英语读物《神奇树屋》 第十五册 Viking Ships at Sunrise 08 Lost at Sea

　　Annie fell to the deck of the ship.

Jack¹ pulled the rope out of the water. The end of itwas still tied in a loop.

"What happened?" asked Annie.

"We're heading out to sea," said Jack. "I guess allthe pulling lifted the rope off the rock."Annie sat up and looked at the misty² whiteness.

"I can't see the island," she said. "I can't seeanything," said Jack. Annie looked at Jack.

"Do you think this is our darkest hour?" she asked.

"I don't know," said Jack. "Maybe the book willhelp."He pulled out their research book. He found apicture of a Viking ship. He read the caption³ aloud:

Viking warships⁴ were the best ships of their times.

When there was no wind, the crew would take downthe sails and row with oars⁶. The smallest ships hadfour rowers, and the largest had as many as thirty-two. Rowers sat on boxes that stored their belongings⁷.

"Great," said Annie, jumping up. "This isn't ourdarkest hour!""Why do you say that?" asked Jack.

"There's still hope," said Annie. "We can row to theother side of island and find tree house.""Are you nuts?" said Jack.

"Please, Jack," said Annie. "Can we just try?"She grabbed one of the oars. She could barely lift it.

"Forget it, Annie," said Jack. "It takes four bigViking guys to row this thing. You're too little. I'm toolittle.""Come on, Jack. Just try," said Annie. "You get anoar, too. We'll sit on boxes across from each other.""Oh, brother," said Jack.

Annie dragged her long oar⁵ over to a storage box.

"I'm not doing this alone," she said.

Jack groaned⁸. Then he dragged an oar to the boxacross from Annie.

"Cool!" said Annie. She peered into a storage box.

"Look, one for each of us!"She lifted out two small Viking helmets.

"Maybe these were made for Viking kids whosometimes ride in this ship," said Annie.

"Maybe," said Jack.

He hadn't thought of Vikings as real people before-people with families and little kids.

Annie pulled off her scarf and put a helmet on herhead.

"Now I feel like a Viking, too," she said. "I bet it willhelp me row."She handed Jack a helmet. He put it on. It made himfeel a little different.

"I don't know about this," he said. The helmetwasn't as heavy as the one he had worn in the time ofcastles. But it was still pretty heavy.

"Well, I'm braver with mine on," said Annie.

Jack smiled. He didn't know how Annie could bebraver than she already was.

"Ready to row?" she asked.

"Yup," said Jack. He was feeling braver himself.

The wind picked up as Jack lifted his heavy oarover the side of the ship.

He lowered it into the water. But the cur-rent wasso strong that the oar was ripped from his hands.

Jack fell over backward as his oar slipped into thesea.

"I lost my oar!" Annie yelled.

Jack looked up as rain started to fall. The sky wasblack. A gush⁹ of seawater poured over the side of theship!

"Brrr!" said Annie as she tried to stand.

The black sky shook with thunder and flashed withlightning.

Jack crawled to the side of the ship and pulledhimself up.

Another huge wave was coming right toward them!

"It's our darkest hour now!" cried Annie. "GetBrother Michael's book!"Jack reached into his leather bag. He pulled out thejeweled book and held it up.

"Save us, story!" he cried.

He looked at the sea again. What he saw made himscream.

Rising from the oncoming wave was a giant seaserpent!

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 misty   

adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的

参考例句：

• He crossed over to the window to see if it was still misty.他走到窗户那儿，看看是不是还有雾霭。
• The misty scene had a dreamy quality about it.雾景给人以梦幻般的感觉。

3 caption   

n.说明，字幕，标题；v.加上标题，加上说明

参考例句：

• I didn't understand the drawing until I read the caption.直到我看到这幅画的说明才弄懂其意思。
• There is a caption under the picture.图片下边附有说明。

4 warships   

军舰，战舰( warship的名词复数 )； 舰只

参考例句：

• The enemy warships were disengaged from the battle after suffering heavy casualties. 在遭受惨重伤亡后，敌舰退出了海战。
• The government fitted out warships and sailors for them. 政府给他们配备了战舰和水手。

5 oar   

n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行

参考例句：

• The sailors oar slowly across the river.水手们慢慢地划过河去。
• The blade of the oar was bitten off by a shark.浆叶被一条鲨鱼咬掉了。

6 oars   

n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He pulled as hard as he could on the oars. 他拼命地划桨。
• The sailors are bending to the oars. 水手们在拼命地划桨。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

8 groaned   

v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
• The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 gush   

v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发

参考例句：

• There was a gush of blood from the wound.血从伤口流出。
• There was a gush of blood as the arrow was pulled out from the arm.当从手臂上拔出箭来时，一股鲜血涌了出来。