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儿童英语读物 Mystery of the Traveling Tomatoes CHAPTER 5 The Scene of the Crime

时间:2017-12-07 05:37来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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The children pressed the doorbell of the large gray building. Whirrrrrr. Whirrrrrr. The security camera over the door searched left, then right, then down until it found the children. The door buzzer1 sounded, and the children walked in.

A tall smiling lady with twinkling blue eyes and blond curly hair greeted them in the lobby. “Your grandfather told me you might stop by,” she said. “I’m Edie Hope, the owner of the company. I’m on the phone just now. I’ll be back in a minute.”

While they waited, the children looked at a large display called A Half-Century of Service. It showed photos of the different armored cars and uniforms used by the AAA Armored Car Company over the past fifty years. The children recognized the newest cars, which they often saw driving around town. These were silver with green lettering the color of money. The newest uniforms were dark blue with brass2 buttons.

The office door opened. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” said Edie Hope. “Now, how can I help you?”

“We are interested in the robbery,” Henry said.

Ms. Hope’s smile faded. “This was our only robbery in fifty years. I can’t believe the police still have no clues. “

“Where did the thief find an armored car?” asked Jessie. “Did he steal one from you?”

“No, we keep all our cars under lock and key.”

Henry explained the children’s idea. “If you show us the route your armored car usually takes, maybe we can find where the thief hid the fake armored car.”

Ms. Hope led them into her office. A giant street map of Greenfield covered one wall. She pointed3 to the top of the map. “The Greenfield Bank is all the way up here at the north end of Greenfield, and we are all the way down here at the south.” Ms. Hope ran a finger straight down to the bottom. “Noah always drives straight up to the bank and back.”

The children studied the map. A wide line ran across the middle. “It looks like Greenfield is wearing a belt,” said Benny.

“That’s Main Street.” Henry pointed to the left side of the map. “Here, on the west, is the railroad station. The circus parade began here. “Then,” he ran his finger to the right along Main Street, “the March of the Elephants led the parade east, all the way across town, to the park over here. Main Street was closed for an hour. No traffic was allowed to cross.”

“Which means the robber was up here when the parade began—on the same side as the bank. He hid his armored car above Main Street until he was ready to rob the bank,” said Jessie.

The children thanked Ms. Hope and headed out. “We’ll start at the bank,” said Henry, “and bike along Noah’s route looking for a place big enough to hide an armored car.”

“An invisible armored car,” said Benny, who secretly wondered if they could find such a thing.

Next, the children went to the Greenfield Bank. Arlo Jeffries, the manager, knew the Aldens, who visited the bank every month to put part of their allowances into their savings4 accounts.

“We’ve come to ask about the robbery,” said Henry. “What do you remember about that day?”

Mr. Jeffries sighed. “It was exactly like every other pick-up day. The armored car driver walked into the bank. We thought it was Noah. He was dressed in Noah’s blue uniform. He had sunglasses. He had Noah’s big moustache and long sideburns. Then Noah—I mean, the thief—walked to the teller5’s window, opened his duffle bag, loaded up the bags of cash, and left. Just like always. Except it wasn’t Noah.” He shook his head.

“Can you remember anything different that day?” asked Violet. “Even the smallest thing might be a clue.”

Mr. Jeffries closed his eyes, thinking hard. “The circus, of course,” he said. “The bank was nearly empty because our customers were watching the parade. Even my employees went there on their lunch break. The only ones here were the bank guard, the teller, and, of course, me.”

Clink, clank, clank, clink! The children whirled around at the sound of clanking coins. The man with the metal detector6 had plunked down a green bag full of coins. “I want to trade these coins for paper money,” the man told the teller. “Paper money is lighter7 to cart around.” He spilled the coins onto the counter. A few fell to the floor and rolled away. The children helped pick them up. The man barely looked at the children as they returned the coins to the pile.

When Benny saw the coins, he remembered that the bank had a vending8 machine near the door. “Can we get candy?” he asked.

“We just ate breakfast,” said Jessie.

“That was hours ago,” Benny said.

“It was one hour,” said Violet.

Mr. Jeffries snapped his fingers. “That reminds me! I must call the vending company right now. We’ve run out of Chili-Billy Bars.” He bent9 down, whispering, “One of our customers gets angry if we run out. Though why someone wants to eat candy made with hot peppers is beyond me. I tried one once.” He made a face and fanned his tongue with his hand. “Hot!” he said. “Hot and awful. Awful.”

The children biked south, from the bank toward Main Street, looking for a place where someone could hide a big silver truck. They passed shops and parks, small houses without garages, a school, and a department store. A block from The Applewood Café, they passed a row of offices. A big red, white, and blue sign said: “Sales by Sally Realty.”

“Look,” said Henry, “that’s the sign in the photo at the café. This is the lady who sold the café to the Sheas.”

“There sure are a lot of places for sale,” Jessie noticed. There were photos of houses, apartments, and shops taped up all over the big picture window of the office.

Benny pointed to a faded photo of Duffy’s Garage. “Look, that’s where we got those old tires,” he said.

Below the photo were the words “GARAGE FOR SALE, MAKE AN OFFER.” The children looked closely at the photo. Big sheets of metal covered the windows. Weeds grew in the gravel10 lot in back. A pile of old tires leaned against the back wall.

“I’ll bet Sally knows every building in Greenfield,” said Jessie. “She might know where someone could hide a van. We should talk to her. But look—she’s not here right now.” A sign on Sally’s door said “Back at 1:00.”

Henry checked his watch. “That’s three hours from now. Let’s finish riding toward Main Street. We’ll come back here after lunch.”

The children followed the armored car route but, as hard as they tried, they couldn’t find one single place where someone could hide a big armored car.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 buzzer 2x7zGi     
n.蜂鸣器;汽笛
参考例句:
  • The buzzer went off at eight o'clock.蜂鸣器在8点钟时响了。
  • Press the buzzer when you want to talk.你想讲话的时候就按蜂鸣器。
2 brass DWbzI     
n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器
参考例句:
  • Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
  • Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
3 pointed Il8zB4     
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。
4 savings ZjbzGu     
n.存款,储蓄
参考例句:
  • I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假,那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
  • By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时,他的存款已全部用完。
5 teller yggzeP     
n.银行出纳员;(选举)计票员
参考例句:
  • The bank started her as a teller.银行起用她当出纳员。
  • The teller tried to remain aloof and calm.出纳员力图保持冷漠和镇静。
6 detector svnxk     
n.发觉者,探测器
参考例句:
  • The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
  • Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。
7 lighter 5pPzPR     
n.打火机,点火器;驳船;v.用驳船运送;light的比较级
参考例句:
  • The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色,色调明朗了一些。
  • The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。
8 vending 9e89cb67a07fe419b19a6bd5ee5210cc     
v.出售(尤指土地等财产)( vend的现在分词 );(尤指在公共场所)贩卖;发表(意见,言论);声明
参考例句:
  • Why Are You Banging on the Vending Machine? 你为什么敲打这台自动售货机? 来自朗文快捷英语教程 2
  • Coca-Cola had to adapt almost 300,000 vending machines to accept the new coins. 可口可乐公司必须使将近三十万台自动贩卖机接受新货币。 来自超越目标英语 第5册
9 bent QQ8yD     
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的
参考例句:
  • He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
  • We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。
10 gravel s6hyT     
n.砂跞;砂砾层;结石
参考例句:
  • We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
  • More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。
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