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儿童英语读物 The Mystery on the Train CHAPTER 3 Meeting Annie

时间:2017-08-21 07:10来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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As the Aldens explored the train, they found out it was very long. The children counted twenty cars. On one end were the sleeping cars and on the other there were many coach cars with big, comfortable seats. The porters1 were handing out pillows. “A lot of people sleep all night sitting up in the seats,” Jessie said. “We’re lucky we have beds.”

“I’ll bet2 those big seats are pretty comfortable,” Benny said. “But I like our slumbercoaches.”

They loved walking from car to car and feeling the way the floor rolled beneath them. Benny said, “It’s a little like sailing, isn’t it?”

“Not really,” Henry said thoughtfully3. “It’s more like flying in an airplane, I think.”

“I think it’s exactly like riding in a train,” Jessie said, laughing.

They walked all the way to the end of the train and turned around. On their way back, they stopped to look at the club car. The club car had tables and chairs and, at one end, there was a snack bar where a woman was selling drinks and snacks. “Let’s sit here,” Henry said. He pointed4 to an empty table with four chairs.

“I think I’ll have a snack,” Benny said.

“Just get a drink for now,” Jessie said. “It’s almost time for dinner.”

Benny smiled at the thought of dinner and looked out the window of the club car. He said, “I know we’re moving and the trees are standing5 still. But when I look out the window, it seems as if the trees are running away.”

Benny got a drink and they sat and watched the people parade through the train. The train was filled with people of many ages and some were quite dressed up. Others wore jeans and T-shirts or sweaters. There were four women who were playing cards at a table next to them. Other people were talking or reading. Some stared out the window at the darkening sky. Everyone looked very relaxed.

A woman in uniform came through ringing a bell and singing out, “First call for dinner.”

“We’d better go,” Henry said. “Aunt Jane is waiting for us.”

“I wonder what dinner will be like,” Jessie said.

“Let’s get Aunt Jane and go and see,” Benny said.

When they returned, Aunt Jane was sitting in her little compartment6 reading. She asked, “Well, did you see everything?”

“Not everything,” Jessie admitted. “It is a very long train.”

“We saw a lot,” Benny added. “We saw the coach cars and the snack bar in the club car.” Then he added, “Is it time for dinner yet? I’m hungry.”

Aunt Jane laughed and said, “I suppose we can go to the early seating. Then you might want to watch the sunset from the dome7 coach.”

“Where is the dome coach?” Henry asked. “We missed that.”

“The dome coach is the only two-story car on this train,” Aunt Jane explained. “We have to climb some stairs and then there’s a coach that has a glass roof. We can watch the sunset and the stars.”

“That sounds great!” Violet8 said.

The dining car was almost full when they got there. Henry said, “The tables only hold four people. We’ll have to split9 up.”

“That will be fun,” Jessie said. “We can meet new people.”

Violet and Aunt Jane sat with a young couple. Benny, Jessie, and Henry were joined by a man who was all alone. He was a slender10, dark-haired man with a dark beard. He was wearing sunglasses.

“Is this your first train trip?” Benny asked the man.

He nodded his head but said nothing.

Benny thought he had better not ask any more questions, since the man didn’t seem to want to answer.

There were menus on the table and Benny looked his over carefully. When the waiter came by to fill his water glass, he said, “I’ll have a hamburger, please.”

“You must write out your order,” the waiter explained. He showed Benny the order pad11 and pencil. “First, circle your drink choice,” the waiter said.

Benny circled milk and then he wrote down the word “hamburger.” He handed his order to the waiter and said, “I’ve never had to write down an order before.”

“Trains always ask you to write down your choices,” the waiter explained, smiling. “It saves a lot of trouble.”

“It’s a good idea,” Benny said.

The others all wrote down spaghetti with meatballs. Then Benny said, “I bet they have you write everything down because of the noise.”

“It is noisy,” Henry agreed.

“I like the sound,” Jessie said. “It sounds like the wheels are singing.”

Very soon, the waiter came back with their orders and Henry, Jessie, and Benny started eating their dinners. When they were about halfway12 through, the man at their table stood up and nodded, then left.

“He didn’t eat much,” Jessie observed.

“I think he was having trouble with his beard,” Henry said. “He seemed to let it get in his way when he tried to chew.”

“Maybe it was a new beard,” Jessie said.

“It takes a while to grow a beard that long,” Henry said. “I don’t think it could be too new.”

“Why do you think he was wearing sunglasses?” Benny asked.

“Maybe he’s a famous movie star and doesn’t want to be recognized,” Jessie said.

When dinner was over, Violet came over to their table and sat down at the empty place. She said, “That was fun. Now we have two new friends. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson were married last week and they’re going to visit her mother in Madison, Wisconsin. They were very nice. What was the man who sat with you like?”

“We don’t know. He didn’t say a word,” Henry said.

Jessie added, “I had a hard time not laughing. His beard kept getting into his soup.”

“That’s probably why he was so quiet,” Benny said. “I’m glad I don’t have a beard to get in my way when I eat dinner.”

“He was sort of strange,” Henry said.

“I wonder what happened to that art student,” Violet said. “Do you think we’ll see her again?”

“Probably,” Jessie said.

“Maybe not,” Henry said. “It’s a big train.”

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” Violet added. “Let’s go find the dome coach and watch the sunset.”

The four children made their way through the cars until they came to the dome coach. They climbed the stairs to the second story and looked around. There were many chairs and two sofas arranged so that they looked out of the big open windows.

The chairs on the side of the sunset were all filled so the children stood as they watched a big red sun sink below the city buildings. “I wonder where we are,” Henry said. “I have a map but I’m not sure if we are still in Massachusetts or New York state. I’ll ask the conductor.”

“I don’t know where we are now,” Jessie answered. “But Aunt Jane says when we wake up in the morning we’ll be in Indiana.”

The sun was almost completely gone. There was just a small red stripe13 behind the trees they were passing. Benny said, “I’m sleepy. Is it time to go to bed yet?”

“Not quite,” Henry answered. “Are you really sleepy or do you just want to see how our room turns into a bedroom?”

Benny smiled and said, “I think it will be fun to sleep on the top bunk14. Can tonight be my turn?”

“Sure,” Henry answered, “but it is too early to go to sleep. Want to walk around some more?”

“Let’s stay here,” Violet said quickly. Then she whispered, “That red-haired art student is over there. I’d really like to talk to her.”

They all looked in the direction Violet pointed. The young woman they’d seen on the platform was sitting in a chair at the end of the observation car. Henry said, “She is drawing. Maybe she really is an art student.”

“I guessed right,” Violet said. “Does she have her portfolio15 with her?”

“No. Just a sketch16 pad.”

“I’m going to talk with her,” Violet said. Violet went over and sat down in the empty chair beside the red-haired young woman. She didn’t seem to notice Violet and kept right on working on her drawing.

Violet sat for a while and then she said quietly, “I’m Violet Alden. I’m an artist, too.”

The young woman looked up and smiled. She said, “I’m Annie Perkins. I’m not really an artist but sketching17 is my hobby.”

“Were you sketching the sunset?” Violet asked.

“No.” Annie shook her head. “It is too difficult to draw landscapes from a moving train. Besides, I like to sketch people. I was sketching that woman over there.” Annie nodded her head slightly.

“May I see?” Violet asked.

Annie passed the sketchbook over to Violet. Violet looked at the drawing and then at the woman. “It’s great, it looks just like her.”

“That’s because she’s got a long nose,” Annie said. “It’s easy if people have at least one unusual feature.”

Violet and Annie began to talk about drawing. “I like to draw noses,” Annie said. “I usually get them right. The hardest parts of people are their chins,” Annie said.

“Yes,” Violet agreed. “Noses are easy. But my favorite thing to draw is ears. I’m very good on ears.”

“Are those your brothers and sister over there?” Annie asked.

“Yes,” Violet answered.

“Why don’t you ask them to come over?” Annie said.

Henry, Jessie, and Benny joined Violet and Annie and everyone introduced themselves.

“Do you have other sketches18 with you?” Violet asked. “I would love to see some of your other work.”

“Yes,” Jessie agreed.

“I only have the one drawing,” Annie said.

“We saw you carrying a large portfolio when you got on the train,” Henry said. “Do you have your artwork in that?”

Annie shut her sketchbook quickly and said, “Those drawings don’t count. They’re old.”

“I’d love to see even the older things,” Violet said. “I’ll bet I could learn a lot from you.”

Annie seemed very nervous as she said, “I don’t have any other sketches to show.”

“Oh, well, we’ll have lots of sketches by the end of the trip,” Violet said.

“We’re going to see my Uncle Andy in San Francisco. His wife, Aunt Jane, gave us this train trip as a special surprise. Where are you going?” Jessie asked, trying to change the subject. It was clear Annie didn’t want to talk about her portfolio.

Annie smiled quickly and said, “I’m going to San Francisco, too. Now that I’m out of high school, I can live wherever I want. I’ll go to art school in San Francisco and live with my Uncle Bob there.”

“Was that woman on the platform your grandmother?” Henry asked.

Annie flushed19. “You saw the quarrel on the platform? That was my Aunt Ellen. She’s really my great-aunt. My parents were killed five years ago in a car crash and I’ve been living with her. But now I’m going to live with my father’s youngest brother—Uncle Bob.”

“Your aunt seemed very upset,” Violet said gently.

Annie said, “I guess she was upset that I was leaving. But I need to live my own life. My aunt doesn’t want me to go to art school. She tried to take my portfolio from me so I wouldn’t have anything to show. Then the art school wouldn’t let me in.”

The Aldens noticed that Annie’s face was flushed and she was looking down at her sketchbook as she said this. Annie stood up, said good night, and quickly left the dome coach.

Then Jessie said, “I think all that talk about Annie’s aunt upset her.”

“Yes, she seems unhappy about something,” Violet said. “When I asked to see her work, she seemed quite nervous.”

“Maybe the portfolio doesn’t have art in it at all,” Benny said.

“It’s very big but thin,” Jessie said. “Not much else would fit in a portfolio.”

“There is something in there that both women wanted,” Henry said. “That was quite a tug-of-war on the platform.”

“It could be stuffed20 with stolen jewels,” Benny said. His eyes lit up.

“Annie’s not a jewel thief,” Violet said quickly. “She’s just a young art student who is moving from Massachusetts to California. If she says she has her artwork in her portfolio, I believe her.”

“If the artwork is only Annie’s then it can’t be valuable,” Henry pointed out. “She’s just a student.”

Violet shook her head and said, “Annie was really nice. Just because she seemed nervous doesn’t make her suspicious21. But you know, I do think she’s upset about something more than leaving her aunt.”


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 porters 57fed89fba417b8a403e052536b6e4d6     
n.门童( porter的名词复数 );搬运工人;(医院里护送病人的)护工;(尤指卧铺车厢的)列车服务员
参考例句:
  • The porters scratched up the desk. 搬运工人们把桌子刮坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The footman and two porters began to load luggage onto the carriage. 仆人和两个脚夫开始把行李抬上马车。 来自辞典例句
2 bet ddZy8     
v.打赌,以(与)...打赌;n.赌注,赌金;打赌
参考例句:
  • I bet you can't do this puzzle.我敢说,你解决不了这个难题。
  • I offered to bet with him.我提出与他打赌。
3 thoughtfully aoiwf     
ad.考虑周到地
参考例句:
  • She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. 她若有所思地抚摩着下巴。
  • The man pulled thoughtfully at his pipe before commenting on our proposal. 那人若有所思地吸了口烟,然后就我们的建议发表自己的见解。
4 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。
5 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。
6 compartment dOFz6     
n.卧车包房,隔间;分隔的空间
参考例句:
  • We were glad to have the whole compartment to ourselves.真高兴,整个客车隔间由我们独享。
  • The batteries are safely enclosed in a watertight compartment.电池被安全地置于一个防水的隔间里。
7 dome 7s2xC     
n.圆屋顶,拱顶
参考例句:
  • The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
  • They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。
8 violet 8h3wm     
adj.紫色的;n.紫罗兰
参考例句:
  • She likes to wear violet dresses.他喜欢穿紫色的衣服。
  • Violet is the color of wisdom,peace and strength.紫色是智慧的,和平的和力量的颜色。
9 split avXwG     
n.劈开,裂片,裂口;adj.分散的;v.分离,分开,劈开
参考例句:
  • Who told you that Mary and I had split up?谁告诉你玛丽和我已经离婚了?
  • The teacher split the class up into six groups.老师把班级分成6个小组。
10 slender 8EYzJ     
adj.苗条的,修长的;微薄的,微弱的
参考例句:
  • Everybody of us admired her slender figure.我们人人都羡慕她的苗条身材。
  • The girl was pretty and slender.那姑娘长得美丽苗条。
11 pad 0S2zy     
n.垫,衬垫;便签本,印色盒
参考例句:
  • She made a brief note on the telephone pad.她在电话通讯簿上记下简短的话。
  • Each student should have a pencil and pad.每个学生应该有一支铅笔和一个便签本。
12 halfway Xrvzdq     
adj.中途的,不彻底的,部分的;adv.半路地,在中途,在半途
参考例句:
  • We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路,天就黑了。
  • In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上,最忌讳的是有始无终。
13 stripe mtvwa     
n.线条,条纹
参考例句:
  • Cut chicken breast into stripe. Season with the pepper and salt.鸡胸肉切条状,以胡椒及盐调味。
  • The plates have a blue stripe round the edge.这些盘子边缘上有一道蓝线。
14 bunk zWyzS     
n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位;废话
参考例句:
  • He left his bunk and went up on deck again.他离开自己的铺位再次走到甲板上。
  • Most economists think his theories are sheer bunk.大多数经济学家认为他的理论纯属胡说。
15 portfolio 9OzxZ     
n.公事包;文件夹;大臣及部长职位
参考例句:
  • He remembered her because she was carrying a large portfolio.他因为她带着一个大公文包而记住了她。
  • He resigned his portfolio.他辞去了大臣职务。
16 sketch UEyyG     
n.草图;梗概;素描;v.素描;概述
参考例句:
  • My sister often goes into the country to sketch. 我姐姐常到乡间去写生。
  • I will send you a slight sketch of the house.我将给你寄去房屋的草图。
17 sketching 2df579f3d044331e74dce85d6a365dd7     
n.草图
参考例句:
  • They are sketching out proposals for a new road. 他们正在草拟修建新路的计划。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • "Imagination is busy sketching rose-tinted pictures of joy. “飞舞驰骋的想象描绘出一幅幅玫瑰色欢乐的场景。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
18 sketches 8d492ee1b1a5d72e6468fd0914f4a701     
n.草图( sketch的名词复数 );素描;速写;梗概
参考例句:
  • The artist is making sketches for his next painting. 画家正为他的下一幅作品画素描。
  • You have to admit that these sketches are true to life. 你得承认这些素描很逼真。 来自《简明英汉词典》
19 flushed hstzqh     
a.(~with sth.)兴奋的,充满喜悦的
参考例句:
  • She flushed with anger. 她气得涨红了脸。
  • Her face was flushed with anger. 她的脸气红了。
20 stuffed c07925943917d17397a704e4a3632ff2     
adj.充满的;饱的v.塞住( stuff的过去式和过去分词 );把…装进;把…装满;(使)吃撑
参考例句:
  • stuffed animals in glass cases 玻璃柜里的动物标本
  • I was stuffed to the gills with chocolate cake. 我嘴里塞满了巧克力蛋糕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
21 suspicious DrLw1     
adj.可疑的,容易引起怀疑的,猜疑的,疑心的
参考例句:
  • A man was hanging about the house in a suspicious manner.一个男人在房子周围可疑地荡来荡去。
  • He's so suspicious he would distrust his own mother.他这个人疑心太重,连自己的母亲也不相信。
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