《神奇树屋》 第十九册 Tigers at Twilight 02 Kah and Ko

　　The warm air burst with sound.

Kah -ko!

Eee-eee!

Akkk-awkk!

"What's going on?" said Jack¹.

He and Annie looked out the window.

The sky was lit by an orange glow as the sun wentdown.

The tree house was in a tree by a stream at the edgeof a forest.

. The wild screeching² and cawing came from theforest's tall, leafy trees.

Just then, two creatures leaped onto the windowsill.

"Aaah!" Jack and Annie yelled, jumping back.

Annie burst out laughing.

Arf! Arf! Teddy barked.

Two small monkeys peered at them. Their darkfaces were framed with light gray fur. They looked asif they were wearing tiny parkas.

"Hit" said Annie. "I'm Annie. He's Jack. And he'sTeddy. What are your names?"Kah-ko, kah-ko, the monkeys chattered³.

"Cool," said Annie. She turned to Jack. "Her name isKah. His name is Ko.""Oh, brother"' said Jack.

"I bet he is her brother," said Annie. Kah and Kowhooped as if laughing atAnnie's joke. Their yellow eyes twinkled.

"We came to get a gift from the forest," saidAnnie. "Do you know where we can find it?"The monkeys nodded and chattered. Then theystarted down the tree.

Using their long tails and arms, they swung frombranch to branch. They jumped to the ground andlooked up.

"Coming! Bring Teddy, Jack," Annie said.

Then she started down the ladder.

Jack quickly flipped⁴ through Wildlife of India. Hefound a picture of the gray monkeys. He read:

This monkey is called a langur (say lun-GOOR).

The word Iangur means "having a long tail."Jack pulled his notebook and pencil out of hisbackpack. He wrote:

Langur means long tailAnnie's laughter came from below. It blended withthe sounds of the forest.

Arf! Arf! barked Teddy. "Okay, okay," said Jack.

He put the book, his notebook, and Teddy into hispack. Then he hurried down the ladder.

Annie was playing with the langurs on the streambank.

Jack put Teddy on the ground.

Kah bounded over to Jack and grabbed his hand.

The langur's paw felt like a tiny human hand.

Kah pulled Jack toward the forest.

Ko pulled Annie, and Teddy scampered⁵ after them.

The langurs climbed the huge, leafy trees. Thenthey began swinging from branch to branch, like kidson a jungle gym.

Annie dashed beneath the swinging monkeys.

Teddy ran after her.

"Wait, wait!" Jack called, hurrying after them all.

"Annie, slow down! We don't know anything aboutthis place."The langurs slowed down, as if they understoodJack's words. Jack caught up with Annie. Theywalked on through the forest.

"This is so amazing," said Annie.

Jack agreed.

The sunset gave the trees a fiery⁶ glow.

The hot air smelled sweet.

Blue peacocks spread their tails.

Yellow birds flew from tree to tree.

Small deer ate red flowers in a clearing.

"It's like paradise," said Annie.

"Yeah, but don't forget the title of our book:

Wildlife of India," said Jack. "'Wildlife' means scaryanimals, too."Jack noticed long, deep gashes⁷ in a tree as theywalked by. He stopped.

"What happened there?" he said.

Annie shrugged⁸ and kept walking.

Jack pulled the book out of his pack. There was apicture of a tree with gashes.

He read aloud:

Tigers sharpen their claws on tree trunks. Theyleave big gashes in the bark.

"What?" said Annie. She stopped and looked back atthe tree.

"See what I mean?" said Jack. "Tigers live here. Andone of them just came this way."

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 screeching   

v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫

参考例句：

• Monkeys were screeching in the trees. 猴子在树上吱吱地叫着。
• the unedifying sight of the two party leaders screeching at each other 两党党魁狺狺对吠的讨厌情景

3 chattered   

（人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤

参考例句：

• They chattered away happily for a while. 他们高兴地闲扯了一会儿。
• We chattered like two teenagers. 我们聊着天，像两个十多岁的孩子。

4 flipped   

轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转，撞毁了。
• The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。

5 scampered   

v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The cat scampered away. 猫刺棱一下跑了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The rabbIt'scampered off. 兔子迅速跑掉了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

7 gashes   

n.深长的切口（或伤口）( gash的名词复数 )v.划伤，割破( gash的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The classmates' hearts ached for him and they begged him to wear gloves to prevent any more gashes. 同学们都心疼他，劝他干活时戴上手套，免得再弄破手。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He stripped himself, and I counted twenty-seven separate scars and gashes. 他脱去衣服，我在他身上数出了二十七处瘢痕和深深的伤口。 来自辞典例句

8 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》