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CHAPTER 7
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IN almost less time than it has taken me to write these few paragraphs, we were in the cemetery1 at the top of Bumblebee Hill, and sprawled2 out on the grass near Sarah Paddler’s tombstone—the one that has the carved hand on it with the forefinger3 pointing toward the sky and the words that say, “There is rest in heaven.”
 
Every time we had a meeting there, I would read those words, and look at the other tombstone exactly the same size, which had on it Old Man Paddler’s name and the date the old man was born, with a blank place after it, meaning he was still alive—and nobody would put on the date of his death until after his funeral. Also I would always remember that that kind old long-whiskered old man was an honest-to-goodness Christian4 who loved the heavenly Father and His only begotten5 Son. He trusted in the Saviour6 for the forgiveness of his sins, so I was sure that when he did die his soul would go sailing out across the Sugar Creek7 sky to heaven itself where his wife Sarah and his two boys already were—and the whole family would be together again.
 
That old cemetery was certainly an interesting place and was very pretty. I hoped that nobody would ever try to make it look like the well-kept other cemeteries8 around the country. It’d be nice if people would let the wild rosebushes and the chokecherries and the sumac and the elderberries and the wild grapevines keep on growing there. Of course, it would be all right to keep the weeds away from the different markers and to keep the grass cut, but I liked the little brown paths that wound around from one to the other—and it always seemed like God was there in a special way.
 
You get a kind of saddish happy feeling in your heart when you think about Him, when all your sins are forgiven and you and your parents like each other. It seems as if maybe He likes boys especially well, on account of He made such a pretty boys’ world for them to live in.
 
66 There was purple vervain all over the place and tall mullein stalks—and already the sumac was turning red. I hadn’t any more than thought all these things than from behind the sumac on the other side of Sarah Paddler’s tall tombstone I heard a long-tailed sneeze and knew Dragonfly was there. A jiffy later he came pouting9 into the little circular open place we were in, saying, “How come you didn’t wait for me?”
 
He looked a little guilty, I thought, as, panting and wheezing10 a little, he plumped himself down on the ground between Poetry and me.
 
Everything was so quiet for a minute that he must have guessed we had been talking about him. “Are the—are the girls still camping up in the woods?” he asked—and I knew he was remembering last night’s dunking in the spring and also probably never would forget it.
 
There was an interrogatory sentence in my mind, right that minute. So I exploded at Dragonfly, “What were you doing in the middle of the night down there at the spring?”
 
My question probably sounded pretty saucy11 to him.
 
“I went to get my knife,” he said. “I was there getting a drink yesterday afternoon when a whole flock of girls came storming down and scared me so bad I dropped my knife. I was so scared I ran home. It was my Dad’s knife, and he was coming home before midnight, and I didn’t want him to know I had it, so I sneaked12 back to get it, and—”
 
Another of my mystery balloons had burst. Poetry and I looked at each other and shrugged14. That let Dragonfly out. He hadn’t had anything to do with stealing watermelons. He was as innocent as a lamb. I sighed a big sigh of relief though, ’cause it felt good to get all that suspicion out of my mind, and to have him with us again.
 
We all crowded around Big Jim to see what was between the layers of the bread wrapper. “It’s a map!” Little Jim exclaimed in his squeaky voice, and it was—a crude drawing made with indelible67 pencil. That was the first thing I noticed, that it had been made with indelible pencil. The drawing looked like a map of the Sugar Creek territory itself. In fact, it was a very good map of the Gang’s playground with the names of important places on it—names that only anybody living in our neighborhood would know about; a few that only the Gang itself might know—such as “Bumblebee Hill,” “the Black Widow Stump,” and the “Little-Jim tree.”
 
My mind cringed when I realized that maybe whoever had drawn15 the map was one of our own Gang—maybe one of us who, right that minute, were in a football-style huddle16 in the cemetery.
 
Then Poetry noticed something I hadn’t—“Look at that red X, would you? Wonder what that means?”
 
I squeezed in between Poetry and Dragonfly and looked, and there it was, a very small red X with a red circle around it, in the upper left-hand corner of the page. I could tell that the red X and the red circle were marking a spot on the other side of the creek, just below the big Sugar Creek bridge.
 
Boy oh boy, it was like a story book! That was the second map of the territory we had found—the first one, as you already know, had been hidden in the old hollow sycamore tree, and that map had been the very center of the very first mystery we had ever had—but I told you all about that in the very first story there ever was about the Sugar Creek Gang, and it’s in a book by that name.
 
Big Jim must have been thinking the same thoughts I was, ’cause right that second he said, “Who outside our Gang knows the name of the tree where Little Jim killed the bear?”
 
Poetry rolled himself into a sitting position and grunted17 himself to his feet. Trying to make his voice sound like a detective’s, he said, “All right, everybody; don’t a one of you leave this room—this cemetery, I mean. One of you in this circle is a watermelon thief; one of you drew this map!”
 
Before anybody could have stopped him he was firing at us one interrogatory sentence after another. The first one was, “Who among us has an indelible pencil? You, Bill?”
 
“No sir,” I said.
 
I was surprised that Big Jim let Poetry keep on with his questions,68 but he did, and pretty soon Poetry had asked us a half-dozen others, such as, which of us ate Eatmore Bread at home, what kind of clotheslines did our mothers use—rope or plastic—and did any of us smoke? Of course the last question was a foolish one, as far as the Gang was concerned, but I knew why he had asked it. He was remembering the man in the boat who, last night, had lit a cigar or cigarette with a match or a lighter18.
 
Poetry was looking as dignified19 as any fat boy with mussed-up hair and mischievous20 eyes can look. He was all set to keep on talking and asking questions when Big Jim interrupted, saying, “Look, all of you! There’s only one other person—or rather two—who might know the names we’ve given to the important places around here. One is Little Tom Till, and the other is his big brother, Bob.”
 
I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of Tom before. The very second Big Jim mentioned his name, I remembered that Tom was very good in art at school; in fact, he got better grades in it than any of the rest of us. For some reason, though, I didn’t like the idea of thinking that Tom was guilty. He wasn’t exactly a member of our Gang but we all felt he belonged to us anyway. He hadn’t been meeting with the Gang lately, though, because his brother didn’t want him to, and Tom was very much afraid of his big brother’s big fists.
 
“The thing for us to do,” Big Jim interrupted my thoughts to say, “is to do what Bill suggests—go straight to their house and ask them point-blank what they know about this map and whether they’ve been stealing watermelons.”
 
And that is what we decided21 to do, only Big Jim cautioned us to watch our words so as not to stir up Bob’s temper.
 
“Remember, he will be in church tomorrow—and in our class.”
 
I remembered it all the way. Our faces were set as we left the cemetery, moved down the slope of Bumblebee Hill, walking right through the place where the famous battle of Bumblebee Hill had been fought and where Little Tom Till had fired the fist heard round the world. That fist had landed ker-smash right on my nose. I stopped for a minute, right in the middle of the battleground and looked around, trying to remember the exact spot where two red-haired, freckle-faced, fiery-tempered boys, who looked very much alike,69 most of the time, had had such an exciting time getting acquainted.
 
I was glad that Tom was my friend now—or was he? If he had drawn the map and stuffed it into the watermelon, then he must be mixed up in our mystery in some way.
 
We passed the Little-Jim tree and went on to the spring again, then moved cautiously through the woods toward the rail fence that bordered the north road, having to pass not more than forty yards from the pawpaw bushes on the way. Dragonfly managed to sneeze several times just as we were parallel with the girl scout22 camp, which proved that his mind as well as his nose was allergic23 to perfume, ’cause he certainly wasn’t close enough to their camp to smell them.
 
“Girls aren’t anything to be sneezed at,” Poetry was smart enough to think of to say to Dragonfly; and Dragonfly sneezed again.
 
At the rail fence, we went through—or under or over—the different rails—whichever different ones of us decided to do, and in a fast jiffy were on our way across the bridge, in the direction of the Tills’ house.
 
The minute we reached the other side of the bridge Little Jim cried suddenly, “Look! There’s the boat I bet they used last night!”
 
I looked downstream in the direction Little Jim was pointing and saw the red stern of a rowboat half hidden under the low-hanging branches of a willow24.
 
A thousand shivers started racing25 up and down my spine26 when I realized that our mystery was coming to even more life than it had come to last night when we had seen the boat stopping at the spring.
 
At that very same instant I saw, back on the shore, half-hidden among the trees, the forest-green roof of a wall-type tent. What on earth? I thought. Not only were there a flock of girls camping near the pawpaw bushes in the woods above the bridge, but here on the other side of the creek and below the bridge was somebody else camping! I was remembering last night and the mysterious something-or-other I had seen somebody carry to the spring from the boat. This very same boat, maybe!
 
Poetry beside me remarked, “There’s where the woman lives—the one that was smoking the cigarette last night.”
 
“There’s where the man lives, you mean,” I disagreed.
 
70 Beside the tent was a gun-metal gray pickup27 truck that looked like it was maybe ten or fifteen years old. At almost the same instant, there was the sound of a motor coming to roaring life, and right away the truck was moving. It went backwards28 first, then swung left and began bumping along in the little lane toward the highway.
 
“Quick, everybody!” Big Jim ordered. “Down the embankment and under the bridge!”
 
We obeyed Big Jim like soldiers taking orders from a captain in a battle. In only a few lightning-fast jiffies, we were all down the embankment and crouching29 on a narrow strip of shore underneath30 the north end of the bridge, getting there just in time on account of in a few fast minutes we heard the truck’s wheels on the board floor above us. And that was that!
 
As soon as the car was across the bridge, we decided it would be a good idea to look around a little, just to see if we could find any “clues,” as Poetry was always saying.
 
We followed a narrow footpath31 which skirts the shore and is bordered on either side with willows32 and ragweeds just like the path on our own side of the creek.
 
Pretty soon we came to within twenty-five feet of the boat and the green tent. “Hello, there!” Big Jim called. “Anybody home?”
 
There wasn’t any answer from anybody.
 
“Hello! I say, Hello!” Big Jim called again several times, and still there wasn’t any reply.
 
While it wouldn’t be right to trespass33 on somebody’s campground, we knew we wouldn’t be doing anything wrong if we just walked in the path which belonged to everybody anyway, past the place where the boat was moored34.
 
A second later we were there, and what to my wondering eyes should appear but out in the middle of the boat a gunny sack—an actual, honest-to-goodness gunny sack—and it had in it something fat and long and—.
 
“Hey,” I said to Poetry and to all of us, “look! There’s another watermelon! In a gunny sack!”
 
“You’re crazy,” Poetry answered. “That’s not a watermelon; that’s a water jug35!” And to my very sad disappointment, Poetry was right.
 
71 There was a great big water jug like the kind we used in the Sugar Creek threshing ring, wrapped round and round with a gunny sack, and tied on with binder36 twine37.
 
I remembered then that many a time I had carried drinking water to Pop from our iron pitcher38 pump out across the barnyard to whatever field he was in at the time. First I would soak the burlap bag in cold water. If you do that to a burlap bag, it will keep the water in the jug cool for quite a long time.
 
“That,” Poetry said, “is what the woman in the boat last night was getting at the spring. She carried an empty jug to the spring, let it down into the water until it was filled and then carried it back again.”
 
“I still want to know who drew a map and put it inside that watermelon,” I said crossly. “And where is Ida!”
 
After Big Jim had called “Hello,” a few more times and nobody had answered, we decided to see if we could find any honest-to-goodness clues, only we wouldn’t go inside the tent.
 
“Look at that, would you?” Poetry exclaimed, the minute we were on the other side of the tent. “See that clothesline hanging between those two trees.”
 
Most of us had already seen it. It was a brand new plastic line stretching from a small maple39 near the tent to the trunk of an ash that grew about thirty feet away, not more than five feet from a field of very tall corn. Hanging on the line were two or three pairs of slacks like women and girls wear; also there were several different kinds of different-colored other women’s clothes. We didn’t even have time to try to make up our minds what to do next, on account of all of a sudden there was a clattering40 of the boards of the Sugar Creek bridge—and it was the pickup truck coming back.
 
“Quick, everybody!” Big Jim exclaimed. “Let’s get out of here!”
 
And “out of here” we got, scurrying41 like six scared cottontails into the tall corn. We didn’t stop running until we knew we were far enough away so we couldn’t be seen by anybody even if she dropped down on her hands and knees and looked beneath the drooping42 cornblades in our direction.
 
“I guess this lets Bob and Tom out,” Circus said. It had also knocked the daylights out of my mystery.
 
72 “But what about the burlap bag with the watermelon in it—the one that was being dragged through our watermelon patch, last night?” I asked.
 
“It was dark out there, wasn’t it?” Circus asked. “You couldn’t tell whether it was a watermelon or a water jug.”
 
“But I felt it with my two hands, and it was long and round and——”
 
“A water jug is long and round,” Little Jim’s mouselike voice squeaked43.
 
“But this one in our watermelon patch didn’t have any spout44 on it,” I protested, feeling my mystery-house falling and crashing all around me.
 
“How do you know it didn’t have? You didn’t feel both ends, did you? You just felt it in the middle!” Poetry argued back. “And besides,” he went on in a talkative hurry, “your other iron pitcher pump wasn’t more than twenty feet away when we first saw it. Somebody was helping45 himself to some drinking water.”
 
I felt my jaw46 muscles tightening47 with anger. I knew—knew what had been in that burlap bag last night was a watermelon. Besides, why would anybody want to get drinking water secretly like that? I quickly asked the question out loud, and got a quick answer from Poetry, whose detective-like mind was certainly alert that day: “Sugar Creek water isn’t safe to drink for anything except a fish in dog days. Look at all that green scum floating out there.”
 
Poetry was probably right, but his answer didn’t tell me why whoever wanted the water, didn’t go right straight to any member of the Sugar Creek Gang’s parents and ask for a jug of water in the daytime.
 
“But somebody did take my prize watermelon!” I protested. “Ida couldn’t just get up and walk away. Somebody had to carry or drag her.” And a second later, Poetry was juggling48 a little jingle49 we’d heard him use quite a few times, and was:
 
“I proposed to Ida,
Ida refused;
I’da won my Ida if I’da used ...”
73 “STOP!” I ordered Poetry and started to start to say something else but got stopped by Big Jim shushing me, making me swallow my words and my temper. But I still knew I was right. The whole thing was as plain as a dog-day day to anybody with half a mind, which it looked like maybe I was the only one of us that did have.
 
That was as far as any of us got to talk or think right then, on account of from the direction of the tent I heard a car door slam and I knew it was the truck, and my mind was busy trying to imagine who had probably just climbed out of it.
 
“Do you suppose it’s anybody we know?” Dragonfly asked, and sneezed and grabbed his nose with his right hand to stop another sneeze that was already getting ready to explode.
 
For a few anxious seconds we all lay there in the nice clean dust of the cornfield, listening and thinking and trying to decide what to do, if anything. For a few minutes, even though I was worrying on account of the mystery, I was hearing and actually enjoying the sound of the husky rusty50 rustle51 of the corn blades in the very light breeze that was blowing. Overhead I could see the big white cumulus clouds hanging in the lazy afternoon sky, also the shimmering52 green leaves in the top of the cottonwood tree farther down the shore. I even noticed a lazy crow loafing along in the sky like he didn’t have a worry in the world. It wouldn’t be long before fall would be here, I thought, and that lonely old crow would join about five hundred of his black-feathered friends and spend half the day everyday, for a while, cawing and cawing in his hoarse53 voice, keeping it up and keeping it up, hour after hour in the bare trees. One of the dreariest54 things a farm boy ever sees in the autumn, is a forlorn-looking crow flapping his sad wings above the frosty cornfields.
 
Nearly every summer there is a crow’s nest in the top of the old pine tree on the other side of the creek near the mouth of the branch. About all a pair of crow parents ever do to make a nest for their crow children to be hatched in, is to build a rough platform of sticks—some large and some small—and line it with strips of bark from the cedar55 trees. Then the mother crow, who is just as black as her husband only her feathers don’t shine as brightly, lays from four to seven eggs that are the color of green dust with little brown spots on them. Crows are always scattering56 themselves over the new cornfields in the spring,74 digging down into the rows where the grains have been planted, and gobbling up the grains before they have a chance to grow.
 
Of course, any farm boy knows a crow eats May beetles57 and grasshoppers58 and cutworms and caterpillers and even mice, and he is also a thief—but he doesn’t use a plastic clothesline to help him get what he wants.
 
Just thinking that brought my mind back to the cornfield we were lying in right that minute.
 
My thoughts got there just in time to hear Big Jim say to me, “Bill, you and Poetry tell us once more all you know about everything from the beginning up to now—” which Poetry and I did, rehearsing to the Gang what we had seen at the spring on our first trip—the plugged watermelon with the folded oiled paper in it; the long dark thing we had seen being dragged through the melon patch which at first I had thought was some kind of wild animal running; the car that had gone clattering down the lane and back again; the hole in the fence and the watermelon being pulled through—or the water jug, whichever it was—and hoisted59 into the car; and then Poetry’s and my trip back to the spring again, the mystery man or woman in the boat; and Dragonfly’s coming for his knife and getting dunked by the girls.
 
“Don’t forget the perfume,” Dragonfly said, “and the pine-scented paper and the map and—” And then he quickly grabbed his nose just in time to stop another sneeze.
 
“And the red letter X,” Little Jim put in.
 
Big Jim unfolded the map again and we crowded around him to study it. There was only one person I knew who could draw a map as neat as that. “We’d better see Tom about this,” I said. “Here—let me have it. I’m the one who took it out of the melon in the first place.”
 
I was surprised when Big Jim handed it to me saying, “All right, you keep it until we find the real owner. It probably belongs to the girl scouts60.”
 
I folded it and tucked it into my left hip61 pocket.
 
“Don’t forget about the plastic clothesline—the brand new one we just saw,” Circus said, which I remembered right that very minute was stretched between two trees behind the tent and had a lot of different kinds of different colored women’s clothes on it.
 
75 Things certainly were mixed up. The more we talked, the more tangled62 up everything seemed. All this time, Little Jim had been hanging onto his brown manila envelope like it was very important. I noticed he had a far-away expression in his eyes right then like he was thinking about something a lot farther away than the cornfield we were in. Also he didn’t have any worries on his face, which I was pretty sure I had.
 
“Let’s do a little more scouting63 around,” Poetry suggested. “Let’s send out a couple of spies to sneak13 up close to the tent to see what we can see or hear.”
 
Big Jim shook his head a very savage64 “No,” saying, “You don’t go sneaking65 around a tent where women or girls are camping! There’s even a law against it. Remember what happened to that Peeping Tom they caught looking into a window in town, last winter?”
 
“What’s a Peeping Tom?” Dragonfly wanted to know. And Big Jim, being the oldest one of the Gang, explained it to all of us. When he got through, we made it a rule of the Gang that not a one of us would ever be one.
 
That knocked out Poetry’s scouting suggestion. We couldn’t go spying around any tent or any place where there were women or girls.
 
Just that second, Dragonfly hissed66 like he does when he has seen or heard something important. “Listen! Somebody’s coming!”
 
We all looked and listened in every direction, and sure enough, somebody was coming. Was it a man, or a woman, or a girl? Or who, or what?
 
I stooped low, looked down the corn row I was in, and when I saw what I saw, I hissed to everybody, “It’s a woman; she’s wearing blue slacks!”
 
That meant that six boys ought to scramble67 themselves out of there, which, on Big Jim’s hissed orders, we did, hurrying like a covey of quail68, only instead of fanning out in a lot of different directions like flushed quail do, we all followed Big Jim down his corn row, not stopping until we reached the bridge again.
 
“We’ll go on over to the Tills’ house right now,” he said, and I noticed that Little Jim’s hands were clasping tightly his manila envelope as he said, “Yeah, let’s.”
 
And away we went.

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 cemetery ur9z7     
n.坟墓,墓地,坟场
参考例句:
  • He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
  • His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。
2 sprawled 6cc8223777584147c0ae6b08b9304472     
v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词);蔓延;杂乱无序地拓展;四肢伸展坐着(或躺着)
参考例句:
  • He was sprawled full-length across the bed. 他手脚摊开横躺在床上。
  • He was lying sprawled in an armchair, watching TV. 他四肢伸开正懒散地靠在扶手椅上看电视。
3 forefinger pihxt     
n.食指
参考例句:
  • He pinched the leaf between his thumb and forefinger.他将叶子捏在拇指和食指之间。
  • He held it between the tips of his thumb and forefinger.他用他大拇指和食指尖拿着它。
4 Christian KVByl     
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒
参考例句:
  • They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
  • His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。
5 begotten 14f350cdadcbfea3cd2672740b09f7f6     
v.为…之生父( beget的过去分词 );产生,引起
参考例句:
  • The fact that he had begotten a child made him vain. 想起自己也生过孩子,他得意了。 来自辞典例句
  • In due course she bore the son begotten on her by Thyestes. 过了一定的时候,她生下了堤厄斯式斯使她怀上的儿子。 来自辞典例句
6 saviour pjszHK     
n.拯救者,救星
参考例句:
  • I saw myself as the saviour of my country.我幻想自己为国家的救星。
  • The people clearly saw her as their saviour.人们显然把她看成了救星。
7 creek 3orzL     
n.小溪,小河,小湾
参考例句:
  • He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
  • People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。
8 cemeteries 4418ae69fd74a98b3e6957ca2df1f686     
n.(非教堂的)墓地,公墓( cemetery的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like. 不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • In other districts the proximity of cemeteries seemed to aggravate the disease. 在其它地区里,邻近墓地的地方,时疫大概都要严重些。 来自辞典例句
9 pouting f5e25f4f5cb47eec0e279bd7732e444b     
v.撅(嘴)( pout的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The child sat there pouting. 那孩子坐在那儿,一副不高兴的样子。 来自辞典例句
  • She was almost pouting at his hesitation. 她几乎要为他这种犹犹豫豫的态度不高兴了。 来自辞典例句
10 wheezing 725d713049073d5b2a804fc762d3b774     
v.喘息,发出呼哧呼哧的喘息声( wheeze的现在分词 );哮鸣
参考例句:
  • He was coughing and wheezing all night. 他整夜又咳嗽又喘。
  • A barrel-organ was wheezing out an old tune. 一架手摇风琴正在呼哧呼哧地奏着一首古老的曲子。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
11 saucy wDMyK     
adj.无礼的;俊俏的;活泼的
参考例句:
  • He was saucy and mischievous when he was working.他工作时总爱调皮捣蛋。
  • It was saucy of you to contradict your father.你顶撞父亲,真是无礼。
12 sneaked fcb2f62c486b1c2ed19664da4b5204be     
v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 );偷偷溜走;(儿童向成人)打小报告;告状
参考例句:
  • I sneaked up the stairs. 我蹑手蹑脚地上了楼。
  • She sneaked a surreptitious glance at her watch. 她偷偷看了一眼手表。
13 sneak vr2yk     
vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝);偷偷摸摸做;n.潜行;adj.暗中进行
参考例句:
  • He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
  • I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。
14 shrugged 497904474a48f991a3d1961b0476ebce     
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀,什么也没说。
  • She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩,装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
15 drawn MuXzIi     
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的
参考例句:
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
16 huddle s5UyT     
vi.挤作一团;蜷缩;vt.聚集;n.挤在一起的人
参考例句:
  • They like living in a huddle.他们喜欢杂居在一起。
  • The cold wind made the boy huddle inside his coat.寒风使这个男孩卷缩在他的外衣里。
17 grunted f18a3a8ced1d857427f2252db2abbeaf     
(猪等)作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 ); (指人)发出类似的哼声; 咕哝着说
参考例句:
  • She just grunted, not deigning to look up from the page. 她只咕哝了一声,继续看书,不屑抬起头来看一眼。
  • She grunted some incomprehensible reply. 她咕噜着回答了些令人费解的话。
18 lighter 5pPzPR     
n.打火机,点火器;驳船;v.用驳船运送;light的比较级
参考例句:
  • The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色,色调明朗了一些。
  • The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。
19 dignified NuZzfb     
a.可敬的,高贵的
参考例句:
  • Throughout his trial he maintained a dignified silence. 在整个审讯过程中,他始终沉默以保持尊严。
  • He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend. 他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。
20 mischievous mischievous     
adj.调皮的,恶作剧的,有害的,伤人的
参考例句:
  • He is a mischievous but lovable boy.他是一个淘气但可爱的小孩。
  • A mischievous cur must be tied short.恶狗必须拴得短。
21 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。
22 scout oDGzi     
n.童子军,侦察员;v.侦察,搜索
参考例句:
  • He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵,受了重伤。
  • The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。
23 allergic 4xozJ     
adj.过敏的,变态的
参考例句:
  • Alice is allergic to the fur of cats.艾丽斯对猫的皮毛过敏。
  • Many people are allergic to airborne pollutants such as pollen.许多人对空气传播的污染物过敏,比如花粉。
24 willow bMFz6     
n.柳树
参考例句:
  • The river was sparsely lined with willow trees.河边疏疏落落有几棵柳树。
  • The willow's shadow falls on the lake.垂柳的影子倒映在湖面上。
25 racing 1ksz3w     
n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的
参考例句:
  • I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
  • The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。
26 spine lFQzT     
n.脊柱,脊椎;(动植物的)刺;书脊
参考例句:
  • He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
  • His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。
27 pickup ANkxA     
n.拾起,获得
参考例句:
  • I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。
28 backwards BP9ya     
adv.往回地,向原处,倒,相反,前后倒置地
参考例句:
  • He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
  • All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。
29 crouching crouching     
v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • a hulking figure crouching in the darkness 黑暗中蹲伏着的一个庞大身影
  • A young man was crouching by the table, busily searching for something. 一个年轻人正蹲在桌边翻看什么。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译
30 underneath VKRz2     
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面
参考例句:
  • Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
  • She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣,里面套着一条连衣裙。
31 footpath 9gzzO     
n.小路,人行道
参考例句:
  • Owners who allow their dogs to foul the footpath will be fined.主人若放任狗弄脏人行道将受处罚。
  • They rambled on the footpath in the woods.他俩漫步在林间蹊径上。
32 willows 79355ee67d20ddbc021d3e9cb3acd236     
n.柳树( willow的名词复数 );柳木
参考例句:
  • The willows along the river bank look very beautiful. 河岸边的柳树很美。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Willows are planted on both sides of the streets. 街道两侧种着柳树。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
33 trespass xpOyw     
n./v.侵犯,闯入私人领地
参考例句:
  • The fishing boat was seized for its trespass into restricted waters.渔船因非法侵入受限制水域而被扣押。
  • The court sentenced him to a fine for trespass.法庭以侵害罪对他判以罚款。
34 moored 7d8a41f50d4b6386c7ace4489bce8b89     
adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式
参考例句:
  • The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London. 该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。
  • We shipped (the) oars and moored alongside the bank. 我们收起桨,把船泊在岸边。
35 jug QaNzK     
n.(有柄,小口,可盛水等的)大壶,罐,盂
参考例句:
  • He walked along with a jug poised on his head.他头上顶着一个水罐,保持着平衡往前走。
  • She filled the jug with fresh water.她将水壶注满了清水。
36 binder atUzh     
n.包扎物,包扎工具;[法]临时契约;粘合剂;装订工
参考例句:
  • The cloth flower snaps on with a special binder.这布花是用一种特殊的粘合剂固定住的。
  • Purified water was used as liquid binder.纯净水作为液体粘合剂。
37 twine vg6yC     
v.搓,织,编饰;(使)缠绕
参考例句:
  • He tied the parcel with twine.他用细绳捆包裹。
  • Their cardboard boxes were wrapped and tied neatly with waxed twine.他们的纸板盒用蜡线扎得整整齐齐。
38 pitcher S2Gz7     
n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐;(棒球)投手
参考例句:
  • He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
  • Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。
39 maple BBpxj     
n.槭树,枫树,槭木
参考例句:
  • Maple sugar is made from the sap of maple trees.枫糖是由枫树的树液制成的。
  • The maple leaves are tinge with autumn red.枫叶染上了秋天的红色。
40 clattering f876829075e287eeb8e4dc1cb4972cc5     
发出咔哒声(clatter的现在分词形式)
参考例句:
  • Typewriters keep clattering away. 打字机在不停地嗒嗒作响。
  • The typewriter was clattering away. 打字机啪嗒啪嗒地响着。
41 scurrying 294847ddc818208bf7d590895cd0b7c9     
v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • We could hear the mice scurrying about in the walls. 我们能听见老鼠在墙里乱跑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • We were scurrying about until the last minute before the party. 聚会开始前我们一直不停地忙忙碌碌。 来自辞典例句
42 drooping drooping     
adj. 下垂的,无力的 动词droop的现在分词
参考例句:
  • The drooping willows are waving gently in the morning breeze. 晨风中垂柳袅袅。
  • The branches of the drooping willows were swaying lightly. 垂柳轻飘飘地摆动。
43 squeaked edcf2299d227f1137981c7570482c7f7     
v.短促地尖叫( squeak的过去式和过去分词 );吱吱叫;告密;充当告密者
参考例句:
  • The radio squeaked five. 收音机里嘟嘟地发出五点钟报时讯号。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • Amy's shoes squeaked on the tiles as she walked down the corridor. 埃米走过走廊时,鞋子踩在地砖上嘎吱作响。 来自辞典例句
44 spout uGmzx     
v.喷出,涌出;滔滔不绝地讲;n.喷管;水柱
参考例句:
  • Implication in folk wealth creativity and undertaking vigor spout.蕴藏于民间的财富创造力和创业活力喷涌而出。
  • This acts as a spout to drain off water during a rainstorm.在暴风雨季,这东西被用作喷管来排水。
45 helping 2rGzDc     
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。
46 jaw 5xgy9     
n.颚,颌,说教,流言蜚语;v.喋喋不休,教训
参考例句:
  • He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
  • A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。
47 tightening 19aa014b47fbdfbc013e5abf18b64642     
上紧,固定,紧密
参考例句:
  • Make sure the washer is firmly seated before tightening the pipe. 旋紧水管之前,检查一下洗衣机是否已牢牢地固定在底座上了。
  • It needs tightening up a little. 它还需要再收紧些。
48 juggling juggling     
n. 欺骗, 杂耍(=jugglery) adj. 欺骗的, 欺诈的 动词juggle的现在分词
参考例句:
  • He was charged with some dishonest juggling with the accounts. 他被指控用欺骗手段窜改账目。
  • The accountant went to prison for juggling his firm's accounts. 会计因涂改公司的帐目而入狱。
49 jingle RaizA     
n.叮当声,韵律简单的诗句;v.使叮当作响,叮当响,押韵
参考例句:
  • The key fell on the ground with a jingle.钥匙叮当落地。
  • The knives and forks set up their regular jingle.刀叉发出常有的叮当声。
50 rusty hYlxq     
adj.生锈的;锈色的;荒废了的
参考例句:
  • The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
  • I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用,我的法语又荒疏了。
51 rustle thPyl     
v.沙沙作响;偷盗(牛、马等);n.沙沙声声
参考例句:
  • She heard a rustle in the bushes.她听到灌木丛中一阵沙沙声。
  • He heard a rustle of leaves in the breeze.他听到树叶在微风中发出的沙沙声。
52 shimmering 0a3bf9e89a4f6639d4583ea76519339e     
v.闪闪发光,发微光( shimmer的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The sea was shimmering in the sunlight. 阳光下海水波光闪烁。
  • The colours are delicate and shimmering. 这些颜色柔和且闪烁微光。 来自辞典例句
53 hoarse 5dqzA     
adj.嘶哑的,沙哑的
参考例句:
  • He asked me a question in a hoarse voice.他用嘶哑的声音问了我一个问题。
  • He was too excited and roared himself hoarse.他过于激动,嗓子都喊哑了。
54 dreariest ae6a8f9fd106491c408172ddf833bb48     
使人闷闷不乐或沮丧的( dreary的最高级 ); 阴沉的; 令人厌烦的; 单调的
参考例句:
  • It was the dreariest job I had ever done. 那是我所做过的最沉闷的工作。
55 cedar 3rYz9     
n.雪松,香柏(木)
参考例句:
  • The cedar was about five feet high and very shapely.那棵雪松约有五尺高,风姿优美。
  • She struck the snow from the branches of an old cedar with gray lichen.她把长有灰色地衣的老雪松树枝上的雪打了下来。
56 scattering 91b52389e84f945a976e96cd577a4e0c     
n.[物]散射;散乱,分散;在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的;分散在不同范围的;广泛扩散的;(选票)数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式);散布;驱散
参考例句:
  • The child felle into a rage and began scattering its toys about. 这孩子突发狂怒,把玩具扔得满地都是。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The farmers are scattering seed. 农夫们在播种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
57 beetles e572d93f9d42d4fe5aa8171c39c86a16     
n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Beetles bury pellets of dung and lay their eggs within them. 甲壳虫把粪粒埋起来,然后在里面产卵。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • This kind of beetles have hard shell. 这类甲虫有坚硬的外壳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
58 grasshoppers 36b89ec2ea2ca37e7a20710c9662926c     
n.蚱蜢( grasshopper的名词复数 );蝗虫;蚂蚱;(孩子)矮小的
参考例句:
  • Grasshoppers die in fall. 蚱蜢在秋天死去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • There are usually a lot of grasshoppers in the rice fields. 稻田里通常有许多蚱蜢。 来自辞典例句
59 hoisted d1dcc88c76ae7d9811db29181a2303df     
把…吊起,升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He hoisted himself onto a high stool. 他抬身坐上了一张高凳子。
  • The sailors hoisted the cargo onto the deck. 水手们把货物吊到甲板上。
60 scouts e6d47327278af4317aaf05d42afdbe25     
侦察员[机,舰]( scout的名词复数 ); 童子军; 搜索; 童子军成员
参考例句:
  • to join the Scouts 参加童子军
  • The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组,然后开始巡逻这个地区。
61 hip 1dOxX     
n.臀部,髋;屋脊
参考例句:
  • The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
  • The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。
62 tangled e487ee1bc1477d6c2828d91e94c01c6e     
adj. 纠缠的,紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了,我梳不动。
  • A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。
63 scouting 8b7324e25eaaa6b714e9a16b4d65d5e8     
守候活动,童子军的活动
参考例句:
  • I have people scouting the hills already. 我已经让人搜过那些山了。
  • Perhaps also from the Gospel it passed into the tradition of scouting. 也许又从《福音书》传入守望的传统。 来自演讲部分
64 savage ECxzR     
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人
参考例句:
  • The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
  • He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。
65 sneaking iibzMu     
a.秘密的,不公开的
参考例句:
  • She had always had a sneaking affection for him. 以前她一直暗暗倾心于他。
  • She ducked the interviewers by sneaking out the back door. 她从后门偷偷溜走,躲开采访者。
66 hissed 2299e1729bbc7f56fc2559e409d6e8a7     
发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 ); 发嘘声表示反对
参考例句:
  • Have you ever been hissed at in the middle of a speech? 你在演讲中有没有被嘘过?
  • The iron hissed as it pressed the wet cloth. 熨斗压在湿布上时发出了嘶嘶声。
67 scramble JDwzg     
v.爬行,攀爬,杂乱蔓延,碎片,片段,废料
参考例句:
  • He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
  • It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。
68 quail f0UzL     
n.鹌鹑;vi.畏惧,颤抖
参考例句:
  • Cowards always quail before the enemy.在敌人面前,胆小鬼们总是畏缩不前的。
  • Quail eggs are very high in cholesterol.鹌鹑蛋胆固醇含量高。


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