儿童英语读物 The Gymnastics Mystery CHAPTER 9 The Competition
时间:2018-12-06 作者:英语课 分类:73 The Gymnastics Mystery
Katya was poised 1 on the mat at one end of the balance beam. She looked toward the judges. The head judge signaled that they were ready. Then Katya took a deep breath and raised her arm in return.
With a swift move she straddled the end of the beam. Her hands on either side of the narrow wood, she eased into a handstand, then came down into a V-sit.
Violet Alden held her breath. She knew that Katya’s routine was one minute and twenty-five seconds. If it was too long or too short, the judges would take points from her score.
“Now she’s changing directions,” Jessie said, watching Katya pivot 2 smoothly 3 on one foot.
That was another requirement. Katya’s eyes were straight ahead as she waved her arms gracefully 4 and pointed 5 her toes. Next she performed a stride leap, springing up and down into a split. A headstand turned her in the opposite direction. Then, in a flurry of cartwheels, Katya was across the beam. She dismounted with a round-off.
Standing 6 on the mat a second to gain her balance, she raised her arms and arched her back. She had stuck the landing!
“She did it!” Benny cried, applauding along with the audience.
The Aldens eagerly awaited the five judges’ scores. Katya received 9.7 from four judges and a 9.8 from one.
“Very good scores,” Henry commented. “If Al Stockton is bothering Katya by being here, it’s not affecting her routines.”
The rest of Katya’s team performed, and then it was the American team’s turn. Denise was in the lead position, getting the same marks as Katya.
Jessie watched Mrs. Patterson write down the scores on her score sheet. She did not look happy. Jessie figured the woman wanted her daughter to score higher than Katya. As far as Jessie could tell, Katya and Denise were evenly matched.
The announcer called for an intermission. The Alden children used the opportunity to find Grandfather and Mrs. McGregor.
“There you are!” said the housekeeper 7. “We wondered where you’ve been.”
“We didn’t mean for you to worry,” Violet apologized. “But we need to keep an eye on Katya. She—” Without revealing the question of Katya’s mysterious identity, Violet continued, “She’s nervous and likes to have us nearby.”
Grandfather nodded. “I understand. You have become friends this week. She’s a very nice girl.”
I only hope she’s telling the truth about who she is, Violet thought. She would hate to have her grandfather disappointed.
“Katya’s scores are excellent,” Grandfather said. “She did well on the vault 8 and aced 9 her bar and beam routines.”
“I hope she wins,” Mrs. McGregor said firmly.
“They’re starting again,” Benny said. “We’d better get over there.”
The last event was the floor routine. The audience buzzed with excitement. Floor routines gave the gymnasts a chance to show their best skills.
Music blared from the loudspeakers. The audience clapped with the beat as the first gymnast performed.
Soon it was Katya’s turn again. She stood at the corner of the huge blue mat, waiting for her music. Jessie could see her coach frantically 10 rummaging 11 through a bag.
Katya threw a worried glance at Irina.
“I bet the tape with Katya’s new music is gone again!” Violet declared.
Jessie pulled a cassette from her pocket. “Well, this time we’re prepared.” She strode over to Irina. “We made an extra copy, just in case.”
A look of immense relief broke over the coach’s face. “Thank you very much. You are such a good friend to Katya.” Then she hurried to the music station.
In seconds, Katya’s music poured from the loudspeakers. Katya smiled and began her first tumbling pass.
“Good thing you thought of making an extra copy of Katya’s tape,” Henry praised Jessie.
“Too many weird 12 things have happened at this competition,” Jessie said modestly. “I just wanted to make sure nothing else went wrong.”
“It’s awfully 13 funny how Katya’s music keeps disappearing,” said Benny.
Jessie didn’t think it was funny at all. She couldn’t keep her eyes on all the suspects at the arena 14, but she had a good idea who the culprit was.
On her last tumbling pass, Katya was even better than she’d been in practice. The Alden children had worked with her the night before in their basement, until Katya had perfected every move.
Now Katya stopped precisely 15 at the far corner, not stepping out of bounds, and raised her arms in the air.
The audience loved her routine. They stamped and cheered. Katya bowed to both sides of the arena. She looked happy, as if she knew she had performed well.
The judges must have felt the same way, Henry thought as he watched the white cards flip 16 over. Every judge scored her floor routine at 9.9, the highest score received that day on the junior team.
Katya sat down with her teammates, who patted her on the back. The American team performed next. Denise’s floor routine was good, but not as daring as Katya’s. Denise received scores of 9.7 and a 9.8. Jessie saw Mrs. Patterson’s face fall when the scores were displayed.
“The competition is over for Katya’s class,” Henry told the others. “It’s time for the awards.”
At the judges’ table, the men and women conferred briefly 17. Then the announcer spoke 18.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “First place for the all-around gymnast goes to Katya Ludskaya of Russia!”
The Aldens clapped harder than anyone. Benny even whistled as Katya climbed up on the stage to receive her medal.
Denise Patterson was the second-place winner and a girl from the Romanian team won third. Katya and Denise hugged each other as photographers snapped the winners’ picture.
“This is so exciting!” Violet cried, still clapping.
Next, the award was announced for the best team performance.
The American gymnasts took the first-place medal, with Katya’s team winning second. Once more, Katya and Denise hugged each other.
“There’re even!” Benny cheered.
“And they’re friends,” Jessie said. “Even though Denise’s mother tried to keep them apart.”
When the ceremony was over, Katya and Denise came over to the Aldens. The girls glowed with happiness, wearing their medals.
“Congratulations,” Henry said. “You both were great.”
“Thanks,” said Denise. “Katya and I are going to write to each other. We’ll probably see each other at other competitions, too.”
“Uh-oh,” said Katya. “Your mother is coming.”
“I’d better get back to my team,” Denise said. “See you later, Katya.”
Mrs. Patterson swept in their direction. But instead of following her daughter, Mrs. Patterson halted in front of Katya.
“I want to apologize,” she said. “I’ve done some terrible things the last few days.”
“You were the one who poured water on Katya’s warm-up jacket,” Jessie said. “And you hid the chalk for the uneven 19 parallel bars.”
Mrs. Patterson nodded, ducking her head in shame. “I also took your music for your floor routine. I didn’t mean to hurt you ... I just wanted Denise to win.”
“She did win,” Katya said. “She is a very good gymnast.”
“But not as good as you,” said the woman. “I watched you during the early practice sessions. You have a drive that Denise doesn’t.”
Jessie turned to her. “Were you wearing blue sweatpants and a red wig 20 the other day?”
Mrs. Patterson blushed. “Yes. Sometimes I put on a disguise to check out Denise’s competition. Well ...” She was too embarrassed to say anything else. “I’d better find my daughter.”
“Unbelievable!” Violet exploded when the woman had left. “She did all that to help her daughter win!”
“It didn’t matter,” Henry pointed out. “Katya won anyway.”
“I’m glad we solved the gymnastics part of the mystery,” Benny said. “But we still have lots of questions left.”
“Like why Al Stockton is following you everywhere,” Violet said to Katya.
“He has looked at me strangely ever since the day he came to your house to pick up his bag,” Katya remarked nervously 21. “I do not know why he keeps watching me.”
“Maybe we can find out,” Henry said thoughtfully. “I have an idea.”
“What is it?” asked Jessie.
“Remember those pictures Benny saw that fell out of Al Stockton’s camera bag?”
Jessie nodded, then explained to Katya about the photographs. She didn’t mention that the photograph of the house was the same house in Katya’s letter.
“We’re going to make one of the pictures come to life,” said Henry.
“How are we going to do that?” Benny wanted to know.
“If Mrs. Patterson can disguise herself, so can Katya!”
The children went back to the concession 22 area. Henry and Benny waited outside the ladies’ rest room while Jessie, Violet, and Katya went inside.
When the girls emerged, Violet was wearing Katya’s warm-up suit.
Katya had on Violet’s purple jumper and pink long-sleeved turtleneck. Her ponytail had been combed out. Her gleaming blond hair fell softly to her shoulders.
“Here comes Al Stockton,” Henry said. “Right on cue.”
Jessie gave Katya a little push forward. “It’ll be all right. We’re right behind you.”
Katya walked into the bright lights of the concession area.
Al turned and stared at her, his jaw 23 dropping.
“You!” he said hoarsely 24. “I knew it was you when I saw you in the airport! You’ve followed me all the way to America!”
- The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋,准备俯冲。
- Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张,手悬在电话机上。
- She is the central pivot of creation and represents the feminine aspect in all things.她是创造的中心枢轴,表现出万物的女性面貌。
- If a spring is present,the hand wheel will pivot on the spring.如果有弹簧,手轮的枢轴会装在弹簧上。
- 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。
- She sank gracefully down onto a cushion at his feet. 她优雅地坐到他脚旁的垫子上。
- The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line. 新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。
- 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。
- 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。
- A spotless stove told us that his mother is a diligent housekeeper.炉子清洁无瑕就表明他母亲是个勤劳的主妇。
- She is an economical housekeeper and feeds her family cheaply.她节约持家,一家人吃得很省。
- The vault of this cathedral is very high.这座天主教堂的拱顶非常高。
- The old patrician was buried in the family vault.这位老贵族埋在家族的墓地里。
- I don't know how I aced in, I was lucky enough. 我不知道这好事怎么让我给碰上了,我够幸运的。 来自互联网
- He aced every physical fitness test they gave him. 他顺利通过了他们对他所作的每项体格检查。 来自互联网
- He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
- She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。
- She was rummaging around in her bag for her keys. 她在自己的包里翻来翻去找钥匙。
- Who's been rummaging through my papers? 谁乱翻我的文件来着?
- From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来,他好像有点怪。
- His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。
- Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
- I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。
- She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
- He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。
- It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
- The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。
- I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书,看来似乎很有趣。
- Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。
- I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
- He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。
- They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
- The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
- The sidewalk is very uneven—be careful where you walk.这人行道凹凸不平—走路时请小心。
- The country was noted for its uneven distribution of land resources.这个国家以土地资源分布不均匀出名。
- The actress wore a black wig over her blond hair.那个女演员戴一顶黑色假发罩住自己的金黄色头发。
- He disguised himself with a wig and false beard.他用假发和假胡须来乔装。
- He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇,努力忍着不哭出来。
- He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。
- We can not make heavy concession to the matter.我们在这个问题上不能过于让步。
- That is a great concession.这是很大的让步。