儿童英语读物 神秘农场 Mystery Ranch Chapter 6 金色烟囱

We’ll have a real dinner today,” laughed Jessie. “Maybe Aunt Jane will eat some of this good food if I don’t give her too much.”

“I doubt it,” said Maggie. “She hasn’t eaten a real meal in two years.”

Jessie was right. Maggie was amazed¹ when she saw Aunt Jane’s empty dishes.

“You girls certainly have a way with you,” she said. “I have never seen her eat so much.”

After the dishes were washed, Jessie softly² opened her aunt’s door.

Again, Aunt Jane looked as if she had been lying there waiting for something to happen.

“Well,” she said, “what do you want now?”

Jessie spoke³ softly, “Violet⁴ and I wonder if we could explore this house.”

“Go ahead,” said her aunt. “There are no secrets here that I know of.”

“No mysteries?” laughed Jessie.

“No,” said Aunt Jane. “There are no mysteries, but it is a strange house. You’ll find that it was built a little at a time. There are really four parts to the house.”

As Jessie started to go out, her aunt called, “Be sure to look at the big chimney⁵ on the other side of the house. It is the prettiest thing here. It was made of stone from our own mountains.”

“We will,” said Jessie.

The two girls smiled at each other and went into the front room.

“Let’s explore the whole house,” said Jessie.

Violet laughed.

“I wonder why we love to fix up old houses?”

The girls stepped into the front hall. They went across it to the other side and found themselves in a front room like the one they had just left.

“This side of the house is exactly like the other one!” said Jessie. “See, here is the kitchen, the little bedroom, two front rooms and a side door.”

“Here is the chimney and the fireplace,” said Violet. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

“The stone is smooth and shiny⁶!” cried Jessie. “See the tiny spots of yellow! Could they be gold?”

“They look brighter yellow than gold,” said Violet. “The black spots are pretty, too.”

Upstairs they found eight bedrooms.

“What fun it would be to put on new paper and paint!” cried Jessie.

Violet had opened the door of the little room right over Aunt Jane’s.

“Oh, what a beautiful room!” she whispered⁷. “Do come and look!”

It was the loveliest room in the house. The old wall paper was soft rose color. The window had fine white curtains. The small bed was high, like the big one in their bedroom. But this one had a top, covered with white curtains like those in the window.

“I wonder who fixed⁸ this room,” said Violet. “Wouldn’t it be pretty with violets⁹ on the wallpaper? I would love to live in this room.” “It looks just like you, Violet,” said Jessie.

The girls finished their exploring and went back downstairs.

When they walked back to the kitchen, they heard Aunt Jane calling Maggie. Violet went in to see what she wanted.

“Did you see the chimney?” asked her aunt.

“Yes,” said Violet. “It is beautiful.”

“The stones came from our mountains,” said Aunt Jane. “We thought once that those mountains were full of gold, but the gold was not real.”

“The yellow and black spots make the chimney look very pretty, though,” Violet said.

“Yes. That was one reason why my father used the stones for the chimney,” her aunt answered. “And he also said that the chimney would always be a lesson to him. Every time he looked at it he could remember how he had to work hard for anything worth having. That way, he wasn’t too disappointed¹⁰ that he had not found a lot of gold.”

“This is really a beautiful house,” Violet said. “There are so many pretty things here. Tell me, Aunt Jane, who fixed the little bedroom right over this one?”

Aunt Jane was very quiet for a minute. Violet thought she was not going to answer. Then she said,

“That was my room once,” she said. She had tears in her eyes.

1 amazed   

adj.吃惊的，惊奇的v.使大为吃惊，使惊奇( amaze的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Just the size of the place amazed her. 仅仅地方之大就使她十分惊奇。
• I was amazed at her knowledge of French literature. 她的法国文学知识之丰富使我大为惊奇。

2 softly   

adv.柔和地，静静地，温柔地

参考例句：

• He speaks too softly for her to hear.他讲话声音太轻，她听不见。
• She breathed her advice softly.她低声劝告。

3 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。

4 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。

5 chimney   

n.烟囱，烟筒；玻璃罩

参考例句：

• The chimney blew out a cloud of black smoke.烟囱里喷出一团黑烟。
• His father is a chimney sweeper.他的父亲是一位扫烟囱的工人。

6 shiny   

adj.有光泽的，发光的，辉煌的

参考例句：

• What shiny shoes you're wearing!你穿的鞋子擦得真亮啊！
• All the cups are clean and shiny.所有的杯子都很干净明亮。

7 whispered   

adj.耳语的，低语的v.低声说( whisper的过去式和过去分词 )；私语；小声说；私下说

参考例句：

• She sidled up to me and whispered something in my ear. 她悄悄走上前来，对我耳语了几句。
• His ill luck has been whispered about the neighborhood. 他的不幸遭遇已在邻居中传开。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

9 violets   

n.紫罗兰( violet的名词复数 )；蓝紫色，紫罗兰色

参考例句：

• There are many violets in the garden. 花园里有许多紫罗兰。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The woman carried a bouquet of dried violets. 这个女人拿着一束干枯的紫罗兰。 来自辞典例句

10 disappointed   

adj.失望的，不满意的，不如意的

参考例句：

• He seemed disappointed when the man refused his request.当那个人拒绝了他的要求时他看起来很失望。
• He was disappointed so often that he became hopeless.他屡次失望，以致变为了绝望。