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儿童英语读物 The Pizza Mystery CHAPTER 7 Everything Goes Dark

时间:2017-07-26 07:42来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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The day began with Mr. Piccolo’s cheery whistling downstairs. Upstairs, the Alden children were all asleep, all but Benny, that is. Mr. Piccolo’s whistling meant it was time for him to get up.

It was early morning. Benny wanted to get to the kitchen early. That way he could help Mr. and Mrs. Piccolo get the dough1 started before Laurie Baker2 got there and scooted him out.

“Tomatoes, potatoes, burritos!” Mr. Piccolo sang out as he took jars and bundles from the big refrigerator. “Pull up a stool, Benny. I need a smart boy like you to measure out some salt, some flour, and some yeast3. Do you know what to do?”

“I sure do, Mr. Piccolo,” Benny said with a smile.

“Today my old waiter, Nick Marra, comes back. There’s nobody to touch Nick when it comes to waiting on tables,” Mr. Piccolo said. “Unless it’s the Aldens, of course!”

“I can’t wait to see Nick,” Benny said as he sprinkled yeast over a big bowl of warm water.

A half hour later, Benny noticed Laurie Baker’s red hat go by the kitchen window. He jumped off his stool. “You don’t have to leave, Benny,” Mrs. Piccolo told him.

Benny disappeared upstairs anyway. He knew Laurie would find some way to get him out of the kitchen. He’d rather leave on his own.

It turned out the Aldens weren’t the only ones Laurie Baker didn’t want near the kitchen. When the children came downstairs later on, the Piccolos were out doing the day’s shopping for the restaurant.

Laurie was in charge, and she was arguing with Nick Marra. This surprised the Aldens. They remembered how easygoing Nick was. Nothing ever bothered this young man. No matter how busy the restaurant got, Nick always had a smile for everyone.

But that day, Nick Marra wasn’t smiling. His face was red and his bright blue eyes glittered angrily.

“If you hadn’t been away so long, the Piccolos wouldn’t have put me in charge!” Laurie Baker said to Nick.

“Well, they asked me to come back, so I’m . . . .” Nick stopped talking when he saw all four Aldens staring at him.

Jessie went over to Nick first. “Hi, Nick. Remember us? We’re visiting the Piccolos and helping4 them out for a while.”

The children were disappointed when they didn’t get one of Nick’s big smiles or even a friendly greeting. He mumbled5 a hello and that was it. Violet felt especially hurt that he was so unfriendly.

“Boy, she gets everybody mad, even Nick,” Benny whispered when the children slipped out to the dining room.

For the rest of the morning, the Aldens heard cross words between Nick and Laurie. Nick had his way of doing things, and Laurie had hers. But Violet couldn’t help wondering if there was something else bothering Nick.

After lunch, the Piccolos went home to rest. The Aldens were busy with the only job Laurie let them do in the kitchen, washing dishes. Right in front of the children, Nick and Laurie started fighting again.

“It would be easier to box up the take-out pizzas in the kitchen,” Nick argued. “They lose heat when you pack them up in the pantry.”

“I can’t have everyone underfoot when I’m working in the kitchen,” Laurie told Nick. “It’s bad enough with Mr. and Mrs. Piccolo.”

Nick’s eyes flashed with anger. “Maybe you don’t realize that you’re their employee, Ms. Baker. They were running this restaurant before you were born.”

“And they were losing money until I showed up to straighten out their business,” Laurie said. “Now I don’t need you to tell me what to do!”

The Aldens wanted to disappear. Nick Marra actually did disappear! He went right out the front door with a loud bang! Jessie, Violet, and Benny finished up their work silently then headed towards the stairs.

“Is the dining room set up for tonight?” Laurie asked before they got away.

The children nodded then shut the door behind them. They didn’t come downstairs again until they heard the Piccolos return right before the dinner hour.

“I hope you children aren’t coming down with something,” Mrs. Piccolo said when she came into the dining room. “I’ll make you some spaghetti before we get busy. You all look pale and hungry. My special tomato sauce will fix you right up.”

Jessie shook her head. “No thanks, Mrs. Piccolo. We already had something to eat upstairs.”

Mrs. Piccolo looked worried. “Something’s not right today. I can tell. Nick wasn’t himself. Laurie, well, she works too hard. But it’s you children I’m worried about. You’re too quiet.”

“We’re okay, Mrs. Piccolo,” Jessie told her.

Luckily for the Aldens, some dinner customers came in right then. In a short time, there were so many customers to serve that no one noticed things were not going smoothly6 at Piccolos’ Pizza.

Not once did Laurie look up at any of the Aldens, except when Henry stayed too long in the kitchen waiting for pizzas to deliver.

“Wait in the pantry,” Laurie said. “It’s too busy in here.”

Henry did as he was told. He waited for Laurie to bring the pizzas out to the pantry area. Like Nick, Henry couldn’t figure out why they had to box up the take-out pizzas away from the kitchen. But Laurie Baker’s mind was made up. The kitchen was pretty much off-limits to Nick and the Aldens.

By six-thirty, every table at Piccolos’ Pizza was filled. Mr. Piccolo was just coming out of the kitchen with a large sausage pizza when the lights flickered7, then went completely dark. The customers let out an “Ah” at the same time. Only the battery-powered exit lights and the candles on the tables lit the dining room. They cast a soft glow over the nervous diners.

The Aldens heard Mr. Piccolo call out in a calm, sure voice: “Relax, everyone. No problem. Just a little blackout. Just sit tight. I have a couple of flashlights and emergency lamps right here. Nothing to worry about.”

Jessie peeked8 out the restaurant window. She expected to see the whole street in darkness. “It’s only the restaurant that lost its power,” she told Henry, who had just come back from his deliveries.

“I know. Everything went black just as I came in the kitchen,” Henry said.

“Where’s Laurie?” Jessie asked. “Does she have any light in there?”

“You know, that’s the strange thing,” Henry said. “The lights went out just as I got here, but Laurie already had a flashlight in her hand when she came up the cellar stairs.”

Even in the dim light Henry could see his sister’s eyes widen. “Why would she need a flashlight down in the cellar unless she knew the power was going to go off?”

“Just what I was thinking,” Henry answered. “But you know what she said? That she heard a noise down there and grabbed a flashlight so she could go and check on it. Then she tried to blame everything on Nick.”

“Nick? I’m pretty sure he was out here when the power went off.” Jessie looked over toward the kitchen and saw Nick setting up the emergency lights. “You know, Henry, now I’m not so sure. We were so busy, I don’t really know where he was.”

The customers grew restless. They wanted to go home.

“Listen, everyone,” Mr. Piccolo called out. “My helpers here, they’re going to wrap up your pizzas for you to take home. It’s take-out night for everyone. Nobody pays.”

A few people clapped. The Aldens couldn’t clap. They knew this emergency was going to cost the Piccolos a lot of money.

Mr. Piccolo went on. “On your way out, my good friend Benny Alden here will give you a coupon9 for free pizza when you come back to the restaurant. All right?”

“All right!” a few adventurous10 customers cheered.

Nick came out with a stack of pizza boxes. Laurie handed everyone a spatula11. Then they all went around to each table boxing up the unfinished pizzas. As promised, Benny handed out free pizza coupons12.

Mr. Piccolo sighed when the last person left. “What a night! We’ll have to get an electrician out here first thing in the morning to see what the problem is,” he said.

“Or who the problem is,” Laurie muttered under her breath after the Piccolos went into the kitchen.

In the low light, the children saw Nick glare at Laurie, but he said nothing. Shortly afterwards he left the restaurant with barely a good night.

When Mrs. Piccolo came out of the kitchen, Violet noticed she was crying softly. “What is it?” Violet asked.

Mrs. Piccolo took Violet’s hand and led her to the big white deep freezer. “My sauces. They will thaw13 out without electricity. The tomatoes are from our garden last summer. Special tomatoes for Piccolos’ sauce. We will lose more than money if we lose these frozen sauces.”

Laurie Baker was the only one of the tired group who didn’t seem upset by this. “Well,” Laurie said, almost cheerfully, “you can teach me how to make some new batches14. We don’t even need electricity for that. We can start tomorrow.”

Mrs. Piccolo smiled at the young woman. “Ah, such a willing worker you are. But there are no fresh tomatoes at this time of year. The sauce would never be the same.”

Before Laurie had an answer for that, Violet came up with a solution. “Benny, Jessie, Henry. Go get your jackets, boots, and hats and follow me.”

“Where are you going?” Laurie Baker asked suspiciously. “Nothing’s open at this hour. You’ll never find anyone with a freezer for all the frozen sauces and meats in here.”

It was too dark for Laurie to see Violet’s ear-to-ear grin. “Oh, yes, we will!” she shouted before she went outside ahead of her brothers and sister.

Violet handed everyone a shovel15. “Now dig as much snow as you can.”

“I get it!” Benny said after the first shovelful16. “We’re not looking for a freezer, we’re making one! Just like we made a refrigerator in a brook17 when we lived in the boxcar.”

‘That’s right, Benny,” Violet cried. “Only now it’s a freezer, not a refrigerator. And we’re using snow, not a brook.”

Henry held up his shovel like a flagpole. “Let’s hear it for Violet! Hip18 hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!”

The Aldens cheered and shoveled19 as fast as they could to make their “outdoor freezer” for Mrs. Piccolo. They couldn’t see that Laurie Baker was watching them from the kitchen window and that she didn’t look at all happy with what the Aldens were doing.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 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。
2 baker wyTz62     
n.面包师
参考例句:
  • The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
  • The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。
3 yeast 7VIzu     
n.酵母;酵母片;泡沫;v.发酵;起泡沫
参考例句:
  • Yeast can be used in making beer and bread.酵母可用于酿啤酒和发面包。
  • The yeast began to work.酵母开始发酵。
4 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
5 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。
6 smoothly iiUzLG     
adv.平滑地,顺利地,流利地,流畅地
参考例句:
  • The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作,所以工作进展顺利。
  • Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。
7 flickered 93ec527d68268e88777d6ca26683cc82     
(通常指灯光)闪烁,摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The lights flickered and went out. 灯光闪了闪就熄了。
  • These lights flickered continuously like traffic lights which have gone mad. 这些灯象发狂的交通灯一样不停地闪动着。
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 coupon nogz3     
n.息票,配给票,附单
参考例句:
  • The coupon can be used once only.此优惠券只限使用一次。
  • I have a coupon for ten pence off a packet of soap.我有一张优惠券买一盒肥皂可以便宜十便士。
10 adventurous LKryn     
adj.爱冒险的;惊心动魄的,惊险的,刺激的 
参考例句:
  • I was filled with envy at their adventurous lifestyle.我很羨慕他们敢于冒险的生活方式。
  • He was predestined to lead an adventurous life.他注定要过冒险的生活。
11 spatula jhHyI     
n.抹刀
参考例句:
  • He scraped the mixture out of the bowl with a plastic spatula.他用塑料铲把盆里的混合料刮了出来。
  • She levelled the surface of the cake mixtured with a metal spatula.她用金属铲抹平了蛋糕配料。
12 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
13 thaw fUYz5     
v.(使)融化,(使)变得友善;n.融化,缓和
参考例句:
  • The snow is beginning to thaw.雪已开始融化。
  • The spring thaw caused heavy flooding.春天解冻引起了洪水泛滥。
14 batches f8c77c3bee0bd5d27b9ca0e20c216d1a     
一批( batch的名词复数 ); 一炉; (食物、药物等的)一批生产的量; 成批作业
参考例句:
  • The prisoners were led out in batches and shot. 这些囚犯被分批带出去枪毙了。
  • The stainless drum may be used to make larger batches. 不锈钢转数设备可用来加工批量大的料。
15 shovel cELzg     
n.铁锨,铲子,一铲之量;v.铲,铲出
参考例句:
  • He was working with a pick and shovel.他在用镐和铲干活。
  • He seized a shovel and set to.他拿起一把铲就干上了。
16 shovelful rEYyc     
n.一铁铲
参考例句:
  • Should I put another shovelful of coal on the fire? 我要再往火里添一铲煤吗?
17 brook PSIyg     
n.小河,溪;v.忍受,容让
参考例句:
  • In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
  • The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。
18 hip 1dOxX     
n.臀部,髋;屋脊
参考例句:
  • The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
  • The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。
19 shoveled e51ace92204ed91d8925ad365fab25a3     
vt.铲,铲出(shovel的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • The hungry man greedily shoveled the food into his mouth. 那个饥饿的人贪婪地、大口大口地吃。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • They shoveled a path through the snow. 他们在雪中铲出一条小路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
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