《神奇树屋》 第二十四册 Earthquake in the Early Morning 02 Thunder Under the Ground

　　"Nice clothes," said Annie.

Jack¹ opened his eyes.

Annie was wearing a blue-and-white dress with abig sailor collar and white stockings.

Jack was wearing brown knee-length pants, ajacket, a cap, and a tie. His backpack had become aleather bag. He and Annie both wore short lace-upboots.

A church bell started to ring.

Gong. Gong. Gong. Gong. Gong.

"It rang five times," said Jack. "It must be five in themorning.""Yeah," said Annie. She was looking out thewindow.

Jack looked with her. The early-morning air feltfresh and cool.

The tree house had landed in a tree at the bottom ofa hill. Painted wooden houses and gaslights lined aquiet cobblestone street. A trolley² car moved alongtracks up the street. It rounded the top of the hill anddisappeared.

Tall buildings towered farther off. The sun wasbehind them, making pink streaks³ in the blue sky.

"It's really pretty here," said Annie. "Yeah," said Jack.

He opened the research book and read:

On Wednesday, April 18, 1906, San Francisco wasthe biggest city on the west coast of the United States.

It had a population of half a million people. It wasalso one of the loveliest cities in the country.

Jack pulled out his notebook. He wrote:

San Francisco- , April 18, 1906\Biggest city in the westlovely"Let's go!" Annie said impatiently.

Jack looked back at the book. He wanted to learnmore.

"Now," said Annie. She took the book and notebookaway from him and put them into his leather bag.

"Let's not waste any more time."Annie left the tree house.

"Doing research is not wasting time," Jack calledafter her:

But he slung⁴ his bag over his shoulder and followedAnnie down the rope ladder. When they had bothstepped onto the grass, Jack looked around.

"Where to?" he said.

"Anywhere!" said explore and see the tourists.""Okay," said Jack. "But don't forget we have to findthe writing for Morgan's library."They started up the cobblestone street. As Annie.

"Let's just sights. We can bethey walked up the steep hill, the sun rose abovethe tall buildings.

The early light turned everything to gold: stones,streetlamps, and the glass windows of the silenthouses.

"It's so quiet and peaceful," said Annie.

"Yeah, everyone must still be sleeping," said Jack.

Suddenly, out of the quiet came a deep rumblingnoise.

Jack stopped. He grabbed⁶ Annie's arm. "What'sthat?" he said.

The noise got louder. It sounded like thundercoming from under the ground.

The earth started shaking.

Church bells clanged wildly.

The whole street began to move. The cobblestonesrolled like waves on the ocean.

'What's happening?" Annie cried. Chimneys fell offroofs! Gaslights toppled over! Bricks crashed to thestreet!

"Get down!" shouted Jack. "Cover your head!"Jack and Annie crouched⁷ on the ground with theirarms over their heads. All around them wasrumbling, clanging, crashing, and breaking.

Then the world grew still. The rumbling⁵ stopped.

Jack and Annie raised their heads. The air wasfilled with dust.

"It's over," said Jack.

"That must have been an earthquake!" said Annie.

"I think so," Jack agreed.

"I guess I should have let you do a little moreresearch on this place," Annie said.

"Yeah, probably," said Jack. "Except I don't knowexactly what we could have done."Jack slowly stood up. His legs felt wobbly. As hebrushed off his pants, the deep rumbling came again-louderthan before.

Then the terrible shaking started. It was evenharder than before.

Jack was hurled⁸ to the ground. The earth trembledand quaked. Jack bounced against the hardcobblestones.

"Annie!" he cried.

He tried to stand, but fell again. Through the dustyair, he saw the tall buildings swaying against the sky!

Roofs were caving in!

Up and down the street, bricks, glass, and concreteshowered down!

It seemed like a long time before the dreadful⁹ noiseand shaking finally stopped.

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 trolley   

n.手推车，台车；无轨电车；有轨电车

参考例句：

• The waiter had brought the sweet trolley.侍者已经推来了甜食推车。
• In a library,books are moved on a trolley.在图书馆，书籍是放在台车上搬动的。

3 streaks   

n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹

参考例句：

• streaks of grey in her hair 她头上的绺绺白发
• Bacon has streaks of fat and streaks of lean. 咸肉中有几层肥的和几层瘦的。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 slung   

抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往

参考例句：

• He slung the bag over his shoulder. 他把包一甩，挎在肩上。
• He stood up and slung his gun over his shoulder. 他站起来把枪往肩上一背。

5 rumbling   

n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词

参考例句：

• The earthquake began with a deep [low] rumbling sound. 地震开始时发出低沉的隆隆声。
• The crane made rumbling sound. 吊车发出隆隆的响声。

6 grabbed   

v.抢先，抢占( grab的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指匆忙地）取；攫取；（尤指自私、贪婪地）捞取

参考例句：

• He was grabbed by two men and frogmarched out of the hall. 他被两个男人紧抓双臂押出大厅。
• She grabbed the child's hand and ran. 她抓住孩子的手就跑。

7 crouched   

v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He crouched down beside her. 他在她的旁边蹲了下来。
• The lion crouched ready to pounce. 狮子蹲下身，准备猛扑。

8 hurled   

v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂

参考例句：

• He hurled a brick through the window. 他往窗户里扔了块砖。
• The strong wind hurled down bits of the roof. 大风把屋顶的瓦片刮了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 dreadful   

adj.糟透了的，极端的，可怕的，令人畏惧的

参考例句：

• I cannot imagine what to do in this dreadful situation.我不能想像在这么糟的情况下该怎么办。
• I must apologize for the dreadful mistake I made.我为我所犯的严重错误深表歉意。