《神奇树屋》 第三十六册 Blizzard of the Blue Moon 01 The Last Unicorn

　　The November sky was gray with clouds. Jack¹ sat reading infront of the living room fire.

"Who wants hot chocolate?" his dad called from the kitchen.

"Me, please!" said Jack.

The front door burst open, and with a gust² of cold wind,Annie rushed inside. "Jack! Guess what!" she whispered. "It'sback!""How do you know?" said Jack.

"I was walking home from the library" Annie paused to catchher breath-"and I saw a15flash in the sky above the woods. The last time thathappened-"Before she could finish the sentence, Jack jumped up. "Dad,Annie and I are going to go outside for a while!" he shouted.

"Can the hot chocolate wait till we get back?""Sure, have fun!" their dad called from the kitchen.

"I have to get my pack," Jack said to Annie. "Meet you on theporch.""Don't forget the rhyme book!" said Annie.

Annie slipped outside and Jack ran up to his room. He grabbedhis backpack. He checked to make sure their book of magicrhymes was inside.

Good,there it was.

16Jack charged back downstairs. He pulled on his boots, put onhis jacket, tied a scarf around his neck, grabbed³ his mittens⁴, andheaded out the door.

"Come on!" said Annie.

Jack could see his breath in the cold air. "Brrr," he said. "Let'shurry!"Jack and Annie ran down the street and into the Frog Creekwoods. They wove between the trees, their boots crunchingthrough the fallen leaves.

Jack stopped. The magic tree housewasback. High in a tall oak⁵ tree, it was silhouetted⁶ against thegray November sky. "You were right," he said to Annie. "Goodwork.""Thanks," Annie said. She ran to the rope ladder and startedup. Jack followed her.

When they climbed inside the tree house, Jack and Annie sawa book and a scroll⁷ of parchment paper lying on the floor. Anniepicked up the scroll, unrolled it, and read aloud.

5 -017Dear Jack and Annie of Frog CreekI am sending you onone more mission to prove that you can use magic wisely.

This poem will guide you.

-M.

'The verylast unicornIs now hidden wellBy those who have put himUnder a spellFourcenturies, four decadesFrom that afternoon,At the end of November,Before theblue moon,He willwake once moreAnd be freeto go homeIf you callout his name:

Divine⁹ Flower of Rome.

You must coax¹⁰ him to standOnce hisname is spoken.

18His chain will breakAnd the spell too, be broken.

Then a young girl must love himAnd show him the way,Lest he be trapped foreverOn public display.

If he loses this chanceTo rise and depart,All magic will fadeFrom his horn and his heart.

"A unicorn⁸!" breathed Annie. "I love him already.

I'llshow him the way!""But this poem is really hard to understand," said Jack. "Whatkind of research book did Morgan send us?"He picked up the book that had been left for them by Morganle Fay, the librarian of Camelot. The cover showed a row ofskyscrapers. The title wasNew York City Guide Book, 1938.

"New York City?" said Annie. "I love New19York City! Remember the great time we had there with AuntMallory?""Yeah, I love it, too," said Jack. "But why would there be aunicorn in New York City in 1938? A unicorn is an ancientfantasy creature. New York City's a real place, and 1938 is noteven that long ago.""You're right," said Annie. "It sounds like a hard mission. Butdon't forget we have Teddy and Kathleen's magic rhymes to helpus.""Yeah," said Jack. He pulled out the book20given to them by their friends Teddy and Kathleen, twoyoung enchanters of Camelot. "The problem is, we can only useeach rhyme once, and we've already used seven out of the ten.""Which means we still have three left," said Annie. "What arethey?""Pull a Cloud fromthe Sky," said Jack.

"Cool," said Annie.

"Yeah, it is," said Jack. "But I'm not sure it will be much use."He looked back at the book.

"Find a Treasure You Must Never Lose,"he said.

"Hey, that's a really good one!" said Annie. "The unicorn's atreasure. So that rhyme could take care of our whole mission.""But it onlypartlyfits," said Jack. "You could call the unicorn a treasure. Butonce we find him, wehaveto lose him. He has to go back home.""Oh, right ... ," said Annie. "What else?""Your favorite," said Jack.

"Turn into Ducks. "Annie laughed. "I can't wait to use that one!" she said.

21"I hope weneveruse that one," said Jack. He didn't want to waddle¹¹ around andquack like a duck. "These leftover¹² rhymes don't seem veryhelpful to me.""Well, let's just wait and see," said Annie. "But now..." Sheheld up Morgan's research book and smiled.

Jack nodded. "New York City, here we come," he said. Hepointed at the book's cover. "I wish we could gothere!"The wind started to blow.

The tree house started to spin. It spun¹³ faster and faster.

Then everything was still. Absolutely still.

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 gust   

n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发

参考例句：

• A gust of wind blew the front door shut.一阵大风吹来，把前门关上了。
• A gust of happiness swept through her.一股幸福的暖流流遍她的全身。

3 grabbed   

v.抢先，抢占( grab的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指匆忙地）取；攫取；（尤指自私、贪婪地）捞取

参考例句：

• He was grabbed by two men and frogmarched out of the hall. 他被两个男人紧抓双臂押出大厅。
• She grabbed the child's hand and ran. 她抓住孩子的手就跑。

4 mittens   

不分指手套

参考例句：

• Cotton mittens will prevent the baby from scratching his own face. 棉的连指手套使婴儿不会抓伤自己的脸。
• I'd fisted my hands inside their mittens to keep the fingers warm. 我在手套中握拳头来保暖手指。

5 oak   

n.栎树，橡树，栎木，橡木

参考例句：

• The chair is of solid oak.这把椅子是纯橡木的。
• The carpenter will floor this room with oak.木匠将用橡木铺设这个房间的地板。

6 silhouetted   

显出轮廓的，显示影像的

参考例句：

• We could see a church silhouetted against the skyline. 我们可以看到一座教堂凸现在天际。
• The stark jagged rocks were silhouetted against the sky. 光秃嶙峋的岩石衬托着天空的背景矗立在那里。

7 scroll   

n.卷轴，纸卷；(石刻上的)漩涡

参考例句：

• As I opened the scroll,a panorama of the Yellow River unfolded.我打开卷轴时，黄河的景象展现在眼前。
• He was presented with a scroll commemorating his achievements.他被授予一幅卷轴，以表彰其所做出的成就。

8 unicorn   

n.(传说中的)独角兽

参考例句：

• The unicorn is an imaginary beast.独角兽是幻想出来的动物。
• I believe unicorn was once living in the world.我相信独角兽曾经生活在这个世界。

9 divine   

adj.神的，上帝的，神圣的，如神的，非凡的

参考例句：

• Jesus is believed by Christians to have been divine.基督教徒们相信耶稣是神。
• The despot claimed to be the chosen instrument of divine providence.专制者声称自己是上天选定的统治工具。

10 coax   

v.哄诱，劝诱，用诱哄得到，诱取

参考例句：

• I had to coax the information out of him.我得用好话套出他掌握的情况。
• He tried to coax the secret from me.他试图哄骗我说出秘方。

11 waddle   

vi.摇摆地走；n.摇摆的走路(样子)

参考例句：

• I am pregnant.I waddle awkwardly and my big stomach pressed against the weight of the world. 我怀孕了，我滑稽可笑地瞒珊而行，大肚子上压着全世界的重量。
• We waddle and hop and have lots of fun.我们走起路来摇摇摆摆，还一跳一跳的。我们的生活很有趣。

12 leftover   

n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的

参考例句：

• These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
• Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。

13 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。