兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第九冊(cè) Dolphins at Daybreak 08
Jack moved his arms slowly.He moved his legs slowly. He gently pushed the water out of his way as he did the breast stroke.
Calm， calm， he told himself.
Annie swam beside him. They headed for the reef.
All was calm.
Then Jack saw something out of the corner of his eye.
A dark fin was zigzagging through the water. It was heading toward them.
Jack wanted to splash. He wanted to yell. But he remembered: calm.
I better not tell Annie， he thought. She’ll stay calmer if she doesn’t know.
He began to swim faster—then faster. Annie went faster， too.
They both swam as fast， and as calmly， as they could.
Sometimes Annie went even faster than Jack， which made him swim faster. And faster.
Jack was so scared that he wasn’t tired at all.He was swimming for his life—and for Annie’s life， too.
He didn’t look back to see if the shark was still there. He didn’t want to know.
He just kept his eye on the tree house in the distance. And he kept swimming.
Jack and Annie swam and swam and swam.
It took forever for the tree house to get just a little closer.
Jack realized the reef was farther away than he had thought.
He kept swimming， but his arms and legs felt heavy.
Annie was struggling， too.
“Float!” she said. “Float!”
Jack and Annie turned onto their backs. They floated the way they had learned in swimming class.
We’ll just rest for a minute， Jack thought. Then we’ll keep going.
But the more Jack floated， the more tired he felt. Soon he was too tired even to float. He started to sink.
Then he felt something.
His heart stopped. Something pushed at him in the water.
It was slippery and alive.
Had the hammerhead caught up with them?
Jack shut his eyes and waited for the worst. He waited and waited. Finally， he opened his eyes.
In front of him was a shiny gray head—a dolphin’s head!
The dolphin pushed Jack with its nose. It made happy clicking sounds.
“Hooray!” cried Annie.
Jack looked over at her.
She was clinging to the fin of another dolphin!Her dolphin was moving through the water.
Jack grabbed the fin of his dolphin.
Then the two dolphins swam smoothly through the water， pulling Jack and Annie toward the reef.
8拼命地游
杰克緩緩移動(dòng)著手臂和雙腿，蛙泳時(shí)輕柔地推開面前的水。
“鎮(zhèn)定，要鎮(zhèn)定。”他提醒著自己。
安妮在他身邊，他們一同朝礁石游去。
一切平靜。
突然，杰克用眼角的余光發(fā)現(xiàn)，一個(gè)黑乎乎的魚鰭在水中扭動(dòng)著，正朝他們沖過來。
杰克情不自禁地想大喊，想不管不顧地拍打著水快游，但是他想起了那兩個(gè)字——鎮(zhèn)定。
“我不能告訴安妮。”他想，“她知道了會(huì)驚慌失措的。”
他加快了速度，快點(diǎn)，再快點(diǎn)。安妮也越游越快了。
他們兩個(gè)都盡可能地保持鎮(zhèn)定，并全速前進(jìn)。有時(shí)候安妮游得甚至比杰克還快，然后杰克又追了上去，超過安妮。
極度驚恐使杰克忘記了疲憊，他這么游是在逃命，也是在救安妮的命。
他沒有回頭去看鯊魚是不是還在，他不想知道。他只是用眼睛牢牢盯住前面的樹屋，然后一鼓作氣地游過去。
杰克和安妮游啊游，但是他們游了半天才靠近樹屋一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)。
杰克意識(shí)到礁石比他想像的遠(yuǎn)得多。
他雖然堅(jiān)持在往前游，但卻感到胳膊和雙腿越來越沉。安妮也開始在水中掙扎。
“漂浮!”她說，“讓我們漂浮在水面上!”
杰克和安妮背朝著水面，像他們?cè)谟斡菊n學(xué)的那樣在水中漂浮起來。
“我們只是歇口氣。”杰克想，“一會(huì)兒我們就會(huì)繼續(xù)游的。”
然而杰克在水面上越漂越覺得累，很快就連漂都漂不動(dòng)了，而是開始下沉。
這時(shí)他感到什么東西在水里推他，杰克覺得自己的心都要停跳了，這東西滑溜溜的，還是個(gè)活物，是錘頭鯊追上來了嗎?他閉上眼睛，等待著最壞的結(jié)果。他等 啊，等啊，終于，他張開雙眼。
在他面前是個(gè)發(fā)亮的灰色腦袋—— 一只海豚的頭!
海豚用鼻子推著杰克，并發(fā)出快樂的叫聲。
“太棒了!”安妮叫道。
杰克看過去，只見她緊緊抱著另一只海豚的鰭，任由海豚在水里游著!
杰克也用手抓住他那只海豚的鰭。
兩只海豚平穩(wěn)地在水中游著，帶著杰克和安妮奔向礁石。
