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儿童英语读物 The Great Bicycle Race Mystery CHAPTER 8 An Unexpected Helper

时间:2017-09-27 06:18来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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“Uh-oh,” said Henry, just after they left the second water stop.

“Are we lost?” asked Benny. “I know how to get back to the water stop.”

“We’re not lost,” said Henry, pulling the tandem1 to a stop. “We have a flat tire.”

He got off. Benny got off. They squatted2 down to look at the tire. It was very flat. “Looks like we picked up a piece of glass,” said Henry. He got out the tire-changing kit3 and went to work.

“Can I help you?” Nan asked, slowing her own bike down.

“Hmmm,” said Henry, prying4 the tire off the wheel. He pulled the tube out from the inside. If he replaced the tube inside the tire, the tire wouldn’t be flat. The tube was what held the air in the tire, and the tire protected the thin tube.

“Why don’t you try to patch that tube and I’ll put the new tube in for you to save time,” Nan said.

“Thanks,” said Henry.

“No problem,” Nan answered. “I’ve changed about a million tires.”

As Benny watched, Henry patched the old tube and folded it into the tire patch kit he carried strapped5 under the back of the bicycle seat. Nan finished putting the tube and tire back on and jumped up. “Keep your tire pressure low,” she said. “That’ll help avoid flats.”

“Will do,” said Henry. “Thanks again.”

“Glad I could help,” Nan said. She swung her leg over her bike and pedaled away.

As Henry got back on his bike, Violet and Soo Lee rode up. “Is everything okay?” Violet asked.

“We’re fine. Just a flat tire,” said Henry.

They rode on, enjoying the sunshine and the farms and woods they passed. The bike riders wandered on back roads through hills and fields. But today, since they weren’t as anxious and excited as they had been on the first day of the race, they had time to notice more.

Many people had turned out to cheer them on. Children stood at the foot of their driveways waving. The bicyclists saw signs tied to trees and mailboxes. They passed a three-person family band in front of one house: a boy playing the trumpet6, a girl playing the drums, and a very little boy banging on a saucepan with a spoon.

The Aldens waved and smiled and shouted hello as they rode by. None of them wanted to stop any more than they had to. They wanted to be sure they made it into camp in time that night.

Shortly after lunch, Henry slowed to a stop.

“What’s wrong?” asked Jessie.

“Flat tire,” Henry said. “Again.” He made a disgusted face.

He and Benny stopped the tandem. “I’m getting good at this.”

He took out the tube. It looked as if it had gotten pinched between the rim7 of the wheel and the tire. Henry shook his head. “It’s a nasty hole,” he said. “I think I’ll wait to fix it until tonight to save time and put my patched spare on now.”

“Yes. Let’s hurry. I don’t want to ride the sweep wagon8,” Benny agreed. He looked nervously9 around. But they were a long way ahead of the sweep wagon.

Henry smiled at his younger brother. “Don’t worry,” he said.

He went to work on the flat and soon he and Benny were back on the road again.

But not for long. They pedaled up a hill and slowed as they reached an intersection10. A sign in the intersection said, ROAD CLOSED. DETOUR11.

Henry was about to turn down the road when he felt a familiar bump, bump, bump.

“Oh, no!” he cried. “We have another flat.”

“You have a bad-luck tire,” said Benny.

“I think you’re right/’ Henry said.

“I’m doing everything Nan told me,” Henry said. “I don’t have any spare tubes. I just hope I can ...” His voice trailed off as he saw the tube. It had caught between the wheel and the tire, just like the last time. The hole in the tube was a big one.

“Oh, no,” said Henry under his breath.

A bike pulled to a stop beside him.

“Can I help?” came a voice Henry knew. He looked up in surprise.

It was Al.

“A flat tire,” he said. “It’s pretty bad.”

Al looked at the tube. “Yeah, those snake bites can be nasty.”

“Snake bites?” asked Benny, alarmed.

“That’s what cyclists call it when the tube gets caught between the tire and the wheel rim. It usually happens when you don’t put enough air in the tube.”

“Oh,” said Henry.

“Fortunately I have a spare tube,” Al said. “You can have it.”

“Thank you,” said Benny. He sounded amazed.

ATs cheeks reddened slightly. “I guess you wouldn’t know that, with an old bike like you had. I mean, those tires had a different kind of tube in them and—”

Henry got very still. “How would you know that?” he asked.

Al’s cheeks grew redder. “Just a guess,” he said.

Henry looked steadily12 at Al. Al wouldn’t look at Henry.

Then Henry said quietly, “You’re the one who wrecked14 my bike, aren’t you?”

Staring hard at the tube he was fitting into the tire, Al said, “Yes.”

Benny jumped up. “That was mean!” he shouted. “And ... and really, really bad.”

“I know,” Al said. Now his ears were red. “I’m sorry. I know it was a horrible thing to do. I didn’t mean to wreck13 the bike. I ran into a tree. I was just going to leave it in the woods until the race was over. It was stupid and wrong.”

“And you let the water out of the jugs15, and you changed all the signs and made the tents fall, and—”

“No!” Al raised his head. “No!” he shouted. “I didn’t do any of those things. I’ve been trying to be better. I don’t want to be a bad sport. After I heard what Nan said at the start of the race, I realized what an awful thing I’d done. I’m sorry.”

That stopped Benny. He folded his arms. “Well,” he said. “You should be.”

“Anyway, I’m going to pay for fixing it. Or to replace it, if it can’t be fixed16,” Al went on. He gave Henry a hopeful look. “Will you let me?”

“Yes,” said Henry. “Thanks.”

“Thank you,” said Al, jumping up. “And your tire is fixed. Just remember to keep a lot of air in that tube, and you shouldn’t have any more snake bites.”

He fastened his helmet and was about to ride away when a police car pulled up. An officer got out, shaking her head. “Kids,” she said. She looked over at the three boys. “Did you move this detour sign?” she asked.

“No!” said Henry Al, and Benny in unison17.

“Well, I’m moving it back down the road where it belongs. And if you know who did this, tell them it’s not funny,” she snapped. Lifting the sign, she tossed it in the trunk of her car and drove away.

“That’s the wrong way, then,” said Al.

“I guess so,” said Henry.

“I wonder how many riders ahead of us went in that direction,” Al said.

“Someone changed the signs, just like yesterday,” said Benny.

Al said, “I’m going to ride to the next water stop and let them know. They can send some of the crew to catch up with any riders who might have gone the wrong way.”

“Good idea,” said Henry.

Without another word, Al jumped on his bike and pedaled off—in the right direction.

Henry and Benny followed. As they reached the rest stop, they saw Ms. Whatney’s car pulling out. It turned and went back in the direction from which they had just come.

“I wonder where they’re going,” Benny said.

Henry wondered, too. But he didn’t talk much for the rest of the afternoon. He was too busy thinking about who could have changed the sign—and who was really behind all the bad luck that kept threatening to ruin the ride.

Not until they were almost at the camp did Henry speak. “Benny,” he said. “Al wrecked my bike, but he didn’t do any of those other things.”

“I know,” said Benny. “Wait until we tell everyone.”

“I have something else to tell everyone,” said Henry.

“What?” asked Benny.

“I think I know who’s behind everything that has gone wrong with the great bike race,” said Henry.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 tandem 6Ibzp     
n.同时发生;配合;adv.一个跟着一个地;纵排地;adj.(两匹马)前后纵列的
参考例句:
  • Malcolm's contract will run in tandem with his existing one.马尔科姆的合同将与他手头的合同同时生效。
  • He is working in tandem with officials of the Serious Fraud Office.他正配合欺诈重案办公室的官员工作。
2 squatted 45deb990f8c5186c854d710c535327b0     
v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 );非法擅自占用(土地或房屋);为获得其所有权;而占用某片公共用地。
参考例句:
  • He squatted down beside the footprints and examined them closely. 他蹲在脚印旁仔细地观察。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He squatted in the grass discussing with someone. 他蹲在草地上与一个人谈话。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 kit D2Rxp     
n.用具包,成套工具;随身携带物
参考例句:
  • The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
  • The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。
4 prying a63afacc70963cb0fda72f623793f578     
adj.爱打听的v.打听,刺探(他人的私事)( pry的现在分词 );撬开
参考例句:
  • I'm sick of you prying into my personal life! 我讨厌你刺探我的私生活!
  • She is always prying into other people's affairs. 她总是打听别人的私事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 strapped ec484d13545e19c0939d46e2d1eb24bc     
adj.用皮带捆住的,用皮带装饰的;身无分文的;缺钱;手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词);用皮带抽打;包扎;给…打绷带
参考例句:
  • Make sure that the child is strapped tightly into the buggy. 一定要把孩子牢牢地拴在婴儿车上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The soldiers' great coats were strapped on their packs. 战士们的厚大衣扎捆在背包上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 trumpet AUczL     
n.喇叭,喇叭声;v.吹喇叭,吹嘘
参考例句:
  • He plays the violin, but I play the trumpet.他拉提琴,我吹喇叭。
  • The trumpet sounded for battle.战斗的号角吹响了。
7 rim RXSxl     
n.(圆物的)边,轮缘;边界
参考例句:
  • The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
  • She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。
8 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。
9 nervously tn6zFp     
adv.神情激动地,不安地
参考例句:
  • He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇,努力忍着不哭出来。
  • He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。
10 intersection w54xV     
n.交集,十字路口,交叉点;[计算机] 交集
参考例句:
  • There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
  • Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。
11 detour blSzz     
n.绕行的路,迂回路;v.迂回,绕道
参考例句:
  • We made a detour to avoid the heavy traffic.我们绕道走,避开繁忙的交通。
  • He did not take the direct route to his home,but made a detour around the outskirts of the city.他没有直接回家,而是绕到市郊兜了个圈子。
12 steadily Qukw6     
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地
参考例句:
  • The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
  • Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。
13 wreck QMjzE     
n.失事,遇难;沉船;vt.(船等)失事,遇难
参考例句:
  • Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
  • No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。
14 wrecked ze0zKI     
adj.失事的,遇难的
参考例句:
  • the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
  • the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞
15 jugs 10ebefab1f47ca33e582d349c161a29f     
(有柄及小口的)水壶( jug的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Two china jugs held steaming gravy. 两个瓷罐子装着热气腾腾的肉卤。
  • Jugs-Big wall lingo for Jumars or any other type of ascenders. 大岩壁术语,祝玛式上升器或其它种类的上升器。
16 fixed JsKzzj     
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的
参考例句:
  • Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗?
  • Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定,我们就不应该随意改变。
17 unison gKCzB     
n.步调一致,行动一致
参考例句:
  • The governments acted in unison to combat terrorism.这些国家的政府一致行动对付恐怖主义。
  • My feelings are in unison with yours.我的感情与你的感情是一致的。
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