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儿童英语读物 The Mystery of the Haunted Boxcar CHAPTER 9 Going Back in Time

时间:2017-11-14 08:29来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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    (单词翻译:双击或拖选)

When the aldens arrived at the library, they put their bikes in the bike rack and went inside. They walked straight up to the librarian’s desk.

A woman with brown hair approached them. “Hello,” she said with a big smile. “I’m Mrs. Shumate. May I help you?”

“We’re looking for information about someone who lived in this area a long time ago,” Henry said. “Her name was Isabel Wile1.”

“She may have lived in Silver City,” said Jessie.

The librarian pulled out a large book and flipped2 through it. “What years did she live here?”

Jessie told her the date that was in the diary. “That’s when she was a child.”

“I don’t see anything in the town record,” said Mrs. Shumate.

The Aldens were very disappointed.

“Now we’ll never know what happened to her,” said Benny.

“Wait a minute,” said Jessie. “Professor Murray mentioned old newspapers also.”

“Oh, yes,” said Mrs. Shumate. “We have the last fifty years of the Greenfield-Silver City Gazette on microfilm.”

“Microfilm?” Benny repeated. “What’s that?”

“I’ll show you,” said the librarian.

The children followed Mrs. Shumate to a strange-looking machine. It had a large glass screen and some knobs5 down below.

“If we kept newspapers from a long time ago, the paper would turn yellow and start to crumble,” Mrs. Shumate explained. “So we take a picture of every page. Those pictures are side by side on rolls of film. To look at them, you put the roll on this viewer.” The librarian snapped6 a roll into place and flipped a switch on the machine. The front page of the Greenfield-Silver City Gazette appeared on the screen.

“Wow!” said Benny. “Neat.”

“Look how old that newspaper is,” said Jessie. “There’s a horse and carriage in that picture.”

“This is the year you asked for,” said Mrs. Shumate.

“So that’s what the town was like when Isabel was a little girl,” Violet said, her eyes widening as she looked at the screen.

“I feel like we’ve gone back in time!” said Benny.

“To get to the next page, you turn this knob4 and the roll of film moves forward,” the librarian explained.

“We’re interested in what happened that spring and summer,” said Jessie.

“I’ll just push this knob,” Mrs. Shumate said. The pictures on the screen whizzed by in a blur7. When she stopped pushing the knob, a page came into focus. “March,” she said.

“Great,” said Jessie. “We’ll start looking there.”

“If you want to make a copy of a page, just press this button,” Mrs. Shumate explained. “It will print out over here.”

“Thanks,” said Jessie.

“Let me know if you need anything,” Mrs. Shumate said with a smile and walked off to help someone else.

“What exactly are we looking for?” asked Violet.

“The diary starts in June. Mr. Wile must have lost his job a few months before, since they’d run out of money,” Jessie said. “Maybe we can find out what was happening in town then and why Mr. Wile lost his job.”

“Good thinking,” said Henry.

The children looked at the front page of the first newspaper in March.

“The mayor was sick,” said Violet, reading a headline.

“The garden club had a meeting,” Henry said.

Jessie turned the knob, and the pages flicked8 past. There were lots of interesting articles, ads, and pictures. “I don’t see anything that gives us clues about the Wile family.” She sounded frustrated9. “I hope these newspapers are going to tell us something.”

“I think they’re pretty neat,” said Violet. “Look at that ad for shoes! Those don’t look anything like what we wear today.”

“But I want to learn something about the Wiles10.” Jessie frowned and turned to the next week’s paper.

That newspaper had a huge headline on the front page. “I think we may have found a clue,” said Henry.

The headline read, FIRE AT GREENFIELD FACTORY.

“You think the fire has something to do with the Wiles?” Violet asked.

“Look at the smaller headline below.” Henry pointed3.

HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE OUT OF WORK, it said.

“So maybe that’s why Isabel’s dad lost his job!” said Violet. “He might have worked at that factory. When the building burned down, he lost his job, along with many other people.”

“How sad,” said Jessie. “That’s why they had to move out of their house and live in the boxcar.”

“But he found a new job,” said Benny “Remember the end of the diary?”

“Yes, he did,” Jessie said. “Let’s print this page, and then we’ll keep looking.”

The Aldens scanned11 through the next few weeks of newspapers. They didn’t find anything that helped explain what had happened to the Wiles. But they did find out what Greenfield and Silver City had been like a long time ago.

They had come to the middle of August when there was another large headline: NEW FACTORY OPENS IN SILVER CITY.

“I wonder if that’s where Mr. Wile found a job,” Jessie said. She read the article aloud. It was about a new clothing factory that opened and provided lots of jobs. Jessie printed a copy of that page, too.

The Aldens looked through a few more newspapers until they had reached September. They were growing tired of looking at the old papers on the screen.

“I guess we’ll never know for sure what happened to the Wiles,” said Henry. “But it looks like Isabel’s dad might have gotten a job in the new factory, and that’s good.”

They rewound the microfilm and returned it to the librarian’s desk. Jessie folded the pages they’d copied and tucked12 them carefully into her backpack.

As they rode home on their bicycles, Jessie said, “I wish we could know for sure what happened to Isabel.”

“Me too,” said Violet. “But at least now we know that Professor Murray was right— the boxcar is haunted13.”

“What?” said the others, surprised.

“Oh, not by ghosts,” Violet said quickly. “It’s haunted by the happy memory of the Wile family, who made it their home.”

Later that afternoon, Violet went to put Rebecca in the boxcar. “It’s where she belongs,” Violet told the others.

Entering the boxcar, Violet saw immediately that someone else had been there. “Not again!” she said.

Violet ran back to tell the others, who came out to see at once.

“Looks like just this one chair was knocked over,” said Jessie, picking it up. She also picked up a book that was lying on the floor. It had a plastic cover and the words GREENFIELD LIBRARY stamped on the front.

“Whose is this?” she asked, holding up the book.

“Not mine,” said Benny.

Henry and Violet shook their heads, too.

“None of you took this out of the library?” Jessie asked.

“No,” they all said.

“Then it must belong to the person who was in here,” said Jessie.

“I think you’re right,” Henry agreed.

“I have a feeling it was Claire,” Violet said, taking the book from her sister and turning the pages.

“Really?” asked Jessie. “How do you know?”

“It’s a kids’ book — a chapter book. Claire and I were just talking about books today. She said she’d gotten a bunch of books at the library, and that she thought the boxcar would be a great place to read,” Violet said. “She must have come in while we were gone.”

“If she was here today, she might have come here other times without us knowing,” said Henry. “Maybe she’s the one who’s been ‘haunting’ it.”

“But why?” asked Benny.

“I bet she comes because she wants to play,” Violet said. “She’s probably bored hanging out with her father and her aunt all day.”

“But why not just ask if we want to play with her?” Benny said.

“Because she’s very shy,” Violet said. “I know what that feels like. I think she comes over, hoping to join us, and then maybe gets scared.”

“So she took the cookie,” said Benny.

“No one can resist Mrs. McGregor’s cookies,” Jessie reminded him. “You know that better than anyone.”

“That’s true,” said Benny, smiling.

“And that day I heard the noises in the boxcar, that could have been Claire,” said Violet. “Remember how we had a big pile of sleeping bags in here that day? She must have gotten scared when she heard me coming and hidden down behind them. But she couldn’t keep completely still, so I heard her moving around a bit.”

“But why not just come out and say hello?” asked Benny.

“Not everyone is as outgoing as you are,” Violet said.

“But when we took all the stuff out of the boxcar, we didn’t see her,” Benny pointed out.

“She must have left when I went inside to get you guys,” Violet said.

“Okay, but if she just wants to play in our boxcar, why would she come with a flashlight in the middle of the night?” Jessie said.

“That wasn’t Claire,” Henry said. “The person I saw that second night was much bigger than she is.”

“If that was someone else,” Jessie said, “then we haven’t solved the whole mystery yet.”

“I’ll go return Claire’s book,” Violet said. “Maybe she’ll know something about the rest of the mystery.”

“Should we all go?” asked Jessie.

“No, I think she might be more comfortable with just me,” said Violet.

Picking up the book, Violet headed next door and rang the bell.

Claire answered the door.

“Hi, Claire. Is this your book?” said Violet.

Claire’s face turned pink. “Yes, um, thanks.”

“It was in the boxcar. It’s a great place to read, isn’t it?” Violet said gently.

Claire’s uncomfortable look turned to a shy smile. “Yes, it is. So cozy14.”

“We don’t mind that you were there,” Violet said. “You can come over whenever you want.”

Claire’s face turned pink again. “I have come over before, a couple of times …. I wanted to play, but … ”

“But you felt too shy to ask?” said Violet. “I’ve felt that way before.”

“You have?” said Claire, her face brightening. Then she frowned. “I was in there when you were reading. I wanted to sneak15 away, but I didn’t want you to think I’d been spying on you. I also ate one of your cookies. They looked so good, I just … ”

“Couldn’t resist?” said Violet with a grin16. “Mrs. McGregor is a good cook. Why don’t you come over now and have some more?”

Claire smiled broadly. “That would be great.”

Violet had one more question. “This may sound strange, but … did you ever come over to the boxcar in the middle of the night?”

Claire shook her head. “Why would I do that?”

“I don’t know,” said Violet. “But someone has been out there, and we don’t know who.”

Claire said, “In the middle of the night? That’s weird17.”

“It sure is,” said Violet. “Never mind. Let’s go back to my house and play.”

Claire called upstairs, “Aunt Flo? I’m going over to the Aldens’.”

“Okay, but don’t stay too long,” her aunt called back. “Your father has invited Amelia Wile to join us for dinner and she’ll be here soon.”

Claire turned to go, but Violet stood still.

“What’s the matter?” Claire asked.

“Did your aunt say Amelia Wile?” Violet said.

“Yes,” said Claire. “You know, the woman who is interested in boxcars?”

“Oh my goodness!” said Violet. “We have to go tell the others!”


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 wile PgcwT     
v.诡计,引诱;n.欺骗,欺诈
参考例句:
  • The music wiled him from his study.诱人的音乐使他无心学习下去。
  • The sunshine wiled me from my work.阳光引诱我放下了工作。
2 flipped 5bef9da31993fe26a832c7d4b9630147     
轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 ); 按(开关); 快速翻转; 急挥
参考例句:
  • The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转,撞毁了。
  • The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。
3 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的,直截了当的
参考例句:
  • 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。
4 knob NkCyB     
n.球形把手,球形柄,旋钮,小块
参考例句:
  • There is a knob of butter on the table.桌子上有一小块黄油。
  • This knob is only held on by sellotape.这个旋钮只是用透明胶带固定住的。
5 knobs f64dada4a74d9eb3e4bb04e81380771c     
小块( knob的名词复数 ); (收音机等的)旋钮; (门、抽屉的)球形把手; 疙瘩
参考例句:
  • There are luminous knobs on all the doors in my house. 我家所有门上都安有夜光把手。
  • We have replaced the knobs on all the doors. 我们将门上所有的把手都换了。
6 snapped 049d092795475d08a3fcd2d16ef4b519     
v.猛地咬住( snap的过去式和过去分词 );(使某物)发出尖厉声音地突然断裂[打开,关闭];厉声地说;拍照
参考例句:
  • The wind had snapped the tree in two. 风把树喀嚓一声刮断了。
  • He lost his temper and snapped irritably at the children. 他发火了,暴躁地斥责孩子们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 blur JtgzC     
n.模糊不清的事物;vt.使模糊,使看不清楚
参考例句:
  • The houses appeared as a blur in the mist.房子在薄雾中隐隐约约看不清。
  • If you move your eyes and your head,the picture will blur.如果你的眼睛或头动了,图像就会变得模糊不清。
8 flicked 7c535fef6da8b8c191b1d1548e9e790a     
(尤指用手指或手快速地)轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 ); (用…)轻挥; (快速地)按开关; 向…笑了一下(或瞥了一眼等)
参考例句:
  • She flicked the dust off her collar. 她轻轻弹掉了衣领上的灰尘。
  • I idly picked up a magazine and flicked through it. 我漫不经心地拿起一本杂志翻看着。
9 frustrated ksWz5t     
adj.挫败的,失意的,泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 );挫败;使受挫折;令人沮丧
参考例句:
  • It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
  • The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 wiles 9e4z1U     
n.(旨在欺骗或吸引人的)诡计,花招;欺骗,欺诈( wile的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • All her wiles were to persuade them to buy the goods. 她花言巧语想打动他们买这些货物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The woman used all her wiles to tempt him into following her. 那女人用尽了自己的诱骗本领勾引着他尾随而去。 来自《用法词典》
11 scanned eeec396ece8bcc7c7246a1151847ca3d     
经(擦伤仪)仔细检查的
参考例句:
  • He scanned the horizon for any sign of land. 他仔细眺望地平线,找寻陆地的踪影。
  • She scanned his face to see if he was telling the truth. 她审视着他的脸,看他讲的是否是真话。
12 tucked 33959fcef78ea8033c2079d9ef67ff32     
塞进( tuck的过去式和过去分词 ); 翻折; 盖住; 卷起
参考例句:
  • She tucked up her skirt and waded into the river. 她撩起裙子蹚水走进河里。
  • She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears. 她把一缕散发夹到了耳后。
13 haunted 5rEz4M     
adj.闹鬼的;受到折磨的;令人烦恼的v.“haunt”的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • There was a haunted look in his eyes. 他眼中透露出忧虑的神色。
  • The country is haunted by the spectre of civil war. 内战仿佛一触即发,举国上下一片恐慌。
14 cozy ozdx0     
adj.亲如手足的,密切的,暖和舒服的
参考例句:
  • I like blankets because they are cozy.我喜欢毛毯,因为他们是舒适的。
  • We spent a cozy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。
15 sneak vr2yk     
vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝);偷偷摸摸做;n.潜行;adj.暗中进行
参考例句:
  • He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
  • I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。
16 grin D6iyY     
n./vi.露齿而笑,咧嘴一笑
参考例句:
  • I know she is joking because she has a big grin on her face.我知道她是在开玩笑。因为她满脸笑容。
  • She came out of his office with a big grin on her face.她笑容满面地走出他的办公室。
17 weird bghw8     
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的
参考例句:
  • From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来,他好像有点怪。
  • His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。
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