Who Took the Money?

Lesson 3

                                                                      Who Took the Money?
                                     
                                                                                    Text A

    Mr Smith gave his wife ten pounds for her birthday-ten pretty pound notes. So the day after her birthday, Mrs Smith went shopping. She queued for a bus, got on and sat down next to an old lady. After a while, she noticed that the old lady's handbag was open. Inside it, she saw a wad of pound notes exactly like the one her husband had given her. So she quickly looked into her own bag- the notes had gone! 
　

Mrs Smith was sure that the old lady who was sitting next to her had stolen them. She thought she would have to call the police; but, as she disliked making a fuss¹ and getting people into trouble, she decided² to take back the money from the old lady's handbag and say nothing more about it. She looked round the bus to make sure nobody was watching, then she carefully put her hand into the old lady's bag , took the notes and put them in her own bag.
    When she got home that evening, she showed her husband the beautiful hat she had bought.
    ´How did you pay for it?' he asked.
    ´With the money you gave me for my birthday, of course,' she replied.
    ´Oh? What's that, then?' he asked, as he pointed⁴ to a wad of ten pound notes on the table.

                                              Text B

     'Goodbye, darling,' said Mr Mackin. 'I'll be late tonight.' Poor George, she thought. He was always in a hurry in the morning, and it wasn't unusual for him to come home late at night. He worked for a shoe company in Lceds. and therc was such a lot of work that he normally staycd in the office till seven or cight.

    When George had left the house Mrs Mackin sat down. in an armchair and turned on the radio. It was a few minutes past eight , and she heard the last words of the news :'...wman who escaped from I.ceds prison yesterday is still free. The police warn you not to open your door to strangers. '

    She turned off the radio. The housework was waiting for her. Shc made the beds and washed the dishes. There wasn't auy shopping to do. and so she thought for a moment of all the Work in the garden.
    The Mackins lived in a house with a large garden in a suburb of Leeds. Behind the garden there were some trees. and then the cpen fields.

    Suddenly Mrs Mackin remembered the news. She laughed uneasily⁵. That prison is only 15 miles away, she thought. She didn't work in the garden, she mended her husband 's shirts instead And she care.fully³ lockcd the front door and closed all the windows.

    It was getting dark. She turned on the lights in the livingroom.Thcn she noticed that she had turned on the lights in most of the roonss in the house.
    'How silly I am!' she said nervously⁶ and went into the other rooms and turned the leghts on.
    The person at the door said something loudly. but she was so frightened that she dien't understand a word.

 

                                 Additional Information

    Do you believe in ghosts? I don't, eitlter-or at least I didn't until I heard a strange story the other day from Mr Mike Paton, of 19 Marlborough llill.
    It all began on November 28, whcn Mr Paton's eight-ycar-old son, Bob , was playing in the big back garden of his parents' house. He met an old man with a long white beard. The old man told Bob he was builcling the underground railway there, but Bob didn't believe him. Bob told me afterwards that he knew the underground ran under Marlborough Hill itself. The old man said there had been an accident the day before.   Then he went away.

    At first the Patons didn't believe Bob's story. Mrs Paton told me that Bob often made up stories about ghosts and monsters, like other children of his age. But Mr Paton was curious and decided that he would go to the library to check up on the facts.

    He found that the railway compapy had started to build the line to the west of Marlborough Hill in 1881. but they had run into an underground river. Ten workmen had died in an accident and the Company had changed the direction of the line and built the present tunnel under Marlborough Hill. At first I didn't believe Mr Paton's storv either, so I did some research myself.

    Inspector⁷ Bright of the Metropolitan⁸ Police said it was natural to find tramps⁹ in the district in winter, but no one had reported one answering the description I had given him since last August.

    Mr Joseph Griffiths of London Transport checked the files on the accident for me. He told me that the accident had apparently¹⁰ taken place on or very near the junction¹¹ of Marlborough Hill and Woodstock Avenue on 27 November 1881. Mr Paton's house stands on the corner!
    The source of this extraordinary story was not affected¹² by the news. 'I told Mummy it was true,' young Bob Paton told me yesterday. When I left the house he was playing happily with his toy cars-in the garden!

 

1 fuss   

n.过分关心，过分体贴，大惊小怪，小题大作

参考例句：

• My mother makes a fuss of me every time I come home.我每次回家，母亲总对我体贴备至。
• Stop all this fuss and do your homework.别大惊小怪了，去做你的家庭作业吧。

2 decided   

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。

3 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

4 pointed   

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。

5 uneasily   

adv. 不安地, 局促地

参考例句：

• I wondered uneasily if anything had happened to the children. 我忐忑不安地揣测孩子们是不是出了什么事。
• They looked unsure and shifted uneasily from foot to foot. 他们看上去没有把握，站在那儿左右脚换来换去不安地晃着。

6 nervously   

adv.神情激动地，不安地

参考例句：

• He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇，努力忍着不哭出来。
• He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。

7 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

8 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

9 tramps   

n.重步声( tramp的名词复数 )；长途跋涉；游民；荡妇

参考例句：

• Tramps are from the lowest stratum of society. 流浪汉来自社会最下层。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• They think all backpackers are tramps. 他们认为所有背包的人都是徒步旅行者。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

10 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。

11 junction   

n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站

参考例句：

• There's a bridge at the junction of the two rivers.两河的汇合处有座桥。
• You must give way when you come to this junction.你到了这个路口必须让路。

12 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。