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儿童英语读物 The Box That Watch Found Chapter 9 Benny’s Theory

时间:2017-12-01 07:34来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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The Aldens followed the bike path through North Ridge1 Park on their way home from Cal’s house. The trees sheltered them from the wind, so it was easier pedaling2 here.

The bike path became a narrow dirt trail through the thickest part of the woods and the children had to ride single file. As they rode down one hill, they heard voices coming from the top of the next hill. Angry voices.

“Let go!” a boy’s voice said.

“No, you let go!” a girl answered.

“You’re not supposed to take them!”

“We’re not taking them, we’re protecting them!”

When the Aldens reached the top of the hill, they saw the Zeller twins and David Greene over by a huge tree stump3. The Aldens had seen these kids arguing before, but never quite like this. David and Zack seemed to be playing tug-of-war with a metal box.

“What’s going on?” Henry called out to them.

Zack, Zoe, and David all froze as the Aldens got off their bikes and ran over to them.

“They’re trying to steal this cache,” David said as he yanked the metal box out of Zack’s grip once and for all. “They’ve been stealing caches all over town. But I’m not going to let them steal this one.” He held the metal box tight against his chest.

“Wait a minute,” Jessie said, turning to the Zeller twins. “You two have been stealing the caches?” The Aldens had been pretty sure the thief wasn’t the Zellers or the Greenes.

“No!” Zoe said, clearly insulted. “We just told David—we’re not stealing them, we’re protecting them.” She pulled on the box again, but David backed away from her, still holding it tight.

“Protecting them from what?” Henry asked.

“From being stolen by the real thief!” Zack cried.

“We’re only taking caches that have travel bugs5 in them,” Zoe explained.

“Why?” Benny asked.

“Some of these travel bugs have been traveling a long time,” Zack said. “And some of them have come from really far away. Like Europe. So we don’t want the thief to get them.”

“One of the caches we took has a flag from Switzerland that has already traveled around the world three times.”

Zack nodded. “We’ve got another one that has a racing6 car that belonged to a little boy in California,” Zack added. “It was one of his favorite cars, but he turned it into a travel bug4 so he could watch it travel around the country. Think how he’d feel if he found out the cache his car was in got stolen!”

“Let me get this straight,” David said. “You guys didn’t take any of the first caches that went missing. You’ve only taken the last few. And you’re only taking ones with travel bugs in them?”

“That’s right,” Zoe said. “And we’re leaving notes for the real thief that say ‘ha ha!’ As in ‘ha-ha, you didn’t get this one!’ ” She held up a note just like the one Andy had found.

“We’ve kept track of where all the caches we took are supposed to go,” Zack said. “Once the thief goes away, we’ll put them back. But not until we’re sure they’ll be safe.”

“Is that what you were talking about when we saw you in the woods after the geocaching meeting?” Jessie asked. “You said something like ‘maybe we should put them back.’ Were you talking about the caches you’d taken?”

“Yes,” Zack said. “Zoe thought we should take the treasure out and put the empty boxes back where we found them. But I thought it would be hard to keep track of what belonged in which box if we did that.”

“That would be hard to keep track of,” Violet agreed.

“We started gathering7 up caches with travel bugs in them last weekend,” Zoe said. “In case you were wondering what we were doing behind the mall that day you saw us back there.”

“I sure wish we knew who took all those other caches,” David said.

“So do we,” Zoe said. “Our dad’s been talking to a lot of people in the geocaching club. If the real thief isn’t caught soon, we’re probably going to disband the club.”

“My dad said the same thing,” David said. Nobody wants to keep the club going if somebody’s going to steal all our caches.”

“Then we’re going to have to work hard to find the real thief before the club disbands,” Violet said.

“Well, we know something about the missing caches,” Benny announced. “They were all hidden by the same person!”

Zack, Zoe, and David all turned to Benny.

“They were?” David asked. “That’s interesting.”

“Who hid them?” Zack and Zoe asked.

“Cal Edwards,” Violet replied.

Zack and Zoe’s eyes widened. “And he’s missing, too!” Zoe exclaimed.

“Actually, he’s not,” Henry said. “He got called out of town suddenly to take care of his mother.”

The Aldens told the other kids about their visit to Cal’s house and about their conversation with Mrs. Michaelson.

“Well, I’m sorry about Cal’s mother, but I’m glad he’s okay,” David said.

“So are we,” Zack and Zoe said.

The Aldens were happy to see the Zellers and the Greenes agreeing on something. Maybe they could all work together now and find the missing cache?

“One thing we can tell you about Cal—his caches are more fun to find than anyone’s,” Zoe said with a smile.

“That’s true,” David agreed, smiling back.

“Why?” Violet asked. “Why are his caches more fun than anyone else’s?”

“I think he puts more time into them than other people do,” Zack said. “He puts them in really interesting containers. For instance, there was one he made out of a piece of plumbing8 pipe.”

“And there was that other one that was part of a Halloween decoration,” Zoe put in.

“Oh, that’s a great one!” David laughed. “That’s the ‘Halloween Horror’ cache,” he told the Aldens. “You guys should try and find that one. You’ll love it!”

“He also hides the containers in really interesting places and he always has the best trade items,” Zack said.

“Yeah, once we found a Chinese kite in one of his new caches,” Zoe said. “We were the first to find that one.”

“We found a twenty-dollar bill in one of the ones that we were first to find,” David said.

“It’s strange that all the missing caches were Cal’s,” Zack said.

“Unless Cal took them himself,” Benny said.

Everyone stopped to stare at the youngest Alden.

“But why would he do that?” Zoe asked. “He knows everyone loves to hunt for his caches.”

“Well, maybe he didn’t mean to keep them so long,” Benny said. “Maybe he meant to put them back, but he didn’t have a chance to put them back before he left town.”

“But why would he take them in the first place, Benny?” Henry asked. “That’s the one thing we still don’t know.”

Benny sighed. “And it’s a big thing.”

Violet could hear Jessie tossing9 and turning in the other bed in their room, but the room was still dark. Watch was asleep on the floor between them. Violet could hear him snoring. She wished she were snoring.

“Jessie?” she whispered, “What are you doing?”

“I can’t sleep. I thought I’d get a glass of milk,” Jessie said.

“I can’t sleep, either. Maybe I’ll get a glass of milk, too.”

The two of them tiptoed out into the hallway. Watch padded behind them.

“Hey, there’s a light on downstairs,” Violet whispered.

The light was coming from the direction of the family room.

“I wonder who else is up?” Jessie whispered back.

The girls crept down the stairs. But rather than head for the kitchen, they turned toward the family room.

“Henry!” Jessie whispered. “What are you doing up?”

Henry was sitting at the computer. His notebook lay open in front of him.

“I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “I can’t stop thinking about those missing caches. There has to be something we’re just not seeing.”

Just then Benny wandered sleepily into the room. “What’s everyone doing?” he asked out loud.

The others jumped in surprise.

“Benny!” Jessie said. “What are you doing out of bed at this hour?”

“I wanted to find out what you guys were doing out of bed at this hour,” he replied.

Violet smiled. “I guess none of us could sleep.”

“We’re all worried about the geocaching club,” Jessie said. She, Violet, and Benny sat down on the couch10.

Henry nodded. “I would hate to see it disband.”

“Especially before Cal gets back,” Violet said.

“Too bad Cal isn’t here to fix everything,” Benny said, resting his head against Violet’s shoulder.

“Wait a minute,” Jessie said, sitting up a little straighter. “That’s it! Cal was fixing something right before he left. Remember?”

The others looked confused.

“What does that have to do with anything, Jessie?” Violet asked. “We don’t even know what Cal was fixing.”

“Well, what if he was fixing some damaged cache boxes?” Jessie asked, her eyes dancing with excitement.

“Then maybe Benny’s theory was correct,” Henry said.

Benny was still confused. “What theory?” he asked. “And what is a theory, anyway?”

“A theory is an idea you have to explain something,” Violet said. “But you don’t know for sure you’re right.”

“Oh.” Benny nodded. Then he wrinkled11 his nose. “What was my theory again?”

“You wondered if Cal had taken the caches,” Henry reminded Benny. “You said maybe he didn’t mean to take them for long, but he got called away before he could put them back.”

“The only thing wrong with your theory was it didn’t explain why he took them in the first place,” Jessie said. “But if Cal took them because they needed some repair work, then that would explain everything.”

“Is there any way to test this theory?” Violet asked.

“We could go online and see if there are any comments about damaged caches,” Henry suggested.

“Good idea, Henry,” Jessie said. Henry turned his chair back around so he was facing the computer. The others gathered around as he logged into geocaching.com.

Henry pulled up the web page for the first missing cache, then scrolled12 down to the list of comments.

“Yup. That one says the container is coming apart,” Violet said, pointing to the second comment from the top.

Henry went to the next cache on their list and read the third comment out loud. “ ‘Great hide! No trade items in container. No log book, either.’ ”

“Isn’t it possible Cal would’ve taken that one, too, just to fill it with things to trade again?” Violet asked.

“It’s possible,” Jessie agreed.

The Aldens checked the listings for the other missing caches. All had reports of damage or missing trade items.

“So maybe my theory is right!” Benny said.

“Maybe,” Henry said. “We won’t know for sure until Cal comes back.”

“But what if the geocaching club shuts down before that?” Violet said.

“We’ll just have to convince them to stay together,” Jessie said.
 


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 ridge KDvyh     
n.山脊;鼻梁;分水岭
参考例句:
  • We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
  • The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。
2 pedaling dcb5fb4578bb0a3a4f10a68c10779ae6     
vt.& vi.踩自行车的踏板(pedal的现在分词形式)
参考例句:
  • The back pedaling brake of the bike is out of order. 这辆自行车的倒轮闸失灵了。 来自互联网
  • Suspension system effectively reduces reacting force of pedaling. 避震系统可以有效的减缓踩踏时的反作用力。 来自互联网
3 stump hGbzY     
n.残株,烟蒂,讲演台;v.砍断,蹒跚而走
参考例句:
  • He went on the stump in his home state.他到故乡所在的州去发表演说。
  • He used the stump as a table.他把树桩用作桌子。
4 bug 5skzf     
n.虫子;故障;窃听器;vt.纠缠;装窃听器
参考例句:
  • There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
  • The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。
5 bugs e3255bae220613022d67e26d2e4fa689     
adj.疯狂的,发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 );病菌;虫子;[计算机](制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的)错误
参考例句:
  • All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞,都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 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。
7 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。
8 plumbing klaz0A     
n.水管装置;水暖工的工作;管道工程v.用铅锤测量(plumb的现在分词);探究
参考例句:
  • She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. 她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。
  • They're going to have to put in new plumbing. 他们将需要安装新的水管。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 tossing a8585a676353eb087665b3ff1271a622     
v.(轻轻或漫不经心地)扔( toss的现在分词 );(使)摇荡;摇匀;(为…)掷硬币决定
参考例句:
  • Poor Joan has been tossing around all night with that fever. 可怜的琼因发烧而一整夜辗转不能入睡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The two boys agreed to decide the matter by tossing a coin. 这两个孩子同意用掷硬币的方法来决定这件事。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
10 couch mzfxf     
n.睡椅,长沙发椅;vt.表达,隐含
参考例句:
  • Lie down on the couch if you're feeling ill.如果你感觉不舒服就躺到沙发上去。
  • The rabbIt'sprang from its grassy couch.兔子从草丛中跳出。
11 wrinkled qeQzK4     
adj.有皱纹的v.使起皱纹( wrinkle的过去式和过去分词 );(尤指皮肤)起皱纹
参考例句:
  • She smoothed down a wrinkled tablecloth. 她把起皱的桌布熨平了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • A wrinkled purse,a wrinkled face. 手中无钱,愁容满面。 来自《简明英汉词典》
12 scrolled 313315b0796120af40f9657f89e85dc9     
adj.具有涡卷装饰的v.(电脑屏幕上)从上到下移动(资料等),卷页( scroll的过去式和过去分词 );(似卷轴般)卷起;(像展开卷轴般地)将文字显示于屏幕
参考例句:
  • Wherever the drop target can possibly be scrolled offscreen, the program needs to auto-scroll. 无论拖放的目标对象是否在屏幕之外,程序都需要自动滚动。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
  • If It'still is then you've not scrolled up enough lines. 如果还在说明你向上滚动的行数不够。 来自互联网
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