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儿童英语读物 The Animal Shelter Mystery CHAPTER 2 Missing Person

时间:2017-07-07 03:12来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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The Aldens had their own alarm clock to wake them up every day. With the first ray of light, Watch stood by Jessie’s bed and pushed her with his nose. Then he visited Henry and Violet and did the same thing.

Benny needed something different to wake up. Watch tugged2 at the blankets until Benny opened his eyes.

“It’s still dark out,” Benny told the dog. He pulled the covers over his head.

Watch pulled them down again.

“Okay, boy, okay. I’ll get up. But that doesn’t mean I’ll wake up.”

Benny was wrong. Suddenly he remembered what was special about today. Wide awake now, he ran downstairs and rushed out to the porch. Too late. Violet, Jessie, and Henry were already there, feeding Patches bits of scrambled3 eggs.

“Is that my breakfast?” Benny cried.

Henry laughed. “Don’t worry, there’s plenty left in the kitchen.”

“Boy, for such a small cat, she sure eats a lot,” Benny told the housekeeper4, Mrs. McGregor, when he got to the kitchen.

Mrs. McGregor couldn’t help laughing. “And for such a small boy, you sure eat a lot!”

Benny helped himself to a heap of scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, and two pieces of toast with peanut butter. He had to make a second trip back to the kitchen to fill his pink cup with fresh-squeezed orange juice.

After breakfast, Henry and Benny helped Mrs. McGregor clean up. “There’s not even a crumb5 left on your plate to scrape into the garbage, Benny!” Henry said. “Here’s a dishtowel so you can dry these plates. I’m going to see how Jessie and Violet are doing on the cat carrier they’re making in the garage. We want to bring the cat along when we help Jessie with her paper route. Maybe someone along the way will know who her owner is.”

Benny was having a great time teasing Patches with a thread hanging from the dishtowel. “I wish she could belong to us,” he said.

“She belongs to us for now, at least until we find her owner,” Henry said. “I’m going out to the garage. See you in a few minutes.”

Thanks to fourteen-year-old Henry’s part-time summer job at Seed’s Hardware Store, the Aldens now had a well-equipped workshop in their grandfather’s garage. Henry had stacked up scrap6 lumber7, jars of shiny nails and tacks8, and the excellent tools Mr. Seed had lent him. The Aldens loved to fix things that were broken and build whatever they needed.

Today they needed a cat carrier, and Jessie was busy making one when Henry came into the garage. “The extra screening you brought back from the hardware store fits just right over this wooden fruit-box carrier, Henry,” Jessie told her brother.

“Good job, Jessie,” Henry said when he saw the cat carrier. “Now, what’re you up to, Violet?”

Violet was bent9 over some drawings at the end of the workbench. She held up a handful of FOUND CAT posters she had made. “Do you think anyone will recognize Patches?” she asked.

“I don’t think there’s another cat in Greenfield with a triangle on her nose like this one,” Henry answered.

Benny, too, had something to add when he came out to the garage. “Here’s my blanket,”he said. He folded the blanket so it fit into the carrier. “She’s all set.”

Henry looked around the garage, then out in the backyard. “Now all we need is the cat,” he said.

That was the hard part. Patches had just discovered Grandfather Alden’s vegetable garden. She was running in and out of the poles he had set up to grow his pea vines.

Jessie went into the house and came out again. “Here’s a spoonful of Mrs. McGregor’s tuna fish. Maybe Patches will come over to eat it, and we can catch her that way.”

Benny laughed. “No one can turn down Mrs. McGregor’s good tuna fish, especially a cat.”

When Patches smelled the fish, she ran to Jessie. She quickly licked the spoon, then cleaned her face and paws carefully. This gave Jessie a chance to get the cat into the carrier.

“It’s a great box, Jessie, but I don’t think she much likes it,” Henry told his sister.

Patches wasn’t just meowing now. She was howling mad.

In between the howls, the Aldens heard the thud of Jessie’s newspapers hitting the curb10. “My papers are here,” Jessie said. “Let’s fold them up quickly so we have plenty of time to talk to people along the way.”

When all the papers were folded, everyone set out to deliver them just the way Jessie did. Even Benny was careful to place each newspaper on the porch mat and not just toss it across the yard.

“No one’s up this early on our street,” Henry said when he came back for another armload of papers. “I’ll do the next street. Maybe more people will be out. I’ll ask them about the cat.”

But there was no one to ask. People in Greenfield were still asleep. The Aldens didn’t see anyone until they reached Acorn11 Street.

“There’s Mr. Clover delivering milk and eggs,” Benny said. “Mr. Clover! Mr. Clover! Do you know this cat?”

Mr. Clover put down his milk crate12 and looked into the cat carrier. Patches sniffed13 at Mr. Clover’s hand.

“I sure do,” Mr. Clover said. “Belongs to one of my customers, Miss Newcombe, over on Fox Den1 Road. How did you folks happen to get her?”

The Aldens all talked at once.

“Whoa.” Mr. Clover smiled. “How about you, Benny? You’re always full of good stories.”

Benny took a deep breath and told Mr. Clover all about how Patches had showed up thumping14 at the window the night before.

Everyone expected Mr. Clover to smile when Benny got to the part about reading the note all by himself. But Mr. Clover wasn’t smiling at all.

“You say the note wasn’t signed?” He looked upset. “That’s pretty odd, I must say. Up until I ran into you, I thought Miss Newcombe had gone on a trip and forgotten to cancel her weekly order for milk and eggs. Went there today, and the gate was locked up tight. Got a box of stuff to bring back to the dairy,” he said. He pointed15 into his truck.

“Why don’t you head over to Miss Newcombe’s while I finish my route? She lives at 264 Fox Den Road. Maybe she’s there by now. Tell her I’ll make another run by at the end of my route if she’ll just give me a call. I like to check on my older customers when I don’t see them around. Miss Newcombe is old and has no family left, so I keep an eye on her when I can. She’s very private, though, so I try not to meddle16.”

After Mr. Clover’s bright blue truck pulled away, the Aldens finished the rest of the route quickly. Even Jessie tossed the last few papers up to the porches instead of delivering them by hand. Everyone wanted to get to Fox Den Road as soon as they could.

“What Mr. Clover said doesn’t make sense,” Henry said when he delivered the last of the newspapers. “Miss Newcombe might have left town too quickly to cancel her order with Mr. Clover. But why did she take the time to write a note and deliver her cat to our house?”

Jessie was puzzled. “And why didn’t she sign the note?”

“Oh, where, oh, where is your owner, little cat?” Violet asked.

Patches whined17 in answer to Violet’s question.
 


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 den 5w9xk     
n.兽穴;秘密地方;安静的小房间,私室
参考例句:
  • There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
  • The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。
2 tugged 8a37eb349f3c6615c56706726966d38e     
v.用力拉,使劲拉,猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She tugged at his sleeve to get his attention. 她拽了拽他的袖子引起他的注意。
  • A wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. 他的嘴角带一丝苦笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 scrambled 2e4a1c533c25a82f8e80e696225a73f2     
v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞
参考例句:
  • Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 housekeeper 6q2zxl     
n.管理家务的主妇,女管家
参考例句:
  • A spotless stove told us that his mother is a diligent housekeeper.炉子清洁无瑕就表明他母亲是个勤劳的主妇。
  • She is an economical housekeeper and feeds her family cheaply.她节约持家,一家人吃得很省。
5 crumb ynLzv     
n.饼屑,面包屑,小量
参考例句:
  • It was the only crumb of comfort he could salvage from the ordeal.这是他从这场磨难里能找到的唯一的少许安慰。
  • Ruth nearly choked on the last crumb of her pastry.鲁斯几乎被糕点的最后一块碎屑所噎住。
6 scrap JDFzf     
n.碎片;废料;v.废弃,报废
参考例句:
  • A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
  • Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。
7 lumber a8Jz6     
n.木材,木料;v.以破旧东西堆满;伐木;笨重移动
参考例句:
  • The truck was sent to carry lumber.卡车被派出去运木材。
  • They slapped together a cabin out of old lumber.他们利用旧木料草草地盖起了一间小屋。
8 tacks 61d4d2c9844f9f1a76324ec2d251a32e     
大头钉( tack的名词复数 ); 平头钉; 航向; 方法
参考例句:
  • Never mind the side issues, let's get down to brass tacks and thrash out a basic agreement. 别管枝节问题,让我们讨论问题的实质,以求得基本一致。
  • Get down to the brass tacks,and quit talking round the subject. 谈实质问题吧,别兜圈子了。
9 bent QQ8yD     
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的
参考例句:
  • He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
  • We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。
10 curb LmRyy     
n.场外证券市场,场外交易;vt.制止,抑制
参考例句:
  • I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
  • You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。
11 acorn JoJye     
n.橡实,橡子
参考例句:
  • The oak is implicit in the acorn.橡树孕育于橡子之中。
  • The tree grew from a small acorn.橡树从一粒小橡子生长而来。
12 crate 6o1zH     
vt.(up)把…装入箱中;n.板条箱,装货箱
参考例句:
  • We broke open the crate with a blow from the chopper.我们用斧头一敲就打开了板条箱。
  • The workers tightly packed the goods in the crate.工人们把货物严紧地包装在箱子里。
13 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》
14 thumping hgUzBs     
adj.重大的,巨大的;重击的;尺码大的;极好的adv.极端地;非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词);狠打;怦怦地跳;全力支持
参考例句:
  • Her heart was thumping with emotion. 她激动得心怦怦直跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • He was thumping the keys of the piano. 他用力弹钢琴。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
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 meddle d7Xzb     
v.干预,干涉,插手
参考例句:
  • I hope he doesn't try to meddle in my affairs.我希望他不来干预我的事情。
  • Do not meddle in things that do not concern you.别参与和自己无关的事。
17 whined cb507de8567f4d63145f632630148984     
v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 );哀诉,诉怨
参考例句:
  • The dog whined at the door, asking to be let out. 狗在门前嚎叫着要出去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • He whined and pouted when he did not get what he wanted. 他要是没得到想要的东西就会发牢骚、撅嘴。 来自辞典例句
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