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儿童英语读物 The Game Store Mystery CHAPTER 5 Message on the Sign

时间:2017-11-20 05:19来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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“How many words did you find, Benny?” Jessie asked on Sunday afternoon. A light rain was falling outside, so the Aldens were spending the day indoors. They were clustered around the kitchen table playing Word Master. The smell of baking cookies hung in the air.

“I found seven words,” Benny said. “How many points is that?”

“It depends on which letters you used.” Violet leaned over to count up Benny’s points. “It looks like 75 points. Did you find the message in the words?”

“I don’t think so,” Benny said.

“How many points did you get, Violet?” Jessie asked, her pencil ready.

“I got 134 points,” Violet replied. “I didn’t find the message, either.”

“I think I got the message,” Henry said. “Is it ‘good things come to those who wait?’”

“Yes,” Jessie said.

“Then I got 154 points,” Henry said.

“I got 128,” Grandfather said.

Jessie was still counting her points. “I’ve got 162,” she announced once she finished counting.

“Wow!” Violet said.

“Looks like you win again, Jessie,” Grandfather said as he sat back in his chair.

The housekeeper1, Mrs. McGregor, brought them a plate a freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies. “You all look like you could use a snack,” she said as she set the plate in the middle of the table. “These just came out of the oven.”

“Mm! That’s the best time to have chocolate-chip cookies,” Henry said, helping2 himself to two cookies.

“I’ll go get the milk,” Benny said, hopping3 down from his chair.

Violet went to get glasses and napkins. Then the Aldens slid back into their chairs and enjoyed their snack.

“Can I have that cookie?” Benny asked as he eyed the last cookie on the plate.

“Haven’t you already had two cookies, Benny?” Jessie asked.

“Yes, but I’m still hungry.”

Violet laughed. “You’re always hungry.”

“So?” Benny said.

“Go ahead, Benny,” Grandfather said. “Then maybe we can divide up the letters for one more game.”

“Okay,” Benny said, snatching the last cookie.

Violet and Grandfather turned over all the letters and started handing them out.

“Can we play in the Word Master tournament, Grandfather?” Violet asked.

“I don’t know why not,” Grandfather replied. “I’m sure you’ll all do quite well.”

In the middle of the second round, the phone rang. Mrs. McGregor picked it up. “Alden residence,” she said. “What? Oh, no!”

The Aldens all turned when they heard the concern in Mrs. McGregor’s voice.

“I’ll let you talk to James, Queenie,” Mrs. McGregor said. She handed the phone to Grandfather.

“What’s happened, Mrs. McGregor?” Jessie asked.

“Are there more letters missing from that sign?” Benny asked.

“It’s worse than that,” Mrs. McGregor said, wringing4 her hands together. “I’d rather let your grandfather tell you about it.”

So the children waited for Grandfather to get off the phone.

“We’ll be there as soon as we can,” Grandfather said. Then he hung up.

“I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news,” he said as he stood up and reached for his coat. “The Game Spot is closed on Sundays, but Queenie went in anyway this afternoon to catch up on some paperwork. It’s a good thing she did. Otherwise she wouldn’t have known until tomorrow that … her store has been robbed.”

The police were just leaving the Game Spot when the Aldens arrived.

“Did they find anything?” Grandfather asked.

“Unfortunately, no,” Queenie replied. Carter was standing5 right behind her. They both stepped aside so the Aldens could enter.

“It’s just like what happened at the Java Café last week,” Queenie explained. “The store was locked when I came in. There’s nothing else out of place. The only thing missing is the money I had in the safe.”

Queenie led the group back to the back room. A small metal safe sat in the corner. The door stood open, and the safe was empty.

The Aldens wandered around the room looking for clues, but there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary. There was no dirt or mud on the carpet. The papers piled on Queenie’s desk had been untouched. There was even a gold watch on Queenie’s desk that was still there. Piles of games and puzzles that hadn’t been put out for sale yet lined the shelves. Clearly, whoever had been back here had only been interested in one thing: the money inside Queenie’s safe.

“What about fingerprints6?” Henry asked. “Did the police find any fingerprints?”

Carter shook his head. “The front door, the door to this back room and the safe had all been wiped down. Whoever came in here was wearing gloves.”

“Somebody had to have had a key to this store and the combination to this safe,” Queenie said as she paced back and forth7. “They unlocked the front door, walked back here, opened the safe, then left again, locking the front door behind them.”

“Who could have done that?” Grandfather asked.

“I don’t know,” Queenie replied.

“What about that key you were missing the other day?” Violet asked. “Did you ever find it?”

“I’m afraid not,” Queenie said.

Carter frowned. “We probably don’t want to leave a spare key hanging on a nail in the back room anymore, Queenie. It was convenient for us, but anybody who went back there could have grabbed it.”

“But nobody goes back there besides us,” Queenie said.

“We’ve had all kinds of people back there this past week,” Carter said. “Workers and delivery people. Any of them could have taken it.”

“But they would have had to know the combination to the safe to get into it,” Queenie said. “Remember, I changed it this week. The only people who knew the new combination are the people who are here right now.”

“And that young woman you hired,” Carter said. “Raina Holt.”

The Aldens exchanged a look. Raina again.

Queenie pressed her lips together. “Raina did not do this, Carter. She wasn’t even working yesterday. She was visiting a friend out of town.”

“I hope you’re not making a mistake trusting her so completely, Queenie,” Carter replied.

“Hey!” Benny said all of a sudden. He walked over to the window. “Look at that sign now!”

In their rush to get to the store, the Aldens hadn’t noticed the sign on their way in. But they could see now that it had been altered again. This time there weren’t any letters missing. Instead there were two words in the middle of the sign. All the other letters had been crammed8 together around the edges as though they weren’t needed.

The two words were CARTER and ROBBER.

Carter’s face turned bright red. “Is this some kind of joke?” he roared. He turned to the Aldens. “Did you kids rearrange those letters?”

“No,” they all responded in unison9.

“I didn’t notice that sign earlier today,” Queenie spoke10 up. “But I know that yesterday it said CALL GEORGE BERBER TO RENT AT THE CROSSROADS MALL.”

Carter banged the door open and strode across the parking lot. The Aldens stood in the doorway11 to the Game Spot with Queenie and watched as he yanked down all the letters that spelled CARTER and ROBBER. When he came back into the store, he threw the letters down onto the counter.

“I know you didn’t have anything to do with these robberies, Carter,” Queenie said, trying to calm him down.

“Well, somebody thinks I did,” Carter said.

“That or someone’s trying to make it look like you did,” Henry pointed12 out.

“Who would do such a thing?” Queenie asked.

“I don’t know,” Jessie replied. “Perhaps the real robber?”

“I wish we knew who that was,” Queenie said.

Later, when the children were back home, they went out to the boxcar in the backyard to talk more about the case.

“Do you think Carter really is innocent? Or do you think someone is trying to tell us something by writing CARTER and ROBBER on that sign?” Henry asked.

“I don’t know,” Jessie said as she stretched her legs out and leaned back against the wall of the boxcar. “That’s a good question. Is the person who is taking letters off the sign is the same person who is breaking into the safes?”

“That’s another good question,” Henry said.

“Well, what do we know about Carter?” Jessie asked.

“We know he works at the Game Spot with Queenie,” Violet said. “And the two of them seem to be pretty close friends.”

“We know he has a key to the Game Spot and that he knew the combination to the safe,” Benny added.

“But he wouldn’t have had a key to the Java Café,” Jessie said. “And he wouldn’t have known the combination to their safe.”

“Probably not,” Henry agreed. “But he knows something about safes. Remember, he said his father was a safe manufacturer?”

“That’s right,” Jessie said.

“Maybe the Java Café and the Game Spot were robbed by different people,” Violet said.

“Maybe,” Jessie said. “But you know, there is somebody who had a key to both stores and who knew the combination to both safes.”

“Raina,” Henry and Violet said at the same time.

“We also know that Raina needed money,” Jessie said.

“But Queenie said Raina was out of town yesterday,” Benny said.

“And if Raina is the robber, then why didn’t the sign out front say RAINA and ROBBER instead of CARTER and ROBBER?” Violet asked.

“Maybe Raina’s the one who wrote the message,” Jessie said. “Maybe she’s trying to frame Carter.”

“Maybe,” Henry said. “But Queenie is sure that both Carter and Raina are innocent.”

“And maybe they are,” Violet said. “Maybe the robber is someone else entirely13.”

“Maybe,” Henry said. “We don’t have enough evidence to accuse anybody yet. But I think we should keep an eye on both Carter and Raina and see if either of them do anything suspicious.”

Jessie nodded. “Good idea, Henry. And let’s not forget George Berber, either. Remember, he has a key to both stores.”

“But did he know the combinations to the safes?” Violet asked.

“I don’t know,” Henry said. “But that would be a good thing to find out.”


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 housekeeper 6q2zxl     
n.管理家务的主妇,女管家
参考例句:
  • A spotless stove told us that his mother is a diligent housekeeper.炉子清洁无瑕就表明他母亲是个勤劳的主妇。
  • She is an economical housekeeper and feeds her family cheaply.她节约持家,一家人吃得很省。
2 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
3 hopping hopping     
n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式
参考例句:
  • The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
  • I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。
4 wringing 70c74d76c2d55027ff25f12f2ab350a9     
淋湿的,湿透的
参考例句:
  • He was wringing wet after working in the field in the hot sun. 烈日下在田里干活使他汗流满面。
  • He is wringing out the water from his swimming trunks. 他正在把游泳裤中的水绞出来。
5 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • 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。
6 fingerprints 9b456c81cc868e5bdf3958245615450b     
n.指纹( fingerprint的名词复数 )v.指纹( fingerprint的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • Everyone's fingerprints are unique. 每个人的指纹都是独一无二的。
  • They wore gloves so as not to leave any fingerprints behind (them). 他们戴着手套,以免留下指纹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 forth Hzdz2     
adv.向前;向外,往外
参考例句:
  • The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
  • He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
8 crammed e1bc42dc0400ef06f7a53f27695395ce     
adj.塞满的,挤满的;大口地吃;快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满;填入;临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式)
参考例句:
  • He crammed eight people into his car. 他往他的车里硬塞进八个人。
  • All the shelves were crammed with books. 所有的架子上都堆满了书。
9 unison gKCzB     
n.步调一致,行动一致
参考例句:
  • The governments acted in unison to combat terrorism.这些国家的政府一致行动对付恐怖主义。
  • My feelings are in unison with yours.我的感情与你的感情是一致的。
10 spoke XryyC     
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
参考例句:
  • 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。
11 doorway 2s0xK     
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径
参考例句:
  • 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。
12 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。
13 entirely entirely     
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
  • His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
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