时间:2018-12-06 作者:英语课 分类:7 小木屋之谜 The Woodshed Mystery


英语课

CHAPTER 10

Back to the Woodshed



The next day Maggie saw an old man in overalls 1 coming to the back door. He had a basket of eggs.



“Are you selling eggs?” Maggie asked.



“Yep,” said the old man.



“Where did you come from?” she asked again.



“Beans’,” said the man.



Benny heard him from the next room. He laughed. He said to Violet, “He doesn’t talk much, does he?”



“I wonder who he is?” said Violet.



“I know who he is,” said Benny. “He is the Beans’ hired man. I saw him working there when I went over.”



Maggie told the man, “We will have plenty of eggs later. Sam is going to raise chickens.”



“Yep,” said the man.



“We do want two dozen eggs now,” Maggie went on. “Put them in this pan.”



Benny and Violet listened.



“Have you lost any more eggs?” asked Maggie.



“Yep,” said the man.



“Can’t you say anything but ‘yep’?” Maggie laughed.



“No,” said the man. He did not laugh.



“Well, come every week,” said Maggie. “What’s your name?”



“Willie,” said the man.



“My, my! A grown man called Willie! You ought to be William.”



The man did not answer. Then he left.



Benny went into the kitchen at once. “What’s the matter with him?” he asked. “Can’t he talk?”



“Well,” said Maggie, “he doesn’t act very smart to me. Maybe he doesn’t know very much. Not very bright. He can’t help that. Maybe he’s a good worker. He sells very nice eggs.”



“Hi! Come on!” called Henry from outside. “I’ve got a bigger flashlight this time. It will last longer.”



Very soon Henry, Benny, and the two girls were on their way to the woodshed. Sam had to stop his work and go with them.



“I’ll never get anything done,” said Sam. But he smiled.



“I don’t think it will be much longer now,” said Henry mysteriously. “Do any of you know why all those things were taken out of the woodshed?”



“I think I do,” said Violet. “Somebody found my flowers on the table.”



“Right!” said Henry. “And then why were the things put back?”



“I bet someone saw us,” said Benny, “and said, ‘Oh, it’s only children!’”



“Good, Benny. That’s what I think too,” replied Henry. “We’ll be careful this time to leave everything just as it is now.”



“Do you want me to stay outside and watch?” asked Sam.



“Yes, I think that would be best, wouldn’t it?” said Jessie. “We’ll take Watch down in the hole with us. If you see anyone, just call.”



Soon the four children and the dog were down in the hole. The flashlight was very bright.



“Almost as bright as day,” said Benny, looking around. Watch was already in the tunnel, smelling around, wagging 2 his tail. Henry followed him. He had to bend over.



Soon Henry called back, “This isn’t a tunnel! It’s just a big room. I can almost stand up.”



Jessie followed him. She said, “This was certainly a storehouse. All kinds of things are on the floor. Don’t fall over them.”



Benny came in. He said, “Let’s put the light in the middle, Henry. Then we can look at every single thing. What are the little red balls all over the floor?”



“I think they are bullets,” said Henry. “They are all rusty 3. That makes them look red. Pick them all up.”



“Oh, Violet, I wish we had a bag!” cried Jessie.



“We have,” said Violet. She held up what looked like a small, folded piece of cloth. But when she shook it out, it was a large bag folded up many times. When it was open, it was enormous.



“How do you think of everything, Violet?” said Jessie. “That will hold all we find.”



“All but this,” shouted Benny. He dug out a flintlock. It was almost buried in the dirt.



“Just exactly like the other!” cried Violet.



“That settles it,” said Henry. “This was a hiding place for ammunition 4.”



Jessie added, “Only somebody has been here lately. It must be the one who lives in this woodshed.”



“I just wonder who it could be!” said Violet. “Who would want to hide here these days?”



“Look here!” cried Jessie. “I almost fell over this!” She held up an old milking stool 5 with three legs.



Henry looked at it. “I can just see one of those soldiers sitting on that stool with a candle!”



“What do you see him doing, Henry?” asked Benny.



“Well, packing bullets and cartridges 6 and gunpowder 7 in candle boxes.”



At last they could not find anything more. They went up the steps and put the cover over the hole. Then they went home with their treasures. Sam had not seen anyone.



When Aunt Jane had seen everything, she looked at the four children. She said, “I think we are soon going to find a very exciting story. Mr. Cole has come to spend the summer with his brother, and he wants to see you right away!”



1 overalls
n.(复)工装裤;长罩衣
  • He is in overalls today.他今天穿的是工作裤。
  • He changed his overalls for a suit.他脱下工装裤,换上了一套西服。
2 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》
3 rusty
adj.生锈的;锈色的;荒废了的
  • The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
  • I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用,我的法语又荒疏了。
4 ammunition
n.军火,弹药
  • A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
  • They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。
5 stool
n.凳子;粪便;根株;v.长出新枝,排便
  • The stool is steady enough.这个凳子很稳。
  • The boy was straining at stool.那个男孩在用力大便。
6 cartridges
子弹( cartridge的名词复数 ); (打印机的)墨盒; 录音带盒; (唱机的)唱头
  • computer consumables such as disks and printer cartridges 如磁盘、打印机墨盒之类的电脑耗材
  • My new video game player came with three game cartridges included. 我的新电子游戏机附有三盘游戏带。
7 gunpowder
n.火药
  • Gunpowder was introduced into Europe during the first half of the 14th century.在14世纪上半叶,火药传入欧洲。
  • This statement has a strong smell of gunpowder.这是一篇充满火药味的声明。
学英语单词
acnodal cubic
acoustic instrument
Albert's staining
atomizing apparatus
automatic information retrieval system (airs)
back-bench
bar hopped
Billroth's suture
Bouclans
Bowman's membranes
braunsapis mixta
bridge arch
burst correction
chromatic transference scale
coinstituted
Corallinaceae
corance
core-halo galaxy
crural fossae
cutaneous amebiasis
cyanogenetic glycoside
cylinder plug gauge
default button
disc handwheel
dogfoods
ear hustlin'
Eppenrod
experimental diabetes
extentions
faced time
file reconstitution
finite life design
Flavoteben
for months
Fundamental forecasting
gear type locating ring
geast
glucosides
gross sum
harvest-times
heat service conveyor belt
heavy cargo ship
home-lovings
hygrometer calibration chamber
Hyoid-cartilage
hypercorticism
inaudibility
incretory glands
independent linking up gear
information and communications technology
infrared measurement
inter-utereral
investment in affiliates
journey at reduced fare
Kivertsi
kosraeans
lasianthus obliquinervis simizui
lateral lymph nodes
Lima Duarte
lintel(l)ed
m'raq
made the rounds
Medroeort
methanolates
monomachia
Morris County
myoplasty
navving
Niono
non-dispersive infrared
off air call setup
orizio
out-out business
outfittings
parafollicular cells
parameter group identifier
patient-monitoring
Paton.
phalacrotophora (plalacrotophora) flaviclava
Pindarist
podolampas palmipes
portal frame type platform
post-replication repair
potting machine
poured joint filler
pterospermum acerifoliums
pulse mode multiplex
re-lease
rushliker
Salenijdae
salutatory address
sampling system of reactor
social distance scale
subcontrols
sylvians
tercentenary
typing by looking
unhabituated
unstaled
up-todate
Zebulon