《神奇树屋》 第二十七册 Thanksgiving on Thursday 02 Shh!

　　Jack¹ opened his eyes. Bright, golden sunlightpoured into the tree house. The air felt crisp and cool.

Annie was wearing a long dress, a white cap, andan apron².

Jack wore a jacket with a frilly collar. He woreshort pants, long socks, leather shoes, and a hat. Hisbackpack was now a leather bag.

"I like your hat," said Annie. "It's funny.""Yours, too," said Jack.

"You look like a Pilgrim," said Annie.

"So do you," said Jack. "Oh, man. I bet we're in thetime of the Pilgrims!"He and Annie scrambled³ to the window.

The tree house had landed in a tall oak near theedge of a forest. Red and yellow leaves rattled⁴ in thecool breeze. Past the forest was a small village andpast the village was the ocean.

"It looks like where the Pilgrims lived," said Jack.

"We studied it in school."He opened the research book and found a picture ofthe village by the sea. He read aloudIn 1620, a group of 102 passengers sailed fromEngland to America on a ship called the Mayflower.

Many of the people on board wanted freedom ofreligion. They wanted to worship God in their ownway--not the way the king of England made them.

Others wanted to find a new life in a new land.

Today, we call all the people who sailed on theMayflower Pilgrims.

"Yes!" said Annie.

Jack read on:

The Pilgrims wanted to settle near New York. But astorm blew their ship north. They landed in a bay onthe coast of what is now Massachusetts. Six yearsbefore, Captain John Smith had explored the coast Hehad named the bay Plymouth.

"Plymouth?" said Annie. "That's where the firstThanksgiving was!""Oh, man.. ." Jack smiled. "So that's the feast.""Wow," said Annie. "My class put on a play aboutthe first Thanksgiving. ""Mine, too," said Jack.

"I played Priscilla," said Annie. "I played a turkey,"said Jack.

"Now we'll get to meet the real Priscilla!" saidAnnie. "And Squanto! And Governor Bradford andMiles Standish! Come on!"She started down the ladder.

"Wait. What will we say?" asked Jack.

"We'll just tell them hi and stuff," said Annie.

"Are you nuts?" said Jack. He put the book into hisbag. "They won't understand who we are! We need aplan."He slung⁵ the bag over his shoulder and hurrieddown the ladder after Annie.

"Listen, we need--" Jack started.

"I know, a plan," said Annie. "But first let's getcloser to the village and just watch.""Okay," said Jack, "but we can't let anyone see us.

We have to be careful and quiet."He and Annie started walking carefully through thewoods. But they did not walk quietly. The autumnleaves crunched⁶ and crackled under their leathershoes.

"Shh!" said Jack.

"I can't help it," said Annie. "You're doing it, too!""Then we have to stop," said Jack. "Let's get behindthat tree and watch from there."They crunched over to a tree at the edge of thewoods. In the distance was a row of small log houseswith steep thatched roofs.

Jack pulled out the book. He found the part aboutthe village. Then he pushed his glasses up and read tohimself:

The Pilgrims brought chickens, geese, goats, andsheep from England. They brought seeds to plant, andthey knew how to make traps to catch wild animalsfor food. But they could not have survived withoutthe help of a Wampanoag (wom-puh-NO-ag) Indiannamed Squanto. Squanto taught them how to growcorn.

"Hi, you," Annie whispered. Jack lookedAnnie was talking to a skinny yellow dog. The dogwas sniffing⁷ a tree near them.

"Don't let him see us," Jack whispered;"Why?" said Annie.

The dog looked at them and barked.

"That's why!" said Jack.

The skinny dog barked again and again.

Two Pilgrim men ran from the other side of thehouses. Then more Pilgrims appeared. They all lookedin the direction of the barking dog.

"Oh, no!" said Jack. "Let's go back! We don't have aplan yet!"He packed up his book and started away from thetree. Suddenly something tightened⁸ around his ankle.

A tree branch snapped.

"AHHH!" Jack shouted as he was jerked up into theair.

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 apron   

n.围裙；工作裙

参考例句：

• We were waited on by a pretty girl in a pink apron.招待我们的是一位穿粉红色围裙的漂亮姑娘。
• She stitched a pocket on the new apron.她在新围裙上缝上一只口袋。

3 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 rattled   

慌乱的，恼火的

参考例句：

• The truck jolted and rattled over the rough ground. 卡车嘎吱嘎吱地在凹凸不平的地面上颠簸而行。
• Every time a bus went past, the windows rattled. 每逢公共汽车经过这里，窗户都格格作响。

5 slung   

抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往

参考例句：

• He slung the bag over his shoulder. 他把包一甩，挎在肩上。
• He stood up and slung his gun over his shoulder. 他站起来把枪往肩上一背。

6 crunched   

v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的过去式和过去分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• Our feet crunched on the frozen snow. 我们的脚嘎吱嘎吱地踩在冻雪上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He closed his jaws on the bones and crunched. 他咬紧骨头，使劲地嚼。 来自英汉文学 - 热爱生命

7 sniffing   

n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了，一个劲地抽鼻子，打喷嚏。
• They all had colds and were sniffing and sneezing. 他们都伤风了，呼呼喘气而且打喷嚏。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 tightened   

收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧

参考例句：

• The rope holding the boat suddenly tightened and broke. 系船的绳子突然绷断了。
• His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again. 他的食指扣住扳机，然后又松开了。