儿童英语读物 神秘农场 Mystery Ranch Chapter 1 撞门而入

An exciting summer began for the four Alden children with the bang¹ of a door.

The big house where they lived with their grandfather had been as quiet as a house can be with four children in it. Their cousin, Joe, had gone to Europe with his new wife, Alice. Everything seemed peaceful, until the afternoon when the door banged².

It was Mr. Alden.

Benny said, “Hi, Grandfather!”

“Hello,” Mr. Alden answered.

That was all. He went straight to the front room and shut that door loudly too.

“Well!” thought Benny. “What in the world is the matter with Grandfather?”

He ran upstairs to the room where Jessie and Violet³ were reading⁴.

“Listen!” Benny cried. “Something terrible must have happened to Grandfather. He banged the door, and all he said was ‘Hello.’ He always says, ‘Well, hello, Benny, and how are you today?’”

Jessie shut her book quickly and sat up straight.

“Did you tell Henry?” she asked.

“No,” answered Benny. “I just told you, and that’s all the time I had.”

“Hen-ry!” called Jessie.

“What’s the matter?” asked Henry, coming down the hall. He knew by Jessie’s voice that something had happened.

“Benny says that Grandfather came in and banged the door, and hardly spoke⁵ to him.”

Henry stood still in the door. “Where is our grandfather now, old fellow⁶?” he asked his little brother.

“In the front room with the door shut,” Benny answered. “And a bang on that door, too.”

“Oh dear!” said Henry.

“What can be the matter?” asked Violet. Her pretty little face was white.

“We should go talk to him,” said Henry quietly.

The children looked at each other and started slowly down the stairs together. Henry took a deep breath⁷ and rapped⁸ on the door.

“Come in,” Mr. Alden called. He sounded very tired. He was sitting with his head in his hands.

“Don’t be afraid to talk to us, Grandfather!” cried Benny.

“That’s right,” said Henry. “We always tell you our troubles. Now you have a trouble, and we’ll help you.”

“I wish you could, my boy,” said Mr. Alden sadly⁹. “But I don’t know what you can do.”

The children sat down on the floor and waited quietly for him to go on.

“I got a letter about my sister. You didn’t know I had a sister, did you?”

“No, Grandfather,” said Jessie. “But we’re a funny family. Once we didn’t know we had a nice grandfather. And we didn’t know that Joe was our cousin.”

“That is true, my dear,” said Mr. Alden.

“Where does she live?” Benny asked.

“Out west on a ranch¹⁰. The nearest town is Centerville,” Mr. Alden said. He looked very sad. “Jane is old, and she is a very cross woman. The neighbor who stays with her is going to leave. Nobody will stay with Jane because she is so hard to get along with. She won’t leave the ranch, and yet I can’t let her stay there all alone.”

“Why don’t you go to see her, Grandfather?” Benny asked.

Mr. Alden gave a short laugh.

“Jane wouldn’t let me in,” he said. “She doesn’t like me. I have not been very nice to her, either.”

“Tell us about the ranch,” said Jessie.

“Well, it’s the old family ranch,” said Grandfather. “I lived there when I was a little boy. When my parents and I came East, Jane stayed.”

He stopped. He seemed to be thinking¹¹ to himself, as if the children weren’t there.

“For a while she did very well,” he went on. “But later, she had to sell the cattle¹² and the horses. She has only one old horse and some chickens now. She must be very poor, but she still won’t take any money from me.”

“Proud,” said Benny.

“That’s right, Benny. She’s too proud to let me help her. Let me have time to think about this. You go eat your supper, and ask Mrs. McGregor to bring me a tray¹³. I’ll eat in here. You are kind children, but you can’t help me now.”

“But, Grandfather,” began Benny.

“No,” said Mr. Alden. “Go to supper like good children. I must think about this alone.”

1 bang   

n.巨响，猛击；vi.砰砰作响；vt.砰地敲，猛击

参考例句：

• Pack it up, you kids;or I'll bang your heads together!住手，你们这些小孩，再弄就揍你们！
• She fell and got a nasty bang on the knee.她摔倒了，膝盖猛撞在地上。

2 banged   

vt.猛击，猛撞（bang的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Two days after the accident she still looked pretty banged up. 事故过去两天后她看上去伤势仍然很重。
• I've banged into the doorpost and hurt my arm. 我撞着了门柱，把臂伤了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 violet   

adj.紫色的；n.紫罗兰

参考例句：

• She likes to wear violet dresses.他喜欢穿紫色的衣服。
• Violet is the color of wisdom,peace and strength.紫色是智慧的，和平的和力量的颜色。

4 reading   

n.阅读，知识，读物，表演，对法律条文的解释；adj.阅读的

参考例句：

• Children learn reading and writing at school.孩子们在学校学习阅读和写作。
• He finds pleasure in reading.他从阅读中得到乐趣。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 fellow   

n.人，家伙；伙伴，同事；对等者，对手；一对中之一，配对物；adj.同伴的，同事的

参考例句：

• I can't stand that fellow.我不能容忍那家伙。
• Who's that old fellow?那个老家伙是谁？

7 breath   

n.呼吸，气息，微风，迹象，精神，一种说话的声音

参考例句：

• I'm just going out for a breath of fresh air.我正要出去呼吸新鲜空气。
• While climbing up the stairs the old man always loses his breath.那老人上楼时总是气喘吁吁的。

8 rapped   

v.突然说出( rap的过去式和过去分词 )；（公开地）严厉批评；突然大声说出；连续敲叩

参考例句：

• He rapped sharply on the door. 他猛烈地敲门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The king rapped on the table with his heavy metal ring, and the company fell silent. 国王用他重重的金属戒指敲打桌子，使客人安静下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 sadly   

adv.悲痛地，悲惨地，悲伤地

参考例句：

• She looked at him sadly.她难过地看着他。
• Sadly the good times aren't returning any time soon.遗憾的是，好时光不会很快就回来。

10 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

11 thinking   

n.思考，思想；adj.思考的，有理性的；vbl.想，思考

参考例句：

• All thinking men will protest against it.凡是有思想的人都会抗议这件事。
• Thinking is mainly performed with words and other symbols.思想主要是用言语和其他符号来表达的。

12 cattle   

n.牛，牲口，畜生

参考例句：

• He has twenty head of cattle on the farm.他在农场养了20头牛。
• On big farms cattle are usually stamped with brands.在大农场，牲畜通常是打烙印的。

13 tray   

n.盘，托盘，碟

参考例句：

• There were two glasses of champagne on the tray.托盘里有两杯香槟酒。
• A waitress came in,carrying tea on a tray.一名女侍者走进来，手端放着茶的托盘。