英语读物《神奇树屋》 第十二册 Polar Bears Past Bedtime 09 Oh, No, One More!

　　By the time the dogsled arrived at the tree house,the snowstorm had become a blizzard¹.

"Can you wait just a minute?" Jack² asked the sealhunter. "So we can check something?"The hunter nodded. His dogs whined³ as Jack andAnnie climbed through the tree house window.

Jack grabbed the scroll⁴ that held the riddle⁵. Heunrolled it. The riddle was gone. In its place was oneshimmering word:

MASK"We did it!" said Annie. "The tree house will take ushome now.""Great!" said Jack. "Let's say good-bye to the sealhunter and give him back his clothes."They quickly pulled off their sealskin clothing andtheir boots.

"Thanks for letting us borrow these!" Jack calledthrough the window.

The seal hunter walked to the tree house and tookthe clothes from Jack and Annie. They stoodshivering in their pajamas⁷ and bare feet.

"Th-th-thanks for everything!" said Annie, her teethchattering.

The seal hunter gave them a wave. Then he walkedthrough the swirling⁸ snow to his sled.

"Mush!" he shouted.

The dogs took off through the stormy night.

"Let's get out of here!" said Jack. He hugged himself.

"Before we freeze to death!"Annie grabbed the Pennsylvania book that alwaystook them home. She pointed⁹ to a picture of the FrogCreek woods.

"I wish we could go there!" she said.

They waited for the tree house to start spinning.

Nothing happened. Jack shivered.

"I wish we could go there!" Annie said again.

Again nothing happened.

Wh wh What's going on?" said Jack. he lookedaround the tree house. The four scrolls¹⁰ with thesolved riddle answers were in the corner.

Then he saw it--a fifth scroll.

"Where did th-th-that come from?" he said. Jackgrabbed it and unrolled it. On it were the words:

look at the letters: the first not the restdiscover the place that you love the best"Oh, no!" said Annie. "Another riddle!""Okay, okay. Let's stay c-c-calm," Jack said,shivering. "Look at the letters: the first, not the rest.

Okay, the first letters in this riddle are L-A-T-L-T--"Look at the letters:

"That doesn't make any sense," Annie broke in.

Icy winds battered¹¹ the tree house. Snow blewinside.

"We have to hurry!" said Annie.

Jack was freezing. He looked around wildly.

"Letters, letters, letters. What letters?" he said.

His gaze rested on the scrolls in the corner.

"M-m-maybe we should look at the letters of theanswers," he said.

"Right," said Annie.

They began unrolling the scrolls.

The scroll from their adventure under the oceansaid:

OYSTERThe scroll from their trip to the Wild WestECHOThe scroll from their journey to Africa said:

HONEYTheir scroll from the Arctic said:

MASK"Oyster, echo, honey, mask," said Jack. "Their firstletters are O-E-H-M.""That doesn't make any sense, either," said Annie.

"Yeah, but maybe we have to unscramblethose letters," said Jack. "O-E-H-M.. .They couldspell hemo.""Or meho," said Annie.

"Or home!" said Jack.

"HOME!" cried Annie. "That's the place we love thebest!"Jack unrolled the fifth scroll again. The riddle wasgone. In its place was one shimmering⁶ word:

HOME"Yay!" cried Annie. She grabbed the Pennsylvaniabook. "I wish we could go home! HOME! HOME!

HOME!"The tree house started to spin.

It spun¹² faster and faster and faster.

Then everything was still.

Absolutely still.

1 blizzard   

n.暴风雪

参考例句：

• The blizzard struck while we were still on the mountain.我们还在山上的时候暴风雪就袭来了。
• You'll have to stay here until the blizzard blows itself off.你得等暴风雪停了再走。

2 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。

3 whined   

v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨

参考例句：

• The dog whined at the door, asking to be let out. 狗在门前嚎叫着要出去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He whined and pouted when he did not get what he wanted. 他要是没得到想要的东西就会发牢骚、撅嘴。 来自辞典例句

4 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。

5 riddle   

n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜

参考例句：

• The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
• Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。

6 shimmering   

v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The sea was shimmering in the sunlight. 阳光下海水波光闪烁。
• The colours are delicate and shimmering. 这些颜色柔和且闪烁微光。 来自辞典例句

7 pajamas   

n.睡衣裤

参考例句：

• At bedtime,I take off my clothes and put on my pajamas.睡觉时，我脱去衣服，换上睡衣。
• He was wearing striped pajamas.他穿着带条纹的睡衣裤。

8 swirling   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• 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

9 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• 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。

10 scrolls   

n.（常用于录写正式文件的）纸卷( scroll的名词复数 )；卷轴；涡卷形（装饰）；卷形花纹v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的第三人称单数 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕

参考例句：

• Either turn it off or only pick up selected stuff like wands, rings and scrolls. 把他关掉然后只捡你需要的物品，像是魔杖(wand)，戒指(rings)和滚动条(scrolls)。 来自互联网
• Ancient scrolls were found in caves by the Dead Sea. 死海旁边的山洞里发现了古代的卷轴。 来自辞典例句

11 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

12 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。