《神奇树屋》 第二十一册 Civil War on Sunday 10 Home, Sweet Home

　　There was a booming¹ in the distance.

Jack² opened his eyes and caught his breath. Is that cannonfire? he wondered. Are we still back in the Civil War?

"We're home," said Annie. "Home, sweet home.""Oh, man," Jack whispered.

They were home. They were back in the Frog Creek⁴ woods.

They were wearing their own comfortable clothes again.

The cannon³ fire was really only thunder. At that moment,Jack loved the thunder.

Raindrops tapped against the tree house.

"We better hurry," said Jack.

"Wait. Leave the list in the tree house," said Annie. "It's thefirst special writing for Morgan's library. Something to follow."Jack took the list of Clara Barton's rules out of his pack. Heput it on the floor next to Morgan's letter.

"I wonder how that list will help save Camelot?" he said.

"I don't know," said Annie. "But you know what's weird⁵ aboutgetting that list? I think we couldn't just have taken it homewhen we first got it. We had to live it first."Jack nodded. Annie was completely right, he thought. Hepicked up his backpack.

"Wait! I see another note!" said Annie.

She picked a piece of paper off the tree-house floor. On it waswritten: Come back on Wednesday.

"I guess that's when Morgan wants us to look for the nextspecial writing," said Annie.

"That's in three days," said Jack. "Let's go home and rest."He started down the rope ladder. Annie followed.

When they stepped onto the ground, the rain began to pourdown.

"Run!" said Jack.

They ran through the Frog Creek woods, then down theirstreet. They ran to their porch⁶ and dashed into their dry, cozyhouse.

They found their parents reading in the living room.

"Dad! Mom!" Annie cried. "We're so glad to see you!""Well, we're--we're glad to see you, too," their dad said,sounding a little puzzled.

"Go put on dry clothes," said their mom.

Jack and Annie started up to their rooms. Halfway⁷ up thestairs, Jack stopped.

"Oh, I have a question," he called to his parents. "Did anyonein our family fight in the Civil War?"Their dad looked surprised. "Yes," he said. "One of your greatgreat-great-grandfathers was a drummer boy.""Oh, man," whispered Jack.

"What was his name, Dad?" asked Annie. "John," their dadsaid.

Jack and Annie gasped⁸.

"And--and what happened to John?" Jack asked. "Was he hurtin the war?""No, he grew up to be a schoolteacher," their mom said. "Hehad five children." Jack and Annie whooped⁹ with joy. "That's great news!" saidAnnie.

"Really great news!" said Jack. "Thanks for telling us!""Sure." Their dad smiled, looked puzzled again.

As Jack hurried up to his words from the Civil War song hismind:

Give us a song to cheer Our weary¹⁰ hearts, a song of home...

　　The End.

1 booming   

adj.急速发展的v.激增( boom的现在分词 )；猛涨；发出隆隆声；以低沉有力的声音说话

参考例句：

• The opera singer has a deep, booming, masculine voice. 这位歌剧演唱家有一副深沉而又浑厚有力的嗓音。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He is booming as a teacher. 作为一位教师，他日趋成功。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 cannon   

n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮

参考例句：

• The soldiers fired the cannon.士兵们开炮。
• The cannon thundered in the hills.大炮在山间轰鸣。

4 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。

5 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。

6 porch   

n.门廊，入口处，走廊，游廊

参考例句：

• There are thousands of pages of advertising on our porch.有成千上万页广告堆在我们的门廊上。
• The porch is supported by six immense pillars.门廊由六根大柱子支撑着。

7 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

8 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》

9 whooped   

叫喊( whoop的过去式和过去分词 )； 高声说； 唤起

参考例句：

• The bill whooped through both houses. 此提案在一片支持的欢呼声中由两院匆匆通过。
• The captive was whooped and jeered. 俘虏被叱责讥笑。

10 weary   

adj.疲劳的，使人疲劳的；vi.厌烦，不耐烦

参考例句：

• He has laid out all his strength and is weary.他使出了全部气力，非常疲倦。
• I am weary of his constant complaints.我对他不断发牢骚感到厌烦。