时间:2018-12-06 作者:英语课 分类:78 The Mystery in the Computer


英语课

Grandfather’s grandfather clock chimed the half hour at eleven-thirty.



“Can we go to lunch now?” Benny asked. “I like this new game, but now I’m hungry. Those waffles were a long time ago.”



“Three whole hours,” Jessie said, laughing. She jiggled Watch’s red leash 1, which was hanging in the hallway. “All right, Watch, you can come, too.”



Watch licked Jessie’s hand as if he understood everything she said.



The children said good-bye to Grandfather and Mrs. McGregor, who were going out grocery shopping.



Walking to the Brass 2 Horn Restaurant took a long time. Watch liked to stop at every tree and bark at every squirrel that he saw. He even barked at a green car that drove down the Aldens’ street twice.



“I wonder what the meeting at QuestMaster is about this afternoon,” Jessie said. “It came up so suddenly.”



Henry walked ahead of the other children. He was eager to find out why C.D. wanted everyone at the studio. “I sure hope it’s to tell us about Jane’s secret idea.” Henry reached into his back pocket and stopped.



“What’s the matter, Henry?” Soo Lee asked.



Henry smacked 3 his forehead. “I forgot my wallet on the front hall table. The money Grandfather gave us for our lunch is in it.”



Soo Lee dug into her pocket. “I have seven cents.”



Benny turned his jeans pockets inside out. “I have a quarter.”



The older children smiled.



“I think we’ll need Henry’s wallet,” Jessie said.



As soon as the Aldens turned onto their street, Watch jerked ahead, with Violet at his heels. “Slow down, Watch!” she said. “What’s the matter?”



Watch barked and pulled Violet toward the house.



Jessie noticed a green car parked in the driveway. “There’s a man ringing the doorbell. I wonder if Grandfather was expecting someone. That’s the car that I saw going past us before.” She spoke 4 to Watch in a soothing 5 voice. “It’s okay, Watch.”



But seeing a strange man on the Alden porch was not okay with Watch. He always barked when someone new came to the door.



The man heard the barking and turned around.



“It’s Ned Porter!” Jessie cried, waving to get his attention. “Hi, Ned. Did you come over to fix our computer?”



Ned Porter didn’t answer. Instead he went down the porch steps quickly, got in his car, and drove away.



“Why didn’t he wait for us?” Benny wanted to know.



No one had the answer to that. The children let themselves inside the house. Henry found his wallet where he’d left it.



“Is there enough for hamburgers?” Benny asked Henry.



“As many as you want,” Henry answered.



The Aldens were plenty hungry after their long walk to the Brass Horn Restaurant.



“See?” Benny said to everyone. “The computer was right. It’s twelve o’clock, and we’re at the Brass Horn on Forest Lane. And ... what else?”



“And you’re hungry!” Jessie tickled 6 Benny’s side.



The Brass Horn was a nice old restaurant in Greenfield where Grandfather often brought the children. He told them it was very much like restaurants he had visited in England. Inside, there was a stone fireplace, old wooden beams, and paintings of knights 7 and castles and horses. There was even a brass hunting horn over the doorway 8. In the summer, customers could eat outside at the big old wooden tables. Everyone drank from pewter mugs and ate from pewter plates, just as in olden times.



Jessie tied Watch’s leash to a big shady tree just beyond the patio 9. “Be a good boy, Watch. We’ll be right over there, eating outside.”



“Hello, Aldens,” the hostess said when she saw the children. “Where’s your grandfather today?”



“Grandfather let us come here all by ourselves,” Benny answered. “And we even brought Watch. Jessie tied his leash to your big tree.”



The hostess smiled at the children. “I’ve got the perfect table for you, then, right next to that tree. You can watch Watch.”



The children liked the large menus, which were written in old-fashioned letters.



Benny already knew what he wanted, so he looked around at the other people in the restaurant over the top of his menu. That’s when he happened to notice a familiar face. “Don’t look now,” he whispered from behind his menu. “But that lady from QuestMaster, Jane Driver, is over there.”



The other children buried their noses behind their menus. One by one they took a peek 10 across the patio.



“You’re right, Benny!” Henry whispered. “I wonder who those two men are, sitting with her.”



Jessie tried not to stare. “They have papers spread out over their table. They don’t look like anybody we’ve met at QuestMaster. Should we go over there and say hi?”



Violet turned around slowly to catch a peek, too. “One of them just got up to use the phone.”



Just then the children heard Watch bark.



“Oh, no,” Jessie said. “What could Watch be barking about? He’s always so quiet and polite when we take him out. He only barks near home.”



Jessie went over to scold Watch, then returned to the table. “You’ll never guess who’s over there behind Jane’s table. Ned! That’s who Watch was barking at.”



“This is getting interesting,” Henry said. “Ned is standing 11 right behind Jane, as if he’s trying to hear what’s going on. Why doesn’t he just let her know he’s there?”



After the waiter took the Aldens’ orders, he took their menus away. They couldn’t hide anymore.



“It doesn’t matter,” Violet said. “Jane and Ned can’t see us from where they are. And the two men with Jane wouldn’t recognize us anyway.”



“Nothing is happening over there,” Benny said a while later. “Except that Jane and Ned are in the same restaurant but not together. What could be wrong with that?”



“Nothing,” Henry agreed, “but I have a funny feeling something is going on with Jane and Ned. I wonder what it is. Let’s see what they have to say at the meeting later.”



1 leash
n.牵狗的皮带,束缚;v.用皮带系住
  • I reached for the leash,but the dog got in between.我伸手去拿系狗绳,但被狗挡住了路。
  • The dog strains at the leash,eager to be off.狗拼命地扯拉皮带,想挣脱开去。
2 brass
n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器
  • Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
  • Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
3 smacked
拍,打,掴( smack的过去式和过去分词 )
  • He smacked his lips but did not utter a word. 他吧嗒两下嘴,一声也不言语。
  • She smacked a child's bottom. 她打孩子的屁股。
4 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。
5 soothing
adj.慰藉的;使人宽心的;镇静的
  • Put on some nice soothing music.播放一些柔和舒缓的音乐。
  • His casual, relaxed manner was very soothing.他随意而放松的举动让人很快便平静下来。
6 tickled
(使)发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 ); (使)愉快,逗乐
  • We were tickled pink to see our friends on television. 在电视中看到我们的一些朋友,我们高兴极了。
  • I tickled the baby's feet and made her laugh. 我胳肢孩子的脚,使她发笑。
7 knights
骑士; (中古时代的)武士( knight的名词复数 ); 骑士; 爵士; (国际象棋中)马
  • stories of knights and fair maidens 关于骑士和美女的故事
  • He wove a fascinating tale of knights in shining armour. 他编了一个穿着明亮盔甲的骑士的迷人故事。
8 doorway
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径
  • They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
  • Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。
9 patio
n.庭院,平台
  • Suddenly, the thought of my beautiful patio came to mind. I can be quiet out there,I thought.我又忽然想到家里漂亮的院子,我能够在这里宁静地呆会。
  • They had a barbecue on their patio on Sunday.星期天他们在院子里进行烧烤。
10 peek
vi.偷看,窥视;n.偷偷的一看,一瞥
  • Larry takes a peek out of the window.赖瑞往窗外偷看了一下。
  • Cover your eyes and don't peek.捂上眼睛,别偷看。
11 standing
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
  • 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。
学英语单词
abjoule
aescine
airs cryogenic aerosol processor
ala of central lobule
amangkurat
ambulator
anomala loi
arietate
auger electron emission
becking
bendalloy
blunders into
bullbeggar
chain data address
CIE-C
committed effective dose equivalent
critical layer
cross colour
cylindrical chart
debit system
diffusion theory approximation
dunno.
end control
excelsior wrapper
falkow
flat tin
flower-piece
geake
Gemmatimonadetes
GM_nouns-and-prepositions
gymnosperm
hemalyke
heteroheptamers
hitchment
hoyt
indecent assault
intrasite communications
joachann
know how many beans make five
Koninckophyllum
kordell
La Trobe R.
Lauesymmetry
liquid mirror telescope
Lynenol
Marburg hemorrhagic fever
martyrs
masking tape
mating rate of virgin female meths
MCL level
meerbeke
mesodermic
minsk mazowiecki
mitochondrional
monargentic
Montreal River
municipally-owned
n.t.
operating hazard analysis
organorubidium
overall external dimension
paper wasp
pcoes
PCSA
pectinid
Pelham, Henry
physically impaired
picture demodulator
polianthes tuberosas
polycotyleden
pubococcygeal
quashed
radial-thrust force
reception facilities
recyclists
resource data subsystem
robert capa
sadi carnots
septate fiber tracheid
single-bed converter
soap bubble
Southeyville
spermatio-
spinal vein
sporidesmium magnibrachypus
squatting speed
St-Antonin
state contables
strainer vines
straw pick-up loader
subheads
suppressed output
surface-grinding
tatoin
time-line
transfer survey inmining district
troostites
V. I.
ventora
water line corrosion
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