《神奇树屋》 第三十册 Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve 08 SPREN 5PAEN

　　"CRA-JAH! CRA-AWK-NEF,!" Teddy croaked².

Teddy was speaking Raven³ now, but Jack⁴ understood him perfectly⁵. Teddyhad said, So+qV, Jackand Annie!

Annie stepped forward. Sh, fluttered to the windowledge and perched with Teddy. "GRA-QUORK!" shecroaked.

That's oWy! This isfun!

"QUORK?" Jack squeaked⁷. Fun? "GRO-JAH!"croaked Annie, "KAH-SPREF-j!" Come on,Jack! Let'sfly!

64Annie and Teddy lifted off the ledge⁶ anddisappeared into the moonlit mist.

This can't be real,thought Jack. Itcan't be real!

He looked at his feathers and claws. He stretchedout his right wing, then his left. He flapped themboth. Before he knew what was happening, he liftedclumsily off the floor and landed on the windowledge.

Jack saw Annie and Teddy flying around in the moonlight. They were hopping⁸ about likeacrobats-diving and tumbling through the air.

"AWK-NEE CAW!"Jack croaked. Annie,come back!

"SPREE! SPREE!" shecalled.

Fly! Fly!

"AWK-NEE!"Annie rose from a dive.

in one easy swoop⁹, she glided¹⁰ up and sat besideJack on the window ledge.

This is so muchfun, Jack!

she croaked. Don'tjust sit here!

65Teddy flew by them. I'm off to themountaintop! he croaked.

Fly with me!

Come on, Jack! croaked Annie. She took off afterTeddy, swooping¹¹ through the cool night air. Oh, man!

Fear clutched Jack's small ravenheart.

I have definitely entered the tunnel of fear now,he thought. Merlin's words echoed in his mind:

"Proceed onward¹² with courage, andyou will come out intothe light."Jack looked out at the night. He closed his eyes. Hejumped off the ledge.

Jack was falling! He opened his eyes and flapped.

His wings lifted him up. He steadiedhimself He hovered¹³ in the cold night air, his eyesdarting from right to left. He looked down. He nearlyfainted! The castle courtyard was far below!

Jack flapped wildly. He glided. He flapped again. Heglided. Flapping and gliding¹⁴, he climbed higher andhigher into the sky.

Finally Jack caught up with Annie and66Teddy. They were circling in the air, waiting forhim.

"RARK!" Jack croaked.

Onward!

The three of them flew together through themoonlit night, heading for the nest of the Raven King.

Except for the swooshing of their wings, they madeno noise.

They soared up the side of the mountain, pasthemlocks and tall pines. They flew through long,misty clouds.

As they glided toward the mountain's peak, Teddylet out a low croak¹: Raventroops!

Jack peered through the night. He couldn't believehis eyes. In the whitemoonlight, he sawthousandsof ravens¹⁵ roosting on rocky ledges¹⁶!

Jack, Annie, and Teddy kept flying. They soaredabove the troops, higher -and higher, toward thecraggy peak of themountain. When they reached the top, Teddy letout a, squawk.

There it is!

he croaked.

The nest of the Raven King!

1 croak   

vi.嘎嘎叫，发牢骚

参考例句：

• Everyone seemed rather out of sorts and inclined to croak.每个人似乎都有点不对劲，想发发牢骚。
• Frogs began to croak with the rainfall.蛙随着雨落开始哇哇叫。

2 croaked   

v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说

参考例句：

• The crow croaked disaster. 乌鸦呱呱叫预报灾难。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• 'she has a fine head for it," croaked Jacques Three. “她有一个漂亮的脑袋跟着去呢，”雅克三号低沉地说。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

3 raven   

n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的

参考例句：

• We know the raven will never leave the man's room.我们知道了乌鸦再也不会离开那个男人的房间。
• Her charming face was framed with raven hair.她迷人的脸上垂落着乌亮的黑发。

4 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。

5 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

6 ledge   

n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁

参考例句：

• They paid out the line to lower him to the ledge.他们放出绳子使他降到那块岩石的突出部分。
• Suddenly he struck his toe on a rocky ledge and fell.突然他的脚趾绊在一块突出的岩石上，摔倒了。

7 squeaked   

v.短促地尖叫( squeak的过去式和过去分词 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者

参考例句：

• The radio squeaked five. 收音机里嘟嘟地发出五点钟报时讯号。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Amy's shoes squeaked on the tiles as she walked down the corridor. 埃米走过走廊时，鞋子踩在地砖上嘎吱作响。 来自辞典例句

8 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。

9 swoop   

n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击

参考例句：

• The plane made a swoop over the city.那架飞机突然向这座城市猛降下来。
• We decided to swoop down upon the enemy there.我们决定突袭驻在那里的敌人。

10 glided   

v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔

参考例句：

• The President's motorcade glided by. 总统的车队一溜烟开了过去。
• They glided along the wall until they were out of sight. 他们沿着墙壁溜得无影无踪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 swooping   

俯冲，猛冲( swoop的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The wind were swooping down to tease the waves. 大风猛扑到海面上戏弄着浪涛。
• And she was talking so well-swooping with swift wing this way and that. 而她却是那样健谈--一下子谈到东，一下子谈到西。

12 onward   

adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先

参考例句：

• The Yellow River surges onward like ten thousand horses galloping.黄河以万马奔腾之势滚滚向前。
• He followed in the steps of forerunners and marched onward.他跟随着先辈的足迹前进。

13 hovered   

鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• A hawk hovered over the hill. 一只鹰在小山的上空翱翔。
• A hawk hovered in the blue sky. 一只老鹰在蓝色的天空中翱翔。

14 gliding   

v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的

参考例句：

• Swans went gliding past. 天鹅滑行而过。
• The weather forecast has put a question mark against the chance of doing any gliding tomorrow. 天气预报对明天是否能举行滑翔表示怀疑。

15 ravens   

n.低质煤；渡鸦( raven的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Wheresoever the carcase is,there will the ravens be gathered together. 哪里有死尸，哪里就有乌鸦麇集。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A couple of ravens croaked above our boat. 两只乌鸦在我们小船的上空嘎嘎叫着。 来自辞典例句

16 ledges   

n.（墙壁，悬崖等）突出的狭长部分( ledge的名词复数 )；（平窄的）壁架；横档；（尤指）窗台

参考例句：

• seabirds nesting on rocky ledges 海鸟在岩架上筑巢
• A rusty ironrod projected mournfully from one of the window ledges. 一个窗架上突出一根生锈的铁棒，真是满目凄凉。 来自辞典例句