儿童英语读物 The Hockey Mystery CHAPTER 6 The Rink at Night

“Did you see that, Benny?” Violet whispered when they had stepped outside Tracey’s office and shut the door.

“See what?” Benny asked.

“The orange cones¹! In Tracey’s office!” Violet said. “Remember at Jessie’s first team practice, the orange cones were missing?”

“Yes,” Benny recalled. “You saw them in Tracey’s office?”

“Yes, in the corner, behind a chair,” Violet said.

“Wow—do you think she stole them from Coach’s office?” Benny asked. “It’s right next door.”

“I can’t believe she would do that,” said Violet. “Why would she want to?”

“You heard what she said,” replied Benny. “She wants to steer² people away from hockey. Maybe messing up the practices is part of her plan.”

“Maybe so,” Violet said. She looked at the door next to Tracey’s office. “This must be Coach Reynolds’s office.”

She knocked on the left-hand door and waited a moment. There was no response, so she opened the door slowly. It was dark and quiet inside. Benny found a light switch and turned on the light. Then he put the bucket of pucks on the floor next to the desk.

“Wait until Coach Reynolds hears about those cones in Tracey’s office,” Benny said.

But when he and Violet got back to the rink, Coach Reynolds was nowhere to be seen. Grandfather and Henry were standing³ by themselves, talking quietly about the game.

“Hey, guess what we saw in Tracey’s office,” Benny said. “The orange cones!”

“What?” Henry asked.

“We went into Tracey’s office with the pucks by mistake,” Violet explained. “And we saw a stack of cones there.”

“Really?” Henry asked.

“She must be the one who stole them!” Benny said excitedly.

“Now, slow down,” Henry advised. “Let’s not jump to conclusions.”

“That’s right,” Violet said. “There’s no proof she took them.”

“It is pretty suspicious,” Henry said. “But we’d better not say anything until we have some more information. We don’t want to accuse her of stealing, in case there’s a simple explanation.”

Just then Jessie came out of the locker⁴ room, walking very slowly and looking sad.

The Aldens did their best to cheer up their sister.

“You were great out there,” said Benny.

“Not great enough to help us win,” said Jessie.

Grandfather put his arm around Jessie’s shoulder. “You can’t win every game.”

“Coach was really proud of how everyone played,” Henry said. “And you’ll all do better next time.”

“You’re right,” Jessie said, looking around at her family, her face brightening. “I’m sure I’ll do better at our next game.”

“Now, how about a trip to The Scoop⁵?” Grandfather suggested.

“All right!” Benny shouted, taking off for the exit. The rest of the Aldens looked at one another and laughed.

After studying the menus at The Scoop, they all ordered their usual favorites, and by the time they left the ice-cream parlor⁶, Jessie didn’t feel sad anymore.

That night, Jessie unloaded her equipment and uniform from her bag. Her clothes had to be washed before her next practice. “Hey, wait a minute,” she said as she took everything out of the oversized bag. “Where are my figure skates?” Even though she hadn’t been using them, Jessie had left her figure skates and dresses in the bag, buried under all her hockey gear. But now the figure skates were missing.

“Violet! Henry! Benny!” she called out. “Have any of you seen my figure skates?” No one had seen them.

“Maybe you left them in the locker room when you were getting dressed,” Violet suggested. She remembered how much work it had been helping⁷ Jessie get dressed for her first practice. There had been so many pads and pieces of equipment—it would be easy to misplace something.

“I’m going back to the rink to see,” Jessie said.

“Now?” Henry asked. “The rink closes in half an hour.”

“Then I’d better hurry,” Jessie said. “I love those skates. I’ve got to see if I left them there.”

When Grandfather heard about Jessie’s missing skates, he was happy to give her a ride to the rink. “I’ll wait in the lobby while you check the locker room,” he said.

The building felt very different at night from their usual daytime visits. A janitor⁸ was mopping the floor of the lobby. Instead of the usual noisy crowd, Jessie saw only a couple of people gathering⁹ their skating equipment and leaving the building. Jessie ran through the double doors to the rink. The bleachers were empty, and no one was skating. The surface of the rink was smooth and shiny.

Jessie ran down the dimly lit hallway to the locker room. Her footsteps seemed loud. When she reached the heavy door to the locker room, she stopped and grabbed the handle. She was just about to open it when she had the feeling someone was behind her. She quickly turned around. All she saw behind her was the long, dark corridor.

Jessie pulled the door open and stepped into the locker room entryway. Walking around a short row of lockers¹⁰, she entered the main room. Only some of the lights were on, so it was dark in the corners. There didn’t seem to be anyone else there.

But then Jessie heard a sound.

“Hello?” she called out. “Anyone here?” Her voice echoed in the large room.

There was no answer.

She walked slowly across the room to the locker she’d used that day.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move. She stopped and turned quickly to see what it was.

Jessie smiled to herself when she realized it was just the curtain blowing on the slightly open window.

Jessie realized she’d been holding her breath. She exhaled¹¹. “It must just be a sound from outside,” she told herself. This empty, dark room was giving her the creeps.

Jessie opened the locker and peered inside. No skates. “Hmmm, where else could they be?” she said to herself. Her eyes scanned the rows of lockers and benches. She got down on her hands and knees to look under the bench.

Just then she heard a sound. Jessie stood up quickly. This time she knew she had not imagined it.

Someone was in the locker room with her!

1 cones   

n.（人眼）圆锥细胞；圆锥体( cone的名词复数 )；球果；圆锥形东西；（盛冰淇淋的）锥形蛋卷筒

参考例句：

• In the pines squirrels commonly chew off and drop entire cones. 松树上的松鼠通常咬掉和弄落整个球果。 来自辞典例句
• Many children would rather eat ice cream from cones than from dishes. 许多小孩喜欢吃蛋卷冰淇淋胜过盘装冰淇淋。 来自辞典例句

2 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 locker   

n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人

参考例句：

• At the swimming pool I put my clothes in a locker.在游泳池我把衣服锁在小柜里。
• He moved into the locker room and began to slip out of his scrub suit.他走进更衣室把手术服脱下来。

5 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。

6 parlor   

n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅

参考例句：

• She was lying on a small settee in the parlor.她躺在客厅的一张小长椅上。
• Is there a pizza parlor in the neighborhood?附近有没有比萨店？

7 helping   

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。

8 janitor   

n.看门人，管门人

参考例句：

• The janitor wiped on the windows with his rags.看门人用褴褛的衣服擦着窗户。
• The janitor swept the floors and locked up the building every night.那个看门人每天晚上负责打扫大楼的地板和锁门。

9 gathering   

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。

10 lockers   

n.寄物柜( locker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I care about more lockers for the teachers. 我关心教师要有更多的储物柜。 来自辞典例句
• Passengers are requested to stow their hand-baggage in the lockers above the seats. 旅客须将随身携带的行李放入座位上方的贮藏柜里。 来自辞典例句

11 exhaled   

v.呼出，发散出( exhale的过去式和过去分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气

参考例句：

• He sat back and exhaled deeply. 他仰坐着深深地呼气。
• He stamped his feet and exhaled a long, white breath. 跺了跺脚，他吐了口长气，很长很白。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子