20 The Connie Affair
“Now we can have a good time for the rest of the term,” said Darrell, pleased. “No more swotting—no more long preps even, because Miss Williams says we’ve done enough. We’ll enjoy ourselves!”
“It ought to be a nice peaceful end of term, with no horrid¹ happenings,” said Sally. “When Alicia comes back, it will be nicer still.”
Sally was wrong when she said there ought to be a nice peaceful end of term, with no horrid happenings—because the very next day the Connie Affair began.
It began with quite small things—a missing rubber—an essay spoilt because a page was missing, apparently² torn out—a lace gone from one of Connie’s shoes.
Nobody took any notice at first—things always were missing anyhow and turned up in the most ridiculous places—and pages did get torn out of books, and laces had a curious habit of disappearing.
But the Connie Affair didn’t end there. Connie was always in trouble about something! “Now my French poetry book has gone!” she complained. “Now my cotton has gone out of my work-basket.” Now this and now that!
“But, Connie—how is it that so many things happen to you lately?” said Darrell, puzzled. “I don’t understand it. It’s almost as if somebody was plaguing you—but who could it be? Not one of us would do silly, idiotic³ things like this—sort of first-form spite!”
Connie shook her head. “I can’t think who’s doing it,” she said. “I suppose it is someone. It can’t be a series of accidents—there’s too many of them.”
“What do you think about it, Ruth?” asked Darrell—but Connie answered first.
“Oh, Ruth can’t think who does it, either. It’s very upsetting for her, because twins are always so fond of one another. She’s sweet, too—keeps on giving me her things when I lose mine.”
“Well, it’s certainly most extraordinary,” said Darrell. “I’m very sorry about it, it’s a horrid thing to happen in the fourth form!”
The girls talked about the Connie Affair, as they called it, and puzzled about it. One or two of them looked at Gwendoline, wondering if she had anything to do with it.
“Don’t you remember how Connie flared

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1 horrid
adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的
参考例句：
I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。 The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

2 apparently
adv.显然地；表面上，似乎
参考例句：
An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。 He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

3 idiotic
adj.白痴的
参考例句：
It is idiotic to go shopping with no money.去买东西而不带钱是很蠢的。 The child's idiotic deeds caused his family much trouble.那小孩愚蠢的行为给家庭带来许多麻烦。

4 Flared
adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词
参考例句：
The match flared and went out. 火柴闪亮了一下就熄了。 The fire flared up when we thought it was out. 我们以为火已经熄灭，但它突然又燃烧起来。

5 distressed
痛苦的
参考例句：
He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。 The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。

6 reassure
v.使放心，使消除疑虑
参考例句：
This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。 The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

7 gashed
v.划伤，割破( gash的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
He gashed his hand on a sharp piece of rock. 他的手在一块尖石头上划了一个大口子。 He gashed his arm on a piece of broken glass. 他的胳膊被玻璃碎片划了一个大口子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 brat
n.孩子；顽童
参考例句：
He's a spoilt brat.他是一个被宠坏了的调皮孩子。 The brat sicked his dog on the passer-by.那个顽童纵狗去咬过路人。

9 grooming
n. 修饰, 美容，（动物）梳理毛发
参考例句：
You should always pay attention to personal grooming. 你应随时注意个人仪容。 We watched two apes grooming each other. 我们看两只猩猩在互相理毛。

10 groom
vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁
参考例句：
His father was a groom.他父亲曾是个马夫。 George was already being groomed for the top job.为承担这份高级工作，乔治已在接受专门的培训。

11 jigsaw
n.缕花锯，竖锯，拼图游戏；vt.用竖锯锯，使互相交错搭接
参考例句：
A jigsaw puzzle can keep me absorbed for hours.一副拼图就能让我沉醉几个小时。 Tom likes to work on jigsaw puzzles,too.汤姆也喜欢玩拼图游戏。