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 Mystery of the Traveling Tomatoes CHAPTER 6 Poison Ivy!

时间:2017-12-07 05:38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)

The Applewood Café bustled1 with lunchtime customers. As the Aldens waited for their orders, they discussed their visit to the armored car company and to the bank.

“The thief knew exactly how the real driver looked and talked,” Henry said. “That means he’d been watching the real driver. The thief might live right here in Greenfield.”

The smell of cooking food made Benny’s stomach rumble2. To pass the time until the food came, he looked at the old photo of the café hanging over their table. For the first time, he noticed Duffy’s Garage in the background. The pile of old tires was higher back then. That was before Henry and Benny used them to build the planter for their potatoes. When Mr. Shea brought their food, Benny asked, “Does Duffy mind us using his old tires for our buried treasure?”

“We’ve never met Duffy,” said Mrs. Shea. “But Sally, the lady who sold us the Café, said he wouldn’t mind. He moved away and just wants to sell the place.” Benny poked3 his spoon through the crust of his chicken-potpie. He was so hungry he barely stopped to blow on each spoonful before putting it into his mouth.

“Slowly,” said Violet, resting a gentle hand on Benny’s shoulder, “Remember your manners.”

Benny paused, his spoon halfway4 to his mouth. It was hard to eat slowly when he was so hungry! Slowly he ate the pie, tasting each pea and carrot and zucchini and onion he had helped plant and grow.

When they finished, Mr, Shea brought them each a warm peach cobbler topped with a scoop5 of vanilla6 ice cream. Then he pulled a new picture puzzle from his chefs apron7. “This one is extra-super-hard,” he said. “Good luck.”

The children bent8 over the puzzle, looking for differences between the two photos of a toy store. “Benny,” said Jessie, “what’s wrong?”

Benny looked down. He didn’t even realize he’d been scratching his wrist. But now he felt it itching9. And his arm itched10. “Your skin is all red,” said Violet. “It’s covered with blisters11.”

Now Benny couldn’t stop scratching. His arm grew redder and redder. The children called Mrs. Shea, who took one look and said, “Poison ivy12.” She lopped off a piece of the aloe plant decorating their table. Thick gel oozed13 out and she dabbed14 it on Benny’s arm. It felt cool and soothing15.

“Remember this rhyme,” said Mrs. Shea. “‘Leaves of three, let them be.’ Poison ivy has three leaves. Benny, did you go into any woods, or deep weeds?”

Benny thought and thought. “I picked up a toy car in the alley16 this morning. It was in the weeds near the garbage cans.”

“That could be it,” said Mrs. Shea. I’ll go outside later and take a look.” She brought Benny ice cubes wrapped in a towel. He kept them on the rash while he ate dessert and worked on the puzzle. By the time they finished lunch and headed out to Sally’s Realty, both Benny’s rash and his tummy were feeling much better.

“An armored car, you say?” Sally was a large woman with short red hair and a hearty17 laugh. “You’re looking for a place where someone could hide an armored car?”

The children nodded. They knew it was an odd question. “Well,” Sally said, “an armored car is too tall to fit in a regular garage. But it might fit into some of the bigger garages being built behind new homes.”

Henry shook his head. “A neighbor would notice an armored car pulling out of a garage. The person we’re looking for couldn’t risk being seen.”

“Let’s take a look.” Sally clicked through photos on her computer. “Oh, would you look at this.” She scrolled18 through photos of the broken-down shop that was now The Applewood Café. “The Sheas have worked miracles with that place,” she said. “I sure hope someone buys Duffy’s Garage next door and fixes that up, too.”

“What happened to Duffy?” asked Jessie.

“A year ago, he packed up his things, said he was done fixing cars and moved to Florida. He told me to sell the place.” She clicked to a screen filled with photos of Duffy’s Garage. “Look at this mess. Duffy left old junk cars out back. No wonder no one wants to buy the place. In one year I’ve only had one person who was interested.”

“Who was that?” asked Henry.

“A stranger stopped in a couple of months ago. He was a big man, as tall as my hubby Harry19. But he had long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. He asked if he could rent the garage to work on his car. I called Mr. Duffy and he said it was OK. We were hoping the man might like the place enough to buy it,” Sally said.

“Why didn’t he?” asked Jessie.

“I guess he just left town. One morning I came to work and found the keys to Duffy’s slipped under my door. When I went to check on the garage, it was all boarded up, just the way Duffy left it,” Sally replied.

Violet looked at the photos. “What happened to all these old cars in the back of the garage?”

“Well, I couldn’t sell the garage with that mess out back, so last month, I called Sam’s Scrap20 Yard. Sam hauled everything but the tires,” said Sally.

The Aldens thanked Sally for talking to them.

“You’re welcome,” said Sally. “And could you do me a favor?” She handed Jessie some photos. “Please give these to the Sheas for me.” There were couple of old photos of The Applewood Café, before the Sheas bought it. There was also a batch21 of For Sale photos of Duffy’s Garage. “Mrs. Shea said she’d put these up in the café,” Sally said.

“That’s a good idea,” said Jessie. “Maybe a customer will see them and want to buy the garage.”

Sally handed Jessie a key to Duffy’s Garage as well. “Give this to Mrs. Shea, too. The key opens the side door. I told her to just go in and show the garage to anyone who wants a look.”

“Benny Alden!” cried Mrs. McGregor. The Alden’s housekeeper22 stared at the bright red splotches on Benny’s arms. “It’s poison ivy indeed. You go upstairs this minute and soak in a cool bath.” She checked the other children but only Benny had splotches. “And it’s a bath for you, too,” she told Watch, leading the dog to the laundry sink.

Poor Watch did not like baths. But Mrs. McGregor said he needed one.

“I’ll wash Watch, because he might have rubbed against the poison ivy,” she explained to Jessie. “His fur would protect him from a rash, but the poison could rub off on anyone who petted him.”

At bedtime, the children gathered in Benny’s room. Violet dipped the tips of cotton swabs into a bottle of pink Calamine lotion23. Then she painted funny pink animals on Benny’s rash to soothe24 the itching.

“This sure has been a busy day,” said Jessie, yawning. “This morning we found our ‘black gold’ tipped over and had to round up our worms. Then we followed the boot prints of the person who did it out into the alley.”

“And I found a toy car in the poison ivy,” said Benny. “And someone moved my green pepper plants.”

Violet finished drawing a pink giraffe on Benny’s arm. “And, at the armored car office, Edie Hope showed us the route the armored car usually takes.”

“And we went to the bank,” said Benny, who really wished he’d brought money to buy a candy bar.

“Then we biked along the armored car route,” said Henry, “from the bank all the way down to Main Street without seeing one place the crook25 could hide an armored car. And we talked to Sally at the real estate office.”

Jessie brushed her hair. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but between running the 5K yesterday, and riding my bike today, my legs ache.”

“My whole self aches,” said Benny, flopping26 back on his pillows. The children said goodnight and went to their rooms.

Benny couldn’t sleep. Part of the problem was the itchy poison ivy. But there was something else. Something Benny saw during the day wasn’t quite right. What was it? He closed his eyes. He thought of the picture puzzles he loved to solve. This time he pictured the two old photos of The Applewood Café—the one he saw in Sally’s real estate office and the one hanging in The Applewood Café. The photos were almost exactly the same. Almost.

Benny squeezed his eyes tight, trying to picture the differences. There was something else. Benny was sure of it. He just couldn’t see it. Tomorrow he’d put the two photos side by side and figure out what it was.

Watch jumped on the bed and curled up next to him. “You smell like shampoo,” said Benny. He slid an arm around his furry27 friend, and soon they fell fast asleep.
 


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 bustled 9467abd9ace0cff070d56f0196327c70     
闹哄哄地忙乱,奔忙( bustle的过去式和过去分词 ); 催促
参考例句:
  • She bustled around in the kitchen. 她在厨房里忙得团团转。
  • The hostress bustled about with an assumption of authority. 女主人摆出一副权威的样子忙来忙去。
2 rumble PCXzd     
n.隆隆声;吵嚷;v.隆隆响;低沉地说
参考例句:
  • I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.我听到远处雷声隆隆。
  • We could tell from the rumble of the thunder that rain was coming.我们根据雷的轰隆声可断定,天要下雨了。
3 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》
4 halfway Xrvzdq     
adj.中途的,不彻底的,部分的;adv.半路地,在中途,在半途
参考例句:
  • We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路,天就黑了。
  • In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上,最忌讳的是有始无终。
5 scoop QD1zn     
n.铲子,舀取,独家新闻;v.汲取,舀取,抢先登出
参考例句:
  • In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
  • Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。
6 vanilla EKNzT     
n.香子兰,香草
参考例句:
  • He used to love milk flavoured with vanilla.他过去常爱喝带香草味的牛奶。
  • I added a dollop of vanilla ice-cream to the pie.我在馅饼里加了一块香草冰激凌。
7 apron Lvzzo     
n.围裙;工作裙
参考例句:
  • We were waited on by a pretty girl in a pink apron.招待我们的是一位穿粉红色围裙的漂亮姑娘。
  • She stitched a pocket on the new apron.她在新围裙上缝上一只口袋。
8 bent QQ8yD     
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的
参考例句:
  • He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
  • We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。
9 itching wqnzVZ     
adj.贪得的,痒的,渴望的v.发痒( itch的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The itching was almost more than he could stand. 他痒得几乎忍不住了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • My nose is itching. 我的鼻子发痒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 itched 40551ab33ea4ba343556be82d399ab87     
v.发痒( itch的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Seeing the children playing ping-pong, he itched to have a go. 他看到孩子们打乒乓,不觉技痒。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • He could hardly sIt'still and itched to have a go. 他再也坐不住了,心里跃跃欲试。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
11 blisters 8df7f04e28aff1a621b60569ee816a0f     
n.水疱( blister的名词复数 );水肿;气泡
参考例句:
  • My new shoes have made blisters on my heels. 我的新鞋把我的脚跟磨起泡了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • His new shoes raised blisters on his feet. 他的新鞋把他的脚磨起了水疱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
12 ivy x31ys     
n.常青藤,常春藤
参考例句:
  • Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
  • The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。
13 oozed d11de42af8e0bb132bd10042ebefdf99     
v.(浓液等)慢慢地冒出,渗出( ooze的过去式和过去分词 );使(液体)缓缓流出;(浓液)渗出,慢慢流出
参考例句:
  • Blood oozed out of the wound. 血从伤口慢慢流出来。
  • Mud oozed from underground. 泥浆从地下冒出来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
14 dabbed c669891a6c15c8a38e0e41e9d8a2804d     
(用某物)轻触( dab的过去式和过去分词 ); 轻而快地擦掉(或抹掉); 快速擦拭; (用某物)轻而快地涂上(或点上)…
参考例句:
  • She dabbed her eyes and blew her nose. 她轻轻擦了几下眼睛,擤了擤鼻涕。
  • He dabbed at the spot on his tie with a napkin. 他用餐巾快速擦去领带上的污点。
15 soothing soothing     
adj.慰藉的;使人宽心的;镇静的
参考例句:
  • Put on some nice soothing music.播放一些柔和舒缓的音乐。
  • His casual, relaxed manner was very soothing.他随意而放松的举动让人很快便平静下来。
16 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。
17 hearty Od1zn     
adj.热情友好的;衷心的;尽情的,纵情的
参考例句:
  • After work they made a hearty meal in the worker's canteen.工作完了,他们在工人食堂饱餐了一顿。
  • We accorded him a hearty welcome.我们给他热忱的欢迎。
18 scrolled 313315b0796120af40f9657f89e85dc9     
adj.具有涡卷装饰的v.(电脑屏幕上)从上到下移动(资料等),卷页( scroll的过去式和过去分词 );(似卷轴般)卷起;(像展开卷轴般地)将文字显示于屏幕
参考例句:
  • Wherever the drop target can possibly be scrolled offscreen, the program needs to auto-scroll. 无论拖放的目标对象是否在屏幕之外,程序都需要自动滚动。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
  • If It'still is then you've not scrolled up enough lines. 如果还在说明你向上滚动的行数不够。 来自互联网
19 harry heBxS     
vt.掠夺,蹂躏,使苦恼
参考例句:
  • Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天,人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
  • Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。
20 scrap JDFzf     
n.碎片;废料;v.废弃,报废
参考例句:
  • A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
  • Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。
21 batch HQgyz     
n.一批(组,群);一批生产量
参考例句:
  • The first batch of cakes was burnt.第一炉蛋糕烤焦了。
  • I have a batch of letters to answer.我有一批信要回复。
22 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。
23 lotion w3zyV     
n.洗剂
参考例句:
  • The lotion should be applied sparingly to the skin.这种洗液应均匀地涂在皮肤上。
  • She lubricates her hands with a lotion.她用一种洗剂来滑润她的手。
24 soothe qwKwF     
v.安慰;使平静;使减轻;缓和;奉承
参考例句:
  • I've managed to soothe him down a bit.我想方设法使他平静了一点。
  • This medicine should soothe your sore throat.这种药会减轻你的喉痛。
25 crook NnuyV     
v.使弯曲;n.小偷,骗子,贼;弯曲(处)
参考例句:
  • He demanded an apology from me for calling him a crook.我骂他骗子,他要我向他认错。
  • She was cradling a small parcel in the crook of her elbow.她用手臂挎着一个小包裹。
26 flopping e9766012a63715ac6e9a2d88cb1234b1     
n.贬调v.(指书、戏剧等)彻底失败( flop的现在分词 );(因疲惫而)猛然坐下;(笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地)移动或落下;砸锅
参考例句:
  • The fish are still flopping about. 鱼还在扑腾。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • What do you mean by flopping yourself down and praying agin me?' 咚一声跪下地来咒我,你这是什么意思” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
27 furry Rssz2D     
adj.毛皮的;似毛皮的;毛皮制的
参考例句:
  • This furry material will make a warm coat for the winter.这件毛皮料在冬天会是一件保暖的大衣。
  • Mugsy is a big furry brown dog,who wiggles when she is happy.马格斯是一只棕色大长毛狗,当她高兴得时候她会摇尾巴。
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