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儿童英语读物 The Copycat Mystery CHAPTER 7 The Double Take

时间:2017-10-12 05:40来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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The next morning, Benny stepped out of the changing room and announced, “I’m growing like a weed!”

Violet looked over at Benny. “What in the world . . .?”

“What happened?” asked Jessie.

Benny scratched his head. “I guess I sprouted1 up last night.”

Sure enough, Benny’s pants were now at least five inches too short.

“I think you’ve got the wrong pants on, Benny,” Violet guessed.

Jessie nodded. “Those are way too short.”

Benny shook his head. “See?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the thaumatrope Sharon had given him. “These are my pants. I put this in my pocket yesterday.”

When Henry came into the room, everyone cried out in surprise. Benny wasn’t the only one wearing pants that were too short!

“What . . .?” Benny couldn’t believe his eyes.

For a long moment, the two brothers stood staring at each other. Then they suddenly burst into laughter.

“We sure look funny!” Benny exclaimed.

“You can say that again!” admitted Henry, looking down at his own too-short pants.

“Hmmm.” Jessie was kneeling on the floor, inspecting the bottom of Benny’s pants. “Looks like somebody took the hem2 up another five inches.”

“Are you sure?” Violet hurried over to take a look for herself.

“See?” Jessie lifted the hem. “This isn’t the careful stitching that Miss Pennink did yesterday.” And Violet agreed.

Benny looked from Jessie to Henry. “You mean somebody played a joke on us?”

“A practical joke,” Henry said with a quick nod.

The children heard a gasp3 and whirled around. It was Miss Pennink standing4 in the doorway5.

“I see Horace has been busy again,” she said in a whispery voice.

Jake North suddenly appeared behind Miss Pennink. “What’s going on?” he asked. When he caught sight of the pants Henry and Benny were wearing, his dark eyebrows6 shot up.

Miss Pennink put a hand over her heart. “I simply must sit down,” she said.

With some help from Jake, she made her way over to a chair.

“Are you all right, Miss Pennink?” Violet’s brown eyes were wide with alarm.

“I just need a moment to recover from the shock, my dear.” Miss Pennink smiled a little, but still seemed upset.

Just then, Jessie caught sight of Jake’s camera. “Oh, are you here to take more photographs? I could get Gwen if—”

Jake broke in before she could finish. “I just stopped by to see if I left my sunglasses here yesterday,” he explained. “But maybe I will get a picture of Henry and Benny.” And with that, Jake snapped a photo.

It seemed very odd to Jessie. Why would Jake want a picture of them wearing pants that didn’t fit?

“So what happened?” Jake asked, his lips curling up into a smile. “Did your pants shrink in the laundry demonstration7 yesterday?”

“Somebody did this on purpose!” Benny blurted8 out.

“Yes, indeed,” agreed Miss Pennink. “This is Horace’s handiwork. He won’t put up with it, you know. He just won’t stand for this outrage9. To be ignored in one’s own home is . . . is . . . well, it simply isn’t right!”

A little later, when Gwen was pouring Miss Pennink a cup of tea, she said, “You don’t really think that, do you, Miss Pennink? You can’t believe a ghost is responsible for these practical jokes.”

Sharon, who was sitting beside Miss Pennink, spoke10 up first. “We both believe it!”

Gwen frowned. “Sharon, please!” She put a basket of blueberry muffins on the table, then turned and gave her younger sister a warning look. “You’re not helping11 matters.”

Jake pulled up a chair. “It is hard to believe a ghost could be doing these things,” he said. “And yet . . .”

The Aldens looked at one another. They all wondered why Jake was so eager to believe the house was haunted.

“There’s no such thing as ghosts,” said Benny, reaching for a muffin.

“Well, if that’s true,” replied Sharon, “then there’s only one other possibility.” And she looked at the Aldens.

“What do you mean?” Henry wanted to know.

Sharon narrowed her green eyes. “Well, it seems to me these practical jokes didn’t start until the four of you arrived,” she said in an icy voice. “Quite a coincidence, wouldn’t you agree?”

“What a terrible thing to say, Sharon!” exclaimed Gwen.

“I’m not accusing anyone,” Sharon replied. And she gave her long blond hair a toss. “I’m simply stating the facts.”

Violet couldn’t believe it. “You think we’re the copycats?”

“Aren’t you forgetting a few things?” Jessie asked, looking Sharon straight in the eye.

“Such as . . . ?”

“Well, for starters, we don’t have a key to the farmhouse12.”

Henry added, “Or a motive13.”

“Making trouble is all the motive some people need,” Sharon shot back.

Miss Pennink reached out and put a hand on Sharon’s arm. “Please, we mustn’t accuse one another. This is Horace’s doing. I know because this practical joke is exactly like one Horace played when he was a young boy.”

“You’ve had a shock, Miss Pennink,” said Gwen. “Are you sure you want to talk about this?”

Nodding, Miss Pennink took a sip14 of tea. “I must talk about my great-great-grandfather, since no one else will.” She took a breath. “It happened back when Horace wasn’t much bigger than Benny. His brother Oscar was about a year younger. As the story goes, Oscar was quite small for his age, and for some reason he’d gotten it into his head that he’d never grow any bigger. Well, Horace couldn’t bear to see his brother unhappy, so one night he—”

“Shortened his brother’s pants?” guessed Benny, who was so interested in the conversation, he still hadn’t taken a bite of his muffin.

“That’s exactly what he did, Benny!” said Miss Pennink. “In fact, Horace kept this up every night for a week. He shortened those pants a little more every time. They say when Horace was finished, his younger brother was certain he’d sprouted right up! And let me tell you something,” she added, “Oscar never worried about his size again.”

Henry asked, “Did Oscar ever find out that it was a practical joke?”

“It wasn’t until years later that he found out, Henry,” said Miss Pennink. “They say Horace and Oscar had a good laugh over it. Of course, by then Oscar had grown to be every bit the size of his brothers!”

Sharon rubbed her arms. “It gives me a chill to think of Horace going around playing practical jokes all over again.”

Nobody said anything for a moment. It was Jake who finally broke the silence. “So that’s where they went!” he said.

Everyone looked at him. Then they followed his gaze to the sunglasses on the windowsill.

“I must have put my sunglasses down when I was having a cup of coffee yesterday,” Jake told them. “I figured they’d be here or at my uncle Draper’s.” As the Aldens passed the sunglasses to him, Jake thanked Gwen for the tea, then went on his way.

No sooner had he gone than the bell over the front door jangled as the first visitors arrived. Gwen quickly put the teacups into the sink and rushed away with Sharon. Then Miss Pennink disappeared into the changing room.

“I guess we shouldn’t be all that surprised,” said Henry, who was standing still while Violet lowered the hem on his pants. “About Draper Mills being Jake’s uncle, I mean.”

“That’s true,” agreed Jessie, snipping15 away at the stitching on Benny’s pants. “Jake did mention that his uncle was a poet.”

Benny nodded. “And Draper Mills writes poetry.” He took a bite of his blueberry muffin.

“Well, that means we can rule Jake out as a suspect,” Henry realized.

But Violet wasn’t so sure. She thought about it for a moment and then said, “Hmm.”

Benny looked over at Violet. “He was only here last night to visit his uncle,” he pointed16 out.

“That’s right,” said Henry. “There’s no reason for us to suspect him of being the copycat.”

“I suppose,” said Violet, but she didn’t sound convinced.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 sprouted 6e3d9efcbfe061af8882b5b12fd52864     
v.发芽( sprout的过去式和过去分词 );抽芽;出现;(使)涌现出
参考例句:
  • We can't use these potatoes; they've all sprouted. 这些土豆儿不能吃了,都出芽了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The rice seeds have sprouted. 稻种已经出芽了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
2 hem 7dIxa     
n.贴边,镶边;vt.缝贴边;(in)包围,限制
参考例句:
  • The hem on her skirt needs sewing.她裙子上的褶边需要缝一缝。
  • The hem of your dress needs to be let down an inch.你衣服的折边有必要放长1英寸。
3 gasp UfxzL     
n.喘息,气喘;v.喘息;气吁吁他说
参考例句:
  • She gave a gasp of surprise.她吃惊得大口喘气。
  • The enemy are at their last gasp.敌人在做垂死的挣扎。
4 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。
5 doorway 2s0xK     
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径
参考例句:
  • They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
  • Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。
6 eyebrows a0e6fb1330e9cfecfd1c7a4d00030ed5     
眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
  • His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。
7 demonstration 9waxo     
n.表明,示范,论证,示威
参考例句:
  • His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
  • He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。
8 blurted fa8352b3313c0b88e537aab1fcd30988     
v.突然说出,脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She blurted it out before I could stop her. 我还没来得及制止,她已脱口而出。
  • He blurted out the truth, that he committed the crime. 他不慎说出了真相,说是他犯了那个罪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 outrage hvOyI     
n.暴行,侮辱,愤怒;vt.凌辱,激怒
参考例句:
  • When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
  • We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。
10 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。
11 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
12 farmhouse kt1zIk     
n.农场住宅(尤指主要住房)
参考例句:
  • We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
  • We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。
13 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。
14 sip Oxawv     
v.小口地喝,抿,呷;n.一小口的量
参考例句:
  • She took a sip of the cocktail.她啜饮一口鸡尾酒。
  • Elizabeth took a sip of the hot coffee.伊丽莎白呷了一口热咖啡。
15 snipping 5fe0030e9f7f57e9e018d33196ee84b6     
n.碎片v.剪( snip的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The crew had been snipping it for souvenirs. 舰上人员把它剪下来当作纪念品。 来自辞典例句
  • The gardener is snipping off the dead leaves in the garden. 花匠在花园时剪枯叶。 来自互联网
16 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。
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