儿童故事集：Jack and the Pirate School Part 1

 Once upon a time, there was a boy called Jack¹.

 

He was seven. And Jack had six sisters, but no brothers.

 

And they were really, really girly.

 

All day long, they’d play with their dolls.

 

And with their beauty salon².

 

And twirl around in their pink ballet tutus.

 

Jack thought it was really, really boring.

 

“How about a game of pirates?” Jack used to say every morning, when they didn’t have to go to school.

 

And sometimes his sisters would agree.

 

But their idea of playing pirates was to sit all the rogues³ and ruffians and cut-throats around in a circle and serve cups of tea and slices of cake.

 

They didn’t want to make people walk the plank⁴. Or hunt for buried treasure. Or anything.

 

And Jack just got fed up, and went to play pirates by himself.

 

Then one day, they were all sitting at lunch when Jack’s father asked him if he wanted to go to sailing school in the summer holidays.

 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” said Jack. “That sound GRRRRR-ate.”

 

And so it was agreed. In the summer holidays, Jack would go off to sailing school for a few days.

 

“Just one thing, Jack,” said his father. “Make sure you aren’t captured by any pirates.”

 

And all his sisters laughed.

 

“Because they might hold you to ransom⁵ for a million pounds,” said his father.

 

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,” said Jack. “The rascals⁶ and ruffians could never capture me. I’d just fight them off.”

 

And he made a slashing⁷ motion with his hands, as if he was waving a cutlass through the air.

 

“See, like this,” said Jack. “Boom, bam, biff…”

 

And all his sisters rolled their eyes.

 

“That’s agreed then,” said his father.

 

Jack was so excited, he could hardly wait for the school term to end.

 

All day long, he would sit at his desk in school, dreaming of how he was going to be out in the ocean waves. And wondering if there really were any pirates out there.

 

Not that he’d mind if there were.

 

He wasn’t frightened of pirates.

 

Finally the big day arrived.

 

It was the start of the summer holidays.

 

Jack packed his bag very carefully. He had some clothes to wear, and some sandwiches to eat, plus some swimming trunks in case he fell into the water.

 

And a cutlass.

 

Because, after all, you never knew what kind of ruffians you were going to meet on the high seas.

 

Of course, it was only a toy, plastic cutlass.

 

But never mind, thought Jack. Maybe he could just scare then away by waving it around a bit.

 

He’d show them.

 

His mum put him on the train, and told him to be careful.

 

And as he watched the countryside go by, Jack couldn’t wait to see the ocean.

 

Finally, he could see the waves crashing against the shore, and soon afterwards the train pulled up to the station.

 

He climbed off the train and looked up and down the platform.

 

And then he saw a man standing⁸ with a sign, which said. “Boys who want a life on the ocean waves, please step this way.”

 

And so Jack walked towards him.

 

“Excuse me,” he said.

 

It was at that point that he noticed a funny looking parrot sitting on the man’s shoulder.

 

“Er, excuse me,” said Jack.

 

“Yes, what is it?” said the man.

 

“Is this the right place for the sailing school?”

 

The man paused.

 

“Ahhhhaaaaa,” squawked the parrot. “Sailing school……ahhhhhhaaaaaa.”

 

“Shaddup, you stupid bird,” growled⁹ the man.

 

Then he looked back at Jack.

 

“Sailing school, you could say that,” he said. “Step this way young man.”

 

And so Jack followed him towards the car, and they drove to the port. “Who’s a silly boy, then,” squawked the parrot, or at least he did until the man whacked¹⁰ him around the beak¹¹.

 

And then they climbed out of the car, and the man showed Jack the ship.

 

But it wasn’t what jack was expecting.

 

It was more of a galleon¹² than a yacht.

 

With huge sails, and rigging, and a crow’s nest.

 

“I, er, I mean…” said Jack nervously¹³.

 

But the man just pushed him up the stair, so hard that Jack went flying across the deck.

 

The next thing he knew, a very tall man was walking towards him. A man with a black cape¹⁴, and a wooden leg.

 

He lent straight into Jack’s face.

 

“Welcome to pirate school, young man,” he boomed. “Where’ll we’ll teach you everything you need to know for a life of mayhem and treachery on the high seas. I hope you like excitement young man, because from now on, you’re going to have plenty of it”.

 

“Excitement is just what I like best !” said Jack. And then he felt just a tiny bit nervous.

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 salon   

n.[法]沙龙；客厅；营业性的高级服务室

参考例句：

• Do you go to the hairdresser or beauty salon more than twice a week?你每周去美容院或美容沙龙多过两次吗？
• You can hear a lot of dirt at a salon.你在沙龙上会听到很多流言蜚语。

3 rogues   

n.流氓( rogue的名词复数 )；无赖；调皮捣蛋的人；离群的野兽

参考例句：

• 'I'll show these rogues that I'm an honest woman,'said my mother. “我要让那些恶棍知道，我是个诚实的女人。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• The rogues looked at each other, but swallowed the home-thrust in silence. 那些恶棍面面相觑，但只好默默咽下这正中要害的话。 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛

4 plank   

n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目

参考例句：

• The plank was set against the wall.木板靠着墙壁。
• They intend to win the next election on the plank of developing trade.他们想以发展贸易的纲领来赢得下次选举。

5 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

6 rascals   

流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人

参考例句：

• "Oh, but I like rascals. "唔，不过我喜欢流氓。
• "They're all second-raters, black sheep, rascals. "他们都是二流人物，是流氓，是恶棍。

7 slashing   

adj.尖锐的；苛刻的；鲜明的；乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Slashing is the first process in which liquid treatment is involved. 浆纱是液处理的第一过程。 来自辞典例句
• He stopped slashing his horse. 他住了手，不去鞭打他的马了。 来自辞典例句

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 whacked   

a.精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• She whacked him with her handbag. 她用手提包狠狠地打他。
• He whacked me on the back and I held both his arms. 他用力拍拍我的背，我抱住他的双臂。

11 beak   

n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻

参考例句：

• The bird had a worm in its beak.鸟儿嘴里叼着一条虫。
• This bird employs its beak as a weapon.这种鸟用嘴作武器。

12 galleon   

n.大帆船

参考例句：

• The story of a galleon that sank at the start of her maiden voyage in 1628 must be one of the strangest tales of the sea.在1628年，有一艘大帆船在处女航开始时就沉没了，这个沉船故事一定是最神奇的海上轶事之一。
• In 1620 the English galleon Mayfolwer set out from the port of Southampton with 102 pilgrims on board.1620年，英国的“五月花”号西班牙式大帆船载着102名

13 nervously   

adv.神情激动地，不安地

参考例句：

• He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇，努力忍着不哭出来。
• He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。

14 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。