“Second to the right, and straight on till morning.”

That, Peter had told Wendy, was the way to the Neverland; but even birds, carrying maps and consulting them at windy corners, could not have sighted it with these instructions. Peter, you see, just said anything that came into his head.

At first his companions trusted him implicitly¹, and so great were the delights of flying that they wasted time circling round church spires² or any other tall objects on the way that took their fancy.

John and Michael raced, Michael getting a start.

They recalled with contempt that not so long ago they had thought themselves fine fellows for being able to fly round a room.

Not long ago. But how long ago? They were flying over the sea before this thought began to disturb Wendy seriously. John thought it was their second sea and their third night.

Sometimes it was dark and sometimes light, and now they were very cold and again too warm. Did they really feel hungry at times, or were they merely pretending, because Peter had such a jolly new way of feeding them? His way was to pursue birds who had food in their mouths suitable for humans and snatch it from them; then the birds would follow and snatch it back; and they would all go chasing each other gaily³ for miles, parting at last with mutual⁴ expressions of good-will. But Wendy noticed with gentle concern that Peter did not seem to know that this was rather an odd way of getting your bread and butter, nor even that there are other ways.

Certainly they did not pretend to be sleepy, they were sleepy; and that was a danger, for the moment they popped off, down they fell. The awful thing was that Peter thought this funny.

“There he goes again!” he would cry gleefully, as Michael suddenly dropped like a stone.

“Save him, save him!” cried Wendy, looking with horror at the cruel sea far below. Eventually Peter would dive through the air, and catch Michael just before he could strike the sea, and it was lovely the way he did it; but he always waited till the last moment, and you felt it was his cleverness that interested him and not the saving of human life. Also he was fond of variety, and the sport that engrossed⁵ him one moment would suddenly cease to engage him, so there was always the possibility that the next time you fell he would let you go.

点击收听单词发音  

1 implicitly
adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地
参考例句：
Many verbs and many words of other kinds are implicitly causal. 许多动词和许多其他类词都蕴涵着因果关系。 I can trust Mr. Somerville implicitly, I suppose? 我想，我可以毫无保留地信任萨莫维尔先生吧？

2 spires
n.（教堂的） 塔尖，尖顶( spire的名词复数 )
参考例句：
Her masts leveled with the spires of churches. 船的桅杆和教堂的塔尖一样高。 来自《简明英汉词典》 White church spires lift above green valleys. 教堂的白色尖顶耸立在绿色山谷中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 gaily
adv.欢乐地，高兴地
参考例句：
The children sing gaily.孩子们欢唱着。 She waved goodbye very gaily.她欢快地挥手告别。

4 mutual
adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的
参考例句：
We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。 Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

5 engrossed
adj.全神贯注的
参考例句：
The student is engrossed in his book.这名学生正在专心致志地看书。 No one had ever been quite so engrossed in an evening paper.没人会对一份晚报如此全神贯注。

6 neatly
adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地
参考例句：
Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。 The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

7 mermaid
n.美人鱼
参考例句：
How popular would that girl be with the only mermaid mom!和人鱼妈妈在一起，那个女孩会有多受欢迎！ The little mermaid wasn't happy because she didn't want to wait.小美人鱼不太高兴，因为她等不及了。

8 agitatedly
动摇，兴奋； 勃然
参考例句：
"Where's she waiting for me?" he asked agitatedly. 他慌忙问道：“在哪里等我？” 来自子夜部分 His agitatedly ground goes accusatorial accountant. 他勃然大怒地去责问会计。

9 amends
n. 赔偿
参考例句：
He made amends for his rudeness by giving her some flowers. 他送给她一些花，为他自己的鲁莽赔罪。 This country refuses stubbornly to make amends for its past war crimes. 该国顽固地拒绝为其过去的战争罪行赔罪。

10 tiffs
n.争吵( tiff的名词复数 )；（酒的）一口；小饮
参考例句：
They had found the early tiffs become more frequent. 他们发现早期的小争执愈来愈频繁。 来自辞典例句 The money will be paid in full by the last day of tiffs month. 截止到本月最后一天要将钱全部付清。 来自互联网

11 lagoon
n.泻湖，咸水湖
参考例句：
The lagoon was pullulated with tropical fish.那个咸水湖聚满了热带鱼。 This area isolates a restricted lagoon environment.将这一地区隔离起来使形成一个封闭的泻湖环境。

12 flamingo
n.红鹳，火烈鸟
参考例句：
This is the only species of flamingo in the region,easily recognized by its pink plumage.这是那个地区唯一一种火烈鸟，很容易凭粉红色的羽毛辨认出来。 In my family,I am flamingo in the flock of pigeons.在家里，我就像一只被困在鸽笼里的火烈鸟。

13 prey
n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨
参考例句：
Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。 The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

14 huddled
挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）
参考例句：
We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。 We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

15 tingle
vi.感到刺痛，感到激动；n.刺痛，激动
参考例句：
The music made my blood tingle.那音乐使我热血沸腾。 The cold caused a tingle in my fingers.严寒使我的手指有刺痛感。

16 horrid
adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的
参考例句：
I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。 The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

17 shuddering
v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动
参考例句：
'I am afraid of it,'she answered, shuddering. “我害怕，”她发着抖，说。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记 She drew a deep shuddering breath. 她不由得打了个寒噤，深深吸了口气。 来自飘（部分）

18 poised
a.摆好姿势不动的
参考例句：
The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。 Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。

19 appalling
adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的
参考例句：
The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。 Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。

20 casually
adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地
参考例句：
She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。 I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。

21 gratitude
adj.感激，感谢
参考例句：
I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。 She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

22 spoke
n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说
参考例句：
They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。 The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

23 decided
adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的
参考例句：
This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。 There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

24 gulps
n.一大口（尤指液体）( gulp的名词复数 )v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的第三人称单数 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住
参考例句：
He often gulps down a sob. 他经常忍气吞声地生活。 来自辞典例句 JERRY: Why don't you make a point with your own doctor? (George gulps) What's wrong? 杰瑞：你为啥不对你自个儿的医生表明立场？有啥问题吗？ 来自互联网

25 eerie
adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的
参考例句：
It's eerie to walk through a dark wood at night.夜晚在漆黑的森林中行走很是恐怖。 I walked down the eerie dark path.我走在那条漆黑恐怖的小路上。

26 pointed
adj.尖的，直截了当的
参考例句：
He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。 She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

27 simultaneously
adv.同时发生地，同时进行地
参考例句：
The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。 The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

28 growled
v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说
参考例句：
\"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》 He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

29 mischief
n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹
参考例句：
Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。 He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

30 Ford
n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过
参考例句：
They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。 If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

31 savagely
adv. 野蛮地，残酷地
参考例句：
The roses had been pruned back savagely. 玫瑰被狠狠地修剪了一番。 He snarled savagely at her. 他向她狂吼起来。

32 upwards
adv.向上，在更高处...以上
参考例句：
The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。 The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

33 lure
n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引
参考例句：
Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。 He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

34 jealousy
n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌
参考例句：
Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。 I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。

35 tinkle
vi.叮当作响；n.叮当声
参考例句：
The wine glass dropped to the floor with a tinkle.酒杯丁零一声掉在地上。 Give me a tinkle and let me know what time the show starts.给我打个电话，告诉我演出什么时候开始。

36 hatred
n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨
参考例句：
He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。 The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

37 doom
n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定
参考例句：
The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.这份关于我们经济状况的报告充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。 The dictator met his doom after ten years of rule.独裁者统治了十年终于完蛋了。