《神奇树屋》 第三十一册 Summer of the SeaSerpent 05 Barrh! Barrh!

　　J ack splashed into the blue sunlit sea. He sank tothe bottom and then bobbed back up. He coughed andpushed his hair out of his eyes.

Annie was treading water nearby. "Hey!" she called.

"Hey!" Jack¹ sputtered².

"I was wrong! You were right!" Annie said. Shesounded thrilled. "The Spider Queen just wanted tohelp us!""Yeah," said Jack. He shook the seawater off hisglasses and put them back on.

50"She must be really lonely!" said Annie. "Sheprobably feels like she has to hide in that cavebecause she's so scary-looking!""Maybe," said Jack. He looked around the secondcove. Purple shadows stretched over a rocky seashorebeneath the cliffs. The sun had moved farther acrossthe sky.

"We'd better hurry!" said Jack. "What do we donow?""Read the rhyme!" said Annie.

Jack pulled the shell out of his pocket. Treadingwater, he read the next line in Merlin's poem:

And swim with a selkie clothed in green.

"What's a selkie?" said Annie.

"Who knows?" said Jack.

He looked at the cliffs and the shore. Is a selkie afish? A person? What?he wondered. Then Jack sawtwo dark shapes speeding like fat torpedoes³ below thesurface of the water. They were coming straighttoward him and Annie.

51"Watch out!" Jack shouted.

"Yikes!" Annie yelled.

Jack and Annie swam out of the way as thecreatures moved swiftly past them. Suddenly twosleek gray heads popped above the surface. They hadwide snouts and long white whiskers. They had tiny,wrinkly ears and big, dark eyes.

"Seals!" cried Annie.

The two seals turned their heads like periscopes⁴.

When they saw Jack and Annie, they opened theirmouths, showing their small, pointed⁵ teeth. Theyseemed to be smiling.

"Hi, guys!" said Annie.

Barrh! Barrh! the seals barked. Then they rolledthrough the water and bumped Jack and Annie withtheir noses. They barked again joyfully⁶, then dartedtoward the shore.

"Come on!" cried Annie. "Let's play with them!""We don't have timeto play!" said Jack.

But Annie had already started after the52[Image: Seals.]

seals, swimming toward the rocky beach.

"Annie! Stop!" called Jack. "We have to hurry andfind the selkie! And the Sword of Light! Beforenightfall! Or King Arthur will meet his doom⁷...."Jack's voice trailed off.

Annie didn't hear him. She and the two seals hadreached the shore and were getting out of the water.

The seals clumsily hauled their chubby⁸ bodies onto abig rock and flopped⁹ down. Annie climbed onto therock, too.

"Annie, come on!" shouted Jack. It could be as lateas four o'clock now,he thought. And there was still alotthey had to do before nightfall.

"Let's rest for a minute!" Annie called. She53sat near the seals and patted their shiny heads as ifthey were big dogs. The seals barked.

Actually, Jack wanted to rest, too. He felt reallytired. Maybe we could rest for a minute on the rockwith the seals,he thought, then search for the selkie.

"Well, okay," he shouted. "But just for a quickminute!"Jack headed for shore. By the time he draggedhimself out of the water, the seals were lying on theirbacks with their eyes closed. Their white whiskerstwitched as they slept in the warm sunlight.

"Shhh, they're napping," said Annie. She lay downbeside the seals and closed her eyes, too. "The sunfeels really good, Jack. Come on. Lie down with us fora second.""Oh, brother," Jack muttered. But the afternoonsunlight did feel good. He climbed onto the warmrock and lay down next to Annie and the seals.

54"Okay, just for a quicksecond," he said.

Jack closed his eyes. The sunshine felt good on histired arms and legs. The gentle sea breeze feltespecially clean and fresh after the Cave of the SpiderQueen. The next thing he knew, he had faded into adeep, peaceful sleep....

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 sputtered   

v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的过去式和过去分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出

参考例句：

• The candle sputtered out. 蜡烛噼啪爆响着熄灭了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The balky engine sputtered and stopped. 不听使唤的发动机劈啪作响地停了下来。 来自辞典例句

3 torpedoes   

鱼雷( torpedo的名词复数 )； 油井爆破筒； 刺客； 掼炮

参考例句：

• We top off, take on provisions and torpedoes, and go. 我们维修完，装上给养和鱼雷就出发。
• The torpedoes hit amidship, and there followed a series of crashing explosions. 鱼雷击中了船腹，引起了一阵隆隆的爆炸声。

4 periscopes   

n.潜望镜( periscope的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Periscopes at various heights and apparatus of visual relationship between the departed and the living souls. 借助不同高度和方位的潜望镜，人们可以看到逝去与活着的灵魂之间的视觉关系。 来自互联网

5 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。

6 joyfully   

adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地

参考例句：

• She tripped along joyfully as if treading on air. 她高兴地走着，脚底下轻飘飘的。
• During these first weeks she slaved joyfully. 在最初的几周里，她干得很高兴。

7 doom   

n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定

参考例句：

• The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.这份关于我们经济状况的报告充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。
• The dictator met his doom after ten years of rule.独裁者统治了十年终于完蛋了。

8 chubby   

adj.丰满的，圆胖的

参考例句：

• He is stocky though not chubby.他长得敦实，可并不发胖。
• The short and chubby gentleman over there is our new director.那个既矮又胖的绅士是我们的新主任。

9 flopped   

v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的过去式和过去分词 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅

参考例句：

• Exhausted, he flopped down into a chair. 他筋疲力尽，一屁股坐到椅子上。
• It was a surprise to us when his play flopped. 他那出戏一败涂地，出乎我们的预料。 来自《简明英汉词典》