听美国故事练听力 08

　　Now the Special English program "American Stories".
Our story today is called "The Gatewood Caper¹". It was written byDashiell Hammett, Here is Harry² Monroe with the story.
Millionaire³ Harvey Gatewood had a desk as big as a bed in the middleof his office. He looked almost as big as his desk. Gatewood hadbecome rich by knocking down anyone who stood in his way. Now, heleaned across his desk and began shouting at me. "My daughter waskidnapped last night; I want you to find her and the people who didthis." "Tell me about it," I suggested. Gatewood said his daughterAudrey had gone out for a walk, the night before at 7 o'clock. Shenever came home. The next morning, Gatewood received a letter from herkidnappers. They asked 50,000 dollars for her and put one of herfavorite rings in the envelope to prove they had her. Gatewood hadcalled the police immediately, but a few minutes later he decided⁵ tohire his own private detectives. That's when he called me at myContinental Detective Agency⁶. "Find her!" he barked at me.
I left his office and went to his home. The servants told me Audreywas 19 years old and Gatewood's only child. They said her mother wasdead and Audrey and her father did not like each other. I went to herroom where I found a picture of her. She was a pretty girl with bigblue eyes and a small pointed⁷ chin⁸. I took the photograph with me whenI went back to my office. I decided to call the police detectives.
Elgar and Selden who were working on the case. They said that I couldtake a look at the letter the kidnappers⁴ had sent. The envelope hadbeen mailed from San Francisco on September 20th. The same nightAudrey had disappeared. The postmark on the envelope was stamped 8:00pm. While I was at the police station, a young policeman stuck hishead into the room. "Gatewood just called," he said, "He wants all ofyou in his office right away."I ran out with Elgar and Selden and jumped into one of their policecars. Gatewood was walking up and down in his office. His face was redwith anger. "She just phoned me," Shouted as soon as he saw us, shesaid, "Oh, daddy! Do something. I can't stand this. They're killingme. Then I heard a man's voice yell⁹ something and someone hung up thephone." Gatewood began banging¹⁰ his desk with his huge hands. "Have youpeople done anything?" We had to admit that we had discovered nothingyet. That night, I went home with Gatewood. At 2:30 in the morning,the telephone rang. I listened on the telephone downstairs whileGatewood talked on the telephone by his bed upstairs. A man's voicesaid "Gatewood, put the money in a bag and leave the house with itimmediately, walk down Clay¹¹ Street to the river. You'll meet someonewith a handkerchief over his face, drop the money and go back home.
You'll get your daughter back in an hour or two." The stranger hung upthe telephone. "Do what he told you to do?" I said to Gatewood, "Anddon't try any tricks."A few minutes later, Gatewood left his house carrying a white bag ofmoney in his left hand. I followed him as he walked down the darkstreets for about 10 minutes. No one was around. Suddenly, out ofnowhere, a tall woman appeared; she was wearing black clothes andholding a handkerchief to her face. Gatewood stopped. He dropped thebag of money, turned around and walked quickly away. The woman ran tothe bag. Picked it up and disappeared down a dark side street. Theside street was empty when I reached it. I looked for an open windowor door that would show me which building the woman had run into.
Nothing. All the doors and windows were locked. I picked one door andbroke the lock. I was lucky. Inside I found a woman's skirt, coat andhat, all black on the floor near the door. I knocked on a few doors inthe building and one of the people told me that a tall man namedLytton had rented an apartment there only 3 days earlier. Lytton wasnot home when I knocked on his door. But now I understood how themysterious woman had disappeared. Lytton had put on women's clothingover his own, then he had gone out the back door of the apartmentbuilding leaving the door open. After getting the money, he ran backinto the building, locked the door and took off his disguise¹². Then hemust have left the apartment building through the front door.
The next morning there was no word from Audrey. We still had heardnothing by afternoon. I began to wonder about some things. I checkedwith Audrey's girlfriends and found that one of them was the lastperson to see Audrey before the kidnapping. Agnes Danger Field toldme, she saw Audrey walking down Market Street alone the night of thekidnapping between 8:15 and 8:45. I took a taxi to the shoppingdistrict where there were a lot of large department stores. I wentinto each one asking if a tall man had bought clothing that would fitAudrey. At the fifth department store I got good news. A tall man hadcome in the day before buying clothing in Audrey's size. He had boughta lot of clothing and arranged¹³ for it to be delivered to his apartmenton 14th street. He signed his name, Theodore Alfred. When I arrived atthe address he gave, I saw a fat lady leaving the building. I told herI was a private detective and asked her about Alfred. She said he andhis wife had rented apartment 202 only a week ago. She stopped talkingsuddenly as a tall man walked past me into the building. She said hewas Mr. Alfred. But I recognized him as Penny¹⁴ Quail¹⁵, an unimportantlittle thief. I knew he recognized me, too. I followed him into thebuilding and ran up the stairs to apartment 202. I rang the doorbell,3 gunshots answered and the middle of the door had 3 bullet¹⁶ holes init. Those bullets¹⁷ would have been in my stomach if I hadn't learnedyears ago to stand to one side of strange doors. I kicked at the doorand the lock broke. As I ran into the room, I saw Quail and a womanstruggling on the floor. The woman was Audrey Gatewood. She had a gunin her hand. I grabbed¹⁹ it and yelled²⁰. "That's enough! Get up, both ofyou." Quail sat down in a chair trying to catch his breath²¹, but thewoman stood in the center of the room. "You are just lucky I didn'tshoot you." She said angrily, "How did you discover the truth?" "Inseveral ways," I answered. "First, one of your friends said she sawyou on Market Street between 8:15 and 8:45 the night you disappeared.
But the postmark on the letter to your father read 8:00 pm. Quail,here, should have waited longer before mailing the letter. When youdidn't come home after the money was paid. I had an idea you kidnappedyourself, then I thought you would need to buy clothing. You left homethat night just to take a walk. You couldn't bring a suitcase full ofclothing with you. I knew you had a man helping²² you. I thought perhapsthe man would buy what you needed. And it turned out that he did. Buthe was too lazy to carry the packages from the store himself. So hehad the store send the clothing to this place. That's how I knew whereto find you."Gatewood met his daughter at the police station. I had never seen himso angry when he learned¹⁸ the truth. Gatewood told the police to lockup his daughter. But Audrey threatened to tell some of his businesssecrets to the newspapers. Gatewood must have believed she reallywould do it, too. Because he told the police he had changed his mind.
And the father and daughter left for home. I could see the hate theyhad for each other, not a very happy reunion. The police were stillholding Quail, but he wasn't worried. He knew if Audrey was free, hewouldn't be punished either. I was glad it was over. It had been arough job and a strange adventure, The Gatewood Caper.

1 caper   

v.雀跃，欢蹦；n.雀跃，跳跃；续随子，刺山柑花蕾；嬉戏

参考例句：

• The children cut a caper in the yard.孩子们在院子里兴高采烈地乱蹦乱跳。
• The girl's caper cost her a twisted ankle.小姑娘又蹦又跳，结果扭伤了脚踝。

2 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

3 millionaire   

n.百万富翁，大富豪

参考例句：

• The millionaire put up a lot of money for the church.这位百万富翁为教会捐了许多钱。
• She wants to marry a millionaire.她想嫁给一位有钱人。

4 kidnappers   

n.拐子，绑匪( kidnapper的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They were freed yesterday by their kidnappers unharmed. 他们昨天被绑架者释放了，没有受到伤害。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The kidnappers had threatened to behead all four unless their jailed comrades were released. 帮匪们曾经威胁说如果印度方面不释放他们的同伙，他们就要将这四名人质全部斩首。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 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。

6 agency   

n.经办；代理；代理处

参考例句：

• This disease is spread through the agency of insects.这种疾病是通过昆虫媒介传播的。
• He spoke in the person of Xinhua News Agency.他代表新华社讲话。

7 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。

8 chin   

n.下巴，下颚，不气馁，不灰心

参考例句：

• You've got some egg on your chin.你的下巴上沾着一点鸡蛋。
• He hurried on with his shaving,cutting his chin twice.他急急忙忙地剃胡子，把下巴割破了两次。

9 yell   

vi./n.号叫，叫喊

参考例句：

• This gave them a chance to yell.这给了他们大声喊叫的机会。
• When his schoolmate made the last goal,the boy gave out with an untrammeled yell.那个男孩在他的同学踢进最后一球时不禁纵声欢呼。

10 banging   

vt.猛击，猛撞（bang的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• The baby was banging the table with his spoon. 小宝宝用调羹敲打着桌子。
• Stop banging around, children, Father is trying to sleep. 孩子们，别到处乱敲！爸爸想睡觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 clay   

n.黏土；泥土

参考例句：

• The children like making houses of sticks and clay.孩子们喜欢用树枝或黏土盖房子玩。
• What a love of a clay doll!多么可爱的泥娃娃！

12 disguise   

vt.把...假扮起来；n.伪装物，假装，伪装

参考例句：

• He went about in the disguise of a sailor.他伪装成海员到处流窜。
• It is impossible to disguise the fact that business is bad.生意不好这件事无法隐瞒。

13 arranged   

adj.安排的v.安排，准备( arrange的过去式和过去分词 )；把…（系统地）分类；整理；改编（剧本等）

参考例句：

• The party was arranged quickly. 聚会很快就安排好了。
• Chairs in rows are not as conducive to discussion as chairs arranged in a circle. 椅子成排摆放不如成圈摆放便于讨论。

14 penny   

n.（英）便士，美分

参考例句：

• I will not lent you a penny.我一便士都不愿借给你。
• Sugar has risen a penny a pound.糖价每磅涨了1便士。

15 quail   

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。

16 bullet   

n.枪弹，子弹

参考例句：

• The bullet wound in his shoulder was opened up for treatment.切开他肩上的枪伤进行治疗。
• The bullet missed me by a hair's s breadth.那颗子弹差一点就打中了我。

17 bullets   

n.弹药；军火

参考例句：

• The bodies of the hostages were found riddled with bullets. 在人质的尸体上发现了很多弹孔。
• The bullets and cannon-balls were flying in all directions. 子弹和炮弹到处乱飞。

18 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

19 grabbed   

v.抢先，抢占( grab的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指匆忙地）取；攫取；（尤指自私、贪婪地）捞取

参考例句：

• He was grabbed by two men and frogmarched out of the hall. 他被两个男人紧抓双臂押出大厅。
• She grabbed the child's hand and ran. 她抓住孩子的手就跑。

20 yelled   

v.叫喊，号叫，叫着说( yell的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He yelled at the other driver. 他冲着另一位司机大叫。
• The lost man yelled, hoping someone in the woods would hear him. 迷路的人大声喊着，希望林子里的人会听见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 breath   

n.呼吸，气息，微风，迹象，精神，一种说话的声音

参考例句：

• I'm just going out for a breath of fresh air.我正要出去呼吸新鲜空气。
• While climbing up the stairs the old man always loses his breath.那老人上楼时总是气喘吁吁的。

22 helping   

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。