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儿童英语读物 The Mystery of the Pirate's Map CHAPTER 4 Lots of Stairs and Millionaires

时间:2017-09-19 07:42来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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“I can’t say I’m happy about this,” Grandfather said after hearing of his grandchildren’s latest experience. They were all back on the porch1, enjoying the coolness of the late afternoon.

“Oh, James, they’re fine,” Tom pointed2 out, patting Benny on the back. “I think Benny handled the situation brilliantly.”

“I didn’t like lying to that man,” Benny assured his grandfather, “but I wasn’t sure what he would do if I told him the truth, that I still had the piece of the map.”

Grandfather nodded. “I suppose it was the best thing to do.”

“So, aside from all that, what did you learn about the map?” Tom asked.

“Well, each piece was definitely buried in a different part of the world,” Jessie replied, “just like that book of yours said.”

“And where are the others now?”

“They used to belong to three separate people,” Henry answered. “But according to those pages we copied, they’re now all owned by some millionaire named Winston Walker. He’s the man who found the last piece before Benny found his. He bought the first two and found the third.”

“Did you find pictures of the other three?” Grandfather asked.

“No, just one,” Jessie said. “Violet drew a copy of it and then joined it to Benny’s. There’s a number ‘1’ at the bottom of it, so it looks as though we’ve got pieces number one and four.”

“If we could put all the pieces together,” Violet continued, “they would make a perfect square. The piece Benny found belongs in the bottom right-hand corner, and the piece I drew from the book goes in the top left.”

“Once you find pictures of the other two,” Tom said, “you’ll be the first people to see the complete map in hundreds of years.”

“And then we can find the treasure!” Benny said gleefully.

“That’s very possible,” Tom told him. “Very possible indeed. So what’s the next step in your investigation3?”

Henry said, “We’re thinking of going to the historical society, if there is one around here. Maybe someone there could help us.”

“We have one,” Tom said. “It’s inside the lighthouse on the other side of town, near the miniature4 golf course. It’s like a little museum inside, and there’s a library. Plenty of books to go through.”

“Sounds like just the right place,” Henry said. “I guess we’ll head over there first thing in the morning.”

“Welcome to Cherrystone Harbor’s lighthouse and historical society,” the man behind the front desk said the next morning.

He closed the book he was reading and smiled at the Aldens. “My name is Cliff. What brings you kids here today?”

“We were hoping to visit the library,” Henry replied.

Cliff patted the book. “Interested in brushing up on your local history?”

“Sort of,” Henry said. “We’re visiting only for a few days, but we really like the town.”

“Oh, I see,” Cliff said, nodding. “Well, the library is upstairs and to the left.” He pointed to a staircase5 on the other side of the room.

The children turned to go. “Thank you,” Henry told him with a polite wave of his hand.

Fifteen minutes and a lot of huffing and puffing6 later, the Aldens reached the last step. The library was at the very top of the lighthouse!

It was a simple square room with bookshelves for walls. There was a table in the center with a few chairs around it. A window on the left side had been opened, and a cool breeze was blowing the drapes around.

“I’m too tired to even read!” Benny cried, pulling out one of the chairs and slumping7 into it.

“Yeah, that was quite a climb,” Henry commented, wiping the perspiration8 from his forehead.

Could John Finney’s treasure be worth all this?

“Well, I guess we should get busy,” Henry suggested, and with that the Aldens began their hunt for information.

This time they decided9 to keep an eye out for any book that sounded as though it might tell them something about John Finney or his treasure.

Nearly an hour later, after it seemed as though they had gone through every book in the room, Jessie said, “I vote we spend the afternoon at the beach and forget about John Finney’s treasure for the rest of the day!”

“Me, too!” Benny cried out.

“Great idea,” Violet said wearily10 as she closed another volume.

“Yeah, I guess we should take a break,” Henry agreed, looking out the window at the beautiful blue sky.

“We’re not going to have any luck here,” Jessie said, taking a seat next to Violet. “I’ve looked through all the books on my side of the room, and so has Benny. And Violet has only two left.”

Henry frowned. “Okay, perhaps we’ll go someplace else tomorrow. Any idea where else we might—”

“Oh, my goodness, look at this!” Violet yelped11. She held open the second-to-last book. On the right-hand page was a picture of one of the map pieces.

And it wasn’t one of the two the Aldens already had.

“What’s it say, Violet? Read it! And then we’ve got to draw a copy of that piece!”

Violet set the book flat in front of her. “Okay. According to the text, the piece shown here is piece number two. It was found accidentally by a man digging a well in Italy in 1872. It was passed down through his family until eight years ago, when Winston Walker bought it for eleven thousand dollars.”

“Wow!” Henry exclaimed.

“There’s some more information about the first piece,” Violet went on, “but nothing we don’t know.” She smiled as she read on. “It also says that the fourth and final piece has yet to be found.” She looked up at Benny. “You took care of that, didn’t you?”

“Sure did!” Benny said.

Violet read some more, and as she did, her smile disappeared as quickly as it had come.

“What’s wrong?” Jessie asked.

Violet slid the book across to her sister, pointing to a paragraph. Henry and Benny came around and read along over her shoulder. The more they all read, the deeper their hearts sank.

“Oh, no . . .” Jessie said in a whisper.

“‘Oh, no’ is right,” Henry agreed. “Let’s get out of here. After we get back from the beach, we’ve got some serious thinking to do.”

As planned, the children spent the rest of the day along the shore, enjoying the sunshine. In the meantime, Grandfather helped Tom do some repairs on the top floor of the house.

Violet collected a few more shells, then sat on her blanket in the sand and put two necklaces together. She gave one to Jessie, who was lying next to her. Henry and Benny spent most of the time in the water. There were a few people reading the newspaper from the day before, and that worried the Aldens a bit. But happily no one made the connection between the boy whose picture was on the front page and the one who was swimming around in the ocean.

The Aldens left the beach at around four o’clock to head back to Tom’s. They looked like typical tourists with their sandals and their towels slung12 over their shoulders.

Just before they reached Tom’s street, a shiny black limousine13 pulled up to the curb14 next to them. The back window came down, and a man dressed in a suit leaned forward.

“Excuse me,” he said with a smile. “Would you happen to be the Alden children?”

Henry said, “Er . . . yes.” The man was smiling, but for some reason Henry didn’t think he could be trusted.

The man looked down at Benny. “Then you must be the little boy who found the bottle the other day.”

“Y-yes, that’s right,” Benny said.

The man put out his hand to shake. A diamond ring on his fourth finger sparkled15 in the afternoon sunlight. “Pleased to meet you.”

“Uh, you, too,” Benny replied. He didn’t want to shake the man’s hand, but he didn’t want to be rude, either.

The man reached into the pocket of his suit jacket and took out an envelope. Then he held it open so the children could see what was inside—a thick wad of fresh twenty-dollar bills.

“There’s a thousand dollars in here. That’s a lot of money for a little boy like you. You can have it if I can have that bottle you found. In fact, I don’t even want the bottle. I’d just like to have what’s inside it.”

“Uh, I don’t think so,” Benny said.

“Really? May I ask why?” said the man.

“Because I’d have to talk to my grandfather first,” Benny told him.

“Yes,” Jessie said, coming forward and putting her arms around her little brother. “We would have to talk to our grandfather.”

The man pretended to look hurt. “Oh, do we have to get him involved? Can’t we just make a deal right here?”

“I’m sorry,” Henry cut in, “but we really shouldn’t be talking to strangers in the first place.”

The man’s smile suddenly came back. “That’s very smart,” he said, although he didn’t sound as if he meant it.

Then he reached into his pocket again and took out a business card. “Well, when you’re ready to make a deal, after you’ve talked to your grandfather, please give me a call.”

“Ummm, okay,” Henry said, looking over the card quickly.

“Have a nice day, children,” the man told them as the window went back up. Then the car pulled away and was gone.

The others huddled16 around Henry to see what was on the card. There was nothing but a name and a phone number, and the name made their hearts jump:

Winston Walker

1-732-555-0241

“I think we’d better get back and tell Grandfather and Tom about this,” Henry said sullenly17.

“I think you’re right,” Jessie replied. “Let’s go.”


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 porch ju9yM     
n.门廊,入口处,走廊,游廊
参考例句:
  • There are thousands of pages of advertising on our porch.有成千上万页广告堆在我们的门廊上。
  • The porch is supported by six immense pillars.门廊由六根大柱子支撑着。
2 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。
3 investigation MRKzq     
n.调查,调查研究
参考例句:
  • In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
  • He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。
4 miniature fDSx7     
adj.小型的,微小的;n.微小的模型,微型画
参考例句:
  • He's giving a party in miniature on his birthday.他生日那天将举行一个小型晚会。
  • Games are real life in miniature.游戏是现实生活的缩影。
5 staircase ju5wq     
n.楼梯,楼梯间
参考例句:
  • Footsteps on the staircase interrupted his train of thought.楼梯上传来脚步声,打断了他的思路。
  • I crossed the staircase landing,and entered the room she indicated.我经过一个楼梯平台,走进她说的那个房间。
6 puffing b3a737211571a681caa80669a39d25d3     
v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 );喷着汽(或烟)移动;吹嘘;吹捧
参考例句:
  • He was puffing hard when he jumped on to the bus. 他跳上公共汽车时喘息不已。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • My father sat puffing contentedly on his pipe. 父亲坐着心满意足地抽着烟斗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 slumping 65cf3f92e0e7b986ced17e25a7abe6f9     
大幅度下降,暴跌( slump的现在分词 ); 沉重或突然地落下[倒下]
参考例句:
  • Hong Kong's slumping economy also caused a rise in bankruptcy applications. 香港经济低迷,破产申请个案随之上升。
  • And as with slumping, over-arching can also be a simple postural habit. 就像弯腰驼背,过度挺直也可能只是一种习惯性姿势。
8 perspiration c3UzD     
n.汗水;出汗
参考例句:
  • It is so hot that my clothes are wet with perspiration.天太热了,我的衣服被汗水湿透了。
  • The perspiration was running down my back.汗从我背上淌下来。
9 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。
10 wearily ff30bed10af72c139e03486cc72e624f     
adv. 疲倦地,厌烦地
参考例句:
  • He trudged wearily along the path. 他沿着小路疲惫地走去。
  • He sagged wearily back in his chair. 他疲倦地瘫坐到椅子上。
11 yelped 66cb778134d73b13ec6957fdf1b24074     
v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He yelped in pain when the horse stepped on his foot. 马踩了他的脚痛得他喊叫起来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • A hound yelped briefly as a whip cracked. 鞭子一响,猎狗发出一阵嗥叫。 来自《简明英汉词典》
12 slung slung     
抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 ); 吊挂; 遣送; 押往
参考例句:
  • He slung the bag over his shoulder. 他把包一甩,挎在肩上。
  • He stood up and slung his gun over his shoulder. 他站起来把枪往肩上一背。
13 limousine B3NyJ     
n.豪华轿车
参考例句:
  • A chauffeur opened the door of the limousine for the grand lady.司机为这个高贵的女士打开了豪华轿车的车门。
  • We arrived in fine style in a hired limousine.我们很气派地乘坐出租的豪华汽车到达那里。
14 curb LmRyy     
n.场外证券市场,场外交易;vt.制止,抑制
参考例句:
  • I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
  • You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。
15 sparkled 7169434428068e4cd834f66dafa60e1a     
v.发火花,闪耀( sparkle的过去式和过去分词 );(饮料)发泡;生气勃勃,热情奔放,神采飞扬
参考例句:
  • Her jewellery sparkled in the candlelight. 烛光下,她的首饰光彩熠熠。
  • Her eyes sparkled with excitement. 她的眼睛由于兴奋而发亮。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
16 huddled 39b87f9ca342d61fe478b5034beb4139     
挤在一起(huddle的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
  • We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。
17 sullenly f65ccb557a7ca62164b31df638a88a71     
不高兴地,绷着脸,忧郁地
参考例句:
  • 'so what?" Tom said sullenly. “那又怎么样呢?”汤姆绷着脸说。
  • Emptiness after the paper, I sIt'sullenly in front of the stove. 报看完,想不出能找点什么事做,只好一人坐在火炉旁生气。
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