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儿童英语读物 The Pizza Mystery CHAPTER 4 The Table in the Corner

时间:2017-07-26 07:41来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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In a short time, the back stairs that connected the apartment to the restaurant were busy all day long. Small, unbaked pizzas went upstairs, and hot, steaming ones came back down. Several days after Jessie’s Personal Pizza Plan got going, everyone prepared for the lunch hour.

“Try this one,” Mrs. Piccolo urged Benny when she set a small pizza in front of him. She knew Benny liked this important job best of all!

The special of the day was Zucchini Pizza, but Benny looked suspicious1. “What are those green things?” he asked Mrs. Piccolo. “They don’t look like sausage.”

Mrs. Piccolo laughed. “Ah, Benny, some people, they like vegetables better.”

“All right.” Benny took a tiny bite. “It’s pretty good,” he said, surprised.

“I thought you’d like it,” Mrs. Piccolo said.

Henry came into the restaurant and stamped the snow off his boots. He sniffed2 the air. “Mmm, nothing like it. I’m out of coupons3, so I came back. Boy, it’s too bad we’re still waiting for the gas line to be fixed4. I’d hand out lots more coupons if we could just make more pizzas.”

Mr. Piccolo pulled out a chair for Henry and patted him on the shoulder. “Everything’s just fine, my boy. We’ve had more customers in the last few days than in the whole month before you Aldens showed up.”

“Have you asked Mighty5 Mufflers to call the gas company?” Violet wanted to know.

Henry shook his head. “I’ve tried. But the owner, Mrs. Sturgis, is always away or busy.”

Mr. Piccolo smiled proudly at the Aldens. “Now, now. You children eat. Eat this good food. We start in little steps then we take bigger ones. The gas company will come in a few days. Now everybody, dig in.”

And so they did. The Aldens and Piccolos tried out several kinds of Personal Pizzas. They each had a special flavor they thought was the best. That’s what gave Violet the idea for a pizza contest.

She pulled down the blackboard the Piccolos used to post the menus every day. Across the top, she wrote: Vote for your Favorite Personal Pizza. Then she listed all the flavors that Piccolo’s offered that day.

“Good for you, Violet,” Mrs. Piccolo beamed. “This way we find out which ones our customers like. Then we can make more of them.”

The bell on the door jingled6. Everyone got up from the table. The Aldens and Piccolos had plenty to do. The lunch hour was about to begin.

For the next two hours, orders were taken. Tables were cleared and reset7. The cash register rang over and over again. Benny kept an eye on every table to make sure each customer had plenty of breadsticks.

“Mr. Piccolo,” he whispered, when he came back into the kitchen area for more breadsticks, “that lady is here again, the one who’s here every day.”

Mr. Piccolo peeked8 through the window on the door between the kitchen and the dining room. “Ah, she was my best customer before things slowed down. But as soon as business picked up, she came right back. She never says too much, but she’s a steady one. Always sits at the table closest to the kitchen.”

Benny peeked out again. “I think she’s doing a crossword9 puzzle. She eats, then she writes things down. Do you know her name?”

Mr. Piccolo dusted his hands with flour then pushed and pulled on the pizza dough10 before he answered Benny. “I call her The Lady in the Red Hat.”

Now Benny liked this name very much, much better than if the young woman’s name were Susan, or Mary, or Ann. “And there’s The Man with the Walking Stick.”

“And The Woman with the Earmuffs,” Mrs. Piccolo joined in. “You see, Benny, some of our customers, they like to talk, and we know their names. But some of the other ones like to come into Piccolos’ and just enjoy a quiet meal and read the paper.”

“Or do a crossword puzzle,” Benny added.

Henry disagreed. “Not a crossword puzzle, Benny. I think she’s writing down notes for her job. What’s funny, though, is that whenever I go by, she turns the paper over. I guess she doesn’t want anyone to see what she’s writing.”

Soon everyone was much too busy to give any more thought to The Lady in the Red Hat. The lunch hour was nearly over. It was time to clean up then reset the dining room for dinner.

“We’ll get the last two checks, Mr. Piccolo,” Jessie said. “Then we can get started on tonight’s pizzas.”

Jessie went over to The Lady in the Red Hat. “Would you like anything else?”

The woman jumped when she heard Jessie’s voice. “Uh . . . uh, no, no. Just the bill.” The young woman quickly put her notepad and pen into her purse. Then she placed a five-dollar bill on the table without even waiting for her check.

Before Jessie could tell her that five dollars was too much, the woman left. Jessie pushed in the empty chair then gathered up the dishes, crumpled11 napkin, and the paper placemat.

As she did so, she noticed writing on the placemat: ZUCCHINI PIZZA, 4 VOTES. PEPPERONI, 3 VOTES. PIZZA SUPREME12, 5 VOTES.

“What is this?” Jessie asked, puzzled.

“What’s what?” Violet wanted to know when she saw Jessie looking closely at the placemat.

Jessie handed the placemat to Violet. “Look at what that customer scribbled13 down! She copied the votes the customers wrote on the blackboard for their favorite pizzas. Now why would anyone do that?”

Violet was just as puzzled. “Let’s show the Piccolos, Jessie. Maybe they can figure it out.”

Mr. Piccolo’s full attention was on the pizza dough, not placemats. “A message on a placemat?” he laughed without once taking his eyes or hands off his dough. “Well, that’s for you children to figure out. Why last year, a young man wrote a love letter on the back of one of our placemats.”

Mrs. Piccolo smiled. “Ah, yes. It was such a beautiful poem.”

The children smiled with the Piccolos about the love-letter placemat. But this wasn’t a love letter. What was it? The Aldens meant to find out. Jessie carefully folded the placemat and put it in the pocket of her apron14.

The children went back to their jobs in the dining room. Benny checked the tables to see that each one had a menu and a full breadstick supply. He stopped at the table right by the kitchen. “Violet,” he called out, “there’s a menu missing at this table.”

Violet came over. “I’m sure it’s here somewhere,” she told Benny. “The young woman who ate here read her order right off the menu. I’m sure I put it back in the holder15. It’s got to be there.”

Violet and Benny searched under the table and chairs for the missing menu, but it wasn’t there.

“Come on, Benny. Let’s count up all the menus,” Violet suggested. “Maybe the missing one got mixed in with the others. You count half the tables, and I’ll count the other half. There should be twenty menus altogether.”

“. . . six, seven, eight, nine, ten,” Benny counted.

“. . . six, seven, eight, nine,” Violet counted at her tables. “They don’t add up to twenty. I wonder where that menu went.”

The Piccolos told Violet not to worry about the missing menu. But she couldn’t help wondering where it had gone. Why would anyone steal a menu?


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 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。
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 coupons 28882724d375042a7b19db1e976cb622     
n.礼券( coupon的名词复数 );优惠券;订货单;参赛表
参考例句:
  • The company gives away free coupons for drinks or other items. 公司为饮料或其它项目发放免费赠券。 来自辞典例句
  • Do you have any coupons? 你们有优惠卡吗? 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语
4 fixed JsKzzj     
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的
参考例句:
  • Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗?
  • Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定,我们就不应该随意改变。
5 mighty YDWxl     
adj.强有力的;巨大的
参考例句:
  • A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
  • The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。
6 jingled 1ab15437500a7437cb07e32cfc02d932     
喝醉的
参考例句:
  • The bells jingled all the way. 一路上铃儿叮当响。
  • Coins in his pocket jingled as he walked. 走路时,他衣袋里的钱币丁当作响。
7 reset rkHzYJ     
v.重新安排,复位;n.重新放置;重放之物
参考例句:
  • As soon as you arrive at your destination,step out of the aircraft and reset your wristwatch.你一到达目的地,就走出飞机并重新设置手表时间。
  • He is recovering from an operation to reset his arm.他做了一个手臂复位手术,正在恢复。
8 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
9 crossword VvOzBj     
n.纵横字谜,纵横填字游戏
参考例句:
  • He shows a great interest in crossword puzzles.他对填字游戏表现出很大兴趣。
  • Don't chuck yesterday's paper out.I still haven't done the crossword.别扔了昨天的报纸,我还没做字谜游戏呢。
10 dough hkbzg     
n.生面团;钱,现款
参考例句:
  • She formed the dough into squares.她把生面团捏成四方块。
  • The baker is kneading dough.那位面包师在揉面。
11 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。
12 supreme PHqzc     
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的
参考例句:
  • It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
  • He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
13 scribbled de374a2e21876e209006cd3e9a90c01b     
v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 );乱画;草草地写;匆匆记下
参考例句:
  • She scribbled his phone number on a scrap of paper. 她把他的电话号码匆匆写在一张小纸片上。
  • He scribbled a note to his sister before leaving. 临行前,他给妹妹草草写了一封短信。
14 apron Lvzzo     
n.围裙;工作裙
参考例句:
  • We were waited on by a pretty girl in a pink apron.招待我们的是一位穿粉红色围裙的漂亮姑娘。
  • She stitched a pocket on the new apron.她在新围裙上缝上一只口袋。
15 holder wc4xq     
n.持有者,占有者;(台,架等)支持物
参考例句:
  • The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
  • That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。
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