兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》第十七冊 Tonight On The Titanic 10 Touch of Magic

"Oh, man, " whispered Jack.

He was lying on the floor of the tree house. He waswearing his pajamas and rain poncho again.

"You okay?" Annie asked. "Yeah. You?" said Jack.

"My heart's beating really fast," said Annie.

"Mine, too, " said Jack.

He thought of the Titanic sinking into the coldblack sea. His eyes filled with tears. "It was terrible,"he said.

Annie nodded. Jack could see tears on her cheeks.

Teddy licked Jack's face.

"Hey," said Jack. "How did you get out of myknapsack?"Teddy whined. Jack and Annie stroked his furryhead and ears.

"I think he has a touch of magic," said Annie.

Slowly, Jack sat up.

"He saved our lives," he said.

"And now we have the first gift to break the spellhe's under," said Annie.

She turned on her flashlight. She shined it on thesilver pocket watch that hung from her neck.

"Lucy's gift," she said.

The watch had stopped. The hands were at 2:20.

Jack was silent. Then he sighed.

"That's exactly when the ship went down," he said.

Annie looked at him.

"I guess that's when time stopped for the Titanic, "she said.

Jack nodded.

Annie put the pocket watch on top of Morgan'snote.

"A gift from a ship lost at sea," she said softly.

They were both quiet.

Then Jack took off his glasses and wiped the tearsfrom his eyes.

Annie stood up. She took a deep breath.

"Teddy?" she said.

There was no sign of the little dog. "He's not here, "said Annie.

"What are you talking about?" said Jack. "We werejust petting him.""He's up to his magic tricks again," said Annie. Shesighed. "We'll have to go home without him.""But what happened to him?" said Jack.

"I don't know," said Annie. "But I have a feelingwe'll see him again soon."She started down the rope ladder. Jack lookedaround the tree house one last time.

"Teddy?" he said.

But the tree house was quiet.

Jack pulled on his backpack and climbed down therope ladder.

Annie was waiting for him.

69Without a word, Jack took her hand.

The rain had stopped. But water still dripped fromthe trees.

Stars glittered overhead in a clear sky. Silently, Jackand Annie left the Frog Creek woods. They walkedup the dark street to their house and climbed the stepsto their porch.

Before they went inside, they looked out again atthe night.

"Time might have stopped for the Titanic," Jacksaid. "But books and memories keep the Titanic alive,don't they? It's a true story, but it's also like a mythnow.""Yeah, " said Annie. "And every time the story'stold, we wish it had a different endingJack nodded. That was exactly how he felt.

Staring at the starry sky, he shuddered at thememory of the sinking ship.

He knew that he and Annie were lucky. They hadcome home.

"Good night, Titanic," he said softly. "Good-bye."Then he and Annie slipped quietly into their house,where it was cozy and dry and very safe.

MORE FACTS FOR YOU AND JACK1)The Titanic hit the iceberg in the North Atlantic,approximately 400 miles off the coast ofNewfoundland.

2) The Titanic was considered unsinkable becauseshe was built with huge watertight doors to containany possible leaks. However, when the ship hit theiceberg, six watertight compartments quickly filled upwith water, dooming the ship.

3) The signal SOS was chosen as an internationaldistress call because of the simplicity of the threeletters in Morse code: three dots, three dashes, andthree dots.

4) No one knows for certain exactly how long themusicians played on the Titanic, but legend says theyplayed until the ship went down, and their last songwas the hymn "Nearer My God to Thee.") More than1,500 people perished in the Titanic disaster, while 705people escaped in lifeboats and were eventuallyrescued by a ship named theCarpathia.

6) After the sinking of the Titanic, laws werechanged so that every ship was required to haveenough lifeboats to carry all its passengers. Also, theInternational lee Patrol was formed, so that shipswould have warning about ice conditions.

7) In 1985, a scientist named Dr. Robert Ballarddiscovered the undersea wreck of the Titanic. Don'tmiss the next Magic Tree House book, when Jack andAnnie go to the Great Plains and find out how peoplein the Lakota tribe lived.