Thirty-six

Thirty-six
‘Good-bye, Ladybird!’ gasped¹ James, clinging to the stem of the falling peach. ‘Good-bye, Centipede.
Good-bye, everybody!’ There were only a few seconds to go now and it looked as though they weregoing to fall right in among all the tallest buildings. James could see the skyscrapers² rushing up to meetthem at the most awful speed, and most of them had square flat tops, but the very tallest of them all hada top that tapered³ off into a long sharp point – like an enormous silver needle sticking up into the sky.
And it was precisely⁴ on to the top of this needle that the peach fell!
There was a squelch⁵. The needle went in deep. And suddenly – there was the giant peach, caught andspiked upon the very pinnacle⁶ of the Empire State Building.



三十六
“再见吧，瓢虫！”詹姆斯紧紧抓着桃把，气喘吁吁地说，“再见吧，蜈蚣。再见吧，大家伙儿！”现在，只有几秒钟了。看起来，他们仿佛是直冲着最高的楼房摔下去。詹姆斯望见，摩天大楼正可怕地朝他们迎面扑过来。大多数摩天大楼，都有四方的平顶，但那座最高的，顶端却越来越细，形成了一个又长又细的尖儿，仿佛一根巨大的银针，刺破了天空。然而，仙桃落到上面去的，恰恰是那根银针！
只听得扑哧一声，银针扎进去很深。突然之间，仙桃给帝国大厦的尖顶穿住，停在了那里。

1 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 skyscrapers   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• A lot of skyscrapers in Manhattan are rising up to the skies. 曼哈顿有许多摩天大楼耸入云霄。
• On all sides, skyscrapers rose like jagged teeth. 四周耸起的摩天大楼参差不齐。

3 tapered   

adj. 锥形的，尖削的，楔形的，渐缩的，斜的 动词taper的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The tail tapered to a rounded tip. 尾部越来越细，最后成了个圆尖。
• The organization tapered off in about half a year. 那个组织大约半年内就逐渐消失了。

4 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

5 squelch   

v.压制，镇压；发吧唧声

参考例句：

• The President wants to squelch any perception that the meeting is an attempt to negotiate.总统想要消除任何视本次会议为谈判尝试的看法。
• You cannot squelch wanting.你不能压制要求。

6 pinnacle   

n.尖塔，尖顶，山峰；(喻)顶峰

参考例句：

• Now he is at the very pinnacle of his career.现在他正值事业中的顶峰时期。
• It represents the pinnacle of intellectual capability.它代表了智能的顶峰。