《神奇树屋》 第二十五册 Stage Fright On A Summer Night 03 the Bear Garden

　　Jack¹ and Annie passed under the stone gatewaythat led onto London Bridge.

As they started across, Jack was amazed.

The bridge was so noisy and smelly! Wagon² wheelsrumbled like thunder over the cobblestones. Potsclinked in carts. Horses neighed. Shopkeepersshouted.

"Good pies!""Hot peas!""New pins!""Shoes! Soap! Salt!"A shopkeeper caught Jack's eye. "What lack you,boy?" he shouted.

"Nothing, thank you," said Jack, and kept walking.

"Watch out!" a cart driver yelled.

Jack grabbed Annie's hand. He pulled her out of theway. The cart rolled past them over the narrowroadway.

"Look!" said Annie. She pointed⁴ to a bear in awooden cage in the back of the cart. The bear hadmatted brown fur. His head was down.

As the cart rumbled³ on, Jack shook his head. "Whatnext?" he said.

"Them," said Annie, looking up.

She pointed at huge black birds sitting hunched⁵ atthe edges of the rooftops. The birds sat still as theystared down at all the carts and animals and peoplecrossing London Bridge. Jack shivered and movedquickly past the gaze of the giant silent birds.

Finally he and Annie came to the end of the bridge.

They stepped onto the river bank. There they stoppedand looked around.

"I wonder where those big kids went," said Annie.

Jack studied the crowd heading down the road thatled from the bridge. There was no sign of the group ofragged boys.

Jack took out their research book. He found thepicture of London Bridge. He read aloud:

London Bridge connected London to the south bankof the river, an area where Londoners went forentertainment. The Bear Garden was a popular spot.

"The Bear Garden?" said Annie. "That sounds good.

Where's that?"Jack found a map of the south bank. He pointed to acircle that was labeled BEAR GARDEN.

"Here," he said. He looked up. "And there!" Hepointed to a dark, round building in the distance.

"Great!" said Annie. "I want to see the garden filledwith bears.""Let's read--" started Jack.

"Let's look!" said Annie. She headed toward theBear Garden.

Jack put away their book and followed her. As theygot closer, they heard loud shouting and laughtercoming from inside the round building.

Annie stopped.

"Wait," she said. "I'm getting a bad feeling about theBear Garden. Maybe we should read more about it."Jack opened their book again. He read aloud:

At an arena⁶ called the Bear Garden, people watchedbears fight with dogs. Animal fights were a commonsport in old England. They are against the law today.

"Bears fight with dogs? Yuck!" said Annie. "Icouldn't stand to watch that!""Me neither," said Jack. "Forget that place." Hestarted to walk away.

"Hey, Jack! Look over there!" said Annie. Shepointed to a cart nearby. "That's the bear that passedus on the bridge!"

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 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

3 rumbled   

发出隆隆声，发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 轰鸣着缓慢行进； 发现…的真相； 看穿（阴谋）

参考例句：

• The machine rumbled as it started up. 机器轰鸣着发动起来。
• Things rapidly became calm, though beneath the surface the argument rumbled on. 事情迅速平静下来了，然而，在这种平静的表面背后争论如隆隆雷声，持续不断。

4 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。

5 hunched   

（常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦）耸肩弓身的，伏首前倾的

参考例句：

• He sat with his shoulders hunched up. 他耸起双肩坐着。
• Stephen hunched down to light a cigarette. 斯蒂芬弓着身子点燃一支烟。

6 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。