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儿童英语读物 The Mystery Cruise CHAPTER 8 Slowdown

时间:2017-07-20 09:03来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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The next morning after breakfast, the children climbed the steps to A Deck where the Ping-Pong tables were located.

Benny teamed with Henry against Jessie and Violet. The small white ball flew back and forth1. Although Henry hit the ball so hard that Jessie often missed it, the girls eventually won. The winners’ reward was to choose the next activity.

“Let’s see,” Violet said, “what should we do next?”

Benny, fingers crossed, stared at her as if willing her to choose his favorite.

“Shall we go shopping?” Jessie asked.

Benny wrinkled his nose.

“Or should we go swimming?” Violet questioned.

Eagerly, Benny shook his head.

“Swimming and lunch by the pool would be nice,” Jessie said. “It will be our last day to do this.”

“We’ve got tomorrow, Benny said hopefully.

“Tomorrow is Saturday, and we sail into Nassau,” Henry explained. “We’ll be ashore2 most of the day.”

“Oh,” Benny said, nodding. “That’s right. I forgot.”

The Aldens hurried to the pool and spent the rest of the morning swimming, and eating hotdogs and drinking milkshakes for lunch.

Later, as they sat on deck reading their library books, Heather walked by. “Hello,” she said, stopping briefly3. “I see you’re having a little quiet time.”

“I don’t feel quiet,” Benny said, holding up his book. “I’m reading The Missing Dog Mystery.”

“Is it exciting?” Heather asked.

“Very!” he exclaimed.

“Sit down, Heather,” Jessie offered and she smiled, pointing to the empty chair next to her.

Heather shook her head, then glanced around and saw Melissa Rand. “I’m sorry. I can’t,” she said abruptly4, and hurried to catch up with Melissa. The two walked down the deck and disappeared around the corner.

“Isn’t that weird5?” Violet said in a puzzled voice. “Heather never has time for us, yet she seems to have time for the Rands. I wonder why.”

Jessie frowned. “I wonder, too. She’s always hurrying away from us.”

“It’s as if Heather’s afraid of us,” Henry said. “Maybe,” he speculated, “she’s trying to hide something.”

“Remember when she first came on board?” Violet asked.

“Yes,” Jessie replied. “Heather received roses from ‘C’!”

Henry nodded. “Could the ‘C’ stand for Carla?”

“Oh, no!” Violet said, horrified6. “You mean Carla might be paying Heather to help her?”

“Yes,” Jessie answered sadly. “That’s why Heather doesn’t want to talk to us!”

“I think Heather’s just bashful,” Benny said, then added with a grin, “like Violet.”

Violet’s cheeks grew slightly pink, but she smiled.

Henry closed his book. “The Rands used to work for a French cruise ship,” he said thoughtfully.

“It’s possible,” Henry continued, rising, “that the Rands could have been hired by their French ship.”

“And,” Violet said, “they’re trying to sabotage7 the West Wind because it’s a rival cruise ship.”

“That way, their ship would get more passengers,” Jessie said. “But we have no proof of any of this!” Changing the subject because she was so puzzled, she asked, “Who wants to play shuffleboard?”

“I do,” Henry replied.

“Me, too,” Violet said.

Benny leaped up. “Me, three!” he echoed. “I’m ready to go.”

So the four Aldens headed for the shuffleboard deck. Tom Bishop8, standing9 by a Coke machine, received a telegram from the steward10. Hastily, he read the words, then stuffed it in his jacket pocket when he saw the children. “Hi, kids,” he called. “What’s happening?”

“Not much, Tom,” Benny said, taking a shuffleboard stick. “Want to play a game with us?”

“Why, not?” he asked, taking off his jacket and rolling up his sleeves. As he removed his jacket, the telegram gently fluttered to the deck.

The game didn’t last long. Tom won, and he laughed. “Next time,” he said, putting on his jacket, “we’ll play Monopoly. I’ll bet you can beat me at that.” With a wave, he was gone.

Jessie put up her shuffleboard stick, and as she did so she noticed Tom’s telegram. She picked it up and read the words: JUST TWO MORE DAYS AND WE’LL BE RICH! CARLA.

“What do you suppose this means?” Jessie asked worriedly, handing the telegram to Henry.

After reading it, Henry frowned. “Two more days of what?”

Violet took the telegram. “How could two more days make them rich?”

Jessie was thoughtful. “If Max makes it to Miami on time, he’ll be rich. If not his cousin Carla will inherit Great-Aunt Edith’s estate. This telegram could be from cousin Carla.”

Henry picked up Jessie’s train of thought. “And Tom could have been hired by Carla to keep the West Wind from getting to Miami on time.”

“Then Tom has been the one all along,” Violet said, disbelief on her face.

“And he seemed so nice, too!” Benny exclaimed.

“Let’s find Max,” Henry said. “I’m sure he’ll know what to do.”

They found Max and Grandfather playing cards in the library.

“Here, Max,” Jessie said, “I think you should read this.”

Max stared at the telegram, then his eyes lit up in understanding. “Tom Bishop. Of course. He must be Thomas, the man Carla’s going to marry. She talked about a ‘Thomas.’ I’ve never met him so I had no idea what he looked like.”

“He did ask us questions,” Henry said, “and once he mentioned how upset you looked.”

“When Tom came aboard,” Benny said, “I remember he said that we kids knew all about the ship, and we’d have to show him around.”

“That’s right,” Violet said.

“So,” Max said, “Tom’s doing Carla’s dirty work! Carla’s probably in Miami right now!” He shook his head. “If I don’t get to Miami by Sunday, she’ll inherit everything!”

Henry said, “We need to warn the captain about Tom.”

“Yes,” Jessie agreed. “And let’s also ask him if we’ll be sailing into Nassau on time.”

“Good idea,” Grandfather said, rising to his feet.

They found the captain on the navigation deck, and when he heard their news, he was furious. “No one can tamper11 with my ship!”

Thoughtfully he added, “I’m not surprised, though. The crew has seen Tom outside the engine room a few times and wondered what he was up to.”

“He’s deliberately12 trying to delay the ship,” Max said urgently. Then he explained to the captain why he had to get to Miami.

“Well,” the captain said, “Tom Bishop won’t succeed. We’re right on time. We’re taking a shorter route to Nassau.” He smiled. “So, Mr. Greene, you’ll be at the reading of the will.”

Max breathed a sigh of relief.

“We’re on time now,” Grandfather said, “but what if . . .?”

“What if Tom does something else to sabotage the ship?” Jessie finished.

“Exactly,” Grandfather said.

For a few minutes they were all silent. Then Jessie, her eyes shining, said, “I have a plan.”

“You have?” Violet asked.

“Yes, I have,” Jessie replied, smiling. And she whispered into the captain’s ear, and then into Max’s.

The captain nodded. “I’ll do it,” he said firmly.

A slow grin spread across Max’s face. “Good idea, Jessie,” he said.

“What are they going to do?” Benny asked as they walked back to the cabin.

“You’ll see at dinner,” Jessie said with a secret smile.

The Aldens went to their cabins to change clothes, and met at their table for dinner. Tom was sitting at the next table, right behind Max.

“I can’t wait to see what the captain’s going to do,” Benny whispered carefully to Jessie.

“He’s going to say something to Max,” Jessie carefully whispered back. “Listen closely.”

As they ate their lemon meringue pie, the captain walked slowly by the Aldens’ table.

“Excuse me, Captain,” Max said quietly, beckoning13 the captain to move closer. “It’s urgent that I know. Will we be in Nassau on time?”

The captain looked grave. “Well, I didn’t want to alarm the whole ship, but we’ve had another problem with the engine,” the captain told Max in hushed tones. “We can’t travel at the usual speed. So we’ll be delayed another couple of days.”

Benny glanced at Jessie and smiled. Now he knew what she’d whispered to the Captain and Max.

Henry smiled, too. Jessie had told the cap tain to fib a little—to tell Max there’d be a delay, when truthfully the ship was right on time. And to say it just loud enough for Tom to overhear.

Violet watched Tom. He was leaning closer to hear the captain’s words. She saw a nasty grin light up his face. Tom glanced at Max to see how he took the news.

“Isn’t there anything you can do?” Max asked.

“No, I’m afraid not,” the captain said.

When Max excused himself abruptly and left the table, Tom almost laughed aloud. He didn’t realize that Max was only pretending to be upset. Everything was going according to Jessie’s plan. The captain had played his part perfectly14.

Then why did she still have this uneasy feeling?


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 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。
2 ashore tNQyT     
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸
参考例句:
  • The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前,孩子们就上岸了。
  • He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。
3 briefly 9Styo     
adv.简单地,简短地
参考例句:
  • I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
  • He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。
4 abruptly iINyJ     
adv.突然地,出其不意地
参考例句:
  • He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
  • I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。
5 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。
6 horrified 8rUzZU     
a.(表现出)恐惧的
参考例句:
  • The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
  • We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。
7 sabotage 3Tmzz     
n.怠工,破坏活动,破坏;v.从事破坏活动,妨害,破坏
参考例句:
  • They tried to sabotage my birthday party.他们企图破坏我的生日晚会。
  • The fire at the factory was caused by sabotage.那家工厂的火灾是有人蓄意破坏引起的。
8 bishop AtNzd     
n.主教,(国际象棋)象
参考例句:
  • He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
  • Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。
9 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。
10 steward uUtzw     
n.乘务员,服务员;看管人;膳食管理员
参考例句:
  • He's the steward of the club.他是这家俱乐部的管理员。
  • He went around the world as a ship's steward.他当客船服务员,到过世界各地。
11 tamper 7g3zom     
v.干预,玩弄,贿赂,窜改,削弱,损害
参考例句:
  • Do not tamper with other's business.不要干预别人的事。
  • They had strict orders not to tamper with the customs of the minorities.他们得到命令严禁干涉少数民族的风俗习惯。
12 deliberately Gulzvq     
adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地
参考例句:
  • The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
  • They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。
13 beckoning fcbc3f0e8d09c5f29e4c5759847d03d6     
adj.引诱人的,令人心动的v.(用头或手的动作)示意,召唤( beckon的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • An even more beautiful future is beckoning us on. 一个更加美好的未来在召唤我们继续前进。 来自辞典例句
  • He saw a youth of great radiance beckoning to him. 他看见一个丰神飘逸的少年向他招手。 来自辞典例句
14 perfectly 8Mzxb     
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
  • Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
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