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Jack1 and Annie ran along the riverbank. The windwhooshed over the cold water. Wet snowflakes hissedin the dark.
But then Jack heard other sounds. He heard voices,lots of voices.
He and Annie soon came upon hundreds andhundreds of soldiers gathered near the dark river.
Many carried oil lanterns. The lanterns gave aneerie glow to the snowy twilight2.
"The captain and his men must be heresomewhere," said Jack, looking around.
Boats like giant canoes were tied near the river.
Men were leading horses and loading cannons3 ontothe boats.
"What are they all doing?" said Annie. Jack pulledout their Revolutionary Warbook. He read in a whisper:
On Wednesday, December 25, 1776-"December 25? That's Christmas!" said Annie.
"Today's Christmas!""Cool," said Jack. He started reading again:
On Wednesday, December 25, 1776, the patriotswere losing the war. Ragged6 and weary, many wereready to give up. Then something began to happenthat would turn the war around. About 2,400American patriots5 gathered on the west bank of theDelaware River in Pennsylvania. They prepared tocross the river to go on a secret mission.
"A secret mission? Oh, man...," said Jack. He startedto pull out his notebook.
"Attention, troops! The commander-in-chief." asoldier shouted.
Jack and Annie saw a man in a dark cape7 and athree-cornered hat ride up on a white horse.
The commander-in-chief loomed8 above the crowdof soldiers. His cape flapped in the wind.
He sat calmly and with dignity on the back of hishorse.
Even at a distance, Jack thought the commander-inchieflooked familiar, very familiar. But he couldn'tfigure out why.
"A dangerous mission lies before you all," the manshouted above the wind. "But I want you to havecourage. You must remember the words of ThomasPaine."The commander-in-chief held up a piece of paper.
He read to his men:
"'These are the times that try men's souls. Thesummer soldier and the sunshine patriot4 will, in thiscrisis, shrink from the service of their country. But hethat stands it now deserves the love and thanks ofman and woman....
"Wow, that's great," whispered Annie.
Listening to the powerful words, Jack felt his spiritsrise, too.
"'The harder the conflict, the more glorious thetriumph,"' the commander-in-chief read on. "'Whatwe obtain too cheap, we esteem9 too lightly. It isdearness only that gives everything its value."'
There was a silence, as if everyone were thinkingabout the words the man had read. Then the soldiersstarted cheering and clap-ping. They didn't seem tiredat all anymore.
Now they seemed eager to set out on their mission.
8The commander-in-chief saluted10 his men. Hesteered his horse toward the flyer.
As the horse moved past them, Jack got a betterlook at the rider.
He gasped11.
Of course! he thought. He'd seen that face before-ondollar bills!
Jack grabbed Annie's arm.
"I know who the commander-in-chief is!" heexclaimed. "He's George Washington!"
1 jack | |
n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克 | |
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2 twilight | |
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
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3 cannons | |
n.加农炮,大炮,火炮( cannon的名词复数 ) | |
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4 patriot | |
n.爱国者,爱国主义者 | |
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5 patriots | |
爱国者,爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 ) | |
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6 ragged | |
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的 | |
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7 cape | |
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风 | |
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8 loomed | |
v.隐约出现,阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 );隐约出现,阴森地逼近 | |
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9 esteem | |
n.尊敬,尊重;vt.尊重,敬重;把…看作 | |
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10 saluted | |
v.欢迎,致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 );赞扬,赞颂 | |
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11 gasped | |
v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要 | |
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