儿童英语读物 神秘农场 Mystery Ranch Chapter 9 黄色石头

Now that the children were together, they were very happy. Aunt Jane seemed to be getting more cheerful every day.

One morning Jessie heard her aunt call her.

“I want to see all four of you children,” Aunt Jane told Jessie. “Get the others in here before I am tired again.”

In a few minutes, the children were sitting in their aunt’s room. Watch lay down at Jessie’s feet and put his head on his paws. Only his eyes moved. He was very still.

“Now I want you to listen carefully,” said Aunt Jane, looking at each of them in turn. “What I have to say is very important.”

Since the children couldn’t be more quiet than they already were, they sat and waited for her to go on.

“I’m going to give you children this ranch¹. No, don’t say a word! You are the only relatives I have. You seem to be good children, and you have been kind to me.”

The children were too surprised to say anything.

“I know you are not old enough to manage the ranch alone,” she said, “so I’m going to bring Sam Weeks into it. He will manage the ranch for you. Mr. Pond, who handles my business, says that will be all right. Now, what have you to say to that?”

Henry was the first to speak. “We’re too surprised to say much, Aunt Jane! It’s wonderful!”

Watch got up and went over to the bed. He sat down and held out his paw. Aunt Jane took his paw and said, “I see you think this is a good idea. If Watch thinks that, I am sure it must be true.”

She patted the dog and went on, “The ranch is yours from this minute. All I have to do is write my name when Mr. Pond brings the papers. I want my ranch to belong to people who love it. That’s why I wouldn’t sell it to those three men.”

The four children said “thank you” very softly, as they left.

“The only thing about this that I don’t like is Grandfather,” Benny said. He threw himself down on the grass.

“You said that wrong, old fellow,” said Henry. “But we know what you mean. It leaves Grandfather out.”

“I believe some day Aunt Jane will like him,” said Violet, “and he will like her.”

“I hope so,” said Jessie.

They sat on the grass and looked at their ranch. The driveway came to the back door. It went past the windmill, past the barn, and then out again to the road. They could see woods and mountains. They could see the long chicken houses from where they were sitting.

“Who were the men Aunt Jane was talking about?” asked Henry.

“Three men came while we were buying groceries,” Violet answered. “They tried to make Aunt Jane sell the ranch to them.”

“She probably needed the money,” said Henry. “But I’m glad she gave the ranch to us instead of selling it. I hope she won’t be sorry.”

Benny said thoughtfully, “I think we ought to explore right away. If this is our ranch, we should know everything that’s on it.”

Jessie said, “Well, we could explore today. Let’s ask Aunt Jane where to go.”

The cross little lady was very pleased when the children asked her about their walk. No one had asked her advice for years.

“The first thing is, don’t get lost. Go down past the chicken houses and you will come to some woods. Go through the woods and you come to an open field. There is a stream. Follow that stream and you’ll come right back home.”

Benny said, “I think we should take a lunch, don’t you, Aunt Jane?”

“By all means,” said Aunt Jane, trying to hide a smile.

It was very hot in the sun. The children went down past the chicken houses. They came to the cool, green woods.

“It’s a beautiful place,” said Henry.

“A very nice place to eat lunch, too,” said Benny.

The others laughed. But they were always hungry. They found a place where they could sit down. It was quiet and cool. Jessie was eating the last of her sandwich when she stopped, suddenly.

“Look, Henry!” she whispered. She pointed² to some bushes not far away. “There’s a little hut.”

Henry got to his feet quickly. “The door is open,” he said. “It seems to be empty.”

The children went slowly toward the hut. There was nothing in it. But in front of it, there was a fireplace³ made of stones, almost hidden by the bushes. Henry put his hand down and felt the stones. Watch sniffed⁴ and wagged⁵ his tail.

“Well, let’s be going,” said Henry. “It looks to me as if someone built a fire here, and not too long ago, either.”

The children walked faster now. Soon they came out in a big field filled with rocks and stones.

“There’s no grass here,” said Benny. “This field isn’t very good, I would say.”

“But it’s very pretty,” said Violet. “See the yellow and black lines in those rocks.”

“These stones are yellow, too,” said Jessie. She picked up a handful of the stones. As she dropped one, it broke into a fine yellow powder.

“They seem to be made of yellow sand,” said Henry. “How queer⁶!”

1 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

2 pointed   

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。

3 fireplace   

n.壁炉，炉灶

参考例句：

• The fireplace smokes badly.这壁炉冒烟太多。
• I think we should wall up the fireplace.我想应该封住壁炉。

4 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 wagged   

v.（使）摇动，摇摆( wag的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The dog wagged its tail with pleasure. 那条狗高兴得直摇尾巴。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She wagged her finger with mock severity. 她故作严厉地摆了摆手指。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 queer   

adj.奇怪的，异常的，不舒服的，眩晕的

参考例句：

• I heard some queer footsteps.我听到某种可疑的脚步声。
• She has been queer lately.她最近身体不舒服。