《神奇树屋》 第十八册 Buffalo Before Breakfast 02 Ocean of Grass

　　Early sunlight slanted¹ into the tree house. The cool breezesmelled of wild grass.

"Oh, man," said Jack². "These are neat clothes."Their jeans and T-shirts had magically changed. Jack had on abuckskin shirt and pants. Annie wore a fringed³ buckskin dress.

They both wore soft leather boots and coonskin caps. Jack'sbackpack was now a leather bag.

"I feel like a mountain man," he said.

"All you're missing is a mountain," said Annie. She pointedout the window.

Jack and Teddy looked out.

The tree house sat in a lone⁴ tree in a vast golden prairie. Thesun was rising in the distance.

Wind whispered through the tall yellow grass. Shh--shh--shh,it said.

"We need a gift from the prairie blue," said Jack.

"I bet that means the sky," said Annie, looking up.

"Yep," said Jack. The sky was growing bluer as they watched.

"But how are we supposed to get it?""Just like last time," said Annie. "We have to wait till someonegives it to us.""I don't see any sign of people out there," said Jack.

He opened their book and read aloud.

The Great Plains are in the middle of the United States. Beforethe 20th century, this vast prairie covered nearly a fifth ofAmerica's land. Some called it "an ocean of grass."Jack pulled out his notebook.

"Come on," said Annie.

She picked up Teddy and carried him down the ladder.

Jack quickly wrote:

Great Plains - lots of land"Wow, this is like an ocean of grass," Annie called frombelow.

Jack slipped the Great Plains book and his notebook into hisleather bag and climbed down.

When he stepped onto the ground, the grass came all the wayup to his chest. It tickled⁵ his nose.

"Ah-ah-CHOO!" he sneezed.

"Let's go swimming in the grass ocean," said Annie.

She started off with Teddy under her arm. The wind blewgently as Jack hurried after her. All he could see was rollingwaves of grass.

They walked and walked and walked. Finally, they stopped torest.

"We could walk for months and never see anything but grass,"said Jack.

Arf! Arf!

"Teddy says there's something great up ahead," said Annie.

"You can't tell what he's saying," said Jack. "He's just barking.""I can tell," said Annie. "Trust me.""We can't walk all day," said Jack.

"Come on," said Annie.

"Just a little farther." She started walking again.

"Oh, brother," said Jack.

But he kept going through the tall, rippling⁶ grass. They wentdown a small slope, then up a small rise. At the top of the rise,Jack froze.

"Wow, that is great," he whispered.

"Told you," said Annie.

1 slanted   

有偏见的； 倾斜的

参考例句：

• The sun slanted through the window. 太阳斜照进窗户。
• She had slanted brown eyes. 她有一双棕色的丹凤眼。

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 fringed   

具流苏的，具…的（等于fringy）； 加穗的； 带边饰的； 毛边

参考例句：

• The house is fringed by fields and woodlands. 这房子的周围是田地和树林。
• A line of trees fringed the pool. 水池周围种植着一排树木。

4 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

5 tickled   

（使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐

参考例句：

• We were tickled pink to see our friends on television. 在电视中看到我们的一些朋友，我们高兴极了。
• I tickled the baby's feet and made her laugh. 我胳肢孩子的脚，使她发笑。

6 rippling   

起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的

参考例句：

• I could see the dawn breeze rippling the shining water. 我能看见黎明的微风在波光粼粼的水面上吹出道道涟漪。
• The pool rippling was caused by the waving of the reeds. 池塘里的潺潺声是芦苇摇动时引起的。