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儿童英语读物 The Mystery of the Missing Cat CHAPTER 11 A Rare Cat Indeed

时间:2017-08-08 06:49来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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The butler answered the door just as he had before.

“May I help you?” he asked as if he had never met them.

“We’re here to see Mr. Allen,” said Jessie politely.

“Is he expecting you?” asked the butler haughtily1.

“No, but it’s very important,” Jessie told the butler.

The butler looked down his long nose at the five children. At last he nodded his head slightly. “Very well. If you will step this way.”

This time, he didn’t take them to the library. He took them to a small room just off the front part of the hall.

“If you will wait here, I will see if Mr. Allen can see you. It may be a few minutes. He is in a meeting and does not wish to be disturbed.”

“Thank you, we can wait,” said Jessie.

The butler gave a disapproving2 sniff3 and closed the door firmly behind him.

“Do you think Mr. Allen is meeting with Mr. Jones?” asked Violet as soon as the butler had closed the door.

“I’m sure he is,” said Jessie.

“I bet I know where, too,” said Henry. “Remember that room that the butler took us to the last time we were here? The one with the desk and the books in it?”

“Yes!” Jessie gave Henry a thumbs-up sign. “I bet you’re right, Henry. Come on, everybody.”

“Are we going to be spies now?” asked Benny.

“Yes, we are,” said Violet, taking Benny’s hand. Quickly and quietly, the five children crept out of the room and down the long hall to the library door. Jessie looked both ways. Then, very slowly, she turned the handle of the door. She did it so carefully that no one would have noticed it turning from the other side. At last she was able to push the door open a crack. The sound of voices came through the crack. The children all leaned forward and began to listen.

“Gimme the money like you promised,” growled4 a voice. “I got you your cat.”

“Very well,” said the soft voice of Mr. Allen. “Although why I should pay you anything is beyond me. You almost botched the whole job, losing the cat like that.”

“I didn’t lose her,” growled the voice. “She got away. I dunno how she did it, but she got the door of her cat carrier open!”

The Aldens all looked at one another, remembering what Mr. Woods had said about Spotzie being able to open any latch5 or door. They had to be talking about Spotzie!

Mr. Allen snorted. “Very well, I’ll pay you, Kramer. I’m a man of my word. Here . . .”

“Someone’s coming,” whispered Henry.

“Come on!” said Jessie. She pushed the door open and the five children rushed into the room.

The two men standing6 by the desk froze. One was Mr. Allen, wearing a suit and a blue bow tie. The other was the man they’d been calling Mr. Jones. He was still wearing his coat and dark glasses, but he’d taken his gloves and hat off. Between them on the floor sat a cat carrier with a small padlock on the door.

“You, you . . .” sputtered7 Mr. Allen. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for a lost cat,” said Jessie. She pointed8 to the cat carrier. “That cat!”

“My butler will handle this,” said Mr. Allen, regaining9 his calm. “I’ll ring for him.”

“Then you’d better ring for the police, too, because that’s a stolen cat!” said Jessie.

Mr. Allen stared at the five children. They stared back. What would Mr. Allen do?

Slowly, Mr. Allen walked over to a chair and sat down. He put his head in his hands. “It’s true,” he said.

Benny bent10 down and looked in the cat carrier. From inside, they all heard an indignant meow. “She looks just like Spotzie’s picture,” said Benny.

Hearing her name, Spotzie meowed again.

“It is, er, Spotzie. Yes, I’m afraid it is,” said Mr. Allen. “You see, I saw her on one of my walks and I had to add her to my collection.”

“But why?” asked Violet.

Mr. Allen raised his head. “I told you she was just an ordinary cat. But that’s not true. I think she’s rare. A very rare cat indeed.”

Violet said, “She’s the only Spotzie in the world. She’s Mr. Woods’s only friend. He loves her very much and he misses her. How could you do that to someone? How could you steal their cat?”

“You don’t understand,” Mr. Allen told Violet. “This cat is a curly-coated cat. That in itself is fairly rare. There are only two kinds of curly-coated cats, of the type known as rex, in the cat show world. But I think Spotzie might be a third type, which would make her very rare and valuable indeed.”

“Wow,” said Benny. “I didn’t know cats could have naturally curly hair.”

Mr. Allen went on. “I saw her and I wanted her for my collection. I offered her owner money, but he wouldn’t part with her for any amount of money. Then I happened to mention her to Mr. Kramer here. I’m afraid Mr. Kramer got carried away and, er, stole the cat from Mr. Woods’s porch.”

“That’s not true,” snarled11 Mr. Kramer. “You paid me for this job, you know you did. Besides, you can’t prove anything anyhow! I found the cat, see? And I wanted to bring her to you ’cause she looked weird12 and I knew you liked weird cats.”

Mr. Allen waved his hand. “I won’t argue with you here, Kramer. It’s beside the point.”

“It was you,” said Henry to Mr. Kramer. “You followed us that day we left the animal shelter.”

Mr. Kramer nodded. “Yeah. After I, uh, found the cat, she got away from me. Then I saw your signs. So I thought I’d follow you to see if you knew anything I didn’t. But you spotted13 me.”

“You went to Professor Madison’s, too, looking for Spotzie,” said Henry.

“Yeah. I was sure she was holding out on me, that she had that crazy cat, but I guess she didn’t,” said Mr. Kramer.

“And you called us to offer a reward to find her,” said Violet.

Mr. Kramer nodded again. “She was still missing. But then I found her wandering around town. I didn’t need you looking for her. That’s when I gave you the warning.” He looked puzzled. “But how did you find me, anyway?”

“We followed you from the post office,” said Benny. “You threw the envelope on the floor. It had Mr. Allen’s name on it.” Benny folded his arms and stared at Mr. Kramer sternly. “You shouldn’t litter!”

Mr. Allen interrupted. “If you children are sure this is the cat you’re looking for, of course I’m willing to return her to you. I certainly don’t want any trouble over this.”

“You’re a bad man,” said Benny. “You’re a bad man to steal something. Especially Mr. Woods’s cat!”

The children looked at one another. They had no real proof of what Mr. Kramer and Mr. Allen had done. And they had found Spotzie.

“Okay,” said Henry. “Give us the key to the lock on her cat carrier and we’ll be going.”

Mr. Kramer reached in his pocket and pulled out a key. “All that work for nothing!” he said. “And her getting out and me having to chase her all over town. All for nothing.”

“Oh, be quiet!” snapped Mr. Allen.

Violet took the key and put it in her pocket. Henry picked up the cat carrier and the five children turned to go. At the door they stopped and turned to look back.

“If anything — anything at all — like this ever happens again,” warned Jessie, “we’ll know it’s you and we’ll go to the police.”

Neither man answered.

“Come on,” said Henry. “Let’s take Spotzie home.”


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 haughtily haughtily     
adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地
参考例句:
  • She carries herself haughtily. 她举止傲慢。
  • Haughtily, he stalked out onto the second floor where I was standing. 他傲然跨出电梯,走到二楼,我刚好站在那儿。
2 disapproving bddf29198e28ab64a272563d29c1f915     
adj.不满的,反对的v.不赞成( disapprove的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Mother gave me a disapproving look. 母亲的眼神告诉我她是不赞成的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Her father threw a disapproving glance at her. 她父亲不满地瞥了她一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 sniff PF7zs     
vi.嗅…味道;抽鼻涕;对嗤之以鼻,蔑视
参考例句:
  • The police used dogs to sniff out the criminals in their hiding - place.警察使用警犬查出了罪犯的藏身地点。
  • When Munchie meets a dog on the beach, they sniff each other for a while.当麦奇在海滩上碰到另一条狗的时候,他们会彼此嗅一会儿。
4 growled 65a0c9cac661e85023a63631d6dab8a3     
v.(动物)发狺狺声, (雷)作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 );低声咆哮着说
参考例句:
  • \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道:“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 latch g2wxS     
n.门闩,窗闩;弹簧锁
参考例句:
  • She laid her hand on the latch of the door.她把手放在门闩上。
  • The repairman installed an iron latch on the door.修理工在门上安了铁门闩。
6 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。
7 sputtered 96f0fd50429fb7be8aafa0ca161be0b6     
v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的过去式和过去分词 );发劈啪声;喷出;飞溅出
参考例句:
  • The candle sputtered out. 蜡烛噼啪爆响着熄灭了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • The balky engine sputtered and stopped. 不听使唤的发动机劈啪作响地停了下来。 来自辞典例句
8 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。
9 regaining 458e5f36daee4821aec7d05bf0dd4829     
复得( regain的现在分词 ); 赢回; 重回; 复至某地
参考例句:
  • She was regaining consciousness now, but the fear was coming with her. 现在她正在恢发她的知觉,但是恐怖也就伴随着来了。
  • She said briefly, regaining her will with a click. 她干脆地答道,又马上重新振作起精神来。
10 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。
11 snarled ti3zMA     
v.(指狗)吠,嗥叫, (人)咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 );咆哮着说,厉声地说
参考例句:
  • The dog snarled at us. 狗朝我们低声吼叫。
  • As I advanced towards the dog, It'snarled and struck at me. 我朝那条狗走去时,它狂吠着向我扑来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
12 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。
13 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。
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