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儿童英语读物 The Mystery of the Mummy's Curse CHAPTER 2 The Mummy’s Curse

时间:2017-10-19 07:30来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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“What’s the mummy’s curse?” Jessie asked.

“Some people believe mummies should not be removed from where they were buried,” said Pete. “They believe mummies carry evil spells to punish anyone who disturbs them. That’s the mummy’s curse.”

“Really?” Benny asked, his eyes wide.

“A long time ago, when scientists were digging up a mummy, if someone died or got hurt or something else bad happened, people would say it was because of the curse,” Pete went on.

“Is there really such a thing?” Violet asked.

“What do you think?” Pete said.

“No. If something bad happened it was just a coincidence,” Henry said firmly.

“That’s right,” Pete said. “There’s no such thing as ghosts or magic spells. And there’s no such thing as a mummy’s curse.”

Still, Benny’s eyes were wide. “But Tina fell right after she looked at the mummy,” he said.

“I was just joking before,” Pete said kindly1. “It was an unfortunate accident, but it wasn’t the mummy’s fault.”

But Benny didn’t look as if he believed that. He backed away from the crate2 holding the mummy. He was afraid he might fall and get hurt, too.

The phone rang again. “Hello?” Pete said, picking up the receiver. “Yes, Reginald, that’s right.” The Aldens watched as Pete listened to what Dr. Snood was saying. He did not look happy.

“No, it’s not a room we normally use,” Pete said, “But—”

Again he was silent as Dr. Snood spoke3. The children wondered what he was saying.

“All right,” Pete said. “I’ll see what I can figure out.” Then he hung up the phone and sighed heavily.

“Is something wrong?” Violet asked gently.

“Well, if there were a mummy’s curse, I’d say it’s struck again,” Pete said.

“What do you mean?” Benny asked. He sounded nervous.

Pete smiled at Benny’s worried look. “Don’t worry, Benny. It’s not that bad.” He patted Benny on the shoulder. “The exhibit was going to be in a hall we don’t usually use. That was Dr. Snood on the phone. He said the cleaning crew is too busy to clean the extra room. And there’s no money left in the budget to hire an extra crew. Without Tina and without the cleaning crew, we’ll never get the exhibit ready in time.” He sighed again.

“I have an idea,” Jessie said.

“You do?” Pete asked, peering wearily over his fingers.

“We could help you,” she said.

Pete sat up and smiled. “That’s nice, but this is a big job. I’m not really sure you’d be able to help us get our exhibit ready in time.”

“But there are lots of things we could do,” Jessie said. “We’re great cleaners. We could do the work you needed the cleaning crew to do. And we’ll do it for free.”

“Yeah,” said Henry, getting excited. “And we can carry boxes and help Dr. Dickerson. Whatever needs to be done.”

Pete was looking thoughtful.

“Why don’t you call our grandfather and ask him,” Henry suggested.

Pete picked up the telephone, and a few minutes later it was decided4. The Aldens had a job. “You start first thing tomorrow,” Pete said.

“Great,” said Jessie. “We’ll be back tomorrow morning, bright and early!”

As they headed out, the children stopped in the prep room to pick up their jackets, which they’d left there.

While Henry, Jessie, and Violet put on their jackets, Benny turned to look at the two huge crates5 that were still at the end of the room. He couldn’t resist stealing one last peek6 at the mummy. Benny walked over, got up on the stepladder, and peered down into the crate. The mummy was lying there, just as it had been before. Its blank face pointed7 up at the ceiling as if it were waiting for something.

Benny thought about the mummy’s curse. The room seemed too quiet. He looked up and realized the others had left without him. Suddenly, he felt lonely and a little bit scared. He quickly got down from the stepladder.

“Hey, you guys, wait for me!” he called, running to catch up.

As they were leaving the building, Henry noticed a familiar face in the lobby. It was the woman he’d seen at lunch.

This time, the woman walked right up to them and introduced herself. “Hi, I’m Lori Paulson. I saw you guys in the café.”

“Yes, we were there,” Jessie said, surprised to be recognized by a stranger.

“So what have you been doing here all afternoon?” Ms. Paulson asked.

“We got to see the—” Benny began, but Jessie interrupted him.

“What my little brother was starting to say was, we just love this museum. We’ve been exploring.”

“And we got to see the—” Benny began again.

This time, Henry grabbed Benny’s arm and pulled him off to the side. “Remember, Pete said the new exhibit is supposed to be a secret,” he whispered.

Meanwhile, Jessie was talking to Ms. Paulson. “We’re the Aldens. I’m Jessie and this is my sister Violet. Those are my brothers, Henry and Benny.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Ms. Paulson said.

“What have you been doing here all afternoon, Ms. Paulson?” Jessie asked.

“Call me Lori,” she said. “I’ve been ... Oh, I just love the museum, too.” She smiled, and for a moment Jessie thought she looked uncomfortable. “I come here all the time.”

Now Benny remembered not to talk about the mummy. He asked Lori, “Don’t you love the dinosaurs9?”

“I didn’t know they had dinosaurs here,” Lori said.

“Not real dinosaurs, of course,” Benny said. “But they’ve got a bunch of skulls10 and bones in that big room at the back.”

“Thanks for telling me,” Lori said. “I’ll have to check that out.”

Jessie looked at her watch. Their housekeeper11, Mrs. McGregor, would be putting dinner on the table soon. “I’m sorry, but we’ve got to be going.”

“Oh, um ...” Lori seemed to want to ask the children something. Finally, she said, “Did I see you talking to the curator at lunch?”

“Yes, Pete Miller12 is a friend of our grandfather’s,” Henry said.

Lori’s face lit up. “Did he mention anything about the new Egyptian exhibit?”

The Aldens all looked at each other, not sure what to say. They didn’t want to lie, but they also knew they weren’t supposed to talk about the exhibit.

“He just told us that it was opening in a couple of weeks,” Henry said at last.

“What’s going to be in the exhibit?” Lori asked. “Will there be a mummy?”

“We’ve got to go,” Jessie said, pointing to her watch. “Sorry.”

“But—” Lori began, but the Aldens quickly headed off before she could ask any more questions.

As the Aldens walked down the front steps of the museum, Henry turned to the others. “She was in the cafeteria when we were having lunch. She kept staring at us the whole time.”

“I wonder why she’s so curious about the new exhibit,” Jessie added.

“Maybe she just likes mummies,” Benny said. “Like me.”

“I get the feeling there’s something more to it,” Henry said. “You should have seen how she was watching us during lunch. And there’s something else strange about her.”

“What?” asked Violet.

“She says she comes here all the time. So how come she’s never seen the dinosaur8 bones?” Henry said.

“That is pretty strange,” Jessie agreed.

“I think maybe Lori Paulson isn’t telling us the truth,” Henry said.

“But why would she lie?” Violet asked.

“I bet it has something to do with the Egyptian exhibit she’s so curious about,” said Jessie.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m too hungry to worry about Lori Paulson,” Benny said. “Let’s go home for dinner!”

The next day, the Aldens arrived before the museum opened, ready to work. The building was quiet and almost empty. As they walked down the long, dark hallway to the prep room for the Egyptian exhibit, their footsteps echoed on the hard floor.

A light was shining under the door of the prep room. When the Aldens pushed the door open, they were surprised to see not Sam or Pete, but Dr. Snood. He was standing13 up on the stepladder, peering down into the mummy’s crate. He seemed to be deep in thought.

“Hello, Dr. Snood,” Jessie said.

Dr. Snood looked up suddenly. He seemed startled, as if he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t. He quickly stepped down from the stepladder. “I was just ...”he began, but his voice trailed off.

“The mummy is really cool, isn’t it?” Benny asked.

“It isn’t cool,” Dr. Snood snapped. “It is a valuable artifact from four thousand years ago. You must never touch it, or any of the things in this exhibit. Do you understand?”

The Aldens were stunned14. Benny was only being friendly. Why was Dr. Snood getting so angry?

“Yes,” Henry said. “We understand.”

Dr. Snood’s eyesmoved quickly around the room, as if he were looking for something. Then, picking up his briefcase15, he walked out without another word.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 kindly tpUzhQ     
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地
参考例句:
  • Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
  • A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。
2 crate 6o1zH     
vt.(up)把…装入箱中;n.板条箱,装货箱
参考例句:
  • We broke open the crate with a blow from the chopper.我们用斧头一敲就打开了板条箱。
  • The workers tightly packed the goods in the crate.工人们把货物严紧地包装在箱子里。
3 spoke XryyC     
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 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。
5 crates crates     
n. 板条箱, 篓子, 旧汽车 vt. 装进纸条箱
参考例句:
  • We were using crates as seats. 我们用大木箱作为座位。
  • Thousands of crates compacted in a warehouse. 数以千计的板条箱堆放在仓库里。
6 peek ULZxW     
vi.偷看,窥视;n.偷偷的一看,一瞥
参考例句:
  • Larry takes a peek out of the window.赖瑞往窗外偷看了一下。
  • Cover your eyes and don't peek.捂上眼睛,别偷看。
7 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。
8 dinosaur xuSxp     
n.恐龙
参考例句:
  • Are you trying to tell me that David was attacked by a dinosaur?你是想要告诉我大卫被一支恐龙所攻击?
  • He stared at the faithful miniature of the dinosaur.他凝视著精确的恐龙缩小模型。
9 dinosaurs 87f9c39b9e3f358174d58a584c2727b4     
n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 );守旧落伍的人,过时落后的东西
参考例句:
  • The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 skulls d44073bc27628272fdd5bac11adb1ab5     
颅骨( skull的名词复数 ); 脑袋; 脑子; 脑瓜
参考例句:
  • One of the women's skulls found exceeds in capacity that of the average man of today. 现已发现的女性颅骨中,其中有一个的脑容量超过了今天的普通男子。
  • We could make a whole plain white with skulls in the moonlight! 我们便能令月光下的平原变白,遍布白色的骷髅!
11 housekeeper 6q2zxl     
n.管理家务的主妇,女管家
参考例句:
  • A spotless stove told us that his mother is a diligent housekeeper.炉子清洁无瑕就表明他母亲是个勤劳的主妇。
  • She is an economical housekeeper and feeds her family cheaply.她节约持家,一家人吃得很省。
12 miller ZD6xf     
n.磨坊主
参考例句:
  • Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
  • The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。
13 standing 2hCzgo     
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。
14 stunned 735ec6d53723be15b1737edd89183ec2     
adj. 震惊的,惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
  • The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。
15 briefcase lxdz6A     
n.手提箱,公事皮包
参考例句:
  • He packed a briefcase with what might be required.他把所有可能需要的东西都装进公文包。
  • He requested the old man to look after the briefcase.他请求那位老人照看这个公事包。
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