儿童英语读物 The Ghost Ship Mystery CHAPTER 9 A Whale of a Time
时间:2018-12-06 作者:英语课 分类:39 The Ghost Ship Mystery
At lunch the guests at the Black Dog Inn could talk of nothing but the museum robbery.
“If you ask me,” one guest said, “the police should question Miss Coffin 1 first. After all, she lives at the Sailors’ Museum.”
“Humph!” another guest said. “What about investigating the biggest scrimshaw dealer 2 in these parts, Spooner Cooke? He’s another strange one, always in that rowboat of his at odd hours.”
This last comment about Spooner Cooke upset Violet. She put down her soup spoon and spoke 3 up. “Mr. Cooke only rows his boat at different times because of the tides and weather. We visited him just a little while ago. He was as nice as could be.”
“Nice to children?” one person asked with raised eyebrows 4. “As long as we’ve been coming to Ragged 5 Cove 6 he hasn’t let a child so much as look in the window of his shop.”
Benny reached into his pocket, pulled out his scrimshaw top, and whirled it next to his clam 7 chowder bowl. “Well, today he gave me this as a present. And he gave Violet a whole bunch of needles. All kinds.”
Mrs. Pease came around with the soup pot. “There are different sides to everyone,” she said. “Now, who wants seconds on chowder?”
For once Benny didn’t want seconds. “I’m saving room for apple pie,” he said, giving Mrs. Pease a big smile.
“Well, you’d better start your pie now,” Mr. Pease said when he overheard this. “I just found out Captain Hull 8 is setting out on a whale watch with a bus group that came down from Bassville. I asked him for a few more tickets for some of our guests. So whoever wants can have a whale of a good time.”
“Let’s go find some whales!” Mr. Alden told his grandchildren.
When the Aldens arrived at the docks, a tour group was boarding the Jonah. The children and their grandfather stood at the end of the line with tickets in hand. The line moved slowly up the gangplank.
Mr. Alden handed Captain Bob their five tickets. “Hi there, captain. I finally finished my business, so I can go out and see some of those whales my grandchildren told me about.”
Captain Bob stared at the Aldens. “Uh . . . gee 9, Mr. Alden, where did you get these tickets?”
Mr. Alden took a closer look at the tickets. “Why, from you, of course. Mr. Pease said you gave him some for the Black Dog guests. That’s us, you know. Is something wrong?”
The captain’s face reddened. “It’s just that I don’t have any room today, sir. This tour group from Bassville pretty well fills the boat. I’ll be going out in a couple days. I’ll take you then.”
Mr. Alden shook his head. “We have to be on our way tomorrow, so this is our last chance.”
Several other tourists overheard Mr. Alden. A man stepped forward from his group to speak to Captain Bob. “Let these folks take our place. Our group has decided 10 to come back tomorrow when it’s sunnier.”
“Then we can take their places, captain, wouldn’t you say?” Mr. Alden asked.
A shadow seemed to pass over the captain’s face. Finally, he took the Aldens’ tickets and stuffed them into his pocket. “Life jackets are over there,” was all he said before he rushed below deck.
The Aldens settled themselves on a bench at the front of the Jonah. “I can’t imagine why Captain Bob didn’t want our family on board,” Mr. Alden said. “He seems out of sorts for some reason.”
One of the passengers leaned on the railing near the Aldens and pointed 11 toward Howling Cliffs. “Look. There are those lights again. Didn’t I tell you, Millie, that I saw some lights over that way before the last storm?”
The children jumped up to see what the man was talking about. Sure enough, flickering 12 lights shone over the water near Howling Cliffs.
The man went on. “Captain! Captain! Aren’t those lights supposed to be from that wreck 13 the uh . . . .”
“The Flying Cloud,” Jessie finished. “Or the lights have something to do with the weather. They only come out when there are storm clouds.”
“What’s your opinion on that, Captain Bob?” the man asked. “You’re the expert in these waters.”
Captain Bob just piloted the Jonah straight ahead, as if there were nothing unusual at all about lights coming from nowhere.
“Leave him alone,” the man’s wife whispered. “He’s looking out for whales, not ghosts.”
Everyone nearby except for Captain Bob had a good laugh over this comment. Just as Jessie had said, once the clouds disappeared, so did the strange lights.
“Whale off! Whale off!” Benny cried a while later. “Look, Captain Bob. There’s a pod of whales.”
All the passengers moved to the front of the boat. Everyone could see the shiny gray backs of at least six whales.
“Oh, look!” Violet cried with delight. “There’s a baby whale on its mother’s back! How wonderful!”
“It’s a whale calf,” Captain Bob said from behind the wheel of the Jonah. His voice seemed gentler now that there were whales nearby. “That’s how the young ones ride around until they’re old enough to leave their mothers. They stay safe that way. Whoa!” he yelled out suddenly. “Everybody sit down on the benches or go below deck! There’s a big whale ready to breach 14 right by us!”
Mr. Alden motioned for Henry, Violet, Jessie, and Benny to head below deck.
“What’s ‘breach’ mean, Grandfather?” Benny asked, holding on to the rail of the narrow stairs.
“That’s when a whale suddenly breaks to the surface,” Mr. Alden explained. “That one came awfully 15 close to this boat.”
“My tummy feels funny,” Benny said as the Jonah rocked back and forth 16.
“I bet that big whale made some big waves,” Henry said. “That’s why the boat is rocking like this.”
Everyone tried to hold on to each other when the Jonah made a sharp turn. Some metal dishes slid and crashed to the floor. Several cans of food rolled around. Cabinet doors opened. Out fell books, ropes, boxes, and tools. The boat pitched back and forth for several long minutes before it settled down.
“Let’s put away some of these things that fell out,” Jessie said.
Mr. Alden and the older children started to pick up all the objects that had fallen to the floor. They returned everything to its proper place. Then Jessie noticed something way under the table.
“Look at this,” Jessie whispered to Henry. She held up a black, leather-covered book that said: Diary: Captain Coffin on the front.
The Aldens heard the Jonah’s engines stop. They looked up and saw Captain Bob’s black rubber boots on the stairs.
“Everybody and everything okay down here?” Captain Bob yelled down below. “Hope nobody got seasick 17.”
Jessie quickly replaced the diary in the cabinet.
“We’re fine now that the boat’s not rocking,” Mr. Alden told Captain Bob when he came to see how the Aldens were doing. “But I think we’ll head up for some fresh air.”
The captain looked around. “Thanks for cleaning up. I forgot to lock up some of these cabinets. I’d better do that now in case another whale decides he wants to ride nearly piggyback with us.”
The children watched Captain Bob go straight to the cabinet where the logbook was hidden. He put a small lock through it and snapped it shut.
“Everything’s where it should be now,” Captain Bob said. “Let’s find some more whales.”
- When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
- The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。
- The dealer spent hours bargaining for the painting.那个商人为购买那幅画花了几个小时讨价还价。
- The dealer reduced the price for cash down.这家商店对付现金的人减价优惠。
- 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。
- Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
- His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。
- A ragged shout went up from the small crowd.这一小群人发出了刺耳的喊叫。
- Ragged clothing infers poverty.破衣烂衫意味着贫穷。
- The shore line is wooded,olive-green,a pristine cove.岸边一带林木蓊郁,嫩绿一片,好一个山外的小海湾。
- I saw two children were playing in a cove.我看到两个小孩正在一个小海湾里玩耍。
- Yup!I also like clam soup and sea cucumbers.对呀!我还喜欢蛤仔汤和海参。
- The barnacle and the clam are two examples of filter feeders.藤壶和蛤类是滤过觅食者的两种例子。
- The outer surface of ship's hull is very hard.船体的外表面非常坚硬。
- The boat's hull has been staved in by the tremendous seas.小船壳让巨浪打穿了。
- Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
- Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇!我们会赚好多钱啦!
- 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。
- 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。
- The crisp autumn wind is flickering away. 清爽的秋风正在吹拂。
- The lights keep flickering. 灯光忽明忽暗。
- Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
- No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。
- We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
- He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。
- Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
- I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。