读故事

“Hey Joey! You're barking up the wrong tree, man,” Billy yelled. “We backroom boys had nothing to do with stealing those tools of yours.”
“Oh yeah?” Joey replied. “Well who did then? We've been backwards and forwards in this place and there's no way anyone could have gotten into this room!”
“Calm down. I know there's always been bad blood between us, but don't bang your head up against a brick wall. Let's band together and figure this out.”
Finally relaxing, Joey and Billy put a ban on their fighting and searched the room for any clues as to who would have stolen the tools.
“Hey, look at this!” Billy cried from the rear of the room.“These prints look like someone snuck in here in their bare feet. Look!”
“Yeah, you're right. Oh, hey, back up a little bit. Here's where they come from.” And then suddenly the tracks stopped. The ground was bare of any more footprints.
“Maybe the guy backed out of the room and then left these tracks to confuse us?” Billy said. And sure enough, based on the way the tracks were laid they found where the person had really entered the room, from a small window whose lock was broken.
“Aw man, sorry about the yelling, Billy,” Joey said. “I hadn't bargained on some average thief breaking in here for my tools.”
“No problem, Joey. It's all forgotten now, bag and baggage. I guess you'll have to get some new ones.”

记短语

back out退出
back up后退，倒(车)；支持，补充
backroom boys秘密谈判的使节，从事(秘密)研究工作的人；智囊人物
backward(s) and forward(s)来来回回，反复地；完完全全，complete地
bad blood(相互之间的)恶感，仇恨
bag and baggage连同全部财物；完全地
ban on禁令，禁止
band together联合起来
bang(或beat, bash, run)one's head against a (brick)wall以头碰壁，试图干不可能成功的事。枉费心机，白费力气
bare feet光脚，赤脚
bare of没有…，缺少…
bargain for(或on)企图廉价获取；［通常和否定词或more than连用］预料，指望
bark up the wrong tree(猎犬)向无猎物的树乱吠；错怪某人，捕风捉影，弄错目标，精力花在不该花的地方
base on (或upon)把…放在基座上；把…建立在某种基础上

“嘿，乔伊！你错怪了人，伙计，”比利喊道。“我们这些智囊人物可与偷你的工具没有关系。”
“噢，是吗？”乔伊说。“那么是谁干的呢？我们一直在这个地方来来去去，别人不可能进得了这间屋！”
“冷静点。我知道我们之间一直有仇恨，可是别试图干不可能成功的事。让我们联合起来想想办法。”
终于让人放松的是，乔伊和比利都提出禁止打架，并在屋里寻找线索看是谁偷了那些工具。
“嘿，看这里！”比利从屋后面喊道。“这些痕迹看上去像是有人光着脚溜进了这里，看！”
“是的，你说得对。啊，嘿，后退一点儿。他们是从这儿进来的。”接着痕迹突然没有了，地面没有脚印了。
“也许是那家伙从屋里退出来留下这些脚印迷惑我们的呢？”比利说。毫无疑问，根据脚印的方向，他们弄清楚了那人的确是从哪儿进屋的，原来是从一个坏了锁的小窗户进来的。
“呀，伙计，抱歉刚才跟你嚷嚷了，比利。”乔伊说。“我没有料到会有普通小偷闯到这里偷我的工具。”
“没问题，乔伊。一切都过去了，我想你得弄些新工具。”

本文选自新航道精品图书《读故事记短语》