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儿童英语读物 The Basketball Mystery CHAPTER 10 Lost and Found

时间:2017-09-14 08:13来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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That afternoon, there were two trophies1 on the Aldens’ mantel. Mr. Alden took pictures of Henry, Jessie, and Violet standing2 with the twins in front of the fireplace. No one wanted to spoil the moment by mentioning that there were supposed to be three trophies in the picture.

“My lips ache,” Tipper said after everyone had finished posing. “I’ve never smiled so much in one day as I did today.”

“Same here,” said Buzz. “But save a few smiles for Great-Aunt Nora. We promised to be at her house in fifteen minutes. Let’s go.”

The Aldens followed the twins out to their car. The twins were going to visit some relatives for a couple of nights.

“So long, everyone,” Tipper said. “See you on Opening Day, trophy3 or no trophy.”

“Wait a moment,” Mr. Alden called out when he noticed a letter for Tipper in the mailbox. “Here’s a letter for you.”

“What an odd envelope.” Tipper tore it open. “It’s written in big block letters without a return address.” She unfolded the sheet of notebook paper inside. “Goodness!” she cried. “Listen:

“ ‘Your trophy is safe. You will find it at the sports center on Opening Day.’”

Tipper’s face grew pale. “Do you know anything about this?” she asked Buzz.

“Why are you asking me?” Buzz wanted to know. He started the car up. “Let’s not talk about this now. I don’t want to ruin our visit with Great-Aunt Nora.”

“Leave the note with us,” Jessie whispered. “Maybe we can figure it out.”

Tipper gave Jessie the note. After the twins drove off, Soo Lee and Benny held the piece of paper up to the sunlight.

“No fingerprints,” Benny said. “But know what? If we find out who writes like this, maybe we can find Tipper’s missing trophy.”

Soo Lee didn’t mean to giggle4, but she couldn’t help it. “I write in big letters! But I don’t know all my letters yet.”

The Aldens laughed over this, though Tipper’s missing trophy was no laughing matter.

The Aldens spent the next day decorating the sports center with balloons and streamers. They made signs showing where the celebrations were going to be. They set up the tables and chairs for refreshments5. And the whole time they worked, they kept their eyes open for Tipper’s trophy.

“I just went into Mr. Fowler’s office to ask about the folding chairs,” Henry told Jessie and Violet when he saw them putting up posters on a bulletin board.

“While Henry was talking, Soo Lee and I peeked6 on his desk,” Benny whispered. “But we didn’t see any pieces of paper like Tipper’s letter.”

“He writes with eensy-weensy letters,” Soo Lee added. “Not big, giant letters. We peeked in the closet, too, but there were only old paint cans in there.”

Jessie smiled. “Good work, you two. I just hope whoever wrote that note is right — that the trophy will be here tomorrow. But I sure would like to find it ahead of time.”

“Hey, Aldens,” the children heard Tom Hooper call out when he saw them. He set a messy stack of papers on the floor. “Here, use some double-sided tape, Jessie. That works better than plain tape for putting up signs.”

While Tom helped Jessie, Soo Lee and Benny pretended to pick up something from the floor.

“Thanks,” Tom said when he saw Benny and Soo Lee gathering7 up his papers. “So long, now. Just throw the tape in my tool-box when you’re done, Jessie. It’s in the office closet with my painting gear.”

“Tom didn’t have any paper like that note,” Benny whispered after Tom left. “And he has little bitsy handwriting, too.”

When the Aldens went to the office, Courtney was talking on the phone.

Jessie held up the roll of tape. “Don’t hang up. We’re just putting this back in Tom’s toolbox.”

By this time Courtney had hung up the phone. “Fine, just shut the office door when you leave. And don’t touch anything on this desk.”

So they didn’t. Instead, Benny and Soo Lee tried to see if any paper on Courtney’s desk matched the paper the mystery writer had used.

“Nope,” Benny said, looking over but not touching8 anything.

Outside, a cleaning person was pushing a cart down the hall.

“Look what fell off.” Henry picked up a sheet of paper with red marker letters on top. “It’s an old practice schedule for the Blazers. It says, ‘Give to Buzz.’ ”

Jessie looked over Henry’s shoulder. “It’s the schedule Buzz was supposed to get for the first practice. I guess Mr. Fowler forgot to give it to Buzz. Maybe the mix-up wasn’t on —”

“On purpose!” the Aldens heard Mr. Fowler say. “So that’s what everybody thinks? That I made things hard for Buzz Nettleton?”

The Aldens didn’t speak. They did believe Mr. Fowler made things hard for Buzz on purpose.

“Everybody’s wrong thinking I’m out to get Buzz. I had the record for ten years before he broke it. I knew somebody was going to break my record someday.”

By this time Courtney had come out to see what the commotion9 was all about. She overheard Frank getting upset. “You know what’s hard?” she asked, looking at the Aldens. “That everything Frank and I did was pushed aside just because the Nettleton twins came back. Frank and I worked with the neighborhood teams for months. Then the twins showed up. Pretty soon all we were good for was making up schedules and such.”

“The twins are leaving in a couple of days,” Mr. Fowler said. “But we’ll still be here. Only there aren’t any newspapers and television people looking to talk to us.”

The Aldens felt awful. Frank Fowler and Courtney Post had worked hard with the teams.

“What about our game?” Henry asked. “It seemed like you wanted the Blazers to lose just because Buzz was coaching us.”

Mr. Fowler was quiet now. “I’ll admit I made a lot of bad calls during the game. I should have let Tom referee10 the game, but he can get so distracted. He even forgot to give Buzz this schedule change. Not to mention the mix-up with the television people I found out about. Tom took the message from them but forgot to tell the twins about it. So the crew showed up at the sports center and no one was there.”

Henry still wanted to know what happened at the Blazers game. “Were you upset with our team?”

“In a way I was,” Mr. Fowler said. “I let my own jealousy11 get me in a bad mood. I guess I took it out on your team. For sure, I wasn’t thinking straight during that game. I’m sorry about that. But, hey, guess what?”

“The Blazers won the trophy anyway!” Henry said proudly. “Speaking of trophies . . .”

Courtney shrugged12 her shoulders. “Hey don’t look at me. I’m sorry about what happened at our first practice. I found Tipper’s keys and kept them. I . . . well . . . I was afraid the team would like her better than they liked me. I tried to make her look disorganized in front of the girls. But I didn’t have anything to do with that missing trophy. I still have one more year of college. I’d rather win my own trophy than take it from Tipper. She’s taught me a lot about how to be a good team player. Maybe next year I’ll be the Most Valuable Player!”

The next day the Aldens dressed up in their basketball uniforms. Mr. Alden whistled while he put on his most colorful bow tie.

“Why such long faces?” he asked when he noticed no one else seemed very excited about Opening Day. “I know you’re wondering about that trophy. But we must trust the writer of that letter and hope for the best. Now let’s head out. We don’t want to be late!”

The parking lot was packed when Mr. Alden drove up to the sports center. People were streaming into the brand-new building. There were balloons inside the lobby. The Aldens could hear the Greenfield High School band playing inside the gym.

“Your decorations look very fine,” Mr. Alden told his grandchildren. “I see Nora Nettleton going in. The twins must be here already. I’ll meet you all in the front row of the gym. I’ll be with the twins and some of their Greenfield relatives and friends.”

Soo Lee tugged13 Jessie’s sleeve. “I forgot to brush my hair.”

“Me, too.” Benny tried to flatten14 a curl of hair that just wouldn’t stay down.

Jessie took the younger children by the hand. “I’ll bring you both to the locker15 room so you can get nice and spiffy. But first, Benny, take this envelope to the referee. Patsy wrote up the team’s names, numbers, and records for the game.”

Benny took the envelope from Jessie. He tried to read the words. “Fast Breakers Statis . . . What’s this hard word?” Before Jessie could answer, Benny noticed something else. “Hey! Look at the letters on this envelope! Where’s that note about the missing trophy? I think the letters are the same!”

Jessie reached into her gym bag. She pulled out the crumpled16 note and smoothed it out.

“Look. It’s the same printing as on this envelope!” Benny cried.

“I bet if we find Patsy, we’ll find Tipper’s trophy,” Jessie said.

“I saw Patsy go up that staircase about ten minutes ago,” Henry said when he overheard the children talking. “There’s another locker room on the second floor.”

Soo Lee and Benny raced up the stairs with Jessie and Henry following right behind.

The halls leading to the locker room were dark. But Jessie knew the way. She pushed open the door and searched for the light switch. But she couldn’t find it. The children followed her into the darkened room.

The Aldens were not alone. They stood still. There was just enough light to see someone standing in front of a large wall mirror — someone holding a tall, silver trophy!

“Patsy!” Jessie cried out.

Patsy jumped when she saw the Aldens’ reflection. She quickly put the trophy under one of the benches.

“Where did you find that?” Violet asked.

Patsy didn’t answer.

“We’ve been searching for that ever since it disappeared,” Henry said.

“I’m the one who took it from the trunk of the twins’ car after I saw Buzz put it there,” Patsy told Henry.

“Why?” Jessie asked, her voice shaking.

Patsy took a deep breath. “I just wanted to have it overnight — without anyone around. I tried to get it back to your room, Jessie. But you kept following me.”

Jessie picked up the trophy from under the bench.

“I saw Tipper on television when she won it last month,” Patsy continued. “I couldn’t believe she was actually in Greenfield coaching our team. I thought if I borrowed her trophy, some of her talent might rub off on me. I want to be a great player like her — and Courtney, too.”

“Why didn’t you tell her?” Soo Lee asked.

Patsy went on, “I tried to get it back to her, but it was never the right time. Then, when our team won the league trophy, I felt worse. Tipper helped us win it, and I had taken hers. So I sent her the note and planned to bring it back today without getting caught.”

“Well, here it is!” Jessie said. “We’d better bring it to the gym right away. Tipper would be pretty embarrassed if the mayor called her to the gym floor and she was empty-handed. You can tell her the whole story later.”

Soo Lee forgot all about brushing her hair. Benny forgot about the curl that wouldn’t behave. None of it mattered.

When the Aldens walked into the gym with Patsy they held up the trophy so Tipper could see it. The spotlights17 made the silver reflect all over the gym. Tipper gave Patsy and the Aldens a thumbs-up sign.

When Patsy and the Aldens entered the gym, the band was playing the Greenfield High School fight song. Cheerleaders were tumbling and doing somersaults in front of the crowd.

The mayor tapped the microphone, which made a horrible scratchy sound. “Ladies and gentlemen,” the mayor said, “may I present Tipper Nettleton, the Most Valuable Player in the country. She will now donate her trophy to our new sports center.”

Jessie handed Benny the trophy. “Go ahead. Take it down to her.”

Benny ran down to the gym floor. He held up the trophy. The mayor gave him the microphone. In a voice just like the mayor’s, Benny said, “May I present Tipper Nettleton with the most valuable trophy that was ever missing.”

All of the Aldens laughed, and the whole audience joined in. Benny laughed harder than anyone.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 trophies e5e690ffd5b76ced5606f229288652f6     
n.(为竞赛获胜者颁发的)奖品( trophy的名词复数 );奖杯;(尤指狩猎或战争中获得的)纪念品;(用于比赛或赛跑名称)奖
参考例句:
  • His football trophies were prominently displayed in the kitchen. 他的足球奖杯陈列在厨房里显眼的位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The hunter kept the lion's skin and head as trophies. 这猎人保存狮子的皮和头作为纪念品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
2 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。
3 trophy 8UFzI     
n.优胜旗,奖品,奖杯,战胜品,纪念品
参考例句:
  • The cup is a cherished trophy of the company.那只奖杯是该公司很珍惜的奖品。
  • He hung the lion's head as a trophy.他把那狮子头挂起来作为狩猎纪念品。
4 giggle 4eNzz     
n.痴笑,咯咯地笑;v.咯咯地笑着说
参考例句:
  • Both girls began to giggle.两个女孩都咯咯地笑了起来。
  • All that giggle and whisper is too much for me.我受不了那些咯咯的笑声和交头接耳的样子。
5 refreshments KkqzPc     
n.点心,便餐;(会议后的)简单茶点招 待
参考例句:
  • We have to make a small charge for refreshments. 我们得收取少量茶点费。
  • Light refreshments will be served during the break. 中间休息时有点心供应。
6 peeked c7b2fdc08abef3a4f4992d9023ed9bb8     
v.很快地看( peek的过去式和过去分词 );偷看;窥视;微露出
参考例句:
  • She peeked over the top of her menu. 她从菜单上往外偷看。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • On two occasions she had peeked at him through a crack in the wall. 她曾两次透过墙缝窥视他。 来自辞典例句
7 gathering ChmxZ     
n.集会,聚会,聚集
参考例句:
  • He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
  • He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。
8 touching sg6zQ9     
adj.动人的,使人感伤的
参考例句:
  • It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
  • His letter was touching.他的信很感人。
9 commotion 3X3yo     
n.骚动,动乱
参考例句:
  • They made a commotion by yelling at each other in the theatre.他们在剧院里相互争吵,引起了一阵骚乱。
  • Suddenly the whole street was in commotion.突然间,整条街道变得一片混乱。
10 referee lAqzU     
n.裁判员.仲裁人,代表人,鉴定人
参考例句:
  • The team was left raging at the referee's decision.队员们对裁判员的裁决感到非常气愤。
  • The referee blew a whistle at the end of the game.裁判在比赛结束时吹响了哨子。
11 jealousy WaRz6     
n.妒忌,嫉妒,猜忌
参考例句:
  • Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
  • I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。
12 shrugged 497904474a48f991a3d1961b0476ebce     
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀,什么也没说。
  • She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩,装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 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》
14 flatten N7UyR     
v.把...弄平,使倒伏;使(漆等)失去光泽
参考例句:
  • We can flatten out a piece of metal by hammering it.我们可以用锤子把一块金属敲平。
  • The wrinkled silk will flatten out if you iron it.发皱的丝绸可以用熨斗烫平。
15 locker 8pzzYm     
n.更衣箱,储物柜,冷藏室,上锁的人
参考例句:
  • At the swimming pool I put my clothes in a locker.在游泳池我把衣服锁在小柜里。
  • He moved into the locker room and began to slip out of his scrub suit.他走进更衣室把手术服脱下来。
16 crumpled crumpled     
adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式
参考例句:
  • She crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it on the fire. 她把那封信揉成一团扔进了火里。
  • She flattened out the crumpled letter on the desk. 她在写字台上把皱巴巴的信展平。
17 spotlights c4053b79301cdb37721ff8e9049b61ef     
n.聚光灯(的光)( spotlight的名词复数 );公众注意的中心v.聚光照明( spotlight的第三人称单数 );使公众注意,使突出醒目
参考例句:
  • The room was lit by spotlights. 房间被聚光灯照亮。
  • The dazzle of the spotlights made him ill at ease. 聚光灯的耀眼强光使他局促不安。 来自辞典例句
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