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儿童英语读物 The Comic Book Mystery CHAPTER 7 The Car in the Shadows

时间:2017-10-26 04:54来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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“Who is he?” Henry asked Jessie.

Benny noticed the way the man strolled, as if he had all the time in the world.

“He was the guy in the Captain Fantastic suit at the antiques show!” he said. “Remember, I said he was too slow to be Captain Fantastic?”

Violet nodded. “It is the same person. He was handing out flyers about this meeting.”

Inside, fans traded and sold comics at a long table. Bottles of soda1 and a platter of store-bought cookies were on a smaller table.

The man wearing the Captain Fantastic button was arranging the paper plates and napkins, while a girl with straight black hair put out cups.

“I’m thirsty,” said Benny. “Can we get something to drink?”

The kids walked over to the table. As Henry poured Benny a lemon-lime soda, the man stared at him.

“I know you,” he said. “You’re the lucky kids that found number nine at the antiques show.”

“That’s right,” Violet replied. “Did you find another copy of the comic?”

He laughed bitterly. “Are you kidding? Number nines are really scarce. Change your mind about selling yours? I’ll pay sixty dollars.”

Henry shook his head. “No, thanks.”

“You sure?” the man pressed. “How about sixty-five? Seventy?” He poured a cup of soda and gave it to Jessie. “Okay, seventy-five, but that’s my final offer. You could buy a lot of comics for seventy-five dollars.”

Jessie looked at Henry. They couldn’t possibly sell their fake comic. That would be cheating this man, who would believe he was paying for the real thing.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “But our comic isn’t for sale.”

The young man sighed. “Well, it was worth a shot. I’m Marvin Peabody, president of this Captain Fantastic Fan Club.” He pointed2 to the dark-haired girl. “This is Irene. She’s the club secretary.”

Irene had short black hair and wore pink ballet shoes with her jeans.

She fixed3 drinks for Violet and Henry. “Are you interested in joining?”

“We really came by accident,” Henry told her. “What time does the meeting end?”

“Usually by eight,” Irene said.

“I’ve got to go start.” Marvin turned back to the children. “I could go as high as eighty dollars for your comic.”

“Sorry,” Violet told him.

Marvin wheeled abruptly4 and headed for the front of the room.

The Aldens found chairs near the back and sat down.

“Is he mad because we won’t sell him our comic?” Benny asked.

Henry gave a low whistle. “Eighty dollars is a lot of money! If he’s willing to pay that much, I can’t see why he hasn’t found a copy. He’s the president of the fan club.”

Jessie nodded in agreement. “He must have had a chance to buy number nine before now. It seems like he really wants to buy our comic.”

“All right, everybody! Welcome to our monthly meeting.” Marvin shuffled5 through some papers. “Last month we began the contest to see who could find the secret signature Sid Hoyt hides in each of his comics.”

The Alden children glanced at one another.

“The secret signature is the one clue the counterfeit6 comic book artist doesn’t know about,” Violet whispered. “Because it wasn’t in the phony number nine.”

Jessie nodded. “Let’s hope nobody figures out the secret signature is always hidden somewhere in Captain Fantastic’s cape7.”

A thought occurred to her. What if the counterfeiter8 is a member of this fan club? He could be in the room this minute!

Irene raised her hand. “I think the signature might be on the last page of each issue. There’s a funny little box in the lower left-hand corner. It doesn’t really look like a signature, though.”

“I know the little box you mean,” said Marvin. “That’s something the publisher puts in. Anybody else?”

Several people made guesses, but when everyone flipped9 through their Captain Fantastic comics, they realized each guess was wrong.

“We’ll keep looking,” said Marvin. “I talked to Mr. Hoyt about this some time ago. He just laughed and said it wouldn’t be any fun if he told us where it was.”

The meeting moved on to other business.

Henry turned toward Violet and pretended to wipe his forehead.

“That was close,” he whispered to the others. “Until we solve this case, Sid’s secret signature must stay a secret.”

“I have a surprise,” Marvin was telling the audience. “Our club will have a private reception with Sid Hoyt at the convention this weekend!”

Cheers went up.

“As you know,” Marvin continued, “Sid Hoyt is giving a presentation and will be auctioning10 off a piece of original art. And he will meet with us.”

“Mr. Hoyt lives right in our area,” said one of the members. “I wish he’d invite us to his studio sometime.”

“We’ve been there,” Benny blurted11.

Everyone swiveled to stare at him.

“You’ve been to Sid Hoyt’s house?” Marvin said in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Benny said. “It’s really cool. It looks like a barn.”

“How did you get to see Mr. Hoyt’s house?” Marvin demanded.

Henry spoke12 up. “We called him on the phone and he invited us.”

“And then he took us to the place where the Captain Fantastic comics are made,” Benny added.

Marvin put his hands on his hips13. “I’ve been president of this fan club for three years and he’s never invited me to his home or to ABC Comics.”

Irene laughed. “Oh, Marvin. Give the kids a break!”

The group discussed the upcoming convention a few more minutes, then Marvin ended the meeting.

As the Alden children were leaving the room, he caught up to them.

“I want to ask you guys something,” Marvin said. “Have you known Sid Hoyt long?”

“We only met him this week,” Jessie replied. “He’s been really nice to us.”

“I guess I have rotten luck, then,” Marvin said with a tight smile.

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Violet reassured14 him. “Maybe we called him when he wasn’t busy. He had just finished the newest Captain Fantastic comic.”

“And he took you to ABC Comics to deliver it,” Marvin said.

“We really need to go,” Henry said, pushing the library’s glass door, “We’re not allowed to ride our bikes after dark.”

In the parking lot, the members were getting into their cars.

As the kids unlocked their bikes from the rack, they saw Marvin come outside with Irene. Both carried boxes of leftover15 refreshments16 and paper goods.

“My comic book hobby is getting so expensive,” Marvin said to her.

“At least you can buy what you want,” Irene said, then walked across the parking lot to her car.

“Marvin’s getting in that car,” Jessie said, as they rolled their bikes onto the blacktop.

She nodded toward an old station wagon17 parked under a big oak tree. With the sun setting, the trees cast purplish shadows.

“It’s too dark to see if it’s blue or what the license18 plate says,” Jessie said.

“Wait till he starts it,” Henry said. “If it has a noisy muffler, we’ll know it was Marvin who followed us from Sid’s house the other day.”

Marvin stowed the box and cooler in his trunk, then climbed into the driver’s seat. But just after he closed the door, a motorcycle roared to life.

Both the motorcycle and the station wagon left at the same time. The kids couldn’t hear if Marvin’s car had a faulty muffler.

“We still don’t know if Marvin is a suspect or not,” Jessie said. “But we’d better head home or Grandfather will be worried.”

As they pedaled out of the lot, Violet spied a small white card where Marvin’s car had been parked.

“It’s a business card,” she said. “For Rollins Construction.”

“That’s the company that’s building the new house,” said Jessie. “I wonder if Marvin works for them.”

“How come we’ve never seen him at the site?” Henry asked.

“We’ve seen a car like his there,” Benny said. “I think it is Marvin’s car. Maybe he hides when he sees us!”


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 soda cr3ye     
n.苏打水;汽水
参考例句:
  • She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
  • I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。
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 fixed JsKzzj     
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。
4 abruptly iINyJ     
adv.突然地,出其不意地
参考例句:
  • He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
  • I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。
5 shuffled cee46c30b0d1f2d0c136c830230fe75a     
v.洗(纸牌)( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 );拖着脚步走;粗心地做;摆脱尘世的烦恼
参考例句:
  • He shuffled across the room to the window. 他拖着脚走到房间那头的窗户跟前。
  • Simon shuffled awkwardly towards them. 西蒙笨拙地拖着脚朝他们走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 counterfeit 1oEz8     
vt.伪造,仿造;adj.伪造的,假冒的
参考例句:
  • It is a crime to counterfeit money.伪造货币是犯罪行为。
  • The painting looked old but was a recent counterfeit.这幅画看上去年代久远,实际是最近的一幅赝品。
7 cape ITEy6     
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风
参考例句:
  • I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
  • She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。
8 counterfeiter gvtzao     
n.伪造者
参考例句:
  • If the illegal gains are very large the counterfeiter shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years and not more than seven years and be fined. 对于违法所得数额巨大的,处3年以上7年以下有期徒刑,并处罚金。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Judge: (asking a counterfeiter) Why do you make false money? 法官:(威严地问假币制造者)你为什么制造假币? 来自互联网
9 flipped 5bef9da31993fe26a832c7d4b9630147     
轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 ); 按(开关); 快速翻转; 急挥
参考例句:
  • The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转,撞毁了。
  • The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。
10 auctioning 17df2bef7f8ff0723ac334a46ad2352b     
v.拍卖( auction的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The Army is auctioning off a lot of old equipment. 军队正在把大量旧装备拍卖掉。 来自辞典例句
  • So she's auctioning off a chance to go to an awards dinner? 那么她在拍卖与她共赴晚宴的机会了? 来自电影对白
11 blurted fa8352b3313c0b88e537aab1fcd30988     
v.突然说出,脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She blurted it out before I could stop her. 我还没来得及制止,她已脱口而出。
  • He blurted out the truth, that he committed the crime. 他不慎说出了真相,说是他犯了那个罪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
12 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。
13 hips f8c80f9a170ee6ab52ed1e87054f32d4     
abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯,耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 );[建筑学]屋脊;臀围(尺寸);臀部…的
参考例句:
  • She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
  • They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》
14 reassured ff7466d942d18e727fb4d5473e62a235     
adj.使消除疑虑的;使放心的v.再保证,恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词)
参考例句:
  • The captain's confidence during the storm reassured the passengers. 在风暴中船长的信念使旅客们恢复了信心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • The doctor reassured the old lady. 医生叫那位老妇人放心。 来自《简明英汉词典》
15 leftover V97zC     
n.剩货,残留物,剩饭;adj.残余的
参考例句:
  • These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
  • Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。
16 refreshments KkqzPc     
n.点心,便餐;(会议后的)简单茶点招 待
参考例句:
  • We have to make a small charge for refreshments. 我们得收取少量茶点费。
  • Light refreshments will be served during the break. 中间休息时有点心供应。
17 wagon XhUwP     
n.四轮马车,手推车,面包车;无盖运货列车
参考例句:
  • We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
  • The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。
18 license B9TzU     
n.执照,许可证,特许;v.许可,特许
参考例句:
  • The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
  • The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。
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