《神奇树屋》 第十九册 Tigers at Twilight 06 Swamp Creatures!

　　Caw! Caw!

Awk! Awic! Awk!

Jack¹ slowly came out of his dream. He opened hiseyes with a start.

He was surrounded by hazy² sunlight.

Where am I? he thought in a panic.

Then he remembered--he was in India, on anelephant's back!

He sat up. Through the haze³, he saw that Saba wasstanding on a muddy stream bank.

Jack yawned. Where was Annie?

The other elephants were upstream. They sprayedwater on each other with their trunks.

Teddy, Kah, and Ko were at the edge of the forest.

Teddy sniffed⁴ the tall grass. The langurs ate flowers.

"Good morning!" called Annie.

She was sitting on a big black rock down-stream.

She was barefoot and soaking wet.

"Hi," said Jack. "How did you get down?""Teddy and I slid off Saba into the mud," saidAnnie. 'Try it. But throw down your sneakers andbackpack first."Annie went to Saba's side. Her feet were buried inmud up to her ankles.

Jack threw his things to Annie. Then he pattedSaba's rough, wrinkled skin.

"Thanks for the ride," he said softly.

The elephant touched him one last time with hertrunk.

Jack slid down her side--feet first--and fell into themud. He caught himself with his hands. They sankinto the mud past his wrists. His glasses werespattered, too.

"Wash off in the stream," Annie said.

She put Jack's pack and shoes on the rock whileJack waded⁵ into the cool water.

13He washed the mud off his hands and feet. Herinsed off his glasses. Then he looked around.

Saba had joined the rest of the herd⁶. The elephantslooked beautiful in the morning mist.

Everything looked beautiful.

Yellow and blue water birds spread their wings.

Mossy hanging vines swayed in the breeze. Hugewhite flowers floated on top of the stream.

Then Jack saw a strange sight. It looked like a hornand two ears sticking out of the water. One earflicked away a fly.

"There's a weird⁷ creature out here," he called toAnnie. "It looks like it has a horn."Annie waded into the stream.

"I better check the book," said Jack.

He hurried to his pack, wiping his wet hands on hisT-shirt. He pulled out the India book.

There was a picture of a horn sticking out of thewater. He read:

The one-horned rhinoceros⁹, or "rhino⁸," washes in aforest stream. Rhinos¹⁰ are not usually dangerous. Butbecause they do not see well, they sometimes chargeat things by mistake. A loud noise will usually stopthem.

Jack felt sorry for the rhinos. Too bad animals can'twear glasses, he thought. He read more:

The Indian rhino is a very endangered animal. Thismeans that there are not many left. People calledpoachers kill them and sell their body parts asmedicine and good-luck charms.

Jack started to take out his notebook.

Just then, a slurpy¹¹, sloshing sound came from thewater.

"Whoa!" said Annie.

Jack looked up.

The rhino rose from the stream. He looked like anancient swamp creature.

"Oh, man!" said Jack.

The rhino peered at Annie with his tiny eyes.

Then he snorted and lowered his head. His hornpointed right at Annie.

"Make a loud noise!" Jack yelled.

Annie clapped her hands and shouted, "We come inpeace!"The rhino stopped. He grunted¹². Then he sank backinto the water.

Annie laughed.

"Whew," said Jack. "I better take some notes aboutthat big guy." Arf! Arf! Teddy barked from the edge of the forest.

"And I better get Teddy," said Annie.

She hurried out of the stream and ran to get thedog. Jack pulled out his notebook and wrote:

One horned rhinoAn endangered animal needs glasses"Jack!" shouted Annie. She was racing¹³ toward him,with Teddy at her heels. "Come quick!""What's wrong?" he said.

"We found something terrible!" Annie was close totears. "Really terrible!"

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 hazy   

adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的

参考例句：

• We couldn't see far because it was so hazy.雾气蒙蒙妨碍了我们的视线。
• I have a hazy memory of those early years.对那些早先的岁月我有着朦胧的记忆。

3 haze   

n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊

参考例句：

• I couldn't see her through the haze of smoke.在烟雾弥漫中，我看不见她。
• He often lives in a haze of whisky.他常常是在威士忌的懵懂醉意中度过的。

4 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 waded   

（从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She tucked up her skirt and waded into the river. 她撩起裙子蹚水走进河里。
• He waded into the water to push the boat out. 他蹚进水里把船推出来。

6 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

7 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

8 rhino   

n.犀牛，钱, 现金

参考例句：

• The rhino charged headlong towards us.犀牛急速地向我们冲来。
• They have driven the rhino to the edge of extinction.他们已经令犀牛濒临灭绝。

9 rhinoceros   

n.犀牛

参考例句：

• The rhinoceros has one horn on its nose.犀牛鼻子上有一个角。
• The body of the rhinoceros likes a cattle and the head likes a triangle.犀牛的形体像牛，头呈三角形。

10 rhinos   

n.犀牛（rhino的复数形式）

参考例句：

• There are many reports of people taming and even training Indian rhinos. 有许多关于人们驯养甚至训练印度犀牛的记载。 来自辞典例句
• The rhinos had fed during the night in the rice fields of these villagers. 犀牛夜里在这些村民的庄稼地里也已吃饱了。 来自辞典例句

11 slurpy   

啧啧吃的声音

参考例句：

• Do you always slurp when a milkshake? 你总是这样啧啧喝牛奶吗？
• You may not slurp your soup. 喝汤不可发出声音。

12 grunted   

（猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说

参考例句：

• She just grunted, not deigning to look up from the page. 她只咕哝了一声，继续看书，不屑抬起头来看一眼。
• She grunted some incomprehensible reply. 她咕噜着回答了些令人费解的话。

13 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。