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儿童英语读物 Bus Station Mystery CHAPTER 11 Back to the Station

时间:2017-07-03 05:50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)

It was a beautiful summer night. When the meeting was over many people stopped to talk before starting their cars. There was a light wind, fresh and clean.

One man said, “This is the way it should always be. There should be clean air everywhere. I’m glad we had the meeting tonight.”

An older man said, “It was time something was done. I don’t know how the people living near the river have been able to stay there.”

“My kids don’t want to play outside,” replied another man. “But we never dared to say anything to that Mr. Pickett. He’s too powerful.”

“Well that Mr. Alden isn’t afraid,” a woman said. “He got things straightened out in a hurry. But it was really Mr. Alden’s grandchildren that gave Frank1 Timmons courage to face Mr. Pickett. I have a feeling that with Mr. Alden to help, it won’t take much time to get the air fit to breathe.”

The four grandchildren heard this with a smile as they watched the people drive away.

“I guess the public is with us,” said Jessie. “What a surprise it was to learn that Jud and Troy were Mr. Pickett’s sons!”

Frank said, “I guess I thought you knew.”

Henry asked, “Did you call them troublemakers3 yesterday because they were Mr. Pickett’s boys?”

Frank smiled. “Yes,” he said. “Well, at first I thought that Mr. Pickett’s own sons would of course be on his side. When I got to know Jud and Troy a little better, I liked them because they were interested in plants and animals. I knew they wanted their father to do something about his factory. But I didn’t agree with what they were doing.”

“Picketing their own father wasn’t such a smart idea,” Henry admitted.

“There was something else, too,” Frank said. “I was having a lot of trouble with Mr. Pickett. He thought I was the troublemaker2. He wanted to make me move away. It didn’t help to have the boys around the station. It was bad, no matter how I looked at it.”

“But now everything will be different, won’t it?” asked Violet5.

Benny looked around. The Aldens and Frank were the only people left standing6 in the moonlight in front of the town hall.

“Well,” Mr. Alden said, “I think we must be leaving. Perhaps you can come along when my men come to talk with Mr. Pickett. A good chemist can be a real help.”

“I’ll be glad to,” Frank said. “I’ve enjoyed meeting all of you.”

“I guess this is good-bye then,” Jessie said soberly7.

“We’re always saying good-bye to bus stations and islands and boxcars and things like that,” Benny said with a laugh.

But the Aldens hadn’t counted on what Frank would say next.

“Good-bye?” he said in a surprised voice. “I won’t hear of it.”

The Aldens looked at Frank. What was he thinking of now? They did not have to wait long to find out.

“Good-bye for tonight, maybe,” Frank continued. “But I’d like you all to be my guests for a bus station dinner next Wednesday night. What do you say?”

“A bus station dinner!” Benny exclaimed8. “Count me in! I never miss a dinner.”

Everyone laughed so loud at what Benny said that Grandfather stepped over to see what all the noise was about.

“Guess what, Grandfather,” Jessie said. “Frank has just invited us for a home-cooked dinner, served right at the bus station. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

“It certainly does,” Mr. Alden replied with a twinkle9 in his eye. “I almost forgot you were a cook, Frank. I always think of you as a clean-water man.”

Frank laughed. “I have to be a cook to run a lunch counter at a bus station.”

“Right,” Mr. Alden said.

“You’ll come for dinner, too, of course,” Frank said to Grandfather. “After all, I owe you a great deal. Without your offering to show Mr. Pickett how you made your own factory safe, I might have lost my home. And the river might not have been saved.”

“Fighting pollution is just good sense and good business,” Mr. Alden said.

“Then Wednesday night it is, at six o’clock,” Frank said. “There are no buses passing through at that hour, so I can put my mind on my cooking. I would invite you to my little house, but the smell of the river is so bad there close to the factory, you wouldn’t enjoy it. But we can have a good time at the bus station.”

Benny felt as if he could hardly wait for Wednesday to come. He wondered what Frank would serve for dinner. Hamburgers? That wouldn’t be a treat.

At six o’clock Henry parked the car beside the bus station door.

The wind was coming from the north, so there was no bad smell in the air.

Benny was the first one out of the car. He hardly had a chance to rap10 on the door when Frank opened it. He greeted all the Aldens.

“Hello, hello,” he said. “Right on time.”

“We’ve been looking forward to this all week,” Benny said. “And does it smell good in here!”

“It’s the fish,” Frank replied with a smile. “I bought it at the best market in town. I stuffed11 it with soft breadcrumbs mixed with butter and salt and spice—”

“And everything nice,” Violet finished.

“Yes, and now it is baking. In a few minutes it will be done to a turn.”

The Aldens saw that Frank had set his biggest table for six. There were real plates and a tablecloth12. No paper plates or cups tonight.

Grandfather looked around and smiled.

“Sit right down,” said Frank, going into his kitchen.

Everyone took a seat, and soon Frank began to bring platters of food to his guests.

“Everything came from my own garden,” Frank said, putting a plate of baked potatoes on the table. Next came a large dish filled with all kinds of vegetables.

Benny began to count them up. “Carrots, little onions, beets13, parsley. And look! Cowslips!”

“I canned the cowslips last year,” Frank said proudly. “They came from the riverbank on the other side of the factory. But you can’t see dessert yet. It’s in the refrigerator. It’s a mystery dessert.”

“A mystery dessert sounds like fun,” said Violet.

“I bet4 it’s ice cream,” said Benny.

“I bet it isn’t,” said Frank.

This was a new Frank. He was happy and joking. Now he knew Mr. Pickett was going to stop pouring dirty water into the river. He knew that many people wanted to save the river and understood how important it was. He could sit back and enjoy the first company dinner he ever served.

“Vinegar,” Benny said. “For my cowslips. And lemon juice, too.”

“Lemon is for the fish,” Frank said. He put the baked fish on the table. After serving the fish with an old-fashioned14 pie knife, Frank sat down.

Henry and Frank and Mr. Alden talked together. But Benny kept wondering what the mystery dessert could be. He had guessed who Jud’s and Troy’s father was, but he couldn’t guess what the dessert was. It was in the refrigerator, but it wasn’t ice cream. And Frank wouldn’t tell what it was.

Benny thought, “I’m sure it isn’t a pudding, and I don’t think it could be a pie or a cake. I guess I’ll just have to wait.” That was hard to do. But he enjoyed every bit of Frank’s fish and stuffing15.

All the Aldens enjoyed the delicious dinner Frank had cooked. Soon their plates were clean.

“Let me help you clear off the table,” said Jessie.

“I’ll clear,” said Frank, “and you can pile the dishes up. You’ll see where they go in that sink.”

Then the moment came when Frank opened the refrigerator to get dessert. Benny twisted around in his seat to see what it was.

“A watermelon!” he exclaimed. “But you never raised that, Frank.”

“Oh, yes, I did!” laughed Frank. “You can go down to my garden and pick one any time now. I’m going to sell some of them.”

“We’ll buy one, for sure,” Violet said. “We just love watermelon.”

Everyone took a slice of watermelon, and soon it was gone, except for the green rind. “I save that,” said Frank. “I make watermelon pickle16 out of it.”

“What about that!” said Benny. He snapped17 a watermelon seed across the room.

“I wouldn’t do that, Ben,” said Mr. Alden in a low voice. “This is really Frank’s bus station, and he’ll have to sweep it up.”

“I don’t mind,” said Frank, snapping18 a seed in Benny’s direction.

Soon even Grandfather was snapping watermelon seeds!

“What a party,” thought Jessie. “I don’t know when I have seen Grandfather having such a good time.”

When everyone was tired of snapping seeds, Frank swept them up. Jessie and Violet said they would wash the dishes. But Frank had a dishwasher, so the work was soon done.

“We ought to have a fish party next year,” said Benny. “Maybe at our house.”

“Maybe at my house,” said Frank. “By next year it will be lovely down there by the river. We might even catch our own fish.”

“Hooray!” said Benny. “Grandfather and I love to go fishing. Let’s make it a real date. What about my birthday? That’s the fifteenth of July.”

“I’ll write it right down in my book,” said Mr. Alden, taking out his wallet. In a small notebook he wrote, “July 15. Fishing with Benny and Frank.”

“I can remember that,” said Frank. “I don’t need to write it down.”

A little later the Aldens said good-bye to Frank and drove home in their station wagon19.

“Everything turned out right,” said Benny. “Don’t you think so, Grandfather?”

“Yes, Ben, it did,” Mr. Alden answered. “I think the river will be saved. And I think Mr. Pickett will be able to make the changes in his factory. He’ll be Frank’s good neighbor after all.”

“I never guessed those two boys were Picketts,” said Jessie. “Frank didn’t trust the boys because he thought they were on their father’s side. But really, they picketed20 their own father’s business.”

“Pickett’s pickets,” said Benny with a laugh. “You know, most of this adventure was just an accident. We would never have known Frank or the Pickett family or learned21 about the paint factory or started to clean up the river ...”

“If the bus hadn’t been late,” finished Henry.

“Right,” said Benny.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 frank JibxK     
adj.坦白的,直率的,真诚的
参考例句:
  • A frank discussion can help to clear the air.坦率的谈论有助于消除隔阂。
  • She is frank and outgoing.她很爽朗。
2 troublemaker xflzsY     
n.惹是生非者,闹事者,捣乱者
参考例句:
  • I would hate you to think me a troublemaker.我不愿你认为我是个搬弄是非的人。
  • Li Yang has always been a troublemaker.李阳总是制造麻烦。
3 troublemakers 2d09f1f3c2345e9bf267eb0820a3b2ec     
n.惹是生非者,捣乱者( troublemaker的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • He was employed to chuck out any troublemakers. 他受雇把捣乱者赶走。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • She had automatically labelled the boys as troublemakers. 她不假思索地认定这些男孩子是捣蛋鬼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 bet ddZy8     
v.打赌,以(与)...打赌;n.赌注,赌金;打赌
参考例句:
  • I bet you can't do this puzzle.我敢说,你解决不了这个难题。
  • I offered to bet with him.我提出与他打赌。
5 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。
6 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
7 soberly soberly     
adv. 清醒地,严肃地,素净地
参考例句:
  • We must be soberly aware that there is still a long way ahead of us. 我们一定要清醒地认识到我们的前面还有一段漫长的道路。
  • She walked on more soberly now, and she was lonely. 她一个劲往前走去,这时头脑更加清醒了,感到自己格外孤单。
8 exclaimed 68e477dcdab3965d2189fb7276ee5041     
vt.exclaim的过去式v.呼喊,惊叫,大声说( exclaim的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • "We have a good chance of winning," he exclaimed optimistically. “我们很可能获胜。”他乐观地喊道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • She exclaimed in delight when she saw the presents. 她见到礼品高兴得叫了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 twinkle SlCws     
n.闪烁,闪耀,眨眼,瞬息;v.闪烁,使...闪耀,眨眼,迅速移动
参考例句:
  • The twinkle of distant town lights was very beautiful.远处城镇灯火闪烁,煞是好看。
  • At night,lights twinkle in distant villages across the valleys.夜间,山谷那头的遥远村落里灯光闪闪。
10 rap SABzi     
n.轻敲,拍击,责骂,厉声说出,说唱音乐,谈话,最少量;vi.轻敲,敲门,表演说唱音乐,畅谈;vt.抓,抢,拍击
参考例句:
  • I heard a rap on the door.我听到有轻轻的敲门声。
  • Today we are going to rap about relationships.今天我们要聊聊关系的问题。
11 stuffed c07925943917d17397a704e4a3632ff2     
adj.充满的;饱的v.塞住( stuff的过去式和过去分词 );把…装进;把…装满;(使)吃撑
参考例句:
  • stuffed animals in glass cases 玻璃柜里的动物标本
  • I was stuffed to the gills with chocolate cake. 我嘴里塞满了巧克力蛋糕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
12 tablecloth lqSwh     
n.桌布,台布
参考例句:
  • He sat there ruminating and picking at the tablecloth.他坐在那儿沉思,轻轻地抚弄着桌布。
  • She smoothed down a wrinkled tablecloth.她把起皱的桌布熨平了。
13 beets 88b1e961db3387e932ee94bcb085128f     
甜菜( beet的名词复数 ); 甜菜根; (因愤怒、难堪或觉得热而)脸红
参考例句:
  • Beets are Hank's favorite vegetable. 甜菜根是汉克最爱吃的蔬菜。
  • In this enlargement, barley, alfalfa, and sugar beets can be differentiated. 在这张放大的照片上,大麦,苜蓿和甜菜都能被区分开。
14 old-fashioned FmIzps     
adj.旧式的,保守的,挑剔的
参考例句:
  • Why do you still dress in an old-fashioned mode?你为什么还穿款式陈旧的衣服?
  • Here is an old-fashioned pump for drawing water from a well.这里有一个旧式水泵可从井里抽水。
15 stuffing ChpzDc     
n.填充物vt.填充(stuff的现在分词)
参考例句:
  • We had a chicken and stuffing, and new potatoes from the garden. 我们吃了只百宝鸡,还有园子里种的新鲜马铃薯。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • She had already mixed the stuffing for the dumplings. 她已经把饺子馅和好了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
16 pickle mSszf     
n.腌汁,泡菜;v.腌,泡
参考例句:
  • Mother used to pickle onions.妈妈过去常腌制洋葱。
  • Meat can be preserved in pickle.肉可以保存在卤水里。
17 snapped 049d092795475d08a3fcd2d16ef4b519     
v.猛地咬住( snap的过去式和过去分词 );(使某物)发出尖厉声音地突然断裂[打开,关闭];厉声地说;拍照
参考例句:
  • The wind had snapped the tree in two. 风把树喀嚓一声刮断了。
  • He lost his temper and snapped irritably at the children. 他发火了,暴躁地斥责孩子们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
18 snapping d1659d0ba621e2aaf8a8b11f9abca950     
adv.显著地,强烈地,非常地v.猛地咬住( snap的现在分词 );(使某物)发出尖厉声音地突然断裂[打开,关闭];厉声地说;拍照
参考例句:
  • The sharp sound of a twig snapping scared the badger away. 细枝突然折断的刺耳声把獾惊跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The fire is snapping. 火劈劈啪啪地响。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
19 wagon XhUwP     
n.四轮马车,手推车,面包车;无盖运货列车
参考例句:
  • We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
  • The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。
20 picketed a363b65b1ebbf0ffc5ee49b403a38143     
用尖桩围住(picket的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • They picketed the restaurant. 他们在饭馆外设置纠察。
  • Humboldt riotously picketed Von Trenk but the play was a hit. 尽管洪堡肆意破坏《冯·特伦克》的上演,然而这个剧还是轰动一时。
21 learned m1oxn     
adj.有学问的,博学的;learn的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
  • In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里,他被视为有学问的人。
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