《神奇树屋》 第十九册 Tigers at Twilight 01 How Far Away?

　　Jack¹ and Annie walked past the Frog Creek² woodson their way home from the library.

"I miss Teddy," said Annie.

"Me, too," said Jack.

"He's a really smart dog," said Annie.

3"Yeah," said Jack, "and brave.

And wise," said Annie.

"And funny," said Jack.

"And here!" said Annie.

"What?" said Jack.

"Here!" Annie pointed³ at the Frog Creek woods.

A small dog with tan-colored fur was peeking⁴ outfrom the bushes.

Arf! Arf! he barked.

"Oh, wow! Teddy!" said Jack.

The little dog ran off into the woods.

"Let's go!" said Annie.

She and Jack raced after Teddy. The Frog Creekwoods glowed with late afternoon sun-light.

The dog ran between the trees and finally stoppedat a rope ladder. It hung from the tallest oak tree andled up to the magic tree house.

Teddy waited for Jack and Annie to catch up. Hepanted and wagged his tail.

"Hi, you!" cried Annie. She picked up the little dogand hugged him. "We missed you!""Yeah, silly!" said Jack. He kissed Teddy. Teddylicked his face.

"Is it time to get our third gift?" asked Annie.

Teddy sneezed, as if to say, Of course!

Annie grabbed the rope ladder and started up. Jackput Teddy inside his backpack and followed.

They climbed into the tree house. There was thenote from Morgan le Fay. It was on the floor, justwhere it had been two days ago.

Jack let Teddy out of his pack. Annie picked up thenote and read:

This little dog is under a spell and needs your help.

To free him, you must be given four special things:

A gift from a ship lost at sea,A gift from the prairie blue,A gift from a forest far away,4A gift from a kangaroo.

Be wise. Be brave. Be careful.

MorganJack touched the first two gifts, which they hadalready gotten: a pocket watch from the Titanic⁵ andan eagle's feather from the Lakota Indians of theGreat Plains.

"Now we have to get the gift from a forest faraway," said Annie.

"I wonder how far away?" said Jack.

"I know how to find out," said Annie. "Where's ourbook?"She and Jack looked around the tree house for oneof the research books that Morgan always left them.

Arf! Arf! Teddy pawed a book in the corner.

Jack picked it up and read the title:

Wildlife of India.

"Oh, man. India," he said. "That's very far away.""Let's get going," said Annie, "so we can freeTeddy."Jack pointed at the cover of the book.

"I wish we could go there," he said.

The wind started to blow.

The tree house started to spin.

It spun⁶ faster and faster.

Then everything was still.

Absolutely still.

But only for a moment...

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 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。

3 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

4 peeking   

v.很快地看( peek的现在分词 )；偷看；窥视；微露出

参考例句：

• I couldn't resist peeking in the drawer. 我不由得偷看了一下抽屉里面。
• They caught him peeking in through the keyhole. 他们发现他从钥匙孔里向里窥视。 来自辞典例句

5 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。

6 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。