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儿童英语读物 The Mystery in the Cave CHAPTER 8 Violet Finds a Treasure

时间:2017-08-18 08:41来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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The Aldens wriggled1 out of the cave to have lunch in a warm, sunny spot.

“Let’s put down our picnic blanket right here,” Henry said. “That way we can keep an eye on this cave.”

Jessie set out the sandwiches. “What is it about these caves?” she wanted to know. “Every time we go inside, somebody wants us out of there. First it was Crystal Hollowell. Now it’s Mr. Pitt and Mr. Lyme.”

“They’re searching for something, that’s for sure, ” Henry said. “But what could be under all that mud and dirt?”

“Real diamonds!” Benny answered, very sure of that. “Those bad guys made big holes with that shovel2. And know what? Maybe Joe Caveman is their partner, too. He had a book that said Treasure on it. Diamonds are treasure.”

“Now don’t get your hopes up,” Violet said, looking up from Benny’s rock guide. “Your book says nearly all diamonds are found in South Africa. I don’t think diamonds are the treasure everyone’s looking for in the caves.”

Jessie borrowed the rock book. “I’m going to read about the Rockville diamonds again to see if we can’t find our own treasure. Now where’s that page with the—hey, wait! Look at the photographer’s name under the picture of this rock.”

Henry studied the photo Jessie was pointing to. “It says: ‘photograph by Crystal Hollowell.’ ”

“Crystal Hollowell!” Jessie cried. “It can’t be the same person. She said she studied animals.”

Violet looked over Jessie’s shoulder. “That’s what she said, but when we saw her in the cave, she was doing something with rocks.”

Jessie flipped3 through the pages of the rock book. “Listen! It says here that sometimes streaks4 of silver are found inside a special kind of lead. And, listen to this: ‘Such lead deposits can be found in certain types of limestone5.’ These caves are made of limestone! I bet that’s what Miss Hollowell and everybody else is looking for—silver!”

“I bet for sure that Miss Hollowell took this picture,” Benny said. “Maybe if we don’t find our Rockville diamonds, we’ll find silver instead. Then we’ll be rich.”

Jessie laughed. “It’s hard to find the kind of silver they’re talking about in this book, Benny. You have to be a rock expert to know what to look for. Those men were searching for something, and so was Miss Hollowell. But maybe it’s not silver, maybe it’s something else.”

“But what?” Violet asked.

“Don’t forget Joe Caveman!” Benny cried.

“How can we forget Joe Caveman?” Jessie said with a laugh. “You won’t let us!”

“Can we go back into this cave?” Benny begged. “Can we?”

“I’d like to go back, too,” Violet added, forgetting all her worries about getting lost.

Henry nodded. “Sure thing! I’m glad you changed your minds. I’d sure like to snoop around in there. But first let’s go back to the cabin and get our safety gear. Oh, one other thing. We have to let Mr. Howe know we’ll be caving here this afternoon.”

After gathering6 up their things, the Aldens waited by the side of the road for the traffic to go by.

Suddenly, a truck that was driving by slowed down in front of the Aldens. But a second later, it sped up again and disappeared.

“Did you see who that was?” Henry asked.

“Crystal Hollowell,” Jessie answered. “She took off like a rocket when she saw who we were.”

Jessie checked down the road. “If we run, maybe we can see if she went to the other cave. It’s not far from here.”

“Good idea,” Henry said. “Let’s go.”

Jessie was right. After racing7 down a ways, the Aldens spotted8 Crystal Hollowell’s truck. Then they saw her, right by the sinkhole entrance.

“Let’s try to catch up with her,” Jessie said. “Oh, Miss Hollowell, Miss Hollowell!”

Hearing her name, Crystal Hollowell whirled around to see who was shouting for her. When she saw the Aldens, she marched back to her truck and threw her big duffel bag inside.

Jessie ran over to the truck. “Wait up. We wanted to ask you something. Benny, hand me your rock book.”

By the time Benny pulled his book from his backpack, Crystal Hollowell had started up her truck. “I’m in a hurry, so step back.”

But Jessie Alden was much too fast for Crystal Hollowell. She opened the rock book and stuck it through the truck window. “Did you take this photo, Miss Hollowell? It has your name underneath9 it.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Miss Hollowell answered without even looking at the book. “I’ve got to go.” With that, the young woman stepped on the gas and sped away.

The Aldens hurried back to the cabin to get their safety gear.

When they came down from the Little Nose Cliff again, they had everything they needed to go caving—except time.

“I guess we should just look around the big cave we found this morning,” Henry said. “There’s not enough time to go back to the sinkhole cave, too. Besides, I left a note to Mr. Howe telling him where we’d be and that we marked the place with a bandana.”

“The bandana!” Violet cried when the Aldens started searching for the cave entrance. “It’s gone!”

The children walked along slowly, checking along the rock for the opening they had entered just hours before.

“This is strange. I don’t see the entrance we dug out,” Henry said. He ran his hand along the rock to feel for the cool spot. “It should be easy to find since we scooped10 out all that rock and dirt.”

Benny ran ahead to look for the spot. “I’ll find it! I’ll find it!” But he found no bandana sticking out and no cave opening.

“A cave can’t just disappear,” Jessie said, walking up and down. “Let’s think. This morning when we crossed the road, we were standing11 next to that road sign. The cave opening has to be right near there.”

“Hey, the entrance has been covered up! That’s why we didn’t see it,” Henry shouted when he checked the rock. “Somebody took the dirt and rock we dug out and pushed it back into the entrance!”

It didn’t take long for the Aldens to dig out the entrance again. Soon, they were inside the cave. Now that they had four flashlights, there was plenty of light inside.

“Hey, there are those bootmarks again—the ones with the heels,” Jessie said, aiming her flashlight at the cave floor. “Those aren’t our footprints, and they’re not big enough to belong to Mr. Pitt or Mr. Lyme. Let’s follow them.”

Henry cut up many pieces of reflective tape. “This time we’ll put lots of tape high and low. Benny, take this stick and drag it along the floor as we walk. Whenever we get to a turn, make an ‘X’ in the mud. If we leave enough markers, there’s no way anyone can erase12 every single one.”

With their safety rules all set, the Aldens walked through the tunnel that branched off from the first room of the cave.

“Wow!” Benny yelled a few minutes later, running ahead. “You won’t believe what I just found.”

Benny’s voice was coming from a room-sized space off the side of the tunnel. Squeezing in behind, Henry, Jessie, and Violet beamed their flashlights into the space.

“It’s like a small living room,” Violet said. “There’s a folding stool, some books—even a sleeping bag.”

“Whom could this belong to?” Jessie said.

“Not to the person we’re trailing, that’s for sure,” Henry said, aiming his flashlight at the floor. “There’s only one set of footprints in here, and they’re way bigger than the ones we were following.”

Violet picked up a book lying on the stool. “Look what I found.”

The other children’s eyes grew huge. Soon everyone was laughing very hard.

“It’s—it’s . . . ” Henry started to say before he burst into laughter again.

“Treasure Island,” Jessie finally managed to say between fits of laughter. “It’s the book Joe Caveman was carrying the day we saw him. He wasn’t looking for a treasure at all. He was just reading—”

“Treasure Island!” Benny cried. “That’s the book you read me last summer about a shipwreck13.”

Jessie put her arm around Benny. “Remember how much you liked it?”

Benny nodded. “Not as much as I like real treasures. That’s a funny joke on us.”

The next thing the children heard wasn’t a funny joke at all. Loud, stomping14 footsteps echoed in the cave.

“Quick!” Henry whispered. “Turn off your flashlights. Maybe we can see who’s going by.”

“Or coming in,” Violet whispered when a bright spotlight15 suddenly lit up the chamber16.

“Who’s in here?” a man’s voice boomed.

There was no use hiding. The Aldens came out from the shadows.

“Joe Caveman!” the children yelled all at once.

“I guess you found my hideout,” the tall stranger said.

Benny burst out with a question. “What are you hiding in your hideout?”

Joe Caveman pointed17 to himself. “Me. I’m hiding me.”

Violet swallowed hard. “Is someone looking for you?”

For the first time, Joe Caveman smiled. “Everybody’s looking for me, young lady. My five children, my wife, my boss. I never get a second to myself. I come down here for some peace and quiet on my days off to do a little reading and some exploring. I’m a spelunker.”

“We’re ’lunkers, too,” Benny said. “But we don’t read books down here. We’re looking for diamonds and silver and two men who made us get lost.”

“Whoa, young fella, slow down,” Joe Caveman said. “I hope you folks weren’t the ones who hammered the walls at the sinkhole entrance where I first ran into you. There were some rock chips over there.”

“That wasn’t us,” Benny said. “That was a lady who tried to scare us. She said we’d get flooded even though it was sunny out.”

“Never saw her,” Joe Caveman said. “As for the two men you mentioned, I wonder if they’re the pair I chased out of here after I caught them digging up the cave.”

“We saw them, too,” Jessie said. “They took down all our reflective tape to scare us, and they cut our brother Henry’s rope. Everybody seems to want us out of here.”

Violet looked up at the tall stranger. “Do you want us out of here, too?”

Joe Caveman smiled at Violet. “Not at all. Sorry I was so gruff the other day. I’d just settled my things down in a good spot when those men came down making a racket with their digging and yelling. All these caves connect, so I moved on and found this hideout farther in. But caves are public places—wonderful places if you know what you’re up to. I can see you children are very careful cavers, so I don’t mind that you’re down here. Hope I didn’t scare you the other day.”

“You did,” Benny said with a laugh. “But not for long.”

“Good.” Joe Caveman picked up his belongings18. “I guess I’ll be off. Half the fun is trying to discover a spot where nobody can find me.”

With that, Joe Caveman was gone.

Benny ran after him. “Hey, wait!” he said. “You forgot something.”

Joe Caveman turned around. “What?”

Benny handed Joe Caveman his book. “Your treasure.”


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 wriggled cd018a1c3280e9fe7b0169cdb5687c29     
v.扭动,蠕动,蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 );(使身体某一部位)扭动;耍滑不做,逃避(应做的事等)
参考例句:
  • He wriggled uncomfortably on the chair. 他坐在椅子上不舒服地扭动着身体。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • A snake wriggled across the road. 一条蛇蜿蜒爬过道路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
2 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。
3 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。
4 streaks a961fa635c402b4952940a0218464c02     
n.(与周围有所不同的)条纹( streak的名词复数 );(通常指不好的)特征(倾向);(不断经历成功或失败的)一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 );使布满条纹
参考例句:
  • streaks of grey in her hair 她头上的绺绺白发
  • Bacon has streaks of fat and streaks of lean. 咸肉中有几层肥的和几层瘦的。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
5 limestone w3XyJ     
n.石灰石
参考例句:
  • Limestone is often used in building construction.石灰岩常用于建筑。
  • Cement is made from limestone.水泥是由石灰石制成的。
6 gathering ChmxZ     
n.集会,聚会,聚集
参考例句:
  • He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
  • He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。
7 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。
8 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。
9 underneath VKRz2     
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面
参考例句:
  • Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
  • She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣,里面套着一条连衣裙。
10 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》
11 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。
12 erase woMxN     
v.擦掉;消除某事物的痕迹
参考例句:
  • He tried to erase the idea from his mind.他试图从头脑中抹掉这个想法。
  • Please erase my name from the list.请把我的名字从名单上擦去。
13 shipwreck eypwo     
n.船舶失事,海难
参考例句:
  • He walked away from the shipwreck.他船难中平安地脱险了。
  • The shipwreck was a harrowing experience.那次船难是一个惨痛的经历。
14 stomping fb759903bc37cbba50a25a838f64b0b4     
v.跺脚,践踏,重踏( stomp的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • He looked funny stomping round the dance floor. 他在舞池里跺着舞步,样子很可笑。 来自辞典例句
  • Chelsea substitution Wright-Phillips for Robben. Wrighty back on his old stomping to a mixed reception. 77分–切尔西换人:赖特.菲利普斯入替罗本。小赖特在主场球迷混杂的欢迎下,重返他的老地方。 来自互联网
15 spotlight 6hBzmk     
n.公众注意的中心,聚光灯,探照灯,视听,注意,醒目
参考例句:
  • This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
  • The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。
16 chamber wnky9     
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所
参考例句:
  • For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说,牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
  • The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。
17 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。
18 belongings oy6zMv     
n.私人物品,私人财物
参考例句:
  • I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
  • Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。
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