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儿童英语读物 The Clue in the Corn Maze CHAPTER 6 Noises in the Night

时间:2017-11-15 06:00来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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    (单词翻译:双击或拖选)

Swish! Swish!

Benny opened one eye. What was that noise?

He peered at the clock that sat on the bedside table between him and Henry. It read 3:04 A.M.

Swish! Swish! Crack!

It was a warm night, and all the windows were open. Whatever it was, the noise was coming from outside.

“Benny? Are you awake?” Henry whispered.

“Yes,” Benny said nervously1. He turned to Henry. “I hear something outside.”

“I hear it, too,” Henry said. “Let’s go see what it is.”

The boys got up and went over to the window. Something was moving at the far corner of the maze2, but the boys couldn’t tell what it was.

There was a soft knock at the bedroom door.

“It’s Jessie and Violet,” Jessie whispered through the closed door. “We think there’s someone in the maze!”

“We know,” Henry said as Benny opened the door. “The noise woke us up, too.”

Violet flipped3 on the hall light. “I think we should wake Grandfather and Ken4 and see what’s going on.”

“Good thinking,” Henry said. He went to knock on Ken’s door while Jessie knocked on Grandfather’s door.

“Wake up! There’s someone in the maze!” Henry and Jessie said at the same time.

Grandfather and Ken both came out of their rooms. Grandfather wore a blue bathrobe over his pajamas5. Ken wore a white bathrobe and leaned on his cane6.

“What’s going on?” Grandfather asked.

“We don’t know,” Jessie said. “We heard noises outside. When we looked out the window, we saw something moving in the maze.”

“Let’s go check it out,” Ken said.

Everyone padded down the stairs. Ken grabbed a flashlight from the kitchen drawer, then turned on the back porch light. The night air felt warm as the Aldens stepped out onto the porch.

The swishing noise was much louder outside. The Aldens peered into the darkness, waiting for their eyes to adjust. It sounded like … someone was chopping down the cornstalks!

Henry and Grandfather hurried toward the maze.

The noise stopped.

“Hello?” Grandfather called. “Is anyone there?”

“Oh, no!” Henry groaned7 as they drew closer to the maze.

Someone had indeed chopped down part of it.

Just then, a dark figure emerged from the gaping8 hole in the rows of corn. The person was wearing a ski mask and a hood9 and carried something in his hand. He took one look at Henry and Grandfather, then bolted in the opposite direction.

“Hey, stop!” Henry called. He ran after the intruder. Jessie, Violet, and Benny were close behind.

They chased the person around the side of the house toward the road. It was so dark they couldn’t see the person, but they could still hear running footsteps.

In the distance they heard a car or truck start up and drive away.

“We lost him,” Violet said mournfully. The Aldens stopped running. Jessie put her hands on her knees to try to catch her breath.

“Maybe not,” Henry said, his chest heaving. “Listen! I still hear footsteps!”

The others heard the footsteps, too.

“Come on!” Jessie said. They all started running again. They ran in the direction of the footsteps … straight into Mr. Sweeney.

The Aldens came to an abrupt10 halt.

“What are you kids doing up at this hour?” Mr. Sweeney asked gruffly. He wore a dark hooded11 sweatshirt over dark pajamas.

“There was someone in the maze,” Jessie explained.

“Someone was cutting down the cornstalks,” Benny put in.

“We saw him running this way, so we followed him,” Henry said.

Mr. Sweeney nodded. “I followed him, too. Is Ken up?”

“Yes,” Henry replied. “I think he and Grandfather are in the maze.”

They all trooped back around the corner. Grandfather and Ken were inspecting the damage with flashlights. Ken held a piece of paper in his hand.

“What’s that?” Benny asked.

“It’s another note,” Ken said. He handed it to Henry.

“It’s just like the last one,” Jessie said.

Letters from magazine headlines had been cut out and pasted to the paper. The message read: CANCEL THE KING CORN DAYS FESTIVAL OR ELSE!

“Or else what?” Violet whispered.

“I don’t think I want to find out,” Ken said. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Perhaps I should cancel the festival.”

“What?” Jessie cried.

“You can’t do that!” Violet and Benny exclaimed.

Mr. Sweeney took a few steps into the maze, put his hands on his hips12, and looked around.

“I don’t think you’ve got much choice but to cancel,” Mr. Sweeney told Ken. “One whole section of the field is gone. It’s been cut down. I don’t know how we can repair the damage this time.”

Ken shook his head sadly. “I just don’t understand this. Why would somebody want to destroy my maze? Why would somebody want me to cancel the festival?”

“You have absolutely no idea who might be behind this, Ken?” Jessie pressed.

“None at all.”

“Mr. Sweeney, did you get a good look at the intruder?” Henry asked.

“It was too dark,” Mr. Sweeney said.

“We know one thing about him,” Benny said.

“What’s that?” Violet asked.

“He sure can run fast,” Benny said. “I’m exhausted13!”

“You’re exhausted because it’s still the middle of the night,” Grandfather said.

Ken sighed. “There isn’t much we can do right now,” he said. “Maybe we should all try to get some more sleep. In the morning we’ll see how bad the damage is.”

The Aldens agreed, and they all trooped back into the house.

Violet got Benny a glass of water, and Henry and Jessie tucked him in.

“How come we didn’t see Mr. Sweeney out back by the maze?” Benny asked. “We saw the bad person, but we didn’t see Mr. Sweeney.”

“That’s a good question, Benny,” Jessie said. “Mr. Sweeney was chasing the person, too. But he got around the house before we did. It seems like either Mr. Sweeney should have been far enough ahead of us to catch the intruder or we should have seen Mr. Sweeney chasing the intruder, too.”

“It was dark,” Violet said. “It’s so hard to know what really happened.” The other children nodded.

“Maybe we should talk to Mr. Sweeney in the morning,” Henry said.

Benny looked a little nervous. “Do you think the bad person will be back tonight?” he asked.

“I don’t think so, Benny,” Jessie said.

“He’s done enough damage for one night,” Henry added. “Besides, he knows we’re on the case!”

Benny grinned. “And we’ll solve it!”


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 nervously tn6zFp     
adv.神情激动地,不安地
参考例句:
  • He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇,努力忍着不哭出来。
  • He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。
2 maze F76ze     
n.迷宫,八阵图,混乱,迷惑
参考例句:
  • He found his way through the complex maze of corridors.他穿过了迷宮一样的走廊。
  • She was lost in the maze for several hours.一连几小时,她的头脑处于一片糊涂状态。
3 flipped 5bef9da31993fe26a832c7d4b9630147     
轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 ); 按(开关); 快速翻转; 急挥
参考例句:
  • The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转,撞毁了。
  • The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。
4 ken k3WxV     
n.视野,知识领域
参考例句:
  • Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
  • Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.
5 pajamas XmvzDN     
n.睡衣裤
参考例句:
  • At bedtime,I take off my clothes and put on my pajamas.睡觉时,我脱去衣服,换上睡衣。
  • He was wearing striped pajamas.他穿着带条纹的睡衣裤。
6 cane RsNzT     
n.手杖,细长的茎,藤条;v.以杖击,以藤编制的
参考例句:
  • This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
  • English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。
7 groaned 1a076da0ddbd778a674301b2b29dff71     
v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦
参考例句:
  • He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
  • The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 gaping gaping     
adj.口的;张口的;敞口的;多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 );张开,张大
参考例句:
  • Ahead of them was a gaping abyss. 他们前面是一个巨大的深渊。
  • The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 hood ddwzJ     
n.头巾,兜帽,覆盖;v.罩上,以头巾覆盖
参考例句:
  • She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
  • The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。
10 abrupt 2fdyh     
adj.突然的,意外的;唐突的,鲁莽的
参考例句:
  • The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
  • His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。
11 hooded hooded     
adj.戴头巾的;有罩盖的;颈部因肋骨运动而膨胀的
参考例句:
  • A hooded figure waited in the doorway. 一个戴兜帽的人在门口等候。
  • Black-eyed gipsy girls, hooded in showy handkerchiefs, sallied forth to tell fortunes. 黑眼睛的吉卜赛姑娘,用华丽的手巾包着头,突然地闯了进来替人算命。 来自辞典例句
12 hips f8c80f9a170ee6ab52ed1e87054f32d4     
abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯,耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 );[建筑学]屋脊;臀围(尺寸);臀部…的
参考例句:
  • She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
  • They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 exhausted 7taz4r     
adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的
参考例句:
  • It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长,到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
  • Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。
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