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儿童英语读物 The Vanishing Passenger CHAPTER 10 Some Explaining to Do

时间:2017-11-22 05:45来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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The back road was exactly as Mr. Van Buren had described it—quiet and beautiful. It cut through a valley surrounded by tree-covered hills. And a lazy river followed it most of the way, the sun sparkling on its rippled1 surface.

For the first half hour they saw no other cars at all. Jessie checked her watch one last time. “Six o’clock. Only an hour left. And it’ll take us almost that long just to get back to the library!”

Henry nodded slowly. “Yeah,” he said with a sigh. “It looks like he’s not here. And we shouldn’t be late.”

Mr. Van Buren added, “Oh well—I guess everyone in Greenfield is going to have to settle for me tonight!”

He pulled off to the side and began turning around. He decided2 to head back to the highway, where he could get to Greenfield faster.

Then Benny spotted3 something out the back window.

“Hey, wait a minute!” he said. “What’s that over there? It looks like smoke!”

They all looked. Sure enough, far in the distance, there was a faint puff4 of smoke rising from behind the next hill.

Jessie said, “We should definitely check it out, but we have to hurry!”

Van Buren spun5 the wheel and sped off. As they neared the top of the hill, everyone strained to see over it. The moment they reached the peak, they saw the old green car, sitting on the shoulder with its hood6 up and smoke billowing from the radiator7.

The Aldens let out a group cheer.

Then they had one last scare—when Van Buren pulled up alongside the old car, there was no one in it.

“Oh no!” Violet said. “He’s not here!”

“Yes he is,” Jessie replied, pointing through the windshield. “Right there!”

They saw a man a few hundred feet ahead, going down the lonely road on foot, with a little white dog next to him. Since Mr. Finch8 didn’t have a leash9, he had attached his necktie to Max’s collar.

Gilbert Finch was walking to Greenfield.

Van Buren pulled up alongside him and said, “Hey, stranger, need a lift?”

Finch looked more tired than anyone the Aldens had ever seen. He was filthy10 and sweaty.

He still managed a smile, though.

“Danny boy! Fancy meeting you out here! Here in … uh … “

“The middle of nowhere?” Van Buren asked.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

Then Finch noticed the Aldens. He pointed11 to them and looked back to Van Buren. “Nieces and nephews?” he asked.

Van Buren laughed. “No, but I believe you already know them—they’re the Aldens, from Greenfield.”

“The Aldens!” Mr. Finch said, clearly shocked. He stepped forward and stuck his head in the window. “What are you doing all the way out here? Shouldn’t you be back at the library, waiting for me to not show up?”

The children were almost out of breath from laughter.

“Hop in and they can tell you the whole story on the way,” said Mr. Van Buren.

“Okay,” Finch said. He opened the door and let Max jump in. The dog scurried12 to the back and jumped right into Benny’s lap. Finch shut the door and put on his seatbelt.

“If we hurry, we should make it just in time for our talk,” Van Buren said.

“Sounds good,” Finch replied, then said, “Wait a minute. Our talk? What does that mean?”

“Uh, we’ll have to explain that, too,” Mr. Van Buren replied, smiling.

Mr. Finch looked back at the Aldens helplessly. They just shrugged13.

As they got moving, Henry whispered, “This should be a very interesting trip.”

The two authors argued all the way down to Greenfield—whose books were better and why, whose books would still be famous in a hundred years, whose books had spelling mistakes, and so on. But through it all, the Aldens could tell that Finch and Van Buren were old friends.

Just as they reached town, Henry said, “Mr. Finch? Can I ask you something?”

Finch turned around, leaning an arm over the back of the seat. “Sure, Henry.”

“It’s about Max,” he said, nodding towards the dog. Max hadn’t moved from Benny’s lap the entire trip. “How did he get loose in the first place?”

“Ah, well, that was my fault I’m afraid.

When the train passed through the rainstorm, Max began whimpering. I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing, so I unlocked his cage, took him out, and sat him on my lap. I tried to quiet him down by stroking his fur and talking softly to him, but it didn’t seem to help. So I put him back in the cage, and I guess I didn’t lock it right, because a few moments later he was jumping off the train!”

“But how did he get out of the car in the first place?” Violet asked. “Surely he wasn’t strong enough to open that heavy metal door!”

“No, but I was,” Finch told them. “You see, one of my favorite smells in the world is the air on a rainy day. After I put Max back in his cage, I opened the door when we stopped in Allerton to take a deep breath. The rain was coming down really hard, and it smelled wonderful. So I was standing14 there with the door open and my eyes closed, and the train started pulling out of the station. That’s when Max scurried past me and jumped out the door!”

“Ah,” said Henry, “and you felt you had to go after him—”

“Right, because I’m the one who let him out in the first place.”

“Okay,” Henry said, nodding. “That makes sense.”

“That also explains why you left your bag on the train,” Jessie said. “You didn’t have time to get it.”

“I wasn’t even thinking about it,” Finch told her. “By the time I realized I’d left it on the train, I’d already caught our little friend over there.” Then he asked, “And how did you know I was in the fourth car on the train? No one was supposed to be there.”

“The granola-bar wrapper,” Jessie said. “We found one there, then another one in the parking lot, and in your briefcase15.”

“You used one to try to get Max out from under that red truck, right?” Violet asked.

“That’s correct.”

“And what about that note in your notepad?” Violet went on. “The one about Mr. Van Buren? You wrote, ‘What should I do about Van Buren?’”

Finch laughed and looked at Van Buren. “Just a reminder16 to myself. I was trying to figure out whether or not I should stop in and visit him on the way back from Greenfield.”

“No need to worry about that now,” Van Buren said.

“Nope.”

“And your cell phone? It stopped working?”

“Right, it got all wet. I managed to make that one call to your house before it died. I had no charger, either, and none of the phones in Allerton worked.” He laughed and shook his head. “Can you believe it? With all the technology we have today, I couldn’t get a message through just a few towns away.”

They pulled into the library parking lot and were shocked to find the entire crowd standing outside on the lawn, waiting. Jessie had called Ms. Connally during the trip to let her know what was happening. Ms. Connally was thrilled that they would have not one but two great authors appearing that evening. Grandfather was there, too, looking very proud. So was Mrs. Blake, holding copies of all her Finch books, ready for him to sign.

The Taylors had made it as well. The moment Finch opened the door of Van Buren’s car, Max jumped out and raced over to them. The two children were so happy to see their dog again! Max jumped on them and licked their faces, his tail whirling around like a propeller17.

As everyone got out of the car, the crowd began clapping and cheering. Finch and Van Buren waved and smiled. The Aldens stepped aside, but then Ms. Connally told them the crowd was applauding for them, too.

“If it wasn’t for the four of you, this wonderful night would never have happened!” she said.

The children grinned. When the applause finally died down, everyone began walking inside.

Mr. Finch turned to Mr. Van Buren and said, “You know what, Danny Boy?”

“What’s that?”

“I suddenly have a fantastic idea for a story. It’s about these four smart youngsters who have to find a crazy old man who foolishly got lost on his way to see them.”

He turned around and smiled at the Aldens, who were too startled to say anything.

“Sounds like a winner to me,” Van Buren said, patting his old friend on the shoulder. “I wonder what our faithful readers will think?”

“I’m pretty sure I’ll like it!” Benny said, grinning.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 rippled 70d8043cc816594c4563aec11217f70d     
使泛起涟漪(ripple的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • The lake rippled gently. 湖面轻轻地泛起涟漪。
  • The wind rippled the surface of the cornfield. 微风吹过麦田,泛起一片麦浪。
2 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
3 spotted 7FEyj     
adj.有斑点的,斑纹的,弄污了的
参考例句:
  • The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
  • Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。
4 puff y0cz8     
n.一口(气);一阵(风);v.喷气,喘气
参考例句:
  • He took a puff at his cigarette.他吸了一口香烟。
  • They tried their best to puff the book they published.他们尽力吹捧他们出版的书。
5 spun kvjwT     
v.纺,杜撰,急转身
参考例句:
  • His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
  • Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。
6 hood ddwzJ     
n.头巾,兜帽,覆盖;v.罩上,以头巾覆盖
参考例句:
  • She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
  • The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。
7 radiator nTHxu     
n.暖气片,散热器
参考例句:
  • The two ends of the pipeline are connected with the radiator.管道的两端与暖气片相连接。
  • Top up the radiator before making a long journey.在长途旅行前加满散热器。
8 finch TkRxS     
n.雀科鸣禽(如燕雀,金丝雀等)
参考例句:
  • This behaviour is commonly observed among several species of finch.这种行为常常可以在几种雀科鸣禽中看到。
  • In Australia,it is predominantly called the Gouldian Finch.在澳大利亚,它主要还是被称之为胡锦雀。
9 leash M9rz1     
n.牵狗的皮带,束缚;v.用皮带系住
参考例句:
  • I reached for the leash,but the dog got in between.我伸手去拿系狗绳,但被狗挡住了路。
  • The dog strains at the leash,eager to be off.狗拼命地扯拉皮带,想挣脱开去。
10 filthy ZgOzj     
adj.卑劣的;恶劣的,肮脏的
参考例句:
  • The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
  • You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发,然后再去买张新的。
11 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。
12 scurried 5ca775f6c27dc6bd8e1b3af90f3dea00     
v.急匆匆地走( scurry的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She said goodbye and scurried back to work. 她说声再见,然后扭头跑回去干活了。
  • It began to rain and we scurried for shelter. 下起雨来,我们急忙找地方躲避。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 shrugged 497904474a48f991a3d1961b0476ebce     
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀,什么也没说。
  • She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩,装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
14 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。
15 briefcase lxdz6A     
n.手提箱,公事皮包
参考例句:
  • He packed a briefcase with what might be required.他把所有可能需要的东西都装进公文包。
  • He requested the old man to look after the briefcase.他请求那位老人照看这个公事包。
16 reminder WkzzTb     
n.提醒物,纪念品;暗示,提示
参考例句:
  • I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
  • It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知,她才付应该交的房租。
17 propeller tRVxe     
n.螺旋桨,推进器
参考例句:
  • The propeller started to spin around.螺旋桨开始飞快地旋转起来。
  • A rope jammed the boat's propeller.一根绳子卡住了船的螺旋桨。
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