时间:2018-12-06 作者:英语课 分类:94 The Ice Cream Mystery


英语课

Fresh paint glistened 1 on the shop at the corner of Main and Nugget in nearby Silver City. Hanging in the front window was a sign that read, NOW HIRING. HELP WANTED FOR THE SUGAR SHOP OF SILVER CITY.



“There’s Mr. Smithers’s car,” Jessie said, pointing to the big dark car parked next to a small white one in the parking lot.



“And there’s Mr. Smithers,” said Benny. “He’s talking to one of our customers!”



“What?” Violet said.



They all looked through the window. Mr. Smithers was sitting on a folding chair next to a big packing crate 2. A blond woman with dark eyebrows 3 was sitting on another folding chair next to him. Papers were spread out on the packing crate and she was talking rapidly while Mr. Smithers nodded.



After a while, she stood up, gesturing for Mr. Smithers to keep the papers. Then she shook hands with him and came hurrying out the door. She’d just reached the white car when she saw the Aldens.



“Hi,” said Benny.



“Oh!” she said. “Uh, hi, there.”



“Are you going to get a job at the Sugar Shop?” asked Jessie.



“A job? How...uh, maybe,” said the woman. She flung her briefcase 4 in the car before jumping in herself and quickly driving away.



“She seems kind of nervous,” said Violet.



“If she just had a job interview, maybe she is,” said Jessie. “Come on, let’s go talk to Mr. Smithers.”



Mr. Smithers glanced up from the papers when the Aldens walked in. Jessie said, “Mr. Smithers, I called you this morning— ”



“Oh, no, no,” he said. “You’re too young for a job with us. You have to be at least fourteen.”



“I’m fourteen,” said Henry. “But—”



“Here, fill out this application,” said Mr. Smithers, snatching up a piece of paper from the packing crate.



“But I don’t want a job, thank you,” said Henry, handing the application back.



That got Mr. Smithers’s attention. “What do you want, then?” he said. “I’m a very busy man. I have to hire counter help, managers...and who knows where I’m going to find a good manager, someone with experience. I’ve seen people with interesting ideas”—he tapped one finger on the papers—“but not enough experience. Well? Well?”



“How long have you known you were opening a Sugar Shop in Silver City?” asked Jessie.



“A few months now,” said Mr. Smithers.



“Then why did you try to buy the Ice Cream Barn?” asked Benny.



“It’s a good business. Buy the shop, buy the customers. When that didn’t work, we thought about putting a shop in Greenfield. But we decided 5 that the Ice Cream Barn customers were, er, too loyal. So we settled on Silver City,” explained Mr. Smithers.



A phone began ringing in the back of the half-finished shop.



“If you’ll excuse me,” he said. He jumped up and was gone.



“Thank you,” Violet said to his back.



Outside on the sidewalk, Jessie said, “A Sugar Shop in Silver City. I wonder if Brianna and Katy know about it.”



“If they don’t, we should tell them,” Benny said.



“Do you think Mr. Smithers is a suspect?” Henry asked.



“No,” said Jessie. “I did for a minute, but I don’t think someone who works for a big company like that would do such petty dishonest things to a small business like the Ice Cream Barn.”



“I don’t know about that,” said Henry.



“I wonder if Preston knows about the Sugar Shop,” said Violet. “He has experience. He could get a job there.”



“If we see him, we’ll tell him,” said Jessie.



But they forgot about telling Preston anything when they reached the Ice Cream Barn. A big sign on the door of the shop said, CLOSED.



“Oh, no,” groaned 6 Henry. “Not again.”



But Benny was peering through the glass. He tapped on the window. “Katy is inside,” he explained.



A moment later, Katy opened the door. “Come in, come in,” she said urgently, her expression grave. “Did you see Brianna? Have you found Butterscotch?”



“Found Butterscotch? What are you talking about?” Violet said in shock.



“You don’t know, then? Butterscotch is missing. Brianna went into the barn this morning to let her out of her stall into the paddock and she was gone,” said Katy.



“Gone! How did she get out?” asked Jessie.



“Someone took her, that’s how.” Katy sank down into a chair. “There’s no way Butterscotch could have gotten her stall door open and the barn door as well. And I don’t think she would have closed those doors behind her, either.”



“Someone stole Butterscotch?” Benny cried. “A horse thief?”



“A horse thief,” said Katy. “Poor Butterscotch. I wonder if we’ll ever see her again.”



“Don’t worry, you will,” said Jessie stoutly 7. “We’ll find her.”



“I wish you could,” said Katy hopelessly. “I wish you could.”



“Let’s go to the barn. We can start looking for clues there,” said Violet. She patted Katy’s hand. “It will be all right,” she promised.



“No lock on either the barn door or the paddock door,” said Henry. “But no way Butterscotch could have gotten either of those open herself, even if she did get out of her stall.”



“The ice-cream wagon 8 is still here,” noted 9 Jessie.



“It would be hard to hide an ice-cream wagon,” said Benny. “But I guess you could, if you can hide a boxcar.” Benny was remembering the time their boxcar had gotten stolen.



“No footprints we can use,” said Violet, bending over to examine the hard-packed earth outside the barn door. “Just scuffs 10 in the dirt.”



“Whoever took her either had to lead her away, ride her away, or drive her away in a horse van,” said Henry. “If they drove her, they could be anywhere.”



“And anybody,” said Violet in a discouraged voice.



“No!” said Jessie. “Not just anybody. I think whoever took Butterscotch is the same person who phoned in that fake delivery order, who stole the posters, who complained about Butterscotch, and who made those horrible suggestions.”



“And put up the ‘Out of Business’ signs,” added Benny.



“Preston—” began Jessie.



As if Jessie had made him appear by saying his name, Preston came running toward the barn. He stopped, looking wildly around. “She’s gone,” he said. “She’s really gone.”



“Yes, Butterscotch is missing,” said Henry.



Preston’s face was pale. He looked as if he might be about to cry. “Who would do a rotten thing like that?” he said.



“Someone who wanted to put the Ice Cream Barn out of business,” said Henry. They all watched Preston closely.



Preston didn’t seem to notice. “That’s one of the reasons I was so upset when Katy laid me off,” he said, almost to himself. “I wanted to help with Butterscotch. I thought it would be cool to learn about horses and how to drive the wagon. Poor Katy. She must be really upset.”



Preston straightened his shoulders. “Katy said you were looking for Butterscotch. I will, too. And if I can do anything else to help, let me know.”



“We will,” said Violet.



Preston turned and walked slowly back to the store.



The Aldens stared after him. Then Violet said, “He could be pretending to be upset so we wouldn’t suspect him.”



“He could, but he’d have to be an awfully 11 good actor,” said Jessie.



“Preston didn’t steal Butterscotch or do any of those other things?” asked Benny.



“I don’t think so, Benny. He seems to really care about Katy and Butterscotch and the Ice Cream Barn. I think Katy is right to trust him,” Henry told his little brother.



“Okay. That leaves Marcos and Mr. Bush,” said Violet. “One of them is a horse thief.”



“It’s Mr. Bush,” Benny said triumphantly 12. “I told you so. Let’s go arrest him and get Butterscotch back!”



1 glistened
v.湿物闪耀,闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 )
  • Pearls of dew glistened on the grass. 草地上珠露晶莹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Her eyes glistened with tears. 她的眼里闪着泪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
2 crate
vt.(up)把…装入箱中;n.板条箱,装货箱
  • 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 eyebrows
眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )
  • Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
  • His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。
4 briefcase
n.手提箱,公事皮包
  • 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。
5 decided
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
  • 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。
6 groaned
v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦
  • He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
  • The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 stoutly
adv.牢固地,粗壮的
  • He stoutly denied his guilt.他断然否认自己有罪。
  • Burgess was taxed with this and stoutly denied it.伯杰斯为此受到了责难,但是他自己坚决否认有这回事。
8 wagon
n.四轮马车,手推车,面包车;无盖运货列车
  • 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。
9 noted
adj.著名的,知名的
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
10 scuffs
v.使磨损( scuff的第三人称单数 );拖着脚走
  • These covers would not shine like paint, but they absorbed scuffs and scrapes with less notice. 这些包括不亮如漆,但他们吸收较少通知scuffs和擦伤。 来自互联网
11 awfully
adv.可怕地,非常地,极端地
  • Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
  • I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。
12 triumphantly
ad.得意洋洋地;得胜地;成功地
  • The lion was roaring triumphantly. 狮子正在发出胜利的吼叫。
  • Robert was looking at me triumphantly. 罗伯特正得意扬扬地看着我。
学英语单词
accident report
Aeschynanthus pachytrichus
affination sugar
african countries
aggregately
ahlquists
air volume displacement
all-private
allin
ass backwards
avoid certain food
basic patent
beech parquet
benzoin brown
cash-balance standard
cast inblock
coarse mesh rebalancing method
complete linkage
contour diagram
control phase of budget
daphnella flammea
deciduation
deficiency statement
Diemoz
docosa-
Duhrssen's tampon
electrohydraulic control
Elihu Yale
fiery
final thermomechanical treatment
find oneself in the mire
firebombers
flock-wallpaper
full time broadcasting station
fully populated board
gallinagoes
gravitational flattening
grazing animal
grumps
Habit-formation
hard currencies
high power lens
hillwalker
horsefly
HUCR
individual-assignment
inline coordinate
inter-active
intermediate strike wheel
jazzies
jewel-house
Jhal
Labidosaurus
landscape mode
lithium orthoposphate monometallic
long-stalled
love-children
m/d
Marketed production
mine sweeper
money scrivener
Murzuk
nanner
natural healer
ncedl
negotiate amount
non-periodic phenomena
odorifercus homing
ontological-hysteric
outwash facies
panaeolus solidipes
pickling tub
predictive method by model
pump diaphragm
radio bearing conversion table
radioactive damage
rear post
scope response
sensing winding
sheaf of Abelian groups
spermatid
sprinkler extinguishing system
stepped-down
stretch of authority
student loan program
swarm experiment
technopower
Tendo infundibuli
tetrasyllabic
Togliatti
trapezoid wind
turban-tops
turn story
turn the back on
unearthliest
union organizer
Whelen Springs
white-rumped hawk
X-linked recessive-inheritance
yetrium
zero range mark
zirsilite