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After dinner that night, Benny came into the boxcar and plopped onto a beanbag chair.
“Oh good,” Jessie said. “We’re all here.”
“I had to help Grandfather with the dishes,” Benny said. “That’s the thing about dinner: I like the eating part, but I don’t like the cleaning up-after-part.”
Henry laughed.
Jessie opened a new page in her notebook. At the top of the page she wrote:
“The Wundermutt Audition1 Mystery.” She underlined it and then wrote: “Suspects.”
“Let’s get started. I think we should make a list of people who we think might be trying to ruin the audition. I already put Dante on the list because there is so much strange stuff going on with him. Who should I write down next?” she asked.
“I think Mr. Benjamin should be second. He isn’t very nice,” Violet replied.
“Yes. Mr. Benjamin is a very big suspect,” Jessie said. “Before dinner, I did a little Internet research about Ninja. I printed this out.” She handed Henry a piece of paper.
Henry read it. “It’s a news story. It says that ‘Ninja at Night’ has been cancelled,” he said.
“Oh no!” Benny said. “This is the worst news ever.”
Henry read on. “This story says that the show was cancelled because of Mr. Benjamin. No one likes him. He’s always demanding expensive, fancy stuff for his dog.”
Jessie shrugged2. “I guess the TV people got tired of working with Mr. Benjamin. If Mr. Benjamin is mean to people, it doesn’t matter if Ninja is a good actor or not.”
“I wonder if Mr. Benjamin is trying to get rid of Watch, so Ninja will get the commercial job for sure,” Violet said.
“But why isn’t he trying to get rid of Buffalo3, too?” Benny asked.
“Maybe Mr. Benjamin doesn’t think Buffalo is good enough to win,” Henry replied.
“That makes sense. Mr. Benjamin might be the one, but it might also be Lisa who is wrecking4 things.” Jessie paused. “Maybe even Mr. Lillipool.” Then she added, “Of course, it might be Timmy”
“Well,” Henry laughed. “I think that list covers almost everyone we met today.”
“Except Ms. Werner,” Jessie added. “Should we write her down too?”
“I don’t know,” Violet said. “She hasn’t done anything too weird—yet.”
“Except giving Dante a marker and acting5 like Buffalo’s biggest fan,” Henry said to Violet.
“Oh,” Violet said. “That reminds me. Ms. Werner had a coffee mug with a photo of a white fluffy6 dog on it. Ms. Werner seems to like white fluffy dogs.”
“But Buffalo has speckles,” Benny said. “She likes fluffy white dogs and fluffy speckled ones too.”
“I think we better put Ms. Werner on the list,” Henry said. “Just in case.”
Jessie wrote some more. “Okay. I got them all down,” she said. “Now we need to write the reason that each one is a suspect. Mr. Benjamin is the easiest. He wants to win a new job for Ninja.”
“For Ms. Werner, write down that she’s is so enthusiastic about Buffalo even though that dog just isn’t very good,” Henry said.
“I think that Dante really wants Buffalo to get the commercial,” Violet added. “Don’t forget that he’s the only dog who ate the food,” Benny added.
“Always thinking of food, huh, Benny?”
Jessie said with a chuckle7. “You know, eating the food’s not a bad thing. The dogs are supposed to eat the food.”
“Buffalo is still the only one who has eaten the food,” Benny said.
“Okay Benny. I’ve got it,” Jessie said, writing quickly. “I also put down Buffalo’s speckles. There’s something about those speckles that make me wonder.”
“Let’s talk about Lisa,” Henry said. “She told us she had a plan to get attention. Maybe she’s ruining the audition just to get noticed.”
“She said she was an inventor,” Benny said. “What’s she up to?”
“I don’t know,” Jessie said. Jessie stuck a question mark next to Lisa’s name on the list.
“Hmm. What about Timmy Moore?” Violet asked.
“That’s right!” Jessie said. “He told us this was his last commercial because he wants to be in movies. Maybe Timmy thinks he will get a good movie part if he works with the famous dog, Ninja.”
“First you tell me that ‘Ninja at Night’ is cancelled, now you think that Timmy is wrecking Watch’s audition?”
Benny put his head in his hands. “It’s too horrible to think about!”
Henry came over to Benny and sat next to him on the floor. “We don’t know if Timmy is making the problem, Benny. We’re just making a list. We’re brainstorming8.”
Benny’s head popped up, “Wow, that’s exactly how the inside of my brain feels. Like there’s a storm going on in there!”
“Okay,” Jessie said, as she finished writing. “I have everyone.” Jessie planned to carry the list with her while they searched for more clues.
“Look, here comes Josh,” Henry said. Josh Greene had come into the backyard to return Henry’s bike.
“How did the audition go?” Josh asked. He bent9 to pet Watch.
“Watch did really well,” Benny said. “Except for the slide and the steak.”
The Aldens told Josh the whole story.
“Someone is trying to ruin the audition for Watch,” said Jessie. “And we are going to find out who it is.”
“And if Watch wins, you’ll be able to get your bike fixed,” Benny told Josh.
“That’s right, the prize is a hundred dollars!” Henry added.
“That would be great!” Josh said and stood up. “I hope you figure it all out. Good luck,” he said. He waved good-bye and left.
Grandfather came out to the boxcar. “You’d better come inside. It’s late and you have a busy day tomorrow,” he said. “Watch is already asleep, probably dreaming about his audition.”
“But we can’t go to sleep yet,” Benny said. “We didn’t solve the mystery.” Benny yawned.
“Tomorrow is a new day,” Grandfather told them. “Maybe everything will come clear in the morning.”
“I sure hope so,” Jessie said. The others nodded.
收听单词发音 |
1
audition
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| n.(对志愿艺人等的)面试(指试读、试唱等) | |
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2
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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3
buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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4
wrecking
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| 破坏 | |
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5
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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6
fluffy
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| adj.有绒毛的，空洞的 | |
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7
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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8
brainstorming
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| 献计献策,合力攻关 | |
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9
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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