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儿童英语读物 Mystery of the Traveling Tomatoes CHAPTER 4 Worms!

时间:2017-12-07 05:37来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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Early Monday before breakfast, the children rode their bikes through the quiet morning streets. As usual, Benny pedaled extra hard, leading all the way to The Applewood Café. He coasted around to the garden.

“Oh, no!” He screeched1 to a stop. “Our black gold!”

Three huge garbage cans lay on their sides. Their lids were torn off and their insides spilled out. Scattered2 on the ground around them were wilted3 lettuce4 leaves and broccoli5 stems, watermelon rinds and dead flowers, grass clippings, and mounds6 of black dirt. The dirt looked like it was moving. It was moving. Hundreds of worms squiggled around.

“Quick,” shouted Henry, grabbing a shovel7, “before they get away!”

Jessie picked up the cans. Henry shoveled8 wormy dirt into each one. Violet pulled on her gardening gloves and scooped9 up the food scraps10, tossing them into the cans. Benny raced around, picking up all the wiggly worms he could find. He set them gently into the cans.

Now the four children finished cleaning up the spilled cans. “Raccoons must have done this,” Jessie said.

Violet studied the latches11 on the cans. “I don’t think raccoons could open these.”

“And I don’t think raccoons wear boots.” Benny pointed12 to footprints. The deep boot treads made a V shaped pattern. One V had no point on the bottom. The children followed the prints from the garbage cans, through the garden, and out into the alley13.

At first, the boot treads left a lot of dirt to track. But, as the dirt wore off, the trail became harder and harder to follow. After a block, the children could not see the prints.

“Why would someone dump our black gold?” asked Violet as they headed back. But no one could think of a single reason.

Benny spotted14 something shiny glinting in the tall weeds along Applewood’s alley fence. He reached in and picked up a toy car. “Aw, all the wheels are missing,” he said, tossing it into a garbage can. There were a few green cloth bags in the garbage, like the one he used to make Spooky’s head. Maybe they should make another scarecrow. Spooky wasn’t scaring anything.

“Come on, Benny,” Henry said, running toward the old building next door. “Let’s build up our buried treasure.”

Tall stacks of tires leaned against the old building, which used to be Duffy’s Garage. The boys lifted a few tires off the piles and rolled them to their garden. They’d set the tires on top of a circle of other old tires. Inside the circle, leafy potato vines grew out of black soil. Benny called the potatoes their “buried treasure” because the potatoes grew under the dirt. Every couple of weeks, as the plants grew taller, the boys added more tires and more soil.

Jessie knelt in the cucumber patch, hunting for ripe cucumbers that hid among the leaves. She noticed that the droopy sunflowers now stood nice and straight. Someone had tied them to tall bamboo sticks. “Did you prop15 up the sunflowers?” she asked her sister.

Violet looked surprised. “No,” she said. “Mrs. Shea must have done that after yesterday’s race.”

“Hey!” said Benny. “Somebody moved my green peppers!” He measured a row of plants, then checked his measuring workbook. “I planted these peppers twelve inches apart. Now the plants are all messed up. Just like my tomato plants.”

“Maybe the same person who tipped over our compost cans moved your peppers,” said Jessie. Benny checked the dirt for boot prints, but there were none. There also weren’t any animal footprints—no raccoons or rabbits.

All he saw were regular old shoe prints, from regular old shoes.

“Here’s something,” said Henry, pointing to a dent16 in the soil. “I’ve seen these strange marks in the dirt all around the garden today.”

Some of Spooky the Scarecrow’s straw poked17 out of his shirt. Benny tucked it back inside. “Spooky,” he said, “have you been messing with our garden?” But the green-faced scarecrow just looked down at Benny and smiled his crooked18 smile.

Mrs. Shea called them in for breakfast. Violet spooned mango and strawberry jam into the center of thin pancakes Mr. Shea called crepes. “Crepes rhymes with apes,” he’d said. “But crepes taste better.”

Violet rolled each crepe into a log and took bite after delicious bite. Benny filled his plate with scrambled19 eggs and fresh-baked whole wheat bread. Jessie cut a jumbo raisin20 muffin into slices, carefully spreading each slice with sweet butter. And Henry helped himself to second servings of everything.

As Mrs. Shea brought a pitcher21 of milk to the table, the children told her about the overturned compost cans. “I can’t imagine who would do such mischief,” she said. “There is nothing inside those cans of value.”

“Except worm … er … black gold,” said Benny. He figured it wasn’t polite to say “worm poop” at the breakfast table.

As they finished eating, Mr. Shea came out of the kitchen with a platter of melon slices and strawberries. He set down a new picture puzzle and winked22. “This one is super-duper hard.”

The children studied two nearly identical photos of a soccer game. They worked for a long time but found only fourteen differences. Once again, Benny spotted the last and hardest clue. Two players’ helmets had different colored chinstraps.

“Is it time to go to the armored car company yet?” Benny asked when they finished.

Henry glanced at his watch. “Yes,” he said.

This time, Henry led the way as they rode their bikes across town.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 screeched 975e59058e1a37cd28bce7afac3d562c     
v.发出尖叫声( screech的过去式和过去分词 );发出粗而刺耳的声音;高叫
参考例句:
  • She screeched her disapproval. 她尖叫着不同意。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The car screeched to a stop. 汽车嚓的一声停住了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
2 scattered 7jgzKF     
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的
参考例句:
  • Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来,塞进文件夹里。
3 wilted 783820c8ba2b0b332b81731bd1f08ae0     
(使)凋谢,枯萎( wilt的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The flowers wilted in the hot sun. 花在烈日下枯萎了。
  • The romance blossomed for six or seven months, and then wilted. 那罗曼史持续六七个月之后就告吹了。
4 lettuce C9GzQ     
n.莴苣;生菜
参考例句:
  • Get some lettuce and tomatoes so I can make a salad.买些莴苣和西红柿,我好做色拉。
  • The lettuce is crisp and cold.莴苣松脆爽口。
5 broccoli 1sbzm     
n.绿菜花,花椰菜
参考例句:
  • She grew all the broccoli plants from seed.这些花椰菜都是她用种子培育出来的。
  • They think broccoli is only green and cauliflower is only white.他们认为西兰花只有绿色的,而菜花都是白色的。
6 mounds dd943890a7780b264a2a6c1fa8d084a3     
土堆,土丘( mound的名词复数 ); 一大堆
参考例句:
  • We had mounds of tasteless rice. 我们有成堆成堆的淡而无味的米饭。
  • Ah! and there's the cemetery' - cemetery, he must have meant. 'You see the mounds? 啊,这就是同墓,”——我想他要说的一定是公墓,“看到那些土墩了吗?
7 shovel cELzg     
n.铁锨,铲子,一铲之量;v.铲,铲出
参考例句:
  • He was working with a pick and shovel.他在用镐和铲干活。
  • He seized a shovel and set to.他拿起一把铲就干上了。
8 shoveled e51ace92204ed91d8925ad365fab25a3     
vt.铲,铲出(shovel的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • The hungry man greedily shoveled the food into his mouth. 那个饥饿的人贪婪地、大口大口地吃。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • They shoveled a path through the snow. 他们在雪中铲出一条小路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
9 scooped a4cb36a9a46ab2830b09e95772d85c96     
v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 );(敏捷地)抱起;抢先获得;用铲[勺]等挖(洞等)
参考例句:
  • They scooped the other newspapers by revealing the matter. 他们抢先报道了这件事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. 车轮搅起的石块,在车身下发出不吉祥的锤击声。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 scraps 737e4017931b7285cdd1fa3eb9dd77a3     
油渣
参考例句:
  • Don't litter up the floor with scraps of paper. 不要在地板上乱扔纸屑。
  • A patchwork quilt is a good way of using up scraps of material. 做杂拼花布棉被是利用零碎布料的好办法。
11 latches 72e582024c502f75cdd8b1b4d69a127f     
n.(门窗的)门闩( latch的名词复数 );碰锁v.理解( latch的第三人称单数 );纠缠;用碰锁锁上(门等);附着(在某物上)
参考例句:
  • The virus latches onto the red blood cells. 这种病毒附着在红细胞上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The opposite end latches onto the pathogen. 相对的一端锁在病原体上。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 预防生物武器
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 alley Cx2zK     
n.小巷,胡同;小径,小路
参考例句:
  • We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
  • The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。
14 spotted 7FEyj     
adj.有斑点的,斑纹的,弄污了的
参考例句:
  • The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
  • Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。
15 prop qR2xi     
vt.支撑;n.支柱,支撑物;支持者,靠山
参考例句:
  • A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
  • The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。
16 dent Bmcz9     
n.凹痕,凹坑;初步进展
参考例句:
  • I don't know how it came about but I've got a dent in the rear of my car.我不知道是怎么回事,但我的汽车后部有了一个凹痕。
  • That dent is not big enough to be worth hammering out.那个凹陷不大,用不着把它锤平。
17 poked 87f534f05a838d18eb50660766da4122     
v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 );戳出;拨弄;与(某人)性交
参考例句:
  • She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
  • His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
18 crooked xvazAv     
adj.弯曲的;不诚实的,狡猾的,不正当的
参考例句:
  • He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指,示意我们到他那儿去。
  • You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。
19 scrambled 2e4a1c533c25a82f8e80e696225a73f2     
v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞
参考例句:
  • Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
20 raisin EC8y7     
n.葡萄干
参考例句:
  • They baked us raisin bread.他们给我们烤葡萄干面包。
  • You can also make raisin scones.你也可以做葡萄干烤饼。
21 pitcher S2Gz7     
n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐;(棒球)投手
参考例句:
  • He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
  • Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。
22 winked af6ada503978fa80fce7e5d109333278     
v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 );递眼色(表示友好或高兴等);(指光)闪烁;闪亮
参考例句:
  • He winked at her and she knew he was thinking the same thing that she was. 他冲她眨了眨眼,她便知道他的想法和她一样。
  • He winked his eyes at her and left the classroom. 他向她眨巴一下眼睛走出了教室。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
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