《神奇树屋》 第三十二册 Winter of the Ice Wizard 01 Winter Solstice
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》
A cold wind rattled 1 the windowpanes. But insidethe house, it was warm and cozy 2. Jack 3 and Anniewere making Christmas cookies with their mom. Jackpressed a star-shaped cookie cutter into the dough 4.
"Hey, it's snowing outside," said Annie.
Jack looked out the window. Huge snow-flakeswere falling from the late-afternoon sky.
"You want to go out?" asked Annie.
"Not really. It'll be dark soon," said Jack.
12"That's right," said their mom. "Today's the first dayof winter. It's the shortest day of the year."Jack's heart skipped a beat. "You mean it's thewinter solstice?" he said.
"Yes," said their mom.
Annie gasped 5. "The winter solstice?" she said.
"Yes...," their mom said, puzzled.
Jack and Annie looked at each other. Last summer,Merlin the magician had called for their help on thesummer solstice. Maybe he would need them againtoday!
Jack put down the cookie cutter and wiped hishands on a towel. "Actually, Mom, it might be fun toplay in the snow for just a few minutes," he said.
"Whatever you want," their mom said. "Just dresswarmly. I'll finish up with the cookies and put themin the oven.""Thanks!" said Jack. He and Annie raced to thecloset and pulled on their boots. They threw onjackets, scarves, gloves, and caps.
13"Be home before dark," their mom said.
"We will!" called Jack.
"Bye, Mom!" Annie shouted.
Jack and Annie slipped out of their house into thesnowy cold. Their boots squeaked 6 as they ran acrosstheir white yard and headed toward the Frog Creekwoods.
At the edge of the woods, Jack stopped. He couldn'tbelieve how beautiful the trees looked. White powdercovered the branches of the hemlocks 9 and pines.
"Look," said Annie. She pointed 10 to two pairs offootprints that led out to the road and then back intothe woods. "Somebody else has been here.""It looks like they were walking out of the woods-butturned back," said Jack. "Let's hurry!" If the magictree house had come back today, he didn't wantanyone else finding it first!
Jack and Annie walked quickly through the woods,following the two sets of footprints.
14"Stop!" said Annie. She pulled Jack behind a tree.
"Over there!"[ILLUSTRATION: Two people walking towards atree house.]
15[ILLUSTRATION: Annie and Jack hiding behind atree as they watch two people walk in front of them.]
16Through the falling snow, Jack saw two people inlong, dark cloaks. They were hurrying toward a talloak--and high in the oak was the magic tree house!
"Oh, no!" said Jack.
The tree house was back! And someone else hadfound it!
"Hey!" Jack yelled. "Stop!" The tree house had comefor him and Annie--no one else!
Jack started running. Annie followed. Jack slippedand fell in the snow, but he scrambled 11 up and keptgoing. By the time he and Annie got to the treehouse, the two people had climbed up the rope ladderand disappeared inside.
"Come out!" Jack yelled.
"This is our tree house!" shouted Annie.
Two kids poked 12 their heads out of the tree housewindow. They both looked like they were aboutthirteen years old. The boy had tousled red hair andfreckles. The girl had sea-blue eyes17and long, curly black hair. Their cheeks were rosyfrom the cold. They laughed when they saw Jack andAnnie.
"Excellent!" said the boy. "We came to find you, butyou have found us instead.""Teddy!" cried Annie. "Kathleen! Hi!"Teddy was the young sorcerer who worked withMorgan in her library in Camelot. Kathleen was theenchanted selkie girl who'd helped Jack and Annie onthe summer solstice by magically turning them allinto seals.
Jack was stunned 13. He had never imagined that theirtwo friends from Camelot might someday visit FrogCreek! "What are you guys doing here?" he shouted.
"Climb up and we will tell you!" said Teddy.
Jack and Annie hurried up the rope ladder. Whenthey climbed inside the tree house, Annie threw herarms around Teddy and Kathleen. "I can't believe youcame to visit us!" she said.
18"It pleases me to see you, Annie," said Kathleen.
"And you also, Jack." Her large blue eyes sparkled.
"It pleases me, too," Jack said shyly. He still thoughtKathleen was the most beautiful girl he had everseen. Even when she'd been a seal, she'd been lovely.
"We went looking for you!" said Teddy. "Weclimbed down and walked through the woods to aroad.""But the road was full of monsters!" said Kathleen.
"A big red creature nearly ran over us! It made ahonking sound!""Then before we knew it, a giant black monstercharged at us! It had a ferocious 14 growl 15!" said Teddy.
"We came back here to gather our wits.""Those weren't monsters!" said Annie, laughing.
"They were just cars!""Cars?" said Teddy.
19"Yeah, they have motors and people drive them,"said Jack.
"Motors?" said Teddy.
"It's hard to explain," said Annie. "Just remember-in our world, you have to watch out for cars everytime you cross a road.""Indeed we will," said Teddy.
"Why have you come here?" asked Jack.
"We found a message for you in Merlin'schambers," said Teddy, "and decided 16 to deliver itourselves.""So we climbed into the tree house outsideMorgan's library," said Kathleen. "Teddy pointed tothe words Frog Creek 7 in the message and made awish to come here. The next thing we knew, we werehere in these woods."Teddy pulled a small gray stone from his cloak.
"And this is the message we brought you," he said.
Jack took the stone from Teddy.
20The message was written in tiny handwriting. Jackread it aloud:
To Jack and Annie of Frog Creek:
My Staff of Strength has been stolen.
On the winter solstice, journey to theLand-Behind-the-Clouds. Travel toward the settingsun and retrieve 17 mystaff--or all will be lost.
Merlin"Oh, wow," said Annie. "That sounds serious.""Yeah," said Jack. "But why didn't Merlin send usthe message himself?""We do not know," said Teddy. "Neither Merlin norMorgan has been seen for days.""Where did they go?" asked Annie.
"'Tis a mystery," said Teddy. "Last week I journeyedto the selkie cove 8 to bring Kathleen21to Camelot. She is going to be a helper in Morgan'slibrary. But when we returned, we could not findMerlin or Morgan.""We only found this message for you," saidKathleen.
"Aye, and I thought that when Merlin does return,"said Teddy, "he will be greatly pleased to have hisstaff back. Much of his power comes from its ancientand mysterious magic.""Wow," said Annie.
"In his message, he tells us to go to the Land-Behind-the-Clouds," said Jack. "Where's that?""'Tis a land far north of my cove," said Kathleen. "Ihave never journeyed there.""Nor I," said Teddy. "But I have read about it inMorgan's books. 'Tis as bleak 18 as a frozen white desert.
I am eager to see it for myself.""So you and Kathleen are coming with us?" saidAnnie.
"Indeed!" said Kathleen.
"Great!" said Jack and Annie together.
22"If we all work together, we can do anything, aye?"said Teddy.
"Aye!" said Annie.
I hope so, thought Jack.
Annie pointed at the words Land-Behind-the-Clouds in Merlin's message. "Okay, ready?" she saidto the others.
"Yes!" said Kathleen.
"I guess so," said Jack.
"Onward 19!" said Teddy.
"I wish we could all go there!" Annie said.
The tree house started to spin.
It spun 20 faster and faster.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
- The truck jolted and rattled over the rough ground. 卡车嘎吱嘎吱地在凹凸不平的地面上颠簸而行。
- Every time a bus went past, the windows rattled. 每逢公共汽车经过这里，窗户都格格作响。
- I like blankets because they are cozy.我喜欢毛毯，因为他们是舒适的。
- We spent a cozy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。
- 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。
- She formed the dough into squares.她把生面团捏成四方块。
- The baker is kneading dough.那位面包师在揉面。
- 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》
- 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
- He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
- People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。
- 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。
- 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。
- Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
- His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The ferocious winds seemed about to tear the ship to pieces.狂风仿佛要把船撕成碎片似的。
- The ferocious panther is chasing a rabbit.那只凶猛的豹子正追赶一只兔子。
- The dog was biting,growling and wagging its tail.那条狗在一边撕咬一边低声吼叫，尾巴也跟着摇摆。
- The car growls along rutted streets.汽车在车辙纵横的街上一路轰鸣。
- This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
- There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
- He was determined to retrieve his honor.他决心恢复名誉。
- The men were trying to retrieve weapons left when the army abandoned the island.士兵们正试图找回军队从该岛撤退时留下的武器。
- They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
- The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。