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儿童英语读物 Snowbound Mystery CHAPTER 8 To the Rescue

时间:2017-06-21 06:45来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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    (单词翻译:双击或拖选)

The four Aldens left the door open a crack. The deer were half buried in the snow, and they struggled to stand up.

“They don’t want any help,” said Benny.

“They don’t need any,” said Henry. “They are up now.”

The two deer shook themselves to get the snow off. Still more snow came down on them. But slowly the two animals came toward the cabin. They sniffed2. Their soft brown eyes looked at the door.

The deer went down the path that the boys had dug and found the open space. The Aldens went quietly over to the window and looked out. The gentle animals were tired out. They lay down and licked3 each other.

Benny said, “Listen, I’m hearing things! I think I’m dreaming! Is someone calling?”

But Benny did hear real voices. He opened the door and took one look. Then he shouted, “Henry, put on your jacket and bring me mine!” Then he jumped down the steps to the path.

Henry took both jackets from the hook1 and struggled through the snow. The girls looked down the path. Something—or someone—was lying in the snow. A man with a little boy on his shoulder was leaning against a tree.

The Aldens forgot all about the deer.

“It’s the Nelsons!” said Jessie. “Oh, dear! I’m afraid Barbara has fallen in the snow. We’ll just have to wait. We can’t go out!”

“The Nelsons have come to help us,” said Violet. “I’m sure of that.”

“So am I,” said Jessie. “Look! Henry’s carrying Barbara. I’ll get a sleeping bag and put it in front of the fireplace4.”

“I’ll get it,” said Violet. She disappeared. Jessie held the door wide open.

Barbara was talking in a weak voice to Henry. “Oh, I’m so ashamed to give out, Henry! I thought I could make it. But I didn’t know how bad it was.”

Henry said, “Don’t say such things about yourself! I wonder you got here at all. You were kind and brave.” He put Mrs. Nelson down on the sleeping bag. Jessie put another bag under her head.

“Oh, I can sit up! I’m sure I can,” said Barbara.

“You stay right there, Barbara,” advised Jessie, kneeling down beside her. “Later you can sit on the couch5.”

Watch came over and sat down and never moved.

Benny said, “Mr. Nelson is the one who should sit down. He carried Puggsy most of the way.” Benny pushed a chair under Mr. Nelson, who dropped into it and leaned back and shut his eyes.

Puggsy was feeling the best of anyone, but even he was pretty tired. Benny put him into his own sleeping bag and propped6 him up against a chair.

“Well, well,” said Benny. “You came to help us!”

Mr. Nelson nodded. “We tried to, anyway. We were worried about you when it kept on snowing. We didn’t know whether you ever got home or not.”

Henry nodded, “We might not have.”

“I said I was coming to look for you early this morning, but Barbara said she’d come, too. She would be worrying that I was lost. Of course we had to bring Puggsy.”

“I’m so thankful you got here!” Jessie shivered. “You might have been lost in the snow.”

“We did fall twice, but we got up,” said Tom Nelson.

Jessie had a sudden thought. “Are you hungry?” she asked.

“Am I hungry!” shouted Puggsy. “I haven’t had anything to eat for a million years.”

Henry laughed. “That sounds like you, Ben,” he said.

“Well,” said Tom Nelson, “it has been a long time. We started out with a big sack of food for you, but we had to leave it in the snow.”

Jessie said, “Violet, I’m sure we can eat that stew7 now. It’s all cooked anyway, and it is nice and hot. Now, take seats at the table. I’ve found three more dishes for chicken stew.”

“Chicken stew?” said Puggsy. “I’ve never heard of that.”

“It’s delicious,” said Benny.

“Well, if you say so,” said Puggsy, looking at him.

They all began to eat the chicken stew. Mr. Nelson said, “How thankful we are to be here!” He drew a long breath.

While the others were eating more stew, Violet and Jessie made the snow ice cream. They mixed the soft, white snow with the milk and sugar and currant jelly8. It was a lovely pink color.

“Wouldn’t Grandfather laugh at this ice cream!” said Benny. Then he told the Nelsons about the message from Mr. Alden that had come over the Greenfield radio station.

“But Grandfather didn’t know that you were coming,” he added.

Just then everyone heard a strange humming sound outdoors.

“What’s that?” asked Jessie. She stopped to listen.

“A helicopter!” shouted Benny. “I know that sound! Where’s my jacket?” He was out of the door in a second, putting on his jacket as he ran. Henry was right behind him.

The sound grew louder. The helicopter seemed to be standing9 still in the air right above the hunters’ cabin.

“The pilot can’t land here,” Benny said. “What’s he going to do?”

“Get back, Benny!” shouted Henry. “The pilot is throwing something out.”

Bump10! Something hit the cleared spot where the boys had shoveled11.

“Hay!” Benny exclaimed. “Just the way they throw hay out to cattle lost in the snow. But how did Grandfather know about the deer? We can’t eat hay.”

But now Tom Nelson was outside, too. He said, “Benny, it’s a haylift. There’s something inside the hay. They put the hay around it for a soft landing. It’s a good thing you shoveled out this place! That showed the pilot that you can pick up anything he drops.”

The helicopter flew low and the pilot waved both arms. The helicopter made such a noise the boys couldn’t hear a word. The pilot hovered12 over the cabin. Suddenly he held a blackboard out of the door.

CAN’T LAND.
MESSAGE IN HAY.
BACK IN 2 HOURS.

The boys nodded their heads back and forth13, and waved their arms again.

Off flew the helicopter.

The boys dragged the bale of hay into the narrow path. The others were watching from the window. Then the boys dragged the bale into the house and everyone began to pull off the hay.

“Don’t go too near the fire with that hay!” said Jessie. “We don’t want a fire as well as a blizzard14.”

Then they found the packages.

“Canned milk,” said Henry. “And canned peaches.”

“Loaves of bread,” said Jessie.

“And a bag of sugar and lots of hamburger meat,” said Benny. “And that’s all. It’s lucky that the sugar was wrapped in the hay. We would have sugar all over everything if the bag had broken.”

“And now where’s the message?” asked Henry. “That’s most important of all.”

“Here it is,” said Benny. “A card all done up in plastic.”

Henry read it aloud:

From Your Grandfather: The State Police and the Highway Department will get you home as planned. Find something big for a message. Print what you need in large letters. Lay the sign on the snow. The pilot will come again and drop whatever you need. Tell me how you are.

“What can we write our message on?” asked Jessie.

“Oh, dear,” said Violet. “We haven’t anything big enough! And no paint or ink.”

“Let’s look around,” said Benny. He sat down and began to look at everything in the room. Jessie went into the bedrooms to look. Nothing was big enough. There was not even a big calendar on the wall.

The Nelsons tried to think, too.

“It can be either light or dark,” said Violet, “if it is big enough.”

“What will you print with?” asked Puggsy.

“Wait until we settle our first problem, Puggsy,” said Henry. “We must find a big card or something.”

Benny had looked all around the living room and at last his eyes came back to the window.

“Look!” he said. He pointed15 to the dark green window shade.

“Oh, Benny,” cried Violet. “The very thing! It’s the only thing in this whole cabin that’s big enough.”

Henry stood on the window seat and took down the shade. He unrolled it on the floor.

“You stand on this end, Puggsy,” he said. Benny was already standing on the other end. It was perfect for a big sign!

“Now Problem Number Two,” said Henry. “We will have to print with something white. And we haven’t any chalk. A prize to the one who thinks of something that will work.”

“I’d like to get that prize,” said Puggsy.

His mother said, “Well, then start thinking, Puggsy.”

It was Violet who came up with an idea at last. She said, “I’m not sure it will work. But we can try one letter and see.”

“What are you going to print?” asked Barbara Nelson. “What do you need?”

“We need three sleeping bags for you,” Jessie said. “You will freeze if we don’t get something before night. Now, what’s your idea, Violet?”

“I’ve done this before,” said Violet, “but never so big. Print the letters with water first. Then shake on the salt thickly, and when it dries shake off the loose salt.”

“I bet it will work,” said Benny. “Let’s try. Violet, you’re the best printer and painter. Start with an S as big as this.”

He traced a letter about four inches tall for Violet.

“We’re lucky to have water,” said Benny. He brought a cupful of water. Jessie set down the box of salt.

Violet went down on her hands and knees. She dipped her finger many times in the water and made a big, wet figure 3. Then she shook on plenty of salt. “Let it dry a minute,” she said. “I’ll go on with the S for sleeping bags.” Everyone watched her.

After the letter S was made, Violet said, “Now let’s shake the salt off the 3.”

Henry lifted the corner and shook the salt into the fireplace. A beautiful white figure 3 stayed on the shade!

“Good, good!” shouted Benny. “It works! I knew it would!”

When “3 SLEEPING BAGS” had been written, Jessie said, “We ought to tell Grandfather why we want them. I think just the word Nelsons would be enough. He’ll know they came to help us.”

Violet was already printing “3 NELSONS.” She said, “I’m going to say ‘FINE.’ Grandfather will know that we mean we are all fine.”

Benny said, “Say thanks for the hay. He will think that is funny.”

“Yes, I think he will,” said Henry, laughing. “And he’ll know it’s you, Benny. It sounds like you. It will do him good.”

When the sign was done, Henry said, “Let’s put it out now. The pilot may come early.”

“Maybe we’ll have to put stones on the corners,” said Benny, putting on his jacket.

“And where will we ever find stones in all this snow?” asked Tom Nelson.

“Our nut cracking stones!” said Jessie. “Better take four with you. Then you won’t have to come back.”

There was not much wind now, and it had stopped snowing. The boys laid the big sign on the snow. The wind lifted the corners a little, so they put a flat stone on each corner.

“That’s neat,” said Benny. Then he stopped short. “Henry,” he said, “let’s get that hay and put it out here for the deer.”

“Good!” said Henry. “They will find it after we go in.”

This idea pleased Jessie. She cleaned up the floor. Tom Nelson helped the boys carry the hay out and put it near the bird feeder.

“Listen!” said Benny, turning around again.

“Yes!” said Henry. “The helicopter is coming—lucky we put our sign out right away. The pilot’s a little early.”

The family inside heard the helicopter, too. They all tried to look out the window at once.

On came the pilot until he hovered right over the boys. They saw him laugh as he read the message. He had his blackboard ready. “BACK IN ONE HOUR.” Then away he went.

The boys rolled up the window shade and took it in. As Benny hung up his jacket he said, “We can brush off the salt later. That shade will be as good as new.”

“Let’s wash the dishes while we wait,” Barbara said.

“Not you,” said Jessie. “You just watch.”

But Barbara Nelson was already piling up the funny empty dishes.

“Isn’t it a good thing we heated water, Jessie?” asked Violet. “It’s just right for the dishes.”

Tom Nelson felt better now. He had eaten something. He said, “Henry, just where do you think those squirrels17 are?”

“Come into my bedroom and you’ll hear them yourself.”

Benny and Puggsy went with them, and right near the chimney they could hear scratchings and scramblings.

“Well,” said Tom Nelson, “I should say there was a mama squirrel16 up there as well as papa. They must have several children with them. You see the young ones are spring squirrels, and now they are just as big as their parents. I think they plan to live here all winter.”

Henry laughed. “And we spoiled their plans. We bother the squirrels instead of their bothering us. They came here first.”

“Exactly,” said Tom. “They’re afraid now. Those squirrels probably have a bushel of nuts up there and a beautiful nest. Goodness knows what it is made of.”

Benny said, “I’d like to see that nest. The ceiling is just made of thin boards, isn’t it? Couldn’t you make a hole in the ceiling, Henry?”

“I could, but I won’t,” said Henry. “We don’t want a family of squirrels coming down to live with us.”

Puggsy said, “Dad, do you think the squirrels were down here once?”

“I don’t think these squirrels were,” Tom Nelson said. He looked around uneasily18 and went on, “But I think some squirrels got into the big room of the cabin once. We found a newspaper that seemed to have been chewed by squirrels, but no squirrels.”

Henry said, “Maybe a hunter shooed those squirrels out and didn’t throw away the old newspaper.”

“That’s what I thought,” Tom said, and he still looked troubled. “Squirrels can do a lot of harm to books and papers.”

“There’s not much they can hurt here,” Henry said. Then he remembered that there was something important—something mysterious—the Nelsons wanted to find here. Perhaps it was something squirrels could destroy. Why didn’t Tom tell the Aldens what it was? They could show him the code. But he kept his secret.

“We’re lucky this cabin has a good roof over us and the squirrels,” said Benny. “The snow is four feet thick. It looks just like a big birthday cake that’s mostly frosting.”

“Four feet!” said Tom. “Yes, it must be. That is a big load for this little roof.”

He didn’t know that some of that snow was falling through the hole the squirrels had made in the roof. It was piling up in the attic19.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 hook oc5xa     
vt.钩住;n.钩子,钩状物
参考例句:
  • The blacksmith forged a bar of iron into a hook.铁匠把一根铁条锻造成一个钩子。
  • He hangs up his scarf on the hook behind the door.他把围巾挂在门后的衣钩上。
2 sniffed ccb6bd83c4e9592715e6230a90f76b72     
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》
3 licked cc44423320e8979294d71cbc42dbad80     
舔( lick的过去式和过去分词 ); 打败; (波浪)轻拍; (火焰)吞卷
参考例句:
  • He licked his fingers. 他舔了一下自己的手指。
  • The flames of the fire licked the sides of the fireplace. 火焰卷烧着壁炉的边缘。
4 fireplace YjUxz     
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。
5 couch mzfxf     
n.睡椅,长沙发椅;vt.表达,隐含
参考例句:
  • Lie down on the couch if you're feeling ill.如果你感觉不舒服就躺到沙发上去。
  • The rabbIt'sprang from its grassy couch.兔子从草丛中跳出。
6 propped 557c00b5b2517b407d1d2ef6ba321b0e     
支撑,支持,维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He sat propped up in the bed by pillows. 他靠着枕头坐在床上。
  • This fence should be propped up. 这栅栏该用东西支一支。
7 stew 0GTz5     
n.炖汤,焖,烦恼;v.炖汤,焖,忧虑
参考例句:
  • The stew must be boiled up before serving.炖肉必须煮熟才能上桌。
  • There's no need to get in a stew.没有必要烦恼。
8 jelly KaBz4     
n.冻,果子冻,胶状物
参考例句:
  • We had toast and jelly at breakfast.我们早餐吃的是烤面包和果冻。
  • The medicine was a clear jelly.这种药是透明的胶状物。
9 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。
10 bump rWUzQ     
v.(against,into)碰,颠簸;n.碰撞,隆起物
参考例句:
  • I heard a bump in the next room.我听到隔壁房间传来“砰”的一声。
  • He got a bad bump on his forehead.他碰得前额隆起一个大包。
11 shoveled e51ace92204ed91d8925ad365fab25a3     
vt.铲,铲出(shovel的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • The hungry man greedily shoveled the food into his mouth. 那个饥饿的人贪婪地、大口大口地吃。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • They shoveled a path through the snow. 他们在雪中铲出一条小路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
12 hovered d194b7e43467f867f4b4380809ba6b19     
鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 ); 靠近(某事物); (人)徘徊; 犹豫
参考例句:
  • A hawk hovered over the hill. 一只鹰在小山的上空翱翔。
  • A hawk hovered in the blue sky. 一只老鹰在蓝色的天空中翱翔。
13 forth Hzdz2     
adv.向前;向外,往外
参考例句:
  • The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
  • He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
14 blizzard 0Rgyc     
n.暴风雪
参考例句:
  • The blizzard struck while we were still on the mountain.我们还在山上的时候暴风雪就袭来了。
  • You'll have to stay here until the blizzard blows itself off.你得等暴风雪停了再走。
15 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。
16 squirrel oGyzl     
n.松鼠,松鼠的毛皮;vt.贮藏以备用
参考例句:
  • The squirrel makes a store of nuts for the winter.松鼠贮藏坚果以备过冬。
  • A squirrel hoards nuts for the winter.松鼠为过冬贮藏坚果。
17 squirrels 0e988e0e8dec56e3bb331e110109cc24     
n.松鼠( squirrel的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Squirrels are arboreal creatures. 松鼠是栖于树上的动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Red squirrels are now very rare in Britain. 红色松鼠在英国已十分罕见了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
18 uneasily uneasily     
adv. 不安地, 局促地
参考例句:
  • I wondered uneasily if anything had happened to the children. 我忐忑不安地揣测孩子们是不是出了什么事。
  • They looked unsure and shifted uneasily from foot to foot. 他们看上去没有把握,站在那儿左右脚换来换去不安地晃着。
19 attic Hv4zZ     
n.顶楼,屋顶室
参考例句:
  • Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
  • What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理?
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