雅思阅读材料之能自己拨打报警电话的屋子

An empty house in Marblehead, Mass. seems to have called 911 on its own after months of enduring a leaky pipe that covered the walls with toxic mold. And you thought that dog that called the police was smart.

No one actually spoke with the house (though I don't know why you assume you'd understand house-language); instead, the call was recorded as a hang-up when it was received by police on Wednesday. After the dispatcher was unable to return the call, police headed to the location—31 Rockaway Ave.—where they discovered a damaged house:

According to the police log, they determined that something inside was leaking before they requested permission from higher-ups to make a forced entry through the back door.

It was then they saw just how badly this house had suffered.

Firefighters pumped out the basement, and all the utilities were stopped, according to fire Capt. Mike Porter.

Nobody's been able to find the owner, but the bills are up to date and his family says he travels frequently. The house, unfortunately, will have to be gutted.

As for the emergency dialing, the lame "scientific explanation" is that water from the leak eventually short-circuiting the phone system, causing an errant call to 911. The cool explanation is that the house—located about 10 minutes from Salem, Mass.—was built on some kind of sacred witch grass, or whatever, but the point is that the house is alive, and it ate its owner, and then it called 911 because it was lonely and moldy. So, you can choose which story you believe.

马布尔黑德镇（Marblehead）一直是个和女巫、灵异传说等结缘的地方，但是当地的警察叔叔恐怕没有想到，当他们接到一通立刻挂断的报警电话、回拨数次都打不通之后，出警的结果竟然是……一栋没有人的空屋。

警方同时发现房门下流出一股潺潺的水流……在获得上级许可之后，他们破门而入，被眼前的景象震惊了：这幢屋子已经几个月没有人类的痕迹，房间里潮湿得可怕，到处都是霉迹，天花板和地板都已经变形，地下室更是整个被淹，积水达1.5米深，以至于电力也被中断……然而，每月的账单却仍然被如数付清，所以直到现在都没有人发现屋子的异状。

警方说，恐怕正是由于积水遇上了电话线路，才打出了这一通无头911。不过，竟然偏偏就打到了警局，这多少是有一点蹊跷。有种说法时房子是活的，它吃掉了房主，但是它感到孤独而且房子已经发霉，所以它拨打了911报警电话。你可以选一个自己相信的说法。

请消防队抽走了地下室中的积水之后，警方开始查询住宅的所有权。屋子的主人名叫James Cowen，至今下落不明——他的几个亲属纷纷表示现年60岁的Cowen先生靠着父亲的遗产生活无忧，因此不用工作、长期在外旅游，所以让警方不用担心。然而这就出现了第二个蹊跷……Cowen先生的车仍然在车库里。因此，许多人也猜测，恐怕在事件的背后，有着更可怕的真相