儿童英语读物 The Secret of the Mask CHAPTER 4 Popcorn Whiskers

“It’s all my fault.” A sorrowful Mrs. McGregor sat on the sofa. “I let Watch out in the yard for a bit of exercise while I relaxed inside. I did hear him barking. But he’d been barking all day, what with so many strangers coming and going. And, well, I just thought he was barking at some old squirrel. I mean, any other time I would have gone out and checked. But,” she looked sadder than ever, “I was watching “What a WackyWorld.” It was, the children knew, her favorite TV show. “And tonight was the final contest to see who would be voted the wackiest. By the time I went to check on Watch, he’d gotten out.”

“He can’t get out of the yard by himself,” said Henry.

Mrs. McGregor shrugged¹. “All I know is, I found Watch in the alley². He was chewing on a box and looking very pleased with himself.”

“Was there a mask in the box?” asked Benny.

“Mask? No, nothing like that. Just bits of chewed cardboard. And popcorn³. Oh, Watch was having a regular picnic. I had to drag him back into the yard and brush popcorn crumbs⁴ from his whiskers.”

“Maybe he ate the mask, too,” said Benny. The children looked at Watch. Watch looked at the children, tilting⁵ his head to one side. Benny knew that even Watch couldn’t eat a wooden mask.

“Was the garage door open?” asked Jessie.

“I didn’t notice,” Mrs. McGregor said. “I was so upset about Watch getting out of the yard that all I thought about was getting him home and cleaning him up.”

Jessie patted Mrs. McGregor’s shoulder. “It’s all right,” she said. “We’re all to blame. We were so excited about going to miniature golf that we forgot to lock the garage.”

“Do you think,” Violet said softly, “we should call the police?”

Mrs. McGregor scrunched⁶ her brow, thinking. “Perhaps,” she said, “you should call your grandfather’s friend Tom Morgan. He’s a retired⁷ policeman with a good head and a good heart. He’ll know what to do.”

Officer Morgan didn’t give the children much hope. “It sounds like there’s not much we can do,” he said. Henry put the call on speaker phone so all the children could listen at once. “The garage door was left open, so anyone could have walked in. And you left a can of money on a tree stump⁸, anyone could have walked off with that as well.”

“Can’t you find my mask?” asked Benny

Officer Morgan was quiet a moment. “I don’t expect we’ll find many clues,” he said. “But I’ll send a policeman over to take a look around and file a report. I’d come myself except I’m helping⁹ friends over at Pleasant Valley Park. But I promise I’ll stop by tomorrow.”

Henry hung up the phone. “I’m not sure Officer Morgan is right,” he said. “We do have one clue. Whoever broke into the garage left the tackle box full of money behind.”

“Why would they do that?” asked Benny.

“Maybe they didn’t come looking for money. Maybe they came looking for the mask.”

Jessie looked puzzled. “If you’re right, and they didn’t come to steal money, why did they take the Crispy Crackers¹⁰ can with the homeless shelter donations?”

They all fell silent, thinking. But none of them could think of an answer. Finally, Henry said, “We need to go back where this all began. We need to go back to 332 Locust¹¹ and look for more clues.”

“That house will be empty,” said Violet, who still thought the old house looked creepy. “The man with the moving truck said the people were moving to Minnesota.”

Henry nodded. “Let’s just bike over and take a look around. At least we’ll be doing something.”

Jessie tried to cheer them up by setting out a plate of leftover¹² cookies. Henry poured everyone a glass of milk. The snack did help them feel a little better.

Still, after they went to bed, it was a long time before anyone fell asleep.
 

1 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

3 popcorn   

n.爆米花

参考例句：

• I like to eat popcorn when I am watching TV play at home.当我在家观看电视剧时，喜欢吃爆米花。
• He still stood behind his cash register stuffing his mouth with popcorn.他仍站在收银机后，嘴里塞满了爆米花。

4 crumbs   

int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式

参考例句：

• She stood up and brushed the crumbs from her sweater. 她站起身掸掉了毛衣上的面包屑。
• Oh crumbs! Is that the time? 啊，天哪！都这会儿啦？

5 tilting   

倾斜，倾卸

参考例句：

• For some reason he thinks everyone is out to get him, but he's really just tilting at windmills. 不知为什么他觉得每个人都想害他，但其实他不过是在庸人自扰。
• So let us stop bickering within our ranks.Stop tilting at windmills. 所以，让我们结束内部间的争吵吧！再也不要去做同风车作战的蠢事了。

6 scrunched   

v.发出喀嚓声( scrunch的过去式和过去分词 )；蜷缩；压；挤压

参考例句：

• The snow scrunched underfoot. 雪在脚下发出嘎吱嘎吱的声音。
• He scrunched up the piece of paper and threw it at me. 他把那张纸揉成一个小团，朝我扔过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

8 stump   

n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走

参考例句：

• He went on the stump in his home state.他到故乡所在的州去发表演说。
• He used the stump as a table.他把树桩用作桌子。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 crackers   

adj.精神错乱的，癫狂的n.爆竹( cracker的名词复数 )；薄脆饼干；（认为）十分愉快的事；迷人的姑娘

参考例句：

• That noise is driving me crackers. 那噪声闹得我简直要疯了。
• We served some crackers and cheese as an appetiser. 我们上了些饼干和奶酪作为开胃品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 locust   

n.蝗虫；洋槐，刺槐

参考例句：

• A locust is a kind of destructive insect.蝗虫是一种害虫。
• This illustration shows a vertical section through the locust.本图所示为蝗虫的纵剖面。

12 leftover   

n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的

参考例句：

• These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
• Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。