时间:2018-12-10 作者:英语课 分类:汪培珽儿童英文分级书单《神奇树屋》


英语课

  A low fire burned in the hearth 1. Sunlight slantedacross the warm room. Jack 2 caught his breath as helooked around Leonardo's studio.



There were mirrors, wooden trunks, globes, paintpots, and brushes. Sketches 3, paintings, and handmademaps were all over the walls. There were stacks of oldbooks, half-built furniture, piled-up papers, theatermasks, pieces of costumes, and musical instruments.



"Oh, man," murmured Jack, "Ilovethis room."69"Me too," said Annie.



"Please, sit at my table. Let me get you somethingto eat," said Leonardo. He pushed a bunch of things tothe side of a long wooden table and pulled up twochairs.



"Thanks," said Jack. He and Annie sat down.



Leonardo took the cheese and bread from the basketby the door and gave some to Jack and Annie. Thecheese was dry but tasted good. And the bread wasreallydelicious-hard and crackly on the outside, but softand chewy on the inside.



Hmm, I wonder how they make it like this, Jack thought.



"So why do you want to leave Florence, Leonardo?"Annie asked, her mouth full.



"Because I will no longer be respected here," saidLeonardo. "Last week, the council told me I mustfinish my fresco 4 soon. And now I will not finish it atall. Just recently Michelangelo accused me of neverfinishinganything!""Michelangelo? The great artist?" said Jack.



70Leonardo snorted. "You think Michelangelo is agreat artist? Have you seen his statues? Those menwith their big muscles? They look like sacks ofwalnuts!"Jack and Annie laughed.



Leonardo tried to hide a smile as he looked at them.



"In truth, Michelangelo is a great artist," he said.



"Still, he should not accuse me of never finishinganything ...even if it is true.""Why don't you finish things?" asked Annie.



"Well, I shall not finish my battle scene nowbecause I experimented with my paint," saidLeonardo. "I am experimenting all the time. And oftenmy experiments lead nowhere.""So is that your main problem?" asked Annie.



"One of them," said Leonardo, sighing. "The other isthat there are too many things I want to do, and thereis never enough time!""What else do you want to do?" asked Jack.



"Oh, I have thousands of ideas," said Leonardo. Heput down his bread and cheese and71crossed to a wooden trunk in the corner of hisstudio. He raised the lid of the trunk and stared for amoment at its contents.



Leonardo turned back to Jack and Annie. His eyeswere bright again. Whatever was in the trunk hadmade him happier. "Come, look," he said.



Jack and Annie walked over to the trunk andpeered inside. It held dozens and dozens of plain blackbooks, large ones and small ones.



"Notebooks," said Leonardo. "I have filled over ahundred of them with my ideas.""Oh," said Jack, his eyes wide.



"Jack keeps notebooks, too!" said Annie.



"Do you mind if we look at them?" asked Jack.



"No, not at all," said Leonardo.



Jack and Annie started picking up the notebooksand turning the pages. The pages were crammed 5 withdoodles and writing. They showed sketches ofpeople's faces, animal heads, flowers, trees, rivers,mountains, the sun, and the moon.



72One notebook was filled with drawings of horses.



Another had sketches of bridges and buildings.



Another had drawings of birds and machines. Manyof the drawings in the notebooks had labels written ina strange language.



73"You cannot read my notes, can you?" saidLeonardo.



Jack and Annie shook their heads.



"Hold them to a mirror," said Leonardo.



Jack and Annie stood in front of a wall mirror.



74Each held up a notebook and looked at its reflectionin the mirror.



"Oh, I get it!" said Jack. He could read the wordsnow! Leonardo had written everything backward-from right to left across the page. So the word birdwas written asbrid, and the word wind was written asbniw.



"Why do you write this way?" asked Annie.



"People think I am trying to keep my ideas a secret,"said Leonardo. "But, in truth, I am lefthanded, andwhen I write normally from left to right, I smear 6 inkacross the page. One day I realized that if I wrotebackward, I would not be so messy." He laughed andsat down at the table. As he took a bite of bread, heseemed his happy selfagain. "What do you write in these notebooks?"said Jack.



"Oh, I've written down thousands of ideas," saidLeonardo. "For example-" He opened a notebook andread: "Fossils 7 of tiny sea creatures have been found in themountains of Italy. It is75my belief that ocean water once covered themountains millions of years ago.



""Your belief is right," said Jack.



Leonardo looked at Jack with surprise. "You seemso certain," he said.



"Well, I know from science books that the oceansonce covered many mountains of the earth, and that'swhy you can find sea fossils there," said Jack.



"We read lots of books," said Annie.



"Indeed?" said Leonardo. Then he picked up anothernotebook and read: "If a wolf stares at you, your voice will becomehoarse.



""Um ...that's not true," said Annie.



"It is not?" said Leonardo.



"Well, think about it," said Annie. "How could ananimal make a person hoarse 8? And why would theywant to?"Leonardo nodded. "Yes, I think I agree with you,"he said. He cleared his throat. Then he read anotheridea: "A spider hatches 9 its eggs by staring at them.



"76"Nooo," said Jack and Annie together.



"No?" said Leonardo.



"Trust us," said Jack, smiling.



This is really fun, he thought,knowing more than a great genius. Scientists havediscovered a lot since Leonardo's time.



"All right. I don't know why, but I shall trust you,"said Leonardo. He turned some pages and read: "The moon may be bright because it is made out ofrippling water. "Jack shook his head. "Actually it's made out ofrocks," he said. "It's bright because it reflects the lightof the sun." Jack knew lots of facts about the moon.



"And did you know there's no wind on the moon?"said Annie. "So someday when people walk there,their footprints will last forever!"Leonardo grinned. "Wonderful," he said. "I fear youare both speaking nonsense. But I like your originalthinking!"He turned the page and read another entry:



77"There must be a way to use a natural force, such assteam or wind, to help people do their tasks in lesstime, with less work-""That's a great idea," said Jack. "Maybe somedaysteam engines could run ships. Or maybe steam couldhelp run a train.""A train?" said Leonardo.



"Yes, a train!" said Annie. "A train is this thingwe've imagined. It's like-um-""Like wagons 10 connected to each other!" said Jack.



"And they run over tracks that go across the land.""Interesting," said Leonardo. He closed his eyes as iftrying to imagine it.



"And then there areplanes," said Annie. "We've imagined these things calledplanes.""Yeah," said Jack, "they have wings, and they flyyou through the air.""Like birds!" said Annie.



Leonardo sat up very straight. "You imagine such aflying thing is possible?" he asked.



78"We're positive," said Jack.



Leonardo leapt to his feet. "You have been sent tome as a sign!" he said.



"A sign of what?" said Annie.



Leonardo's eyes were gleaming 11. "I, too, believehumans can fly like birds. And today I shall prove it!""You will?" said Jack.



"Yes! Until now, I have been fearful of testing myidea," said Leonardo. "But the two of you have givenme courage!"What is Leonardo talking about?



Jack wondered.



"I am sure my plan will work now!" said Leonardo.



"And it will bring me everlasting 12 fame!""We don't really know that much about flying,"Jack said.



"Yeah, we were just imagining," said Annie. ButLeonardo had grabbed 13 his cap and cloak 14. "Come withme, friends!" He headed out to the courtyard.



79Jack grabbed his bag, and he and Annie followed.



Leonardo jumped into the horse cart and picked upthe reins 15. "Climb in! Climb in!" he said.



Jack and Annie climbed into the cart and sat besideLeonardo.



"Today the Great Bird shall rise aloft high into thesky!" said Leonardo. "And the universe shall be filledwith wonder!"



1 hearth
n.壁炉炉床,壁炉地面
  • She came and sat in a chair before the hearth.她走过来,在炉子前面的椅子上坐下。
  • She comes to the hearth,and switches on the electric light there.她走到壁炉那里,打开电灯。
2 jack
n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克
  • 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。
3 sketches
n.草图( sketch的名词复数 );素描;速写;梗概
  • The artist is making sketches for his next painting. 画家正为他的下一幅作品画素描。
  • You have to admit that these sketches are true to life. 你得承认这些素描很逼真。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 fresco
n.壁画;vt.作壁画于
  • This huge fresco is extremely clear and just like nature itself.It is very harmonious.这一巨幅壁画,清晰有致且又浑然天成,十分和谐。
  • So it is quite necessary to study the influence of visual thinking over fresco.因此,研究视觉思维对壁画的影响和作用是十分必要的。
5 crammed
adj.塞满的,挤满的;大口地吃;快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满;填入;临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式)
  • He crammed eight people into his car. 他往他的车里硬塞进八个人。
  • All the shelves were crammed with books. 所有的架子上都堆满了书。
6 smear
v.涂抹;诽谤,玷污;n.污点;诽谤,污蔑
  • He has been spreading false stories in an attempt to smear us.他一直在散布谎言企图诽谤我们。
  • There's a smear on your shirt.你衬衫上有个污点。
7 fossils
n.化石( fossil的名词复数 );老顽固;食古不化的人;老古董(老人)
  • fossils over two million years old 两百多万年的化石
  • The geologist found many uncovered fossils in the valley. 在那山谷里,地质学家发现了许多裸露的化石。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 hoarse
adj.嘶哑的,沙哑的
  • He asked me a question in a hoarse voice.他用嘶哑的声音问了我一个问题。
  • He was too excited and roared himself hoarse.他过于激动,嗓子都喊哑了。
9 hatches
出生、订婚、结婚和死亡栏
  • Each of these eggs hatches out into a tiny grub. 这些虫卵中的每一个都将孵化出一条小幼虫。
  • The larva hatches out and lives in the soil. 幼虫孵化之后就在土壤里生活。
10 wagons
n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 );铁路货车;小手推车
  • The wagons were hauled by horses. 那些货车是马拉的。
  • They drew their wagons into a laager and set up camp. 他们把马车围成一圈扎起营地。
11 gleaming
adj.永恒的,持久的,无止境的
  • These tyres are advertised as being everlasting.广告上说轮胎持久耐用。
  • He believes in everlasting life after death.他相信死后有不朽的生命。
12 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
  • 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。
13 cloak
n.斗蓬,披风,掩饰,幌子;vt.掩盖,掩饰
  • The snow covered up the fields with a white cloak.积雪给田野盖上了一件白色的外衣。
  • She threw a heavy woollen cloak over her shoulders.她把一件厚重的羊毛斗篷披在肩上。
14 reins
感情,激情; 缰( rein的名词复数 ); 控制手段; 掌管; (成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的)保护带
  • She pulled gently on the reins. 她轻轻地拉着缰绳。
  • The government has imposed strict reins on the import of luxury goods. 政府对奢侈品的进口有严格的控制手段。
学英语单词
Acetyldigitoxoside
acrocalanus andersoni
address pointer
Adriatic Sea
aminoacyl
apply the screw to someone
automatic congestion level
Berezhany
blow sb's brains out
boiler survey
braffertons
C. J. C.
cargo air teriff
cawayan r.
chessboard design
clortermine
control segment
core turning lathe
cornucoquimba gibba
correctable coding error
Cowper
creativity mobilization technique
crystallographers
curl one's lip
cyrtolerinetin
daucosterine
demersal egg
depth regulating device
dueness
emblematist
European Telecommunications Standards Institute
Eurya chinensis
external (mold) lubricant
eyed texture
factorial notation
filers
fixed radix numeration system
fold amplitude
fuck it mountain
gadolinium gallium garnet
gordita
homeworlds
honey mushroom
intratrace
light duty
lineally
lothness
low-lifers
lymphopenic thymic dysplasia
machine for testing torsion
marseillais
Matanza, I.
mechanism of exchange
membership roster
membrane material
metathesiophobia
Mikadoism
millimeter wave guidance
Mq. L.
nickeled
noun in apposition
on the payroll
paranoialike
photoelectric efficiency
phrenzied
PIC (polymer-impregnated concrete)
pile up the rocks
pipe expanding machine
pitch error compensator
pragmaticists
pro-taiwan
program time analyzer
prompt time spectrum
pump block
quadriennials
radioactive ventilation system
Rangstrup
reconnection
relay winding
retouchings
Rostrinucula
rovimix
ry-pack technic
salmon berries
sell on the good news
shallow water blackout
shoemakings
snap shears
SOOGLOSSIDAE
spring feed
strontium -apatite
take ... chance
Tianding
torch-thistle
transformation base
unabsorbed expense
Unknown Warrior
washingmachine
waxinsect
well utilized
worse than all
zinc oxide-eugenol paste