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儿童英语读物 The Mystery of the Lost Village CHAPTER 8 Benny’s Discovery

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It was nearly midnight when Benny came to a decision — he just had to take one last look at the treasures from the dig. After making sure that Joe and Henry were sound asleep, he crept out of the bedroom and headed downstairs. He groped his way in the dark to the kitchen, and was just about to open the basement door when he heard a loud CLUNK. Someone was in the basement! His heart racing1, he cracked open the door and peeked3 downstairs. A shadowy figure was standing4 in front of a storage cabinet, fumbling5 with a padlock. Benny craned his neck for a better view and suddenly realized who it was — Rita Neville!

Had she spotted6 him? Benny closed the door and leaned against it for a moment, too scared to breathe. Then he tiptoed out of the kitchen, being careful not to bump into anything. He hurried upstairs and burst into his bedroom.

“Henry! Wake up!” He shook his brother’s arm and Henry sat up slowly.

“What’s wrong?” Joe called from the next bunk8. His voice was groggy9 with sleep.

“Rita Neville! She broke into the house. She’s downstairs in the basement… stealing our stuff from the dig!”

Instantly awake, Henry bounded out of bed, as Joe flipped10 on the light. “I’ll wake up my parents,” Joe said quietly.

“And I’ll go tell the girls,” Henry added. “Benny, you’d better come with me.”

Henry and Benny padded quietly down the hall into the girls’ room. He had just finished telling them what was happening when Mrs. Lightfeather appeared with Joe. She closed the door and locked it, then turned to face the children. “We have to be very quiet,” she said. Her voice was low and urgent. “My husband’s calling the police right now. He wants us to stay in here until they arrive.”

“How many burglars are there?” Violet asked. She shivered a little and pulled her bathrobe tightly around her.

“Ms. Neville’s the only one I saw,” Benny said. “But there might be more.” He edged closer to Jessie. “They could be sneaking11 around the rest of the house right now. They could be coming to get us!”

Jessie pulled him close to her. “I think it’s the artifacts they want. Not us.”

They huddled12 silently together for the next few minutes, and then suddenly Benny heard a car drive up behind the house. He pulled away and dashed to the bedroom window. “It’s the police!”

“They didn’t use the siren or the lights,” Jessie said, joining him. “I bet they don’t want to scare anybody off.”

Everyone watched as three uniformed officers got out of the car and approached the house. They saw Mr. Lightfeather talking to them in the backyard, and then two of the officers trooped inside with him. The third one was shining his flashlight into the bushes around the garden.

“I wonder what — ” Violet began.

“Put your hands up, and keep them up!” someone shouted from downstairs.

“Wow — they’re arresting somebody!” Benny said. He was just about to ask if he could go take a peek2, when Mr. Lightfeather called through the door into the bedroom. “Everyone okay in here?”

“We’re fine,” Mrs. Lightfeather assured him, opening the door. “But what’s happening down there?”

“It was Rita Neville,” Mr. Lightfeather said. His hair was rumpled13 and he was wearing jeans and a pajama top. “And they got her.” He put his arm around Benny’s shoulders. “It’s a good thing you decided14 to go down to the basement when you did, son. She was all set to walk off with everything.”

“What happens now?” Henry asked.

“We have to give a statement to the police,” Mr. Lightfeather said.

Everyone followed Mr. Lightfeather downstairs, where one of the officers was speaking into a walkie-talkie. Ms. Neville was already in the squad15 car.

“Why don’t we sit at the dining-room table?” Mr. Lightfeather suggested.

The officer joined them at the table and flipped open a notebook. Suddenly, his walkie-talkie squawked. “Excuse me,” he said, lifting it to his ear. He listened intently for a few minutes, with a grim look on his face. “Another one! Well, bring him in,” he ordered.

“What’s wrong?” Mr. Lightfeather asked.

“It looks like there was someone else involved. Officer Davis found a man hiding in your backyard.”

“So Rita Neville had a partner, after all,” Henry said thoughtfully.

“But who?” Violet asked.

Ted7 Clark,” a voice said loudly behind her. “At least that’s what he says his name is.” Everyone turned around to see Ted Clark, in handcuffs, standing next to a young police officer.

Benny could hardly believe it. Two criminals had been caught just because he had started down to the basement!

“He told us he was researching his roots,” Amy said. “He said he was part Navajo, but I never really believed him.”

Suddenly Violet noticed something suspicious. There was red clay all over Ted’s shoes and trousers — the same kind of clay they had found in the forest!

Joe noticed it at the same time. “You must have been sneaking around the dig,” he said accusingly.

“The dig?” The officer looked puzzled.

“Our archaeological dig,” Henry explained. “That’s where we found all the artifacts.”

“Well, that explains why he was carrying a shovel16 when we spotted him,” the policeman said. “When he and Rita Neville didn’t find anything left at your dig, they must have decided to check out the house.”

“I don’t understand,” Henry said slowly. “What do you have to do with Rita Neville?”

“We’re married,” Ted Clark said. “We’ve been looking all over for artifacts. We’d heard about the lost village.”

“They’re wanted for grand theft,” the policeman said. “They work together.”

“So that’s why you were hanging around the dig and asking questions,” Jessie said. “You hoped we’d find something valuable.”

“And Rita Neville isn’t really a television producer, is she?” Amy said.

“Take him into town and book him,” the officer at the table said to his young partner. “And Rita, too. She’s in the squad car.”

“Wait,” Jessie said suddenly. “There’s something I have to know.” She walked over to Ted Clark. “One night we saw a glowing rock in the woods, just like the legend said. We never saw it again. Did you and Rita have something to do with that?”

“Oh, yeah, the glowing rock,” Ted said. “She figured you’d fall for that. We wanted to throw you off the track, so we could work at the dig in peace.”

“There really was a glowing rock?” Benny asked.

“Sure there was,” Ted said. “Thanks to a little iridescent17 nail polish.”

“The nail polish!” Suddenly Jessie remembered how upset Rita Neville had been when Jessie had found her purse. And that explained why the bottle was empty. Rita had used it all up, painting the rock!

“You and Rita were in the woods that night,” Amy said. “You tried to scare us off.”

“Sure we were,” Ted told her. “We were trying to uncover some things at the dig. I thought the glowing rock would lead you off in the wrong direction, but when you started to get too close to the dig, we began howling.”

“Those were the sounds we heard!” Benny said.

It was another hour before the police finished interviewing the Lightfeathers and the Aldens. Benny was yawning, but he felt tired and excited all at the same time. So much had happened!

And the next day was the Pow-Wow!


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 racing 1ksz3w     
n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的
参考例句:
  • I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
  • The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。
2 peek ULZxW     
vi.偷看,窥视;n.偷偷的一看,一瞥
参考例句:
  • Larry takes a peek out of the window.赖瑞往窗外偷看了一下。
  • Cover your eyes and don't peek.捂上眼睛,别偷看。
3 peeked c7b2fdc08abef3a4f4992d9023ed9bb8     
v.很快地看( peek的过去式和过去分词 );偷看;窥视;微露出
参考例句:
  • She peeked over the top of her menu. 她从菜单上往外偷看。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • On two occasions she had peeked at him through a crack in the wall. 她曾两次透过墙缝窥视他。 来自辞典例句
4 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。
5 fumbling fumbling     
n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理
参考例句:
  • If he actually managed to the ball instead of fumbling it with an off-balance shot. 如果他实际上设法拿好球而不是fumbling它。50-balance射击笨拙地和迅速地会开始他的岗位移动,经常这样结束。
  • If he actually managed to secure the ball instead of fumbling it awkwardly an off-balance shot. 如果他实际上设法拿好球而不是fumbling它。50-50提议有时。他从off-balance射击笨拙地和迅速地会开始他的岗位移动,经常这样结束。
6 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。
7 ted 9gazhs     
vt.翻晒,撒,撒开
参考例句:
  • The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
  • She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。
8 bunk zWyzS     
n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位;废话
参考例句:
  • He left his bunk and went up on deck again.他离开自己的铺位再次走到甲板上。
  • Most economists think his theories are sheer bunk.大多数经济学家认为他的理论纯属胡说。
9 groggy YeMzB     
adj.体弱的;不稳的
参考例句:
  • The attack of flu left her feeling very groggy.她患流感后非常虚弱。
  • She was groggy from surgery.她手术后的的情况依然很不稳定。
10 flipped 5bef9da31993fe26a832c7d4b9630147     
轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 ); 按(开关); 快速翻转; 急挥
参考例句:
  • The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转,撞毁了。
  • The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。
11 sneaking iibzMu     
a.秘密的,不公开的
参考例句:
  • She had always had a sneaking affection for him. 以前她一直暗暗倾心于他。
  • She ducked the interviewers by sneaking out the back door. 她从后门偷偷溜走,躲开采访者。
12 huddled 39b87f9ca342d61fe478b5034beb4139     
挤在一起(huddle的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
  • We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。
13 rumpled 86d497fd85370afd8a55db59ea16ef4a     
v.弄皱,使凌乱( rumple的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She rumpled his hair playfully. 她顽皮地弄乱他的头发。
  • The bed was rumpled and strewn with phonograph records. 那张床上凌乱不堪,散放着一些唱片。 来自辞典例句
14 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。
15 squad 4G1zq     
n.班,小队,小团体;vt.把…编成班或小组
参考例句:
  • The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
  • A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。
16 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。
17 iridescent IaGzo     
adj.彩虹色的,闪色的
参考例句:
  • The iridescent bubbles were beautiful.这些闪着彩虹般颜色的大气泡很美。
  • Male peacocks display their iridescent feathers for prospective female mates.雄性孔雀为了吸引雌性伴侣而展现了他们彩虹色的羽毛。
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