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儿童英语读物 The Midnight Mystery CHAPTER 7 New Clues

时间:2017-11-07 06:30来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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    (单词翻译:双击或拖选)

The Aldens strolled through town looking for places to put up the invention convention fliers. They soon found the town bulletin board and decided1 to post one of the fliers there.

Violet studied the business card that Benny had handed her. “What’s a patent lawyer, Henry?” she asked. “That’s what this business card says — ‘Robert Marshall, Patent Lawyer.’”

“A patent lawyer is an invention expert,” Henry answered. “They check if something was invented already so nobody can copy someone else’s invention.”

“That business card must have come from the man Martha was at the diner with,” Jessie said. “He sure sounded like an invention expert.”

Benny frowned. “I hope nobody else invented my flashlight hat. Maybe I should show it to Mr. Marshall so nobody copies it from me.”

Henry looked over Violet’s shoulder to read the card. “You know, we just passed the street where this lawyer’s office is. Maybe we could go ask him if he knows if there are any other flashlight hats out there.”

When the Aldens reached the building on the business card, they were surprised.

“Hmm,” Henry said as he pushed hard on the heavy oak office door. “I thought it would be a small, pokey office. This is pretty fancy.”

The woman at the front desk looked surprised to see four children standing2 there. She smiled at Benny’s hat, which was beaming right at her face. “May I help you?” she asked. “And might I ask you to turn off your hat, young man? Otherwise, I’ll have to put on my sunglasses.”

Benny whipped off his hat and kept it off. “Oops, sorry.”

“We’re here to see Robert Marshall,” Jessie said to the woman. “My brother has a question about an invention.”

The woman studied the Aldens’ hopeful faces. “Oh, dear. I’m afraid Mr. Marshall isn’t available today. He just returned from a lunch appointment. Now he has meetings with inventors all afternoon. This is a very busy week. The invention convention begins tomorrow.”

In her nicest voice, Jessie tried again. “Would we be able to come back later when Mr. Marshall doesn’t have an appointment? We have a special invention to show him.”

Behind his back, Benny crossed his fingers.

Now the woman looked disappointed as well. “I’m very sorry. Wait. Here’s a thought. Mr. Marshall will be a judge at the invention convention. Perhaps you can catch him there and show him your creation. He probably wouldn’t charge his usual fee if you just chatted with him.”

“Thank you,” Jessie said quietly. “We’ll look for him.” She hoped she didn’t look as let down as she felt. When she noticed some brochures on a table, she took one. “Maybe if we use our birthday money, we can afford a real appointment to show Mr. Marshall what we have.” A buzzer3 on a small intercom interrupted her.

“Excuse me,” the woman said. “I have to answer this. It’s Mr. Marshall.”

A man’s voice boomed out of the intercom. “Give Martha Carver a call, will you, Mrs. Page? She’s called me twice since I left her just a half hour ago. Tell her I’m busy all afternoon and I’ll get back to her. I can’t just drop everything to figure out riddles5.”

Mrs. Page pressed the button and coughed several times. “I have several people out here, Mr. Marshall. I hope you don’t want me to say all that to Martha when I call her.”

“Not that last part, of course,” the voice boomed back.

“Anything else?” Mrs. Page asked.

Mr. Marshall boomed back. “Yes. Tell her I’ll need more evidence. Alice Putter’s actual plan book would help me a lot more than a book of riddles.”

“I’ll mention that when she calls again,” Mrs. Page said. “Oh, Brad Smithy left another message for you. He said be sure to pay special attention to his entry in the invention convention.”

“Brad Smithy!” Mr. Marshall yelled. “Every year he pesters6 me about his latest invention. He’s not even a client. Some days I think I should retire and raise chickens instead of dealing7 with these inventors.”

Mrs. Page laughed after she turned off the intercom. “Please excuse the interruption. Mr. Marshall gets a bit frazzled at invention convention time. I’m sorry we couldn’t help you.”

“We’re sorry, too,” Violet said. “But thank you.”

“So long,” Mrs. Page said.

“Mr. Marshall is pretty popular,” Henry said when the Aldens had left the lawyer’s office. “What do you suppose Brad’s special entry is?”

“The crate8!” Benny said before the other children could gather their thoughts. “I bet he’s keeping his invention in there. That’s what he was nailing shut in the kitchen. He sure didn’t want us to see what was sticking out of the crate, either.”

“I wonder if his invention is the surprise we heard him mention on the phone,” Jessie said.

“Maybe,” Henry said. “Brad wouldn’t let me get near that crate. It could have been anything.”

Violet stopped in front of a barbershop to put up a flier. “Mr. Percy and Brad both tried to hide things from us that were in boxes. What I can’t figure out is if it has anything to do with the missing plan book.”

Henry frowned. “Martha’s the one I wonder about — more than the other two. She gave Mr. Marshall the riddle4 book. She clearly doesn’t trust Ms. Putter. Plus, we’ve seen her wandering near the grandfather clock a couple times now at noon and at midnight. The question is, why?”


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
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 buzzer 2x7zGi     
n.蜂鸣器;汽笛
参考例句:
  • The buzzer went off at eight o'clock.蜂鸣器在8点钟时响了。
  • Press the buzzer when you want to talk.你想讲话的时候就按蜂鸣器。
4 riddle WCfzw     
n.谜,谜语,粗筛;vt.解谜,给…出谜,筛,检查,鉴定,非难,充满于;vi.出谜
参考例句:
  • The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
  • Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。
5 riddles 77f3ceed32609b0d80430e545f553e31     
n.谜(语)( riddle的名词复数 );猜不透的难题,难解之谜
参考例句:
  • Few riddles collected from oral tradition, however, have all six parts. 但是据收集的情况看,口头流传的谜语很少具有这完整的六部分。 来自英汉非文学 - 民俗
  • But first, you'd better see if you can answer riddles. 但是你首先最好想想你会不会猜谜语。 来自辞典例句
6 pesters ba6a64a41fd96c4208dec0d299181ff1     
使烦恼,纠缠( pester的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • The little girl pesters her mother for a new skirt. 小姑娘跟妈妈磨蹭着要一条新裙子。
  • While Sesshoumaru keeps doing all the work, Kagome pesters him. 当杀生丸在做这一切的时候,戈微却很苦恼。
7 dealing NvjzWP     
n.经商方法,待人态度
参考例句:
  • This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
  • His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。
8 crate 6o1zH     
vt.(up)把…装入箱中;n.板条箱,装货箱
参考例句:
  • We broke open the crate with a blow from the chopper.我们用斧头一敲就打开了板条箱。
  • The workers tightly packed the goods in the crate.工人们把货物严紧地包装在箱子里。
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