Chapter 11

Myron climbed on top of his desk. "Look around, folks! There's no teacher! We're doing all this work for nothing!"

"Get down!" whispered Allison. "Do you want to get us all in trouble?"

Myron jumped on top of Allison's desk. "Hi, Allison!" he said. Then he hopped¹ over to Deedee's desk, then Ron's, then Maurecia's.

"Please, Myron," said Maurecia.

"This is fun!" said Myron. He made a great leap and landed on top of the teacher's desk.

Mrs. Jewls had always kept a coffee can full of Tootsie Roll Pops on her desk. It was still there.

"Hey, anyone want a Tootsie Roll Pop?" asked Myron.

Everyone stared at him.

Myron took one for himself. He sat in the teacher's chair, with his feet up on the teacher's desk, and sucked on it.

"Please stop, Myron!" begged Jenny. "What if he's hiding in the closet?"

"Get real!" said Myron. "Why would he hide in the closet?"

"What if Mr. Gorf was married to Mrs. Gorf?" asked Allison.

Myron laughed. "Who would ever want to marry Mrs. Gorf?" he asked.

"Somebody had to marry her," said Rondi. "Or else she wouldn't have been a Mrs."

"What if he loved her very much?" asked Allison. "And then one day she didn't come home from work. And he never saw her again. And he didn't know what happened to her. But he knew she used to teach this class! So he might be hiding in the closet to try to find out if we're the ones who got rid of her."

"If I was married to Mrs. Gorf," said Jason, "I'd be glad she never came home. He should thank us."

"Nice going, Jason!" said Jenny. "If he is hiding in the closet, you just told him we're the ones who got rid of his wife."

"Well, if I didn't you just did," said Jason.

"It doesn't matter!" shouted Myron. "Because Mr. Gorf is not hiding in the closet!"

Myron went to the back of the room and opened the closet door.

A man stepped out. "Thank you," he said. "I accidentally² locked myself in here this morning, and I've been waiting for someone to open the door."

Myron swallowed his Tootsie Roll Pop, stick and all.
59
"My name is Mr. Gorf," said the man who stepped out of the closet.

And, surprising as it may seem, the children weren't afraid.

It was his voice. His voice was full of comfort and wisdom, like an old leather chair in a dusty library. It didn't matter what he said. It felt good just to listen to him.

He was a handsome man, with neatly³ combed brown hair and clean fingernails. He carried a brown briefcase⁴.

Nobody even noticed that his nose had three

nostrils⁵.

"Since I am going to be your teacher for the next few months, let me tell you a bit about myself. I was born in the Himalayan Mountains in a town called Katmandu."

"Cat Man Do," said Terrence. "Cool."

Everyone laughed. They weren't laughing at Terrence. There was just something about the name of that city and the way Terrence said it.

Terrence's voice was like a rusty⁶ drainpipe.

"Have you ever been married?" asked Allison. Allison's voice was like a cat walking across a piano.

"No, I'm a bachelor," said Mr. Gorf.

Allison smiled, greatly relieved⁷.

"Well, that's enough about me," said Mr. Gorf. "How about some of you telling me about yourselves?"

"My name is Mac," said Mac, without raising his hand. Mac's voice was like a freight⁸ train. "I built the biggest snowman you ever saw. Man, it was huge. I had to stand on a ladder to put the hat on his head. It was a stovepipe hat, like Abraham Lincoln wore, but I don't know why they call it that. We have a microwave oven⁹. Have you ever put a bag of marshmallows in a microwave oven? Man, it's like-"

1 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

2 accidentally   

adv.偶然地；意外地

参考例句：

• Mary accidentally let out that her mother had telephoned.玛丽无意中说出她的母亲来过电话。
• As I turned around,I accidentally hit him in the face.我转身时不经意撞了他的脸。

3 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

4 briefcase   

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。

5 nostrils   

鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her nostrils flared with anger. 她气得两个鼻孔都鼓了起来。
• The horse dilated its nostrils. 马张大鼻孔。

6 rusty   

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。

7 relieved   

a.如释重负的

参考例句：

• You'll be relieved to know your jobs are safe. 现在知道你们的工作保住了，可以放心了。
• Your coming relieved me of the bother of writing a long letter. 你来了，省去我写长信的麻烦了。

8 freight   

n.货物，货运；vt.运送（货物）看，装货于

参考例句：

• Tons of freight were flown into this airport every day.每天有许多吨货物被空运到这个机场。
• There is ten yuan in the bill for freight.发票中包括运费十元。

9 oven   

n.烤炉；烤箱

参考例句：

• You put food inside an oven to cook it.你把食物放进烤箱里热一下。
• She baked bread in an oven.她用烤炉烤面包。