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儿童英语读物 The Ghost Ship Mystery CHAPTER 3 Windows Rattle

时间:2017-08-03 08:28来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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By six o’clock in the morning, rays of sunlight squeezed through the shutters1. It was warm in the sitting room. The heat was on again. Henry was sound asleep right next to the Peases’ dog, Blackie.

“Shh, Benny,” Mrs. Pease said when she came in to check on her sleeping guests. “The electricity and heat came back on at four. We told Henry to leave the fire and get some sleep in his own bed upstairs. But he wouldn’t leave you children. He’s been sleeping on the floor for two hours.”

“Well he won’t be sleeping much longer. Look!” Benny cried.

Blackie was licking Henry’s face and making the same kind of whining2 noises Watch always made to get the Aldens up.

“It’s too early, Watch,” Henry mumbled3 when he felt the dog’s wet nose on his face. “Go back to sleep.”

The Aldens and the other guests couldn’t help laughing.

“Here, boy, here,” Jessie called to Blackie.

The dog trotted4 over to Jessie and looked up at her. She patted his smooth, black forehead. “I’ll take you outside.”

The word “outside” was magic. Just like Watch, Blackie raced around in circles while Jessie got his leash5.

“I guess all dogs are the same,” Benny laughed.

“And I guess two hours is all the sleep I’m going to get,” Henry said, yawning.

The Peases urged their guests to go back to their rooms for real sleep. It was no use. Everyone wanted to see what damage the storm had done.

“Let’s get dressed,” Benny said. “I want to see the ocean!”

“Wouldn’t you like some breakfast first?” Mrs. Pease asked.

“Wow! I almost forgot!” Benny answered.

The Aldens sat down to breakfast when Jessie came back with Blackie. “The town needs volunteers to help with the clean-up,” she told everyone. “There are branches and papers and things blown all over. Anyone who wants to help should meet down at the beach in half an hour.”

“I’d better have some seconds on those Bennycakes,” Benny said. “Cleaning up a whole town is going to make me hungry!”

The minute they had finished, the Aldens said good-bye to their grandfather and raced through the old, narrow streets.

“Everything is blown all over the place,” Violet said when she looked around.

Ragged6 Cove7 did look a bit topsy-turvy. Store signs were hanging crookedly8 from buildings. Window boxes had smashed onto the streets.

“Looks like the whole town is here,” Jessie said when the children reached the crowded beach and docks.

Owners were busy putting their boats back into the water. Mr. Pease was holding a clipboard. A younger man in a blue sailor cap handed out big black trash bags and work gloves to the volunteers.

Mr. Pease waved to the Aldens. “Come over here and meet Captain Bob. He’s organizing the litter crew. Captain Bob, meet the Aldens—Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny. Best crew you could ever have.”

“Welcome aboard,” the young man said.

Mr. Pease teased Captain Bob. “Now don’t talk boat-talk today, Bob. Not unless you want to upset this crew. They were counting on a whale watch ride on the Jonah during their visit.”

The young man’s smile suddenly disappeared. “No boat rides anytime soon,” he told the children.

This didn’t stop Benny Alden. “You don’t know how fast we work. We can get everything shipshape today. Then maybe could we go for a boat ride?”

Captain Bob shook his head. “Sorry, I have to drive up the coast with my truck tomorrow, once we get Ragged Cove in shape. I can’t see my way clear for awhile.”

Benny was about to speak until he saw Henry give him a look. He knew what that look meant: Button up, Benny!

With some of the other volunteers, the Aldens set off through Ragged Cove with a street map, trash bags, some work gloves, and brooms.

“I never cleaned a town before,” Benny said, sounding as if he were on a treasure hunt instead of a clean-up. “Maybe we’ll find something.”

The Aldens found lots of things. Wet newspapers, boxes, bottles, even a sandy old sneaker went into a garbage bag. Then the children fanned out through the town to gather up the broken branches that were lying everywhere.

By afternoon, their group was finished with their work. They reported back to the beach where Captain Bob was directing a group of teenagers raking the sand.

“What else can we do?” Henry asked the captain.

Captain Bob pushed back his cap. “Unless you can drive a pick-up truck, not much else. We’re shipshape here.”

Benny tugged9 on the captain’s sleeve. “You think you’ll take your whale watching boat out tomorrow?”

Jessie tried to shush Benny, but she was too late.

Again, the man looked upset when Benny mentioned the boat. “I told you, I have work up the coast to do. I won’t be going out on my boat for awhile.”

Benny pulled down his sailor cap and tried not to get upset. “Sorry,” he apologized.

Captain Bob turned away from the children. He didn’t seem to want the Aldens bothering him.

Henry handed over the work gloves, brooms, and extra bags without saying anything to Captain Bob. He turned to his brother: “Come on, Benny. Violet had a good idea in the middle of the night. Let’s see if we can find the grave of the lost sailor from the Flying Cloud. Wouldn’t that be interesting?”

Captain Bob spun10 around and faced the children again. “Why don’t you kids get going—I’ve got work to do.”

Henry’s eyebrows11 went up.

“All right, Captain Bob,” Jessie said softly.

The Aldens slowly walked toward the town. They didn’t say anything right away. All of them were puzzled.

Benny kicked sand every few steps. “Why did Captain Bob get angry after we did a good job?”

Jessie shook her head. “I don’t know, Benny. Maybe he was up working all night and got in a bad mood.”

Henry put his arm around his younger brother. “Maybe he’s upset about losing business because of the storm. Mr. Pease seems to like him, so let’s not say anything. Jessie might be right that he’s just in a bad mood from working too hard.”

“What about what that guest said about Captain Bob last night?” Violet asked.

Henry walked along. “You mean that the museum curator says Captain Bob is no better than a pirate? That’s probably just a lot of talk.”

Violet turned around to take another look at Captain Bob. He was off in the distance putting up benches that had blown over. “I think it’s a lot of talk, too. Maybe somebody he loves is buried in the cemetery12 and thinking of them upset him.”

Henry smiled at his sister. “Maybe you’re right. We’ll be careful and respectful while we’re there.”

The children strolled toward a bluff13 that overlooked the town and the beach. Beach plum bushes lined the small road that led up to the cemetery.

The Aldens were quiet in this special spot. The cemetery looked very old. Many of the words on the gravestones were worn away by time and weather.

“It’s pretty here,” Violet said quietly. “You can see the town and the ocean in every direction.”

The children walked to the very top of the bluff. The oldest stones were there. They stopped in front of a section marked off by a rusting14 fence. A sign on it said: COFFIN15 Family Plot.

Jessie read some of the granite16 markers. “Oh look! There’s Emily Coffin’s gravestone —1844–1879. She only lived ten years after her husband drowned.”

“It’s so sad that he drowned at sea. They couldn’t be buried next to each other,” Violet said softly. “There’s an empty space between her grave and their children’s graves.”

The Aldens were silent for a few minutes. The wind had died down. They listened to the faint breeze blowing through the beach grass that surrounded the gravestones.

Jessie walked away first. In a minute she found what she was looking for. She waved her brothers and sister over.

“Here it is.” She pointed17 to a small, half buried gravestone. “Caleb Plummer. 1855– 1869. A brave young sailor, too late to save his ship.”

“Isn’t that the name in the book you read last night?” Henry asked.

Jessie nodded sadly. “Yes. He was fourteen, just like you, Henry. Everyone thought he rowed to shore to get help for the Flying Cloud. But he was too late.”

The children took one another’s hands. The sun was going down. Out in the cove they could see the boaters returning to the docks. A little farther out, they saw a dark figure rowing to shore.

“It’s time to leave,” Henry said quietly.

The children turned away from the graves of Caleb Plummer and Emily Coffin. They made their way back to town without a word and without seeing that the little rowboat had disappeared.

 


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 shutters 74d48a88b636ca064333022eb3458e1f     
百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 ); (照相机的)快门
参考例句:
  • The shop-front is fitted with rolling shutters. 那商店的店门装有卷门。
  • The shutters thumped the wall in the wind. 在风中百叶窗砰砰地碰在墙上。
2 whining whining     
n. 抱怨,牢骚 v. 哭诉,发牢骚
参考例句:
  • That's the way with you whining, puny, pitiful players. 你们这种又爱哭、又软弱、又可怜的赌棍就是这样。
  • The dog sat outside the door whining (to be let in). 那条狗坐在门外狺狺叫着(要进来)。
3 mumbled 3855fd60b1f055fa928ebec8bcf3f539     
含糊地说某事,叽咕,咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He mumbled something to me which I did not quite catch. 他对我叽咕了几句话,可我没太听清楚。
  • George mumbled incoherently to himself. 乔治语无伦次地喃喃自语。
4 trotted 6df8e0ef20c10ef975433b4a0456e6e1     
小跑,急走( trot的过去分词 ); 匆匆忙忙地走
参考例句:
  • She trotted her pony around the field. 她骑着小马绕场慢跑。
  • Anne trotted obediently beside her mother. 安妮听话地跟在妈妈身边走。
5 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。
6 ragged KC0y8     
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的
参考例句:
  • A ragged shout went up from the small crowd.这一小群人发出了刺耳的喊叫。
  • Ragged clothing infers poverty.破衣烂衫意味着贫穷。
7 cove 9Y8zA     
n.小海湾,小峡谷
参考例句:
  • The shore line is wooded,olive-green,a pristine cove.岸边一带林木蓊郁,嫩绿一片,好一个山外的小海湾。
  • I saw two children were playing in a cove.我看到两个小孩正在一个小海湾里玩耍。
8 crookedly crookedly     
adv. 弯曲地,不诚实地
参考例句:
  • A crow flew crookedly like a shadow over the end of the salt lake. 一只乌鸦像个影子般地在盐湖的另一边鬼鬼祟祟地飞来飞去的。
9 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》
10 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。
11 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。
12 cemetery ur9z7     
n.坟墓,墓地,坟场
参考例句:
  • He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
  • His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。
13 bluff ftZzB     
v.虚张声势,用假象骗人;n.虚张声势,欺骗
参考例句:
  • His threats are merely bluff.他的威胁仅仅是虚张声势。
  • John is a deep card.No one can bluff him easily.约翰是个机灵鬼。谁也不容易欺骗他。
14 rusting 58458e5caedcd1cfd059f818dae47166     
n.生锈v.(使)生锈( rust的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • There was an old rusting bolt on the door. 门上有一个生锈的旧门闩。 来自辞典例句
  • Zinc can be used to cover other metals to stop them rusting. 锌可用来涂在其他金属表面以防锈。 来自辞典例句
15 coffin XWRy7     
n.棺材,灵柩
参考例句:
  • When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
  • The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。
16 granite Kyqyu     
adj.花岗岩,花岗石
参考例句:
  • They squared a block of granite.他们把一块花岗岩加工成四方形。
  • The granite overlies the older rocks.花岗岩躺在磨损的岩石上面。
17 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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