时间:2018-12-06 作者:英语课 分类:4 神秘农场 Mystery Ranch


英语课

Mr. Carter 1 spoke 2, “I think your grandfather will be glad to help. I can go to Greenfield and tell him the whole story.”



He looked at his watch and got up quickly. “Good-by, children, and the best of luck.”



In one minute he was gone.



Benny said, “Mystery men work fast, don’t they?”



“There’s just one thing wrong,” Henry said. “Aunt Jane didn’t want Grandfather to come to her ranch 3. Maybe she will be angry if he comes to help us.”



“Well, maybe she will be good and glad!” said Mr. Pond, laughing. “She ought to be thankful if he will come. She won’t like it when people begin to go across her land.”



The children were quiet all the way home. They were wondering how to tell Aunt Jane.



“Let’s not worry,” said Violet 4 at last. “Things always work out all right for us.”



But even Violet was in for a surprise.



Watch met them at the door, barking and wagging 5 his tail. Maggie was smiling in the kitchen. Aunt Jane was laughing at them from the front room! She was sitting in her long chair, all dressed. The children had never seen her in a dress before.



“Dear Aunt Jane!” cried Violet. “You are up and dressed! I was never so glad in my life.” She bent 6 over and kissed the little old lady.



Aunt Jane was surprised at the kiss. But she was very pleased.



“I will bring the kitchen table in here,” said Henry.



“Why not eat on the table that is in here?”



“But that is your very best table,” said Jessie.



“It is your table, remember,” said Aunt Jane. “I’d like to eat on it, if you want to use it.”



A happy family sat down to supper that night.



“Now, tell me everything that happened in Stony 7 Creek,” said Aunt Jane.



The children took turns. They told her everything. They told her what a fine man the Mystery Man was. They passed quickly over the three tough men, because they did not want to frighten her.



“They caught them anyway,” said Benny, “So no more trouble from them.”



At last, everything had been told except one thing—Grandfather.



“About these strangers,” said Benny. “Mr. Carter says this place won’t be quiet any more. Everyone will come to see the uranium. And maybe some will take away rocks.”



Aunt Jane nodded. “What does he think we ought to do?”



“He says we can’t take care of it ourselves,” began Henry. “We must have help from some man who can do things in a big way and who has money to have a mine dug 8.”



Aunt Jane said slowly, “I know one man who can do it. My brother, James.”



For a minute the children could not speak. Then Jessie cried, “Oh, he could, Aunt Jane!”



“And now I wonder if he would,” said Aunt Jane, “after the way I’ve treated him.”



“I’m sure he would,” said Jessie excitedly.



“Well, I hope so,” said her aunt. “I could never stand hundreds of people running all over my ranch—your ranch. I’ll send your grandfather a night letter.”



“If you will write a night letter,” said Henry, “I’ll take it to Tom Young’s house and have him send it tonight.”



“You care a lot for your grandfather, don’t you?” asked the old lady, with a sharp look.



“And we care a lot for you, too,” said Henry.



“Get me some paper at once, Henry,” said Aunt Jane, “before I change my mind.”



The children were very quiet while their aunt wrote the night letter. They were afraid every minute that she would change her mind.



“Listen to this,” she said at last. “‘Will you take over all business of the uranium fields, now owned by your grandchildren 9? For once I am glad to have you for a boss. The children and Watch send love. Jane.’”



“Perfect!” said Henry.



Next morning, right after breakfast, a telegram 10 came for Aunt Jane.



She read it aloud, “‘I shall be glad to take over this business. You do not have to see me. Decide how much land you want to keep for yourself and we will build a fence 11 around it. I will send a guard for the house. James Alden.’”



“A guard for this house!” cried Benny. “Isn’t this exciting!”



Jessie called, “Look! Here’s a car already!”



The car was full of telephone men. One of them asked Aunt Jane very politely where she wanted the telephones.



“Telephones?” asked Benny. “Are you going to put in two?”



“We have to put in four,” he said. “I guess you folks 12 don’t know what you are in for.”



“No, I guess we don’t,” said Henry. “I think I had better go to town and telephone Grandfather now. I may not have a chance later.”



Henry left with Watch.



How wonderful it was to talk with Grandfather!



“Now, listen carefully,” Mr. Alden said, “Your aunt’s ranch must always be kept a pleasant place for her to live. So, when you have time, let her decide where the fence should go. Then she could always do anything she wanted with the ranch itself. Do you understand?”



“I think so. You mean we still might want to run the ranch?”



“Exactly.”



Henry noticed that his grandfather still called the ranch “hers.” He also knew that he must get right at the fence. When his grandfather said, “When you have time,” he meant right away.



Henry went back to the ranch and told his aunt what Mr. Alden had said.



“Grandfather wants us to decide where that fence shall go.”



“I know already,” said the little lady. “Here is a plan of the ranch. I have marked where I want the fence to go.”



Aunt Jane listened. “Here comes another car,” she said.



“Poor Aunt Jane!” said Jessie. “You’ll never get any rest.”



“That’s Grandfather for you,” said Benny.



The men were sent by Mr. Alden to put up the fence. Henry was glad that his aunt had the plan ready in time.



Jessie asked, “Do you want Henry to carry you to bed, Aunt Jane?”



“No. I want him to help me to the kitchen window, so I can see the cars drive up. I want to see everything.”



Henry took her to a big easy chair by the kitchen window.



“Doesn’t Grandfather work fast?” asked Jessie.



“He always did,” said her aunt. “Once he worked too fast for me. But not now. Here comes another car!”



“I just can’t believe it,” said Violet, “we’ll never get any work done.”



Benny came in to tell the news. His face was red with excitement.



“The guards are here!” he shouted. “They will stop people from knocking on our door all the time and asking us about the uranium. They say we will get tired of it. But I wouldn’t, would you, Aunt Jane?”



“I’m not tired of it yet,” said Aunt Jane.



1 carter
n.运货马车夫,赶大车的人;卡车司机
  • Although fatigue shows readily on Carter, he bounces back quickly. 卡特虽然容易显出疲劳的样子,但他恢复得很快。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 spoke
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
  • 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。
3 ranch
n.大牧场,大农场
  • He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
  • The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。
4 violet
adj.紫色的;n.紫罗兰
  • She likes to wear violet dresses.他喜欢穿紫色的衣服。
  • Violet is the color of wisdom,peace and strength.紫色是智慧的,和平的和力量的颜色。
5 wagging
adj.(左右)摆动,摇摆,摇动v.(使)摇动,摇摆( wag的现在分词 )
  • The dog ran up, wagging its tail. 那条狗摇着尾巴跑上前去。
  • A dog reacts to kindness by wagging its tail. 狗摇尾巴以报答人们的爱护。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 bent
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的
  • He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
  • We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。
7 stony
adj.石头的,多石头的,冷酷的,无情的
  • The ground is too dry and stony.这块地太干,而且布满了石头。
  • He listened to her story with a stony expression.他带着冷漠的表情听她讲经历。
8 dug
n.动物的乳房[乳头]v.挖,掘( dig的过去式和过去分词 );(如用铲、锨或推土机等)挖掘;挖得;寻找
  • He dug a deep hole in the garden. 他在花园里挖了个深坑。
  • We dug a deep pit in the yard. 我们在院子中挖了个深洞。
9 grandchildren
n.孙子;孙(女),外孙(女)( grandchild的名词复数 )
  • He left a bequest to each of his grandchildren. 他给他的孙辈每人留下一笔遗产。
  • His grandchildren afforded him his greatest pleasure in his old age. 他的孙子和孙女们在晚年的时候给了他最大的欢乐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 telegram
n.电报;vt.用电报发送(打电报)
  • Will you hand on this telegram to your friend?你把这份电报转交给你的朋友好吗?
  • I've got your telegram.我已经收到了你的电报。
11 fence
n.围墙,剑术;v.用篱笆围住,练习剑术,防护;[计算机]栅栏
  • They put a fence around the garden.他们在园子的周围建起了篱笆。
  • The thief jumped himself over a fence and escaped.贼纵身跃过篱笆逃走了。
12 folks
n.人们;父母;亲人;家属;人们( folk的名词复数 );亲属;大伙儿;民间音乐
  • Ask yourself what the folks in Peoria will think of it. 想一想皮奥里亚的人会如何看待这件事。
  • When good folks meet, evil men keep their distance. 好人相逢,恶人远离。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
学英语单词
-xion
advanced intelligent tape
aft side light
anguilla australis
antioxidase
approach control office
attainor
aurian
available current surplus
back-off compensation
blow-molded container
bottle glorifier
brooksie
carved wooden jewellery box
clonal selection
Crack a nut with a sledgehammer
crawl up
cryosphere
Cumbres de Monterrey National Park
curved mould
de(s)aminase
discrete wired circuits
doand
Eocretaceous
fair point
fencepole
fenice
foeniculum vulgares
fourth-rail insulator
fucus
fuel-charging chamber
gaol
geminal diols
great circle path
hard pine
have a notion that...
hot brittleness test
hydraulically actuated brake
hyper-pre-beta-lipoproteinemia
independent tank
insectator
internal inner ring
Iwo Jima
Japanese medlar
jugendherbergens
kahikatoa
KCMG, K.C.M.G.
lexicostatisticss
lip-reads
loop splice plate
manetta
metal bead
Metriophyllum
molecular momentum exchange
multiprocess special character
myelochroa denegans
Natronkatapleite
naut mi
neutral skin
nonlinear stochastic function
nonwood
Orisha
Osvaldo Cruz
overhead distribution
overthrusts
oxyphonia
parallel diode limiter
Pas.
pecan pies
perforated (paper)tape
Plaimpied-Givaudins
posthumous adoption
pple
rabid
ratherish
reapplied
reception expenses
rubber stop
safe curve speed
saw-grass
seagoing buoy tender
show a fair pair of heels
solid state keyboard
spicy food
stange
stem tube
stufs
superconductive chopper
supply grill
toryhillite
Tschermak
tubular pump-turbine
tumbledryers
tutorial disk
twist the knife
underbackorder
unlight
vent-type injection moulding
weak-to-the-wall
wielders
wooden shoes
Yokjido