时间:2018-12-06 作者:英语课 分类:64 The Black Pearl Mystery


英语课

When Cousin Mary and the Aldens returned to Pineapple Place late that afternoon, they had a surprise.



Grandfather!” Jessie said when she spotted 1 Mr. Alden strolling by Cousin Mary’s house. “You’re back early. We’ve been pineapple picking and snorkeling and visiting an old volcano and all kinds of things.”



Cousin Mary looked especially pleased to see her cousin James Alden. She needed to put Joseph Kahuna out of her mind for a little while. “I’m so glad you returned early, James. What a nice surprise.”



Now I’m the one to be surprised,” Mr. Alden said. “Didn’t you get the message that I would be arriving today?”



Cousin Mary looked confused. “What message?”



Why, last night I left a message with a woman who answered the phone,” Mr. Alden said. “I told her I would be returning this morning, and that I’d be meeting Dr. Charlotte Lilo here. You remember I mentioned Charlotte? She’s a marine 2 biologist at the university. You didn’t get the message?”



Cousin Mary shook her head. “No, I’m afraid I didn’t. I wish I knew who took it, because maybe I missed other phone messages as well.”



Mr. Alden looked upset. “This is a shame, it truly is. You see, Charlotte is just stopping over on Maui until tomorrow morning. She was looking forward to going snorkeling with the children this afternoon. And she even planned to bring Henry scuba 3 diving. Now it’s so late in the day, I’m not sure —”



At that moment, a tanned, middle-aged 4 woman strolled up to the group. “Hello, Aldens! I’m Dr. Charlotte Lilo.”



Are you a fish doctor?” Soo Lee asked.



Dr. Lilo laughed. “In a way. I’m studying the fish and reefs around the Hawaiian Islands to find out how to keep them strong and healthy.”



Mr. Alden introduced Charlotte to the children and to Cousin Mary. “Sorry they came back too late to go out on the water with you, Charlotte. No one received the message about my return.”



Dr. Lilo didn’t seem to be a bit bothered by this. “No problem, James. We’ll just go snorkeling and diving at night. In many ways, you can see a lot more underwater at night than during the day. We’ll go out as soon as the sun goes down.”



Night snorkeling — neat,” Benny said.



Even Cousin Mary looked pleased at the new plans. “You’ll take my boat. One of my workers, Luke, knows many good snorkeling spots around here. Luke!” Cousin Mary called out when she saw him approaching. “We were just talking about you.”



I found the snorkels 5 you keep for guests, Mrs. Cook,” Luke said. “They’re clean and ready for the Aldens.”



Luke, I’d like you to meet Dr. Charlotte Lilo. She’s going to go night snorkeling and scuba diving with the children. I was wondering if you would mind bringing everyone out to the reefs in my boat tonight.”



Luke put out his hand. “Glad to meet you, Dr. Lilo. I’ve heard all about your work in saving our coral reefs. I’d be glad to take you and the Aldens out diving and snorkeling. How about meeting me at the dock at eight o’clock tonight?” he asked everyone.



See you then!” Dr. Lilo answered.



Just before eight o’clock that night, the Aldens decided 6 to stop by Cousin Mary’s office to let her know they were leaving. Jessie knocked on the office door, which was half open. “Cousin Mary! Are you in there?”



Oh, come in, children,” Cousin Mary answered. “I found my husband’s maps. I was just checking some snorkeling spots he had marked. Show them to Luke and Dr. Lilo before you go out in the boat.”



Henry and Jessie came around the desk. They looked over Mary Cook’s shoulder and read the hand-drawn maps.



These are the maps?” Jessie asked. “Where were they?”



Cousin Mary put down the maps. “Why, right here, on top of the desk where I left them,” she told the children. “Are you sure you didn’t put them with your things by mistake? They’re wet from salt water.”



The children gathered around. Sure enough, the maps were still damp.



These maps weren’t on the desk at all when we were here yesterday,” Jessie said. “We looked all over. Maybe someone else borrowed them to go snorkeling.” Jessie remembered the Pierces, but she didn’t say anything. After all, anyone on the plantation 7 might have borrowed the maps as well.



Cousin Mary put on her reading glasses again. “No harm done, in any case. Now take a look at this spot over here that’s marked with an X. The maps are so out of date, these caves are completely underwater now. In the old days, they were in fairly shallow water at low tide. But hurricanes and currents have changed the beach since then. Now the only way to reach the caves is to swim out to them as you did yesterday or go out by boat. Wiki wiki,children.”



“Wiki wiki?” Soo Lee asked.



Wiki wiki means ‘Hurry, hurry’!” Cousin Mary said, shooing the children toward the door.



Cousin Mary’s motorboat was already running when the Aldens met Dr. Lilo and Luke at the dock.



Luke set down a large metal can. “We’re all set. I checked the gas tank for leaks, and there’s no problem. It’s funny. I filled the tank the other day, but I had to refill it just now. I wonder if one of the other workers or guests took the boat out. Anyway, we’re fine now. I have life jackets for everyone. Dr. Lilo stowed the scuba and snorkeling gear in the hatch. So step in.”



Dr. Lilo and the Aldens found seats in the boat. Then they set out toward Reef Bay, where the best snorkeling spots were.



A few minutes later, everyone spotted a larger boat stopped in the water up ahead.



That’s one of the cargo 8 boats,” Luke said, slowing down. “Some of the plantations 9 ship their fruit across Reef Bay by boat. I wonder why it’s out at night and why it’s anchored here. Usually cargo boats head straight to the cannery or warehouse 10 docks to unload their fruit.”



It’s marked Kane Plantation,” Henry said, looking through the binoculars 11.



Luke slowed down. “Can you take over the controls, Dr. Lilo? I’d like to check out that boat. Why would it anchor all the way over here? Maybe it’s in trouble.”



As Dr. Lilo steered 12 the motorboat closer, the cargo boat pulled away quickly.



Luke tracked the boat with the binoculars, but it was too dark to see much. “It’s the Kane boat, all right. I could’ve sworn they just pulled up a scuba diver. Pretty strange for a cargo boat to be used for scuba diving,” Luke said.



Luke slowed the boat, then cut the motor. “Here’s where we drop anchor. The underwater caves are close by.”



Dr. Lilo and the Aldens double-checked their snorkeling and scuba equipment and life jackets. They were ready.



You can jump in, dive in, or just step down from the boat,” Luke said.



Luke and the younger children stayed in the boat. After Dr. Lilo did a last-minute check of Henry’s scuba tanks, she, Henry, and Jessie slipped into the water.



Dr. Lilo, Henry, and Jessie each had underwater spotlights 13. They were amazed at the underwater world, which was so alive with fish even at night.



Jessie pulled out her disposable underwater camera. She took a picture of Henry entering a cave. She had just clicked a picture when she heard a loud horn on the surface. She lifted her head. A large boat was moving in their direction.



Sharks around here,” someone on the boat shouted to Luke and the children. “You should get everyone out of the water real quick.”



Jessie didn’t waste a second. She dived down to warn Henry and Dr. Lilo.



A few minutes later, Henry, Jessie, and Dr. Lilo surfaced, then swam back to the boat and climbed in.



What a shame we had to cut our dive short,” Dr. Lilo said. “I’ve never heard of sharks swimming in the bay. That would be very unusual behavior for a shark. I’ll have to check into this.”



Henry was even more disappointed. “I’d really like to return here another time. I’m pretty sure that was the cave I saw when you and I went snorkeling, Jessie. This time I got inside.”



Did you see the silvery object you spotted yesterday?” Jessie asked.



Henry shook his head. “I didn’t see anything. It looked just like the same cave, but whatever I saw inside yesterday has disappeared.”



1 spotted
adj.有斑点的,斑纹的,弄污了的
  • The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
  • Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。
2 marine
adj.海的;海生的;航海的;海事的;n.水兵
  • Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
  • When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时,他自愿参加了海军陆战队。
3 scuba
n.水中呼吸器
  • I first got hooked on scuba diving when I was twelve.12岁时我开始迷上了带水中呼吸器潜水。
  • While on honeymoon in Bali,she learned to scuba dive.她在巴厘岛度蜜月时学会了带水肺潜水。
4 middle-aged
adj.中年的
  • I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
  • The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。
5 snorkels
n.(潜泳者或潜水艇的)水下通气管( snorkel的名词复数 );[消防]高空作业车,按展臂方式分为直臂式和曲臂式,按功能分为高空洒水车和高空救援车。v.使用水下呼吸管潜游( snorkel的第三人称单数 )
6 decided
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
  • 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。
7 plantation
n.种植园,大农场
  • His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
  • The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。
8 cargo
n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物
  • The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
  • A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。
9 plantations
n.种植园,大农场( plantation的名词复数 )
  • Soon great plantations, supported by slave labor, made some families very wealthy. 不久之后出现了依靠奴隶劳动的大庄园,使一些家庭成了富豪。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
  • Winterborne's contract was completed, and the plantations were deserted. 维恩特波恩的合同完成后,那片林地变得荒废了。 来自辞典例句
10 warehouse
n.仓库;vt.存入仓库
  • We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
  • The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。
11 binoculars
n.双筒望远镜
  • He watched the play through his binoculars.他用双筒望远镜看戏。
  • If I had binoculars,I could see that comet clearly.如果我有望远镜,我就可以清楚地看见那颗彗星。
12 steered
v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 );操纵;控制;引导
  • He steered the boat into the harbour. 他把船开进港。
  • The freighter steered out of Santiago Bay that evening. 那天晚上货轮驶出了圣地亚哥湾。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 spotlights
n.聚光灯(的光)( spotlight的名词复数 );公众注意的中心v.聚光照明( spotlight的第三人称单数 );使公众注意,使突出醒目
  • The room was lit by spotlights. 房间被聚光灯照亮。
  • The dazzle of the spotlights made him ill at ease. 聚光灯的耀眼强光使他局促不安。 来自辞典例句
学英语单词
adelogenic
angiosclerotic myasthenia
applictions
appointings
axial force of rail
baseball-related
be alive to
block cipher system
burgeri
cavenger jig
celling rate
cheongsam
chive
chrome bleaching
chrysanthemaxenthin
closing error in coordinate increment
coleosporium clematidis barclay
contact loss
continuous-wave interference
cooperative enterprises
data collection facility
dessert fork
dysluite
electrophoresis force
Epist.
erratic flow
event horizon
excitancy
fillmass chute
flat-platform body
floor-operated crane
goldchip
Gui Xian
half a loaf is better than none
harry
heat in the exterior
hidden reserve
hydrochlorothiazides
i-telle
Indigofera muliensis
informatical
information quantity
itbs
jacky 2,Jacky
kickiest
Kivitoo
lanting
law of independent assortment
lionskin
loading sequence
make system
mohnyins
morpholinobiguanide
moveout correction
myelosclerotic
naturalistic conception of definitions
Neocinnamomum
New Forest pony
non-deterministic space complexity
non-self-luminous object
option buyer
patchlike
peak magnetizing force
phagostatin
phase-shifter
physical loss or damage
pole-plate
powersafes
pump discharge manifold
pushing rod jack
Pyrenaria
quaking puddings
rackingly
radar equipment feeding
residual cake valve
resistivity sounding configuration
Riccitensor
sea monkeys
secondary acid
sensitive plant
separate regenerative chamber
severe heat stroke
short land memo
ssfa
stress-relaxation modulus
sualci venosi
suckled
take care tonight
tender chafing block
thymolytic
timed indefinite shipment
top needle
transition process
transparence diaphaneity
undefeatableness
unionless
unit of budget
valvulotomies
without much further ado
WSBA
Xuan Phu