《神奇树屋》 第三十一册 Summer of the SeaSerpent 03 Cave of the Spider Queen
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》
G entle waves rippled 1 through the cove 2 as Jack 3 andAnnie swam to the foot of the cliff. They pulledthemselves onto the boulders 4. Soaking wet, they satfor a moment in the warm sunlight and caught theirbreath.
"That was so cool!" said Annie.
"Yeah. But why--" Jack gasped 5, "why did he dumpus way out here? What do we do now?""Check the rhyme," said Annie. "What happensafter we call for the help of the Water Knight 6?"32Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out theseashell. He read aloud:
Call for the help of the Water KnightThen pass through the Cave of the Spider Queen.
"Oh. Right," said Annie. She took a deep breath.
"Spider Queen.""Sorry," Jack said softly. "But don't worry, maybethe Spider Queen is just a person. Maybe 'SpiderQueen' is her nickname.""But what if she's half a person and half a spider?"said Annie. "Like the Raven 7 King was half a man andhalf a raven?"Jack shuddered 8 at the memory of the monster ontheir last Merlin Mission. "Don't think about that," hesaid. "Time's running out. Let's just find this cave."Annie nodded and smiled bravely. "Okay, you'reright," she said.
They stood up and started climbing barefoot aroundthe craggy curves at the base of the cliff. As theyrounded a corner, they both gasped.
33In front of them was the mouth of a cave. Themouth was covered with thick, sticky white ropes.
The ropes were woven tightly together in a crisscrosscobweb pattern.
"If that's a spiderweb, we're in big trouble," saidAnnie.
Jack tried to sound calm. "Urn 9, the size of the webdoesn't actually tell us the size of the spider," he said.
"Plus, I once read that no spider on earth is biggerthan a dinner plate.""Yeah, and no horse on earth has a giant fish's taileither," said Annie.
Good point,thought Jack. "Let's just concentrate onfinding the Sword of Light before nightfall," he said.
Jack picked up a stone the size of a softball. Hehurled it toward the mouth of the cave. The stonesailed through the giant cobweb and into the cave,pulling the sticky rope-like strands 10 down with it.
Jack turned to Annie. "Ready?" he said.
34She didn't move.
Jack took her hand. "Don't worry, I won't let anymonster spiders get you," he said. He nodded towardthe mouth of the cave. "Onward 11?""Onward," Annie repeated in a small voice. Thentogether she and Jack stepped over the fallen web andentered the Cave of the Spider Queen.
Inside the cave, the walls were black and shiny. Theground was wet and slippery under their bare feet.
"Yikes!" Annie said, jumping back. A pale pink crabscuttled sideways across the rocky floor.
"Don't be afraid," said Jack. "That's not a spider.""I know," said Annie. "Sorry."As they went deeper and deeper into the cave, itgrew darker and darker. Finally Jack saw a faint lightcoming from a wide, arched passage. "That way," hesaid.
36They stepped through the arch into a roundchamber with a high ceiling. There were several largecracks in the ceiling that let in beams of sunlight. Themisty light shined on mossy green ledges 14 and on agreen, spongy-looking floor. Silver droplets 15 drippedfrom above, ker-ploppinginto tiny pools. Squeaks 16 andchirps came from crannies and hiding places in thewalls.
"What's that noise?" asked Annie.
"Probably just teeny cave crickets or baby bats,"said Jack.
"No, thatnoise," said Annie, "the whispering noise."Jack listened. Then he heard it: a low whispering.
He couldn't make out the words. It just sounded likewhisper-whisper-whisper-whisper.The hair stood upon the back of his neck. Now hebegan to feel scared.
"This place is really creepy," said Annie.
"No kidding," said Jack. "But we don't have to stayhere long. The rhyme says we just have37to pass through the cave. So let's hurry and passthrough it."Jack and Annie walked through the ghostly greenlight of the chamber 12. The spongy floor squishedbeneath their bare feet. As they searched for an exitfrom the cave, they both kept an eye out for theSpider Queen.
"Hey, look at the starfish," said Annie. She pointedto a bright orange starfish clinging to the rockyceiling. "How'd he get up there?"Before Jack could answer, a wave crashed into thechamber. Water splashed over Jack and Annie.
"Yikes!" said Annie. She and Jack jumped onto amossy ledge 13 jutting 18 out from the wall.
The wave washed back out. There was a moment ofquiet. Then another wave surged into the chamber. Itsplashed against the cave walls, soaking Jack andAnnie again.
"Oh, man," said Jack. "The tide must be coming in!
Soon this whole cave will be flooded!"38The wave receded 19. For a moment all was quietagain.
"We'd better leave now!" said Jack. "Quick! Go backthe way we came in!"39Jack and Annie jumped down from the ledge. Butbefore they could escape, another wave crashed intothe cave! This one swept them off their feet andpulled them down into the foamy 20 water.
Jack grabbed Annie's hand. Fighting the swirlingcurrent, they climbed back up onto the mossy ledge.
The water churned and gurgled around the chamber.
"We can't go back the way we came in," said Jack.
"The waves will just keep knocking us down, andwe'll get caught in the current!"40"Maybe we can get out through that crack!" criedAnnie. She pointed 17 to the widest crack in the caveceiling. It was high above the swirling 21 water.
"It's too high!" said Jack. "We can't get up there!" Helooked frantically 22 around the flooded cave, searchingfor another way out. Suddenly he froze in horror.
Clinging to a ledge near the ceiling crack was theSpider Queen. She had eight red glowing eyes. Shehad eight long, hairy legs. And she was muchbiggerthan a dinner plate.
The Spider Queen was bigger than Jack.
- The lake rippled gently. 湖面轻轻地泛起涟漪。
- The wind rippled the surface of the cornfield. 微风吹过麦田，泛起一片麦浪。
- The shore line is wooded,olive-green,a pristine cove.岸边一带林木蓊郁，嫩绿一片，好一个山外的小海湾。
- I saw two children were playing in a cove.我看到两个小孩正在一个小海湾里玩耍。
- 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。
- Seals basked on boulders in a flat calm. 海面风平浪静，海豹在巨石上晒太阳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The river takes a headlong plunge into a maelstrom of rocks and boulders. 河水急流而下，入一个漂砾的漩涡中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
- People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
- A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。
- 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。
- He slammed on the brakes and the car shuddered to a halt. 他猛踩刹车，车颤抖着停住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- I shuddered at the sight of the dead body. 我一看见那尸体就战栗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The urn was unearthed entire.这只瓮出土完整无缺。
- She put the big hot coffee urn on the table and plugged it in.她将大咖啡壶放在桌子上,接上电源。
- Twist a length of rope from strands of hemp. 用几股麻搓成了一段绳子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- She laced strands into a braid. 她把几股线编织成一根穗带。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- 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。
- For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
- The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。
- 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。
- 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
- Droplets of sweat were welling up on his forehead. 他额头上冒出了滴滴汗珠。 来自辞典例句
- In constrast, exhaled smoke contains relatively large water droplets and appears white. 相反，从人嘴里呼出的烟则包含相当大的水滴，所以呈白色。 来自辞典例句
- The upper-middle-classes communicate with each other in inaudible squeaks, like bats. 那些上中层社会的人交谈起来象是蚊子在哼哼，你根本听不见。 来自辞典例句
- She always squeaks out her ideas when she is excited. 她一激动总是尖声说出自己的想法。 来自互联网
- 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。
- The climbers rested on a sheltered ledge jutting out from the cliff. 登山者在悬崖的岩棚上休息。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The soldier saw a gun jutting out of some bushes. 那士兵看见丛林中有一枝枪伸出来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
- The floodwaters have now receded. 洪水现已消退。
- The sound of the truck receded into the distance. 卡车的声音渐渐在远处消失了。
- In Internet foamy 2001, so hard when, everybody stayed. 在互联网泡沫的2001年，那么艰难的时候，大家都留下来了。 来自互联网
- It's foamy milk that you add to the coffee. 将牛奶打出泡沫后加入咖啡中。 来自互联网
- Snowflakes were swirling in the air. 天空飘洒着雪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- She smiled, swirling the wine in her glass. 她微笑着，旋动着杯子里的葡萄酒。 来自辞典例句
- He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
- She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。