时间:2018-12-06 作者:英语课 分类:36 The Castle Mystery


英语课

 


At breakfast the next morning, everyone met with Carrie to plan the day’s work. She was pleased at how quickly jobs got done with the Aldens’ help. Still, it took some coaxing 1 to get everybody to work together.



“I’m sending Sandy to town. We’re very low on groceries,” Carrie announced. “Who else would like to go?”



No one spoke 2 up. Mr. Tooner stared at Sandy in that odd way he had. Tom kept on scribbling 3 something in his notebook. As for the Aldens, they were full of other plans.



“It’s such a fine day,” Mr. Alden said, “I’m going to do some clean-up work on the grounds.”



“Jessie, Violet, and I are going to tackle those big windows in the great hall,” Henry told Carrie.



“What about you, Benny?” Carrie asked.



“I’m going to search for the violin! I’ll finish looking in the great hall. If it’s not there, I’m going to search the castle high and low!”



This got everyone’s attention right away.



First, Sandy spoke up. “Maybe Benny should come shopping with me after all. I … uh … I mean, there’s so much to carry.”



Mr. Tooner, who never said much, asked for Benny’s help, too. “Well, I could use a boy to hammer a few things.”



Even Tom needed Benny all of a sudden. He put down his pen next to his notebook. “I’ll put you to work. Why don’t you box up some of the books in the great hall so I can catalogue them? I’ll put a carton in there right now.” With that, Tom rushed upstairs.



Benny didn’t know what to say. Why did everyone need him just when he wanted to explore the castle? He stopped eating his pancakes and looked up at Carrie.



“There seems to be a great demand for a hardworking boy like you!” Carrie said with an encouraging smile. “But don’t worry. There aren’t too many books left in the great room. You’ll still have plenty of time to explore afterwards.”



Before Sandy went out, she said to Benny: “Well, as long as you’re poking 4 around, see if you can find the charm bracelet 5 I lost the other day. I think it must be in the dining hall.”



“Okay,” Benny agreed, though that wouldn’t be nearly as exciting as finding a valuable violin.



After Mr. Tooner and Mr. Alden left, Carrie and the children tidied up the kitchen.



“Well, I’m glad everyone has a job,” Carrie said. “And I’m glad Sandy won’t be underfoot. I keep finding her here, there, and everywhere.”



“Well, today I’m going to be here, there, and everywhere,” Benny said with a smile.



The children gathered up some buckets, sponges, rags, and cleaning supplies.



“Henry, why don’t you put everything in the dumbwaiter, and we can send it up to the first floor?” Carrie asked. “I don’t like carrying a lot of things on the narrow back stairs.”



Henry opened the doors to the dumbwaiter. The children could hear a man’s voice traveling down the passageway: “… just figured out how to stop all this snooping around. But I need to know if you have a buyer.”



The voice faded out before the children heard anything else.



“Whose voice is that?” Jessie asked.



Henry thought. “I’m not sure if it’s Tom or Mr. Tooner. Probably Tom, since he talks to a lot of antiques dealers 6.”



There was so much to do, no one had time to puzzle out who or what they had overheard. The children stacked their cleaning supplies inside the dumbwaiter. Benny pulled the rope to send it upstairs.



In the great hall, everyone had a job to do. First, Henry took down the heavy velvet 7 draperies.



“I’ll take them outside and hang them,” Carrie said. “There’s a stiff breeze coming off the lake. That will blow some of the dust from these old curtains.”



Violet helped Jessie remove the dust sheets from the rest of the furniture. “Goodness, look at this!” Violet cried, pulling a sheet off a big chair. She held up Sandy’s missing charm bracelet.



“Why would Sandy’s bracelet be in this chair?” Benny wondered.



“Most of this furniture has been covered up since we arrived,” Henry pointed 8 out. “There are some strange things going on in this old castle,” Jessie said.



Violet’s face was pale. “Ever since we got here, I don’t like going by the rooms where the furniture is covered up. If there’s a breeze blowing or anything, the sheets move and … I don’t know. I sometimes have the feeling someone is hiding under them.”



Benny looked up at Violet. “Me, too!”



Henry could tell that Benny and Violet were still a little nervous. He pulled a dust sheet off the last piece of furniture. “There, now it looks pretty normal in here, doesn’t it?”



“Normal for an old castle,” Violet said. She felt a little better now that everything was uncovered.



Benny felt better too. He settled himself down to work in front of a bookcase. Carrie had been right. There weren’t too many books left to pack up for Tom. In fact, Benny wondered why Tom even needed him for such a simple job.



“Look!” Benny said. “Here are some albums with pictures of the castle a long time ago.”



Benny got the boring work out of the way quickly. He dusted off old books and boxed them. Then he picked up a big green leather photo album. Inside were old black-and-white photos taken around Drummond Castle. There were some boys his very own age on ponies 9 in front of the castle stable. There was a beautiful greenhouse with a wedding party posed in front of it.



Then, in one photo, Benny saw a familiar face. “Come here,” he called out to Henry and his sisters. “Doesn’t this look like Mr. Tooner?” He pointed to a thin young man with a serious look on his face.



“I think it is,” Jessie said. “And, look, he’s holding a violin in the picture. There seems to be some kind of square dance out in the stables.”



Violet took a look. “I don’t think that could be the Stradivarius — not at a country dance.”



“Aw, shucks,” Benny said. “Why not?”



“Sorry, Benny,” Violet said. “This looks like a fine fiddle 10 Mr. Tooner is holding, but he’s playing with other country musicians in this picture. They wouldn’t use rare instruments.”



“Nuts!” Benny said.



Jessie wanted to cheer up Benny. “Well, there is a clue in the picture staring right at you.”



“What is it, Jessie? Tell me. Please,” Benny begged.



“It’s Mr. Tooner, of course. Now we know that he plays the violin. Maybe he’s the one we have heard playing.”



“I still wish this was the violin everybody is looking for,” Benny said. “Maybe I’ll find an even better clue.”



Benny didn’t have to wait long for a better clue. In fact, he was holding one right in his hands. “What does this paper say, Jessie? It fell out of one of the books Tom told me to pack. I can read print but not handwriting. Can you read it to me?”



Jessie took a look at the paper Benny was holding. “Hmm. I’m not sure what this is, some sort of map. I guess we should have Carrie take a look at it.”



The other children looked over Jessie’s shoulder as she turned the map this way and that.



“It looks like someone was trying to scribble 11 down directions,” Henry said when he studied the paper.



“Directions to what?” Benny wanted to know.



“I can’t figure it out,” Henry said. “Maybe it’s nothing much. But why don’t we try to match up some of the places on this map?”



“Hooray!” Benny said. “I like following maps.”



With an adventure ahead of them, the Aldens finished their work in no time. Soon the windows of the great room sparkled. And Benny had a box of books for Tom when he came in to get them.



“Still here, I see.” As usual Tom had an annoyed look on his face when he spoke to the children.



“We were careful with all these old things,” Jessie explained. “Benny was especially careful with the books you wanted.”



“Fine, fine,” Tom said. “Well, move along then. I have work to finish in here myself. Carrie said to tell you to take the rest of the morning off if you’re finished. So you can leave now.”



“That’s what we were about to do,” Violet said. “We just need to help Jessie and Henry gather up the window-washing things.”



Tom seemed to want the room to himself. He shifted from one foot to the other until the children finally left.



Carrie was sitting at the kitchen table going through old papers when the children returned there.



“Look what Violet found!” Benny flashed Sandy’s charm bracelet in front of Carrie. “It was on one of the chairs that was covered up.”



Carrie sighed. “Ah, that Sandy. She’s always leaving things around. She starts a job, then next thing I know she begins something else. I really wish the foundation had sent someone over who was already trained. Or that there were more Aldens to go around!”



“Don’t tell that to Tom Brady,” Henry said as he dumped the water bucket into the sink. “He seems to think there are already too many Aldens. He couldn’t wait to shoo us out of the great hall.”



“He didn’t give Benny so much as a thank-you for packing up all those books for him,” Jessie said.



Carrie got up from her work to give Benny a big squeeze. “Well, here’s a hug and a thank-you, Benny,” Carrie said. “I guess Tom just likes to be by himself. I’m sure he appreciates what you did. I find that many people who work with old things like to work alone. I suppose Tom enjoys browsing 12 through all the books he finds to see what treasures they might hold.”



Benny waved the paper they had found in one of the books. “Here’s a treasure we found in an old book. It’s a map, and we’re going to see where it goes.”



Carrie checked the paper to see if it was old or valuable. “I bet that’s something William Drummond drew up for his children. Like that drawing inside the suit of armor. He was always sending his children on treasure hunts. So go ahead,” Carrie said cheerfully. “But save the paper. I doubt it’s valuable, but when you’re finished with it I’ll file it away with some of the other personal papers I’ve found. That looks like a morning’s adventure.”



“I sure hope so!” Benny cried.



1 coaxing
v.哄,用好话劝说( coax的现在分词 );巧言骗取;哄劝,劝诱;“锻炼”效应
  • No amount of coaxing will make me change my mind. 任你费尽口舌也不会说服我改变主意。
  • It took a lot of coaxing before he agreed. 劝说了很久他才同意。 来自辞典例句
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 scribbling
n.乱涂[写]胡[乱]写的文章[作品]v.潦草的书写( scribble的现在分词 );乱画;草草地写;匆匆记下
  • Once the money got into the book, all that remained were some scribbling. 折子上的钱只是几个字! 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
  • McMug loves scribbling. Mama then sent him to the Kindergarten. 麦唛很喜欢写字,妈妈看在眼里,就替他报读了幼稚园。 来自互联网
4 poking
n.手镯,臂镯
  • The jeweler charges lots of money to set diamonds in a bracelet.珠宝匠要很多钱才肯把钻石镶在手镯上。
  • She left her gold bracelet as a pledge.她留下她的金手镯作抵押品。
5 dealers
n.商人( dealer的名词复数 );贩毒者;毒品贩子;发牌者
  • There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
  • The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败,与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。
6 velvet
n.丝绒,天鹅绒;adj.丝绒制的,柔软的
  • This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
  • The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。
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 ponies
矮种马,小型马( pony的名词复数 ); £25 25 英镑
  • They drove the ponies into a corral. 他们把矮种马赶进了畜栏。
  • She has a mania for ponies. 她特别喜欢小马。
9 fiddle
n.小提琴;vi.拉提琴;不停拨弄,乱动
  • She plays the fiddle well.她小提琴拉得好。
  • Don't fiddle with the typewriter.不要摆弄那架打字机了。
10 scribble
v.潦草地书写,乱写,滥写;n.潦草的写法,潦草写成的东西,杂文
  • She can't write yet,but she loves to scribble with a pencil.她现在还不会写字,但她喜欢用铅笔乱涂。
  • I can't read this scribble.我看不懂这种潦草的字。
11 browsing
v.吃草( browse的现在分词 );随意翻阅;(在商店里)随便看看;(在计算机上)浏览信息
  • He sits browsing over[through] a book. 他坐着翻阅书籍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Cattle is browsing in the field. 牛正在田里吃草。 来自《简明英汉词典》
学英语单词
-nese
1-naphthylamine hydrochloride
abjustment
Abū Rubayq
alkalinizations
amocarzine
arctic region
autocompounded current transformer
ayyub
azatropylidene
backlog depreciation
be enveloped in
beaumontoside
by right of something
chatham str.
cold dishes
conforming imputation
contingent transaction
cross tolerance
customerinquiry
dative sickness
dehorted
delay set counter
die arrangement for continuous compaction
direct-axis transient voltage
direness
dollar value at point of exportation
doublepressing
drinkings
dropping vessel
dry salted fish
duty of assured clause
ecosophers
ego trip
eructing
face masks
faint with
femaleless
fire-bucket
flexible shaft coupling
foredated
getting away
halmyrogenic
instantaneous cut
integrand
Kaschau
kinorhyncha
kiwifruit
lecturin'
lithophile element
local transaction program
Louis III
magnetic device
measure of transcendence
mileage recorder
militarus
molybdenum complex
myohypertrophia kymoparalytica
naphthalene poisoning
octal indication
open future
open-cavity
optical fiber measurement
period-to-date quantity adjusted
phase wave
phlebodium aureums
pinch-in effect
polluter-pays
proximal point algorithm
puccinia noli-tangere
Pull your chain
pycnanthemum virginianums
rattlers
read untrue
reeling furnace
relocatable linking loader
replays
sale fees
Saxifraga divaricata
semipolitician
side action
single shot trigger
single-sideband
sinopontius aesthetascus
sizing roller
soft snap
spooneristic
steady-state heating
supporter combustion
supporting information
tambay
tetanic induced current
TLC-scanner
trentepholia (mongoma) pennipes
Truth In-lending Act
undercut slope
unimanual palpation
unshunned
vibratory hopper feeder
welders' siderosis
with (an) effort
Zǎbrani