英语 英语 日语 日语 韩语 韩语 法语 法语 德语 德语 西班牙语 西班牙语 意大利语 意大利语 阿拉伯语 阿拉伯语 葡萄牙语 葡萄牙语 越南语 越南语 俄语 俄语 芬兰语 芬兰语 泰语 泰语 泰语 丹麦语 泰语 对外汉语

儿童英语读物 The Vanishing Passenger CHAPTER 4 A Quiet Place to Read

时间:2017-11-22 05:43来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
特别声明:本栏目内容均从网络收集或者网友提供,供仅参考试用,我们无法保证内容完整和正确。如果资料损害了您的权益,请与站长联系,我们将及时删除并致以歉意。
    (单词翻译:双击或拖选)

“This is just terrible,” Ms. Connally said when the Aldens gave her the bad news. “I’ve never had this happen before. An author no-show! I hope he’s okay.”

“We’ll find out what happened to him,” Jessie said confidently.

“If you can’t, I’ll have to call Mr. Van Buren,” Ms. Connally said.

“He’s the man who was here before, right?” Violet asked.

Ms. Connally nodded. “Right. He was the one yelling2 by the front desk before he stomped3 out. He doesn’t seem to like Gilbert Finch4 or his books.”

Henry said, “You should’ve seen what he did to that display of Mr. Finch’s books we put together yesterday.” He told her the story.

“Why would he do something like that?” Benny asked.

Ms. Connally shrugged5. “I have no idea, Benny.”

“I’ve never heard of any of Mr. Van Buren’s books,” Violet said.

“They’re very good, actually,” Ms. Connally said. “But they’re for older children. Henry, you might like them.”

“Maybe he had something to do with Mr. Finch’s disappearance,” Jessie said.

“We should keep him in mind,” Violet said.

Jessie checked her watch again. “Okay, let’s finish eating and get back to this mystery.”

“Right,” Henry said. “We don’t have much time.”

“Thanks very much for looking into this, kids,” Ms. Connally told them. “I appreciate your efforts, but if Mr. Finch doesn’t show up by, say, tomorrow morning, I’m going to have to plan for Mr. Van Buren to be here instead.”

“A lot of people will be disappointed if Mr. Finch doesn’t make it,” Jessie said as they walked along one of Greenfield’s sunny sidewalks. There were big, beautiful homes on either side of the street. “And I don’t think Mr. Van Buren will draw as big of a crowd. He’s such a grouch6.”

The Aldens stopped at the house of Mrs. Blake, the woman who left behind the copy of The Secret of the Pyramids they had found on the train. There was a swing on the porch7 that could hold two people, and a sign by the front door that read, “All Friends Welcome.”

The Aldens rang the bell and waited. The door swung back to reveal an elderly woman in a floral dress. The Aldens smiled, and Mrs. Blake smiled back.

“Well, it’s so nice of you to visit me on this lovely day. Is your grandfather with you?” Mrs. Blake said.

“No, ma’am,” Jessie said. “Not today.”

“Probably snoozing in his easy chair,” she said with a playful look in her eye, “when he should be in the backyard cutting the lawn or something.”

The children laughed. They always loved the way Mrs. Blake joked about their grandfather.

Jessie took Finch’s book out of her back pocket. “Mrs. Blake, I think you left this on the train this morning.”

Her face changed from happy to surprised. “Yes, I did! I was wondering where it went!” She opened the screen door and motioned for them to come inside. As they stepped in, Jessie handed her the book. “I was reading it during my trip, and then I thought I put it in my bag. I didn’t realize I’d lost it until I got home.” She looked at it fondly. “Oh, thank you so much.”

“You really like his stories?” Benny asked.

“I sure do!” she replied. “Hey, if you kids can enjoy them, I can too! And I can’t wait to meet him at the library tomorrow night!”

“Well … there might be a problem with that,” Jessie told her reluctantly. “It seems as though Mr. Finch has disappeared.”

Mrs. Blake looked stunned8. “Disappeared?”

“That’s right.” Henry told her what they knew so far—that Mr. Finch definitely got on the train in Clairmont but wasn’t there when it arrived in Greenfield.

“Oh my goodness!” Mrs. Blake said.

“That’s why we came over,” Jessie told her. “To return your book, and to ask if you saw him.”

“No, I didn’t,” Mrs. Blake said right away. “I would’ve recognized him.”

“That’s what we figured,” Violet said with a long sigh.

“Did you notice anything unusual?” Henry asked. “Anything that might be a clue?”

She thought for a moment. “No, I don’t think so … Let’s see. I got on at Briarwood. I decided9 to read his book on the trip, to pass the time. I bought it at a little store up there. I remember getting on the train and trying to read it, but it was too noisy. There was a dog barking somewhere. Can you believe that? A dog on the train? So anyway, I went to the very back, where it was quiet.”

“The third car,” Jessie said.

“Right, the third car. And then I started reading—” She stopped, and her eyes widened. “I managed to read in peace for a little while. And then … you know what? I do remember something unusual.”

“Really? What was that?” said Violet.

“We went into a very bad thunderstorm …”

“Yes,” Jessie said. The children remembered the conductors’ wet uniforms.

“We stopped at one of the stations,” Mrs. Blake continued, “and I heard someone yell1 ‘Hey!’ behind me. I was surprised because it sounded like it was coming from the very last car, and no one was supposed to be in that one.”

“Because it was closed,” Violet said.

“Right,” Mrs. Blake told her. “They didn’t have enough people to fill it. Anyway, I heard this person yell, and I got up to see who it was. I looked through the window and I saw someone jump off just as the train was pulling away!”

“Wow, just like that police detective did in Diamonds in the Dungeon,” Benny said.

“That’s right,” Mrs. Blake said. “I was thinking the same thing when I saw it.”

“Which station stop was it, Mrs. Blake?” Henry asked. “What town?”

“I’m not sure,” she said. “It was one or two stops before Greenfield.”

“What did this person look like?” Jessie asked. “Did you get a good look at them?”

“No, it was raining too hard. But whoever it was, he or she was definitely in that fourth car.”

“So there was someone back there!” Benny said.

“It looks that way,” Henry said.

But if it was Finch, why would he jump off a moving train in the middle of a thunderstorm?
 


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 yell cfQwN     
vi./n.号叫,叫喊
参考例句:
  • This gave them a chance to yell.这给了他们大声喊叫的机会。
  • When his schoolmate made the last goal,the boy gave out with an untrammeled yell.那个男孩在他的同学踢进最后一球时不禁纵声欢呼。
2 yelling 3511049a0a263aa2fca072a416e83d6a     
v.叫喊,号叫,叫着说( yell的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The coach stood on the sidelines yelling instructions to the players. 教练站在场外,大声指挥运动员。
  • He let off steam by yelling at a clerk. 他对一个职员大喊大叫,借以发泄怒气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 stomped 0884b29fb612cae5a9e4eb0d1a257b4a     
v.跺脚,践踏,重踏( stomp的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She stomped angrily out of the office. 她怒气冲冲,重步走出办公室。
  • She slammed the door and stomped (off) out of the house. 她砰的一声关上了门,暮暮地走出了屋了。 来自辞典例句
4 finch TkRxS     
n.雀科鸣禽(如燕雀,金丝雀等)
参考例句:
  • This behaviour is commonly observed among several species of finch.这种行为常常可以在几种雀科鸣禽中看到。
  • In Australia,it is predominantly called the Gouldian Finch.在澳大利亚,它主要还是被称之为胡锦雀。
5 shrugged 497904474a48f991a3d1961b0476ebce     
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀,什么也没说。
  • She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩,装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 grouch fQ0z8     
n.牢骚,不满;v.抱怨
参考例句:
  • He's always having a grouch about something.他总是发脾气抱怨这个抱怨那个。
  • One of the biggest grouches is the new system of payment.人们抱怨最多的一点就是这种新的支付方式。
7 porch ju9yM     
n.门廊,入口处,走廊,游廊
参考例句:
  • There are thousands of pages of advertising on our porch.有成千上万页广告堆在我们的门廊上。
  • The porch is supported by six immense pillars.门廊由六根大柱子支撑着。
8 stunned 735ec6d53723be15b1737edd89183ec2     
adj. 震惊的,惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
  • The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。
9 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • 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。
本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎点击提交分享给大家。
------分隔线----------------------------
顶一下
(0)
0%
踩一下
(0)
0%
最新评论 查看所有评论
发表评论 查看所有评论
请自觉遵守互联网相关的政策法规,严禁发布色情、暴力、反动的言论。
评价:
表情:
验证码:
听力搜索
推荐频道
论坛新贴