《神奇树屋》 第十七册 Tonight On The Titanic 10 Touch of Magic

      "Oh, man, " whispered Jack¹.

He was lying on the floor of the tree house. He waswearing his pajamas² and rain poncho³ again.

"You okay?" Annie asked. "Yeah. You?" said Jack.

"My heart's beating really fast," said Annie.

"Mine, too, " said Jack.

He thought of the Titanic⁴ sinking into the coldblack sea. His eyes filled with tears. "It was terrible,"he said.

Annie nodded. Jack could see tears on her cheeks.

Teddy licked Jack's face.

"Hey," said Jack. "How did you get out of myknapsack?"Teddy whined⁵. Jack and Annie stroked his furryhead and ears.

"I think he has a touch of magic," said Annie.

Slowly, Jack sat up.

"He saved our lives," he said.

"And now we have the first gift to break the spellhe's under," said Annie.

She turned on her flashlight. She shined it on thesilver pocket watch that hung from her neck.

"Lucy's gift," she said.

The watch had stopped. The hands were at 2:20.

Jack was silent. Then he sighed.

"That's exactly when the ship went down," he said.

Annie looked at him.

"I guess that's when time stopped for the Titanic, "she said.

Jack nodded.

Annie put the pocket watch on top of Morgan'snote.

"A gift from a ship lost at sea," she said softly.

They were both quiet.

Then Jack took off his glasses and wiped the tearsfrom his eyes.

Annie stood up. She took a deep breath.

"Teddy?" she said.

There was no sign of the little dog. "He's not here, "said Annie.

"What are you talking about?" said Jack. "We werejust petting him.""He's up to his magic tricks again," said Annie. Shesighed. "We'll have to go home without him.""But what happened to him?" said Jack.

"I don't know," said Annie. "But I have a feelingwe'll see him again soon."She started down the rope ladder. Jack lookedaround the tree house one last time.

"Teddy?" he said.

But the tree house was quiet.

Jack pulled on his backpack and climbed down therope ladder.

Annie was waiting for him.

69Without a word, Jack took her hand.

The rain had stopped. But water still dripped fromthe trees.

Stars glittered overhead in a clear sky. Silently, Jackand Annie left the Frog Creek⁶ woods. They walkedup the dark street to their house and climbed the stepsto their porch.

Before they went inside, they looked out again atthe night.

"Time might have stopped for the Titanic," Jacksaid. "But books and memories keep the Titanic alive,don't they? It's a true story, but it's also like a mythnow.""Yeah, " said Annie. "And every time the story'stold, we wish it had a different endingJack nodded. That was exactly how he felt.

Staring at the starry⁷ sky, he shuddered⁸ at thememory of the sinking ship.

He knew that he and Annie were lucky. They hadcome home.

"Good night, Titanic," he said softly. "Good-bye."Then he and Annie slipped quietly into their house,where it was cozy⁹ and dry and very safe.

MORE FACTS FOR YOU AND JACK1)The Titanic hit the iceberg¹⁰ in the North Atlantic,approximately 400 miles off the coast ofNewfoundland.

2) The Titanic was considered unsinkable becauseshe was built with huge watertight doors to containany possible leaks. However, when the ship hit theiceberg, six watertight compartments¹¹ quickly filled upwith water, dooming¹² the ship.

3) The signal SOS was chosen as an internationaldistress call because of the simplicity¹³ of the threeletters in Morse code: three dots, three dashes, andthree dots.

4) No one knows for certain exactly how long themusicians played on the Titanic, but legend says theyplayed until the ship went down, and their last songwas the hymn¹⁴ "Nearer My God to Thee.") More than1,500 people perished in the Titanic disaster, while 705people escaped in lifeboats and were eventuallyrescued by a ship named theCarpathia.

6) After the sinking of the Titanic, laws werechanged so that every ship was required to haveenough lifeboats to carry all its passengers. Also, theInternational lee Patrol was formed, so that shipswould have warning about ice conditions.

7) In 1985, a scientist named Dr. Robert Ballarddiscovered the undersea wreck¹⁵ of the Titanic. Don'tmiss the next Magic Tree House book, when Jack andAnnie go to the Great Plains and find out how peoplein the Lakota tribe lived.

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 pajamas   

n.睡衣裤

参考例句：

• At bedtime,I take off my clothes and put on my pajamas.睡觉时，我脱去衣服，换上睡衣。
• He was wearing striped pajamas.他穿着带条纹的睡衣裤。

3 poncho   

n.斗篷，雨衣

参考例句：

• He yawned and curled his body down farther beneath the poncho.他打了个呵欠，把身子再蜷拢点儿，往雨披里缩了缩。
• The poncho is made of nylon.这雨披是用尼龙制造的。

4 titanic   

adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的

参考例句：

• We have been making titanic effort to achieve our purpose.我们一直在作极大的努力，以达到我们的目的。
• The island was created by titanic powers and they are still at work today.台湾岛是由一个至今仍然在运作的巨大力量塑造出来的。

5 whined   

v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨

参考例句：

• The dog whined at the door, asking to be let out. 狗在门前嚎叫着要出去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He whined and pouted when he did not get what he wanted. 他要是没得到想要的东西就会发牢骚、撅嘴。 来自辞典例句

6 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。

7 starry   

adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的

参考例句：

• He looked at the starry heavens.他瞧着布满星星的天空。
• I like the starry winter sky.我喜欢这满天星斗的冬夜。

8 shuddered   

v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动

参考例句：

• He slammed on the brakes and the car shuddered to a halt. 他猛踩刹车，车颤抖着停住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I shuddered at the sight of the dead body. 我一看见那尸体就战栗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 cozy   

adj.亲如手足的，密切的，暖和舒服的

参考例句：

• I like blankets because they are cozy.我喜欢毛毯，因为他们是舒适的。
• We spent a cozy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。

10 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。

11 compartments   

n.间隔( compartment的名词复数 )；（列车车厢的）隔间；（家具或设备等的）分隔间；隔层

参考例句：

• Your pencil box has several compartments. 你的铅笔盒有好几个格。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The first-class compartments are in front. 头等车室在前头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 dooming   

v.注定( doom的现在分词 )；判定；使…的失败（或灭亡、毁灭、坏结局）成为必然；宣判

参考例句：

• Of course, it may all go horribly wrong in the end, dooming Obamacare altogether. 当然，他们的方案也可能都会背离初衷，从而注定将宣判奥巴马的医改计划死刑。 来自互联网

13 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

14 hymn   

n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌

参考例句：

• They sang a hymn of praise to God.他们唱着圣歌，赞美上帝。
• The choir has sung only two verses of the last hymn.合唱团只唱了最后一首赞美诗的两个段落。

15 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。