时间:2018-12-06 作者:英语课 分类:56 The Firehouse Mystery


英语课

See you all later,” Rebecca said, picking up her bag and slinging 1 it over her shoulder.



Benny looked at Violet. Rebecca was about to leave, and she still had their petition!



Before Violet could stop him, Benny blurted 2 out, “Rebecca, isn’t that our petition in your bag?”



Rebecca turned around, her face pink. “Oh, my goodness, that’s right.” She laughed uncomfortably. “I feel so silly! I forgot I had brought it to give back to you.” She put down her bag, pulled out the petition, and handed it to Benny.



“Why do you have it?” asked Benny.



“Why? Well, I just found it — ” Rebecca started to say, when Jessie came down the stairs and interrupted her.



“Is that our petition?” Jessie said. “Oh, I’m so glad it’s not gone!” She smiled gratefully at Rebecca. “That would be a lot of signatures to get all over again.”



“Yes, I’m glad you have it back,” said Rebecca. But she didn’t look happy at all. “I’ve got to run.” A moment later she was gone.



“Can you believe Rebecca had our petition?” said Violet.



“Do you believe that she really just ‘found it’ like she said?” asked Benny.



“Why would she lie?” asked Jessie. “Anyway, she gave it back to us.”



“But she wasn’t going to,” Benny said. “She wouldn’t have if Violet hadn’t seen it in her bag.”



“And you hadn’t asked her for it,” added Violet



“You think she meant to keep it?” asked Jessie.



“I don’t know, but when Benny asked her about it, she had a funny expression on her face. I think she looked kind of . . . guilty,” Violet said.



When Henry came downstairs, they told him all about what had happened. “Do you think Rebecca could be the one who’s done all the harmful things to the firehouse?” he asked.



“Maybe,” said Jessie. “After all, she has a good reason. If we fix this place up, and convince the town council not to build a new building, then she’s lost a big project.”



“Remember she said this would be a big break for her,” said Henry.



“She also said she’d do anything to hold on to it,” Violet added.



“Even call in false alarms and spill the paint cans and trample 3 the evergreens 4 — and steal our petition?” asked Benny.



And no one said anything, because no one knew the answer.



The Aldens spent the rest of the day painting the upstairs. They were working on the narrow hallway when Steve called up from below. “Have any of you seen Sparky’s blanket?”



“You mean that old blanket he sleeps on?” Jessie called down.



“Yes. I’m doing some laundry — sheets and stuff — and I’d like to wash it,” Steve answered.



“It’s not in his basket?” Jessie asked.



“No,” Steve said. “Oh, well, don’t worry about it. I’m sure it’ll turn up.”



“Unless a burglar took it!” Benny said, and everyone laughed.



Not long afterward 5, the Aldens were done painting. “What a difference a little fresh paint makes,” Violet said, looking around to admire their work.



“I just hope all this work will change the town council’s mind,” said Benny.



The children packed up their supplies and carried them downstairs. They were getting ready to go home when they heard a voice coming from the back of the firehouse.



“What happened here?” It was Steve, and he sounded upset.



The Aldens hurried to the back and found Steve by the back door. He was carefully examining the lock.



“What’s wrong?” Jessie asked.



“The lock is broken,” Steve said. “I was going out back to get some fresh air when I noticed it.”



“How did that happen?” Violet asked.



“It looks as if somebody intentionally 6 broke it,” said Steve. “This is a strong lock. It couldn’t have just broken by accident.”



“You mean someone broke into the firehouse?” asked Benny. “I was only kidding about a burglar stealing the dog blanket.”



“When do you think this happened?” Henry asked. “Last night?”



“It must have,” said Steve. “I left this way yesterday after we had dinner, and the lock was fine then.”



“But the front door is always open. Why wouldn’t someone just come in that way?” asked Violet.



“Well, if you want to make sure no one sees you, the back door would be better,” Jessie pointed 7 out.



“We keep the back door locked for just that reason,” Steve said.



“So you’re saying someone broke in, and nobody heard it?” asked Henry.



“There were a couple of calls last night, so for several hours the place was almost empty. And the calls were false alarms,” Steve said.



“The person who broke in might have called in the false alarms. That way whoever it was could make sure no one would be around,” Jessie pointed out.



“I think you’re right,” Steve said.



“That’s terrible!” Violet said. “Why would someone do something so awful?”



“Is there anything missing?” Henry asked.



“Other than Sparky’s blanket, I haven’t noticed anything,” Steve said. “There isn’t much here of value anyway — except the television, and it’s so old that no one would steal it.”



“That’s it!” Jessie said all of a sudden. “Maybe the thief was after something old.”



“The antique silver pieces!” Henry cried.



Steve and the Aldens hurried over to the shelves where the trophies 8 and speaking trumpets 9 were stored. The bottom shelf was bare!



1 slinging
抛( sling的现在分词 ); 吊挂; 遣送; 押往
  • You're slinging mud at me -- that's a pack of lies! 你血口喷人,不讲道理。
  • The boys were slinging stones into the river. 孩子们当时正往河里投石子。
2 blurted
v.突然说出,脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 )
  • She blurted it out before I could stop her. 我还没来得及制止,她已脱口而出。
  • He blurted out the truth, that he committed the crime. 他不慎说出了真相,说是他犯了那个罪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 trample
vt.踩,践踏;无视,伤害,侵犯
  • Don't trample on the grass. 勿踏草地。
  • Don't trample on the flowers when you play in the garden. 在花园里玩耍时,不要踩坏花。
4 evergreens
n.常青树,常绿植物,万年青( evergreen的名词复数 )
  • The leaves of evergreens are often shaped like needles. 常绿植物的叶常是针形的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The pine, cedar and spruce are evergreens. 松树、雪松、云杉都是常绿的树。 来自辞典例句
5 afterward
adv.后来;以后
  • Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏,然后吃饭。
  • Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来,这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。
6 intentionally
ad.故意地,有意地
  • I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
  • The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所,因此没有资格再获得提供住房。
7 pointed
adj.尖的,直截了当的
  • 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。
8 trophies
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
  • 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》
9 trumpets
喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 ); 小号; 喇叭形物; (尤指)绽开的水仙花
  • A wreath was laid on the monument to a fanfare of trumpets. 在响亮的号角声中花圈被献在纪念碑前。
  • A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King. 嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。
学英语单词
accumulation of evidence
active optical fiber
adjoining area
anomalies of ocular muscle and tendon
ateria gastrica dextra
attached type parachute
avellana
baldheaded anticline
beauduin
birdyback
bontempss
borrowing authority
botocudo formosanus
centrifuge contactor
Chamba District
Chochralski active crystal
collagne film
come down handsomely
come Yorkshire over someone
compact x chromosome
companies inspector
Cristispira balbianii
cut-through
DC shunt generator
diamond in looped end
dirithromycin
disorders of accessory nerve
ethephon
feulgen's reagent
field anomaly relaxation method
flipping the script
gear mashing
Gjersvik
glorylands
gold-bug
graded gravel
growl out
guindall
hakkio
hearing disorder
heycock
heyderia macrolepis (kurz)li calocedrus macrolepis kurz.
honours degrees
hormona
hot wire detector
hydrogen content in capping layer
inflictable
initiator procedure
insidehand
insulating paper
intratelomeric
isoclinal
kifts
lens cylindrical
made an oath
main branch connections
master gear checking instrument
mend the matter
message control information
microchimerism
nien chia shan
Niodicoumarlum
output section attenuator
overlapping fault
overroof
oxypleurodon stimpsoni
plant growth in high-latitude region
prop up ailing industries
radial spherical roller bearing
rate above
reflectance radiometer-photometer
resin separator
Rowasa
run-time instance
sand falsemallow
semi-automatic hob grinding machine
sensorchip
septic bronchopneumonia
single-mode system
single-point load
smoke protection
snowshoed
SO x
sodium ferric pyrophosphate
stenophyllanin
storage access scheme
subdetection
Tarahumare
texturizable
thermale
toluenesulfonyl methylamine
took the cake
tracing facility
turtle bay
two-loop trip
uncusped
use sb well
w.m
Walls Seamount
whiterocks
wonderfullest
xenon-krypton laser