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儿童英语读物 The Spy in the Bleachers CHAPTER 4 In the Owner’s Office

时间:2017-12-14 05:03来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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When the game was over, the children walked back to Mr. Tanaka’s office.

Grandfather was there with Jim Tanaka, who looked very unhappy.

“Mr. Tanaka,” said Henry. “The Cogs lost the last two games because somebody is stealing the catcher’s signs.”

“And that somebody is signaling the signs to Cody Howard,” added Jessie. “That’s why he hit five home runs and a triple1 in just two games. Because he knows. “

Mr. Tanaka rubbed his chin. “Well,” he said slowly, “Cody Howard is a very good hitter. And he wants to win the batting title. Maybe that’s why he hit all these home runs.”

“It’s true that Cody is a very good hitter,” said Henry. “But he hit each of those home runs as if he knew exactly what pitch was coming.”

Mr. Tanaka turned to Grandfather. “Your grandchildren are very, uh, unusual,” he said.

“My grandchildren are very smart,” said Grandfather. “They think things through. If they say somebody is stealing signs, they are most likely right.”

“Hmmmm,” said Mr. Tanaka, rubbing2 his chin again. “This is a very serious charge. Stealing signs is a very dirty trick.”

Violet3 nodded. “It’s not fair,” she said.

“Hmmmm,” Mr. Tanaka muttered4 again. He was about to reply, when the door opened with a bang5.

Sam Jackson, the Cogs manager, burst into the office. “Somebody is stealing our signs!” he shouted. “That’s why we lost these two games.”

Before Mr. Tanaka could say anything, Wheelie came in just behind Sam. He was struggling to take off the top half of his costume. Sam Jackson turned around and helped him. “I told you this is none of your business,” the manager said to the mascot6.

“It is my business,” replied Winn. “If somebody is stealing signs, I want to know who it is.”

“Your job is to turn cartwheels,” said Sam Jackson. “You stay out of this.”

Mr. Tanaka raised a hand. “Quiet!” he said firmly.

The manager and the mascot stopped arguing.

“Sam,” said Mr. Tanaka, “please continue with what you were saying.”

“I tell you, somebody is stealing our signs! If we don’t find out who it is and stop them, we’re not going to win any of these five games. And you know we need to win two games to win the pennant7.” The manager looked at the Aldens. “What are these kids doing here?”

Mr. Tanaka introduced the children and Grandfather to Sam Jackson. “Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny have already told me about the sign stealing,” he announced.

“What?” said Sam Jackson.

“Impossible!” said Winn.

“Not at all impossible,” Grandfather replied. “My grandchildren have solved mysteries before.”

Jessie explained why they thought someone was stealing the Cogs’ signs and giving them to Cody Howard. Sam and Mr. Tanaka nodded their heads as Jessie talked.

But Winn shook his head. “There are ten thousand people out there,” he said. “Even if there is a spy, how are you going to know who it is?”

Henry spoke8. “We think there are only four suspects,” he said.

“Four?” Winn held up four fingers and then pretended to faint.

Henry didn’t like the way Winn was making fun of them. “We hope we can figure out which one is the spy during tomorrow’s game,” he told Mr. Tanaka.

“Who are these four suspects?” Sam Jackson demanded. “If what you say is true, let’s keep all four of them out of the ballpark!”

“No, Sam, that’s not right,” replied Mr. Tanaka. “We would be keeping three innocent9 people away from the game.”

“I don’t care!” shouted the manager.

Mr. Tanaka looked at the Aldens. “Please,” he said, “tell us who your four suspects are.”

“Three of them sit in the bleachers,” said Benny, “and one sits right next to the Cogs dugout.”

“What?!” said Mr. Tanaka, very upset. “No, that can’t be.”

Everybody waited for Mr. Tanaka to say something more, but he just stared at the top of his desk.

“The person who sits next to the Cogs dugout can’t see the catcher’s signs,” Jessie said. “But he can hear what you’re saying in the dugout,” she told the manager. “And he’s always writing in a small notebook.”

“And he speaks into a headphone,” added Henry. “He might be talking to somebody who’s somewhere else in the ballpark.”

“Kick him out!” Sam Jackson shouted to Mr. Tanaka, who just shook his head.

“The three people in the bleachers can all see the catcher’s signs,” Henry explained. “And they all make motions10 that might be signals.”

Sam Jackson lifted his baseball cap and rubbed his head again. “Tell me about these three. Who are they? What kind of motions do they make?”

Jessie told him about Emma Larke, one of the suspects. “Yesterday she wore a visor and stood up and waved it when Cody Howard came to bat. Today she wore a straw hat and did the same thing.”

Violet told him about Carlos Garcia. “He’s easy to see because his baseball cap has an antenna11 wire with a tall pennant at the top. Whenever Cody comes to bat, Carlos bangs12 the lid of his hot dog box.”

“The third suspect is Wheelie the mascot,” said Henry. “He sits in the best position to steal the signs. And every time Cody comes to bat, Wheelie holds his nose.”

Sam Jackson looked at the children, then looked at Winn. “Wheelie?” he asked. “You can’t be serious!”

Winn pretended to sob13 and wipe tears from his eyes.

“Cut it out, Winn.” The manager was annoyed. “You kids are very observant. Based on what you’ve told me, it’s obvious who the spy is—Emma Larke.”

“Who is she?” asked Mr. Tanaka. “And why is it obvious?”

“Ah, she was dating Reese Dawkins,” Sam Jackson answered. “But he broke up with her, and now she hates him and the Cogs. Emma wants to make Reese look bad,” he argued. “What better way than to steal his signs and give them to Cody Howard? She doesn’t want Reese to win the batting championship.”

“We didn’t know that Emma used to date Reese,” said Jessie. “That gives her a motive14.”

“But it doesn’t prove that she’s the spy,” said Violet softly15.

“She might be the spy,” said Winn, who was now serious. “But you have to consider Carlos, too.”

“I like Carlos,” said Mr. Tanaka. “He’s a good worker and a cheerful person. Why in the world would he steal our signs?”

“I know why,” said Winn.

“I know why, too.” Sam Jackson said. “Carlos is a good ball player. He tried out for the team this past spring. Carlos wanted to be catcher. He was good … but just not good enough. We signed Reese Dawkins instead.”

“I think it’s Carlos,” said Winn. “He wants to make Reese look bad so that the Cogs will accept him at the next tryout.”

Benny spoke up. “Why does Carlos give you envelopes during the game?” he asked Winn.

“Envelopes?” asked Mr. Tanaka. “What envelopes?”

“The kid is crazy,” said Winn. “Carlos doesn’t give me any envelopes.”

Jessie, Violet, and Henry all shook their heads. “Yes, he does,” said Jessie. “We’ve all seen Carlos bring you hot dogs and soft drinks. And sometimes he pulls an envelope out of his pocket and hands it to you.”

Mr. Tanaka looked at Winn. “What is this about?” he demanded. “You aren’t taking money from the fans, are you? I pay you well, and you must never take money from the fans. Everything that Wheelie does must be free to the fans.”

Winn nodded his head. “I can explain,” he said. “I forgot about the envelopes. There’s nothing in them but notes. They’re notes from the fans.”

“What kind of notes?” asked Mr. Tanaka.

“The fans write down ideas on what kind of stunts16 I should do,” answered Wheelie. “Some of them want me to skip rope, for example. I can’t do that, I’d trip and break my neck.”

“Hmmm,” said Mr. Tanaka, rubbing his chin. “It does not seem like a good idea.”

Henry and Benny looked at each other. They knew that Wheelie asked for money when Henry had asked for an autograph.

“Should we say something?” Benny whispered to Henry.

Henry shook his head. Wheelie liked to joke a lot. Maybe Wheelie had been joking with him about the autograph. For all Henry knew, maybe Wheelie was telling the truth about the envelopes.

Mr. Tanaka looked at everybody in the room. “We all agree that somebody is stealing signs.”

Everybody nodded.

“And we agree that we have no proof17 of who it is.” Mr. Tanaka went on.

Everybody agreed.

“If the spy isn’t discovered and stopped, the Cogs will not win the pennant this year.”


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 triple Dp0yu     
n.三倍之数,三个一组;adj.三倍的
参考例句:
  • Twelve is the triple of four.十二是四的三倍数。
  • He received triple wages for all his extra work.由于额外的工作他领取了三倍的工资。
2 rubbing c0ea05d88d62174bf5e65000367d38b5     
n. 摩擦, 研磨, 按磨
参考例句:
  • This insect makes its strange noise by rubbing its back legs together. 这只昆虫摩擦它的两条后腿发出一种奇怪的声音。
  • Jerry was already unhappy because he fumbled the ball,but his teammates kept rubbing it in. 本来杰瑞就很不高兴,因为他失了球,而他的队友们还一再提那件事。
3 violet 8h3wm     
adj.紫色的;n.紫罗兰
参考例句:
  • She likes to wear violet dresses.他喜欢穿紫色的衣服。
  • Violet is the color of wisdom,peace and strength.紫色是智慧的,和平的和力量的颜色。
4 muttered 2764630c23cae6a012e2a09fc41abbd2     
轻声低语,咕哝地抱怨( mutter的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He muttered a curse at the other driver. 他低声咒骂另一位开车的人。
  • She turned away and muttered something unintelligible. 她转向一旁,嘴里不知咕哝些什么。
5 bang dPmyH     
n.巨响,猛击;vi.砰砰作响;vt.砰地敲,猛击
参考例句:
  • Pack it up, you kids;or I'll bang your heads together!住手,你们这些小孩,再弄就揍你们!
  • She fell and got a nasty bang on the knee.她摔倒了,膝盖猛撞在地上。
6 mascot E7xzm     
n.福神,吉祥的东西
参考例句:
  • The football team's mascot is a goat.足球队的吉祥物是山羊。
  • We had a panda as our mascot.我们把熊猫作为吉详物。
7 pennant viuym     
n.三角旗;锦标旗
参考例句:
  • The second car was flying the Ghanaian pennant.第二辆车插着加纳的三角旗。
  • The revitalized team came from the cellar to win the pennant.该队重整旗鼓,从最后一名一跃而赢得冠军奖旗。
8 spoke XryyC     
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。
9 innocent J68xs     
adj.无罪的,清白的;无害的;天真的,单纯的
参考例句:
  • I'm not quite so innocent as to believe that.我还不至于简单到相信那种事的地步。
  • I was very young,and very innocent.我那时非常年轻,幼稚无知。
10 motions c29fc5bebabf31554ee0ff5239a7c2c7     
n.(物体的)运动( motion的名词复数 );提议;通便
参考例句:
  • She just went through the motions of being a poetess. 她只不过装成一个女诗人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He always accompanied his speech with motions. 他讲演时总是伴以手势。 来自《简明英汉词典》
11 antenna QwTzN     
n.触角,触须;天线
参考例句:
  • The workman fixed the antenna to the roof of the house.工人把天线固定在房顶上。
  • In our village, there is an antenna on every roof for receiving TV signals.在我们村里,每家房顶上都有天线接收电视信号。
12 bangs 0264e1527230cd1780b58623850ff685     
n.(发型)留海;猛击( bang的名词复数 );猛撞;巨响;爆炸声
参考例句:
  • She bangs open the door and, without ceremony, burst in. 她也不先敲门,砰地一声推开门就冲了进去。 来自辞典例句
  • The boy bangs the lid down. 那个男孩将盖子砰然关上。 来自辞典例句
13 sob HwMwx     
n.空间轨道的轰炸机;呜咽,哭泣
参考例句:
  • The child started to sob when he couldn't find his mother.孩子因找不到他妈妈哭了起来。
  • The girl didn't answer,but continued to sob with her head on the table.那个女孩不回答,也不抬起头来。她只顾低声哭着。
14 motive GFzxz     
n.动机,目的;adv.发动的,运动的
参考例句:
  • The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
  • He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。
15 softly HiIzR4     
adv.柔和地,静静地,温柔地
参考例句:
  • He speaks too softly for her to hear.他讲话声音太轻,她听不见。
  • She breathed her advice softly.她低声劝告。
16 stunts d1bd0eff65f6d207751b4213c4fdd8d1     
n.惊人的表演( stunt的名词复数 );(广告中)引人注目的花招;愚蠢行为;危险举动v.阻碍…发育[生长],抑制,妨碍( stunt的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • He did all his own stunts. 所有特技都是他自己演的。
  • The plane did a few stunts before landing. 飞机着陆前做了一些特技。 来自《简明英汉词典》
17 proof OSUzB     
adj.防...的,耐...的,能防护;n.校样,证据,证明;vt.检验,给...做防护措施
参考例句:
  • He is living proof of the wonders of modern medicine.他是当代医学奇迹的活证明。
  • The proof was fished up from some old papers.校样在旧文件中被找到了。
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