annie, and the glowing unicorn that had just come in from84the garden. Her mouth opened, and then closed. Dianthusstepped lightly over the wooden floor. Jack and Annie followedhim.

The museum lady never blinked. As Dianthus walkedgracefully past her desk, she reached out and touched him. Shegasped and quickly drew back her hand.

"Thanks for keeping the museum open today," said Annie.

"And thank Mr. Rockefeller for his gifts."The museum lady opened and closed her mouth again, stillunable to speak.

Jack opened the door that led to the street. Jack and Anniefollowed Dianthus out of the museum and down the stone steps.

The blizzard¹⁰ had gotten much worse. Snow was coming downharder than ever. The wind was wailing¹¹. The unicorn shook hishead and knelt down.

"He wants us to get on his back!" said Annie. "Quick! Climbon behind me!" Annie climbed onto the unicorn's back. Jackclimbed on behind her.

85Dianthus stood up to his full height.

Grinda and Balor burst out the door of the museum. "Stop!"screamed Grinda.

Dianthus looked back at them. Then he leapt nimbly over asnowdrift and headed into the darkening storm.

1 unicorn   

n.(传说中的)独角兽

参考例句：

• The unicorn is an imaginary beast.独角兽是幻想出来的动物。
• I believe unicorn was once living in the world.我相信独角兽曾经生活在这个世界。

2 graceful   

adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的

参考例句：

• His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
• The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。

3 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。

4 tapestry   

n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面

参考例句：

• How about this artistic tapestry and this cloisonne vase?这件艺术挂毯和这个景泰蓝花瓶怎么样？
• The wall of my living room was hung with a tapestry.我的起居室的墙上挂着一块壁毯。

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 cloister   

n.修道院；v.隐退，使与世隔绝

参考例句：

• They went out into the stil,shadowy cloister garden.他们出了房间，走到那个寂静阴沉的修道院的园子里去。
• The ancient cloister was a structure of red brick picked out with white stone.古老的修道院是一座白石衬托着的红砖建筑物。

7 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。

8 shrieked   

v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She shrieked in fright. 她吓得尖叫起来。
• Li Mei-t'ing gave a shout, and Lu Tzu-hsiao shrieked, "Tell what? 李梅亭大声叫，陆子潇尖声叫：“告诉什么？ 来自汉英文学 - 围城

9 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

10 blizzard   

n.暴风雪

参考例句：

• The blizzard struck while we were still on the mountain.我们还在山上的时候暴风雪就袭来了。
• You'll have to stay here until the blizzard blows itself off.你得等暴风雪停了再走。

11 wailing   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱

参考例句：

• A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。
• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。