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儿童英语读物 The Mystery of the Stolen Sword CHAPTER 9 By the Light of the Moon

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“I’m scared,” Benny admitted.

Violet gulped1. “Take my hand. We’re not far from the farm.”

Guided by the moonlight, Violet and Benny made their way home, stumbling over rocks and large branches in their path.

“Things sure look different in the dark,” Benny muttered as two bats fluttered over them.

“Ugh.” Violet shuddered2. She let go of Benny’s hand and almost dropped her flashlight so she could cover her hair. “I can’t stand bats.”

Benny and Violet were very happy to see the farmhouse3 in the distance, lit with a warm light from the lamps in the living room.

Twenty minutes later, all the Aldens and Seymour were in the secret passageway. Carefully they shone their flashlights on all the suits of armor.

“Oh, no!” Violet groaned4. Just as she had feared, one of the helmets was missing.

“That’s the most valuable helmet in the collection.” Seymour sounded angry. “That thief sure knows what he’s doing.”

That night, before they went to bed, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny met in Jessie and Violet’s bedroom. Jessie sat on the large bed, her notebook in hand. “We have to do something before anything else disappears,” she said firmly. “At least we have some leads.”

Henry nodded. “We suspect Blake Ambrose is involved.”

“And someone from the farm must be helping5 him,” Jessie added. “Remember, Seymour told us that only the farm workers know how to get inside the secret passageway. Someone from the farm must be involved, too.”

“Now we just have to find out who,” said Benny. He sat with his legs crossed on Jessie’s bed.

“Blake knows Veronica,” Violet said. “I wonder if he knows anyone else who could be helping him.”

“I think Veronica and Blake are our two most likely suspects,” Jessie said. “But we shouldn’t forget about Martin, Mike, and Jeff. I think anyone who works in the orchard6 is a suspect.”

“Oh, not Martin,” Benny protested. “He’s always been so nice to us.”

“He has,” Henry agreed. “But Martin does spend a lot of time with Veronica. And if she’s involved, chances are he may be, also.”

“I guess so,” Violet said reluctantly.

“What have Mike and Jeff done to make us suspicious?” Jessie asked. She was busy writing in the notebook with a green fountain pen.

“Well, they aren’t very likely suspects,” Henry admitted. “After all, Seymour has known them a long time, and we haven’t caught them behaving suspiciously.”

“No, they seem to work very hard,” Jessie remarked. “Still, if we really want to find out what’s going on, we should probably observe them as well.”

The others nodded.

“Veronica and Martin are usually together, so it shouldn’t be too hard to keep track of them,” Jessie added. “Why don’t Violet and I watch Martin and Veronica, and you two can observe Mike and Jeff,” she said to Henry.

“That’s fine with me,” said Henry. “I don’t want to deal with Veronica. It shouldn’t be too hard to keep an eye on Mike and Jeff. They’re usually in the orchard pruning7 trees.”

“Who’s going to watch Blake Ambrose?” Benny wanted to know.

“If he is working with someone from the farm, we might as well wait and have one of the workers lead us to him,” Jessie said.

“The only problem with this plan is that it could take a long time for us to catch the thief in action,” Henry said.

“That’s true,” Jessie agreed.

“You know, I have an idea,” Violet said quietly. The others turned to look at her. “The thieves must be making those markings on the tree late at night. I doubt anyone would try to mark it up during the daytime.”

“True,” Henry agreed.

“So,” Violet continued, “why don’t we camp out in the orchard late at night near that tree and see what happens.”

Benny made a face.

“We’ll take lots of flashlights this time,” Violet said, looking at Benny. “And extra batteries.”

“And extra sweaters and maybe blankets,” added Jessie.

“It’ll be too cold to camp out for the night,” Henry said. “It’s too bad we don’t have a tent or something.”

“A tent would be too noticeable,” Jessie remarked.

“We should probably plan to do this tomorrow night,” Henry said.

The others agreed.

The following day, Jessie and Violet tried to keep track of Veronica and Martin. Henry and Benny found many excuses to go into the orchard to help Mike and Jeff. No one noticed anything suspicious.

That night after dinner, the Aldens waited until everyone had gone to bed before creeping out to the orchard. After much discussion, they had decided8 not to tell Grandfather or Seymour of their plan. They knew Grandfather would worry, even though he trusted them to take care of themselves. And they were afraid Seymour would forbid them from going.

Tonight the moon was very full and low in the sky. “That’s a Hunter’s Moon,” Henry said. “It usually comes out in the middle of November.”

“It seems brighter out here than it was last night,” Benny remarked.

“There aren’t as many clouds,” Violet observed. “But it’s a lot colder.”

“I’ll say,” Benny agreed as he stamped his feet to keep warm. He could see his breath in the cold night air. Violet pulled up the hood9 of her purple parka. Jessie rubbed her hands together.

“We won’t get as cold if we keep moving,” Henry suggested as he led the way into the orchard. As the Aldens walked past the scarecrow, they noticed he had fallen over and now lay in a crumpled10 heap on the ground. Benny noticed his clothes were missing.

“The farm probably doesn’t even need a scarecrow this time of year,” Jessie said. “Not much is growing.”

“Once we’re in the orchard, we should probably turn off our flashlights,” Henry suggested. “We don’t want to attract too much attention.”

“But with all these trees around, it’s hard to see,” Benny pointed11 out.

“We’ll guide you, if you need the help,” Henry assured him as Benny obediently turned off his light.

“Don’t those tree branches look like claws in the moonlight?” Benny pointed out.

“Oooh, they do,” Jessie agreed, shuddering12 a little. “And what’s that noise?”

“What noise?” Benny wanted to know.

“Sssh.”

The four Aldens heard the sounds of twigs13 snapping, then a long, drawn-out, “Whooooooo.”

“That’s that owl14 we heard last night,” Violet said.

“Whooooo. Whoooooo. Whoooooo.”

“That doesn’t sound like an owl,” Jessie whispered to Violet.

At that moment, a scarecrow came out of the trees and appeared before the Aldens, waving his arms in the moonlight.

“Aaaagh!” Benny shrieked15.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 gulped 4873fe497201edc23bc8dcb50aa6eb2c     
v.狼吞虎咽地吃,吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 );大口地吸(气);哽住
参考例句:
  • He gulped down the rest of his tea and went out. 他把剩下的茶一饮而尽便出去了。
  • She gulped nervously, as if the question bothered her. 她紧张地咽了一下,似乎那问题把她难住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 shuddered 70137c95ff493fbfede89987ee46ab86     
v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 );发抖;(机器、车辆等)突然震动;颤动
参考例句:
  • He slammed on the brakes and the car shuddered to a halt. 他猛踩刹车,车颤抖着停住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I shuddered at the sight of the dead body. 我一看见那尸体就战栗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 farmhouse kt1zIk     
n.农场住宅(尤指主要住房)
参考例句:
  • We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
  • We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。
4 groaned 1a076da0ddbd778a674301b2b29dff71     
v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦
参考例句:
  • He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
  • The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
6 orchard UJzxu     
n.果园,果园里的全部果树,(美俚)棒球场
参考例句:
  • My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。
  • Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。
7 pruning 6e4e50e38fdf94b800891c532bf2f5e7     
n.修枝,剪枝,修剪v.修剪(树木等)( prune的现在分词 );精简某事物,除去某事物多余的部分
参考例句:
  • In writing an essay one must do a lot of pruning. 写文章要下一番剪裁的工夫。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • A sapling needs pruning, a child discipline. 小树要砍,小孩要管。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
8 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。
9 hood ddwzJ     
n.头巾,兜帽,覆盖;v.罩上,以头巾覆盖
参考例句:
  • She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
  • The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。
10 crumpled crumpled     
adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式
参考例句:
  • She crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it on the fire. 她把那封信揉成一团扔进了火里。
  • She flattened out the crumpled letter on the desk. 她在写字台上把皱巴巴的信展平。
11 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。
12 shuddering 7cc81262357e0332a505af2c19a03b06     
v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 );发抖;(机器、车辆等)突然震动;颤动
参考例句:
  • 'I am afraid of it,'she answered, shuddering. “我害怕,”她发着抖,说。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
  • She drew a deep shuddering breath. 她不由得打了个寒噤,深深吸了口气。 来自飘(部分)
13 twigs 17ff1ed5da672aa443a4f6befce8e2cb     
细枝,嫩枝( twig的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Some birds build nests of twigs. 一些鸟用树枝筑巢。
  • Willow twigs are pliable. 柳条很软。
14 owl 7KFxk     
n.猫头鹰,枭
参考例句:
  • Her new glasses make her look like an owl.她的新眼镜让她看上去像只猫头鹰。
  • I'm a night owl and seldom go to bed until after midnight.我睡得很晚,经常半夜后才睡觉。
15 shrieked dc12d0d25b0f5d980f524cd70c1de8fe     
v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She shrieked in fright. 她吓得尖叫起来。
  • Li Mei-t'ing gave a shout, and Lu Tzu-hsiao shrieked, "Tell what? 李梅亭大声叫,陆子潇尖声叫:“告诉什么? 来自汉英文学 - 围城
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