Friday

星期五

http://s9/middle/915d3ff9hb5b0fe17f938&690-《小屁孩日记》连载（12）" TITLE="英汉对照 -《小屁孩日记》连载（12）" />
   Mrs. Craig has kept us inside for the past three days, and still no dictionary. Today Patty Farrell was sick, so Mrs. Craig put Alex Aruda in charge of the room while she was gone.

克雷格太太已经关了我们三天禁闭了，但字典还是没找到。这天帕蒂·法雷尔告病，克雷格太太就让亚历克斯·阿卢达在她不在的时候负责监管教室。

Alex is good student, but people aren’t afraid of Alex the way they are of Patty Farrell. As soon as Mrs. Craig left the room, it was complete pandemonium.

亚历克斯是个优秀生，但我们这些人可不像害怕帕蒂•法雷尔那样对他心存畏惧。克雷格太太刚离开教室，这儿完全就乱套了。

A couple of guys who were sick of getting stuck inside for recess every day decided to try and figure out who took Mrs. Craig’s dictionary.

有几个家伙觉得每天被关禁闭烦透了，所以决定试试弄清楚究竟是谁拿走了克雷格太太的字典。

The first person they interrogated was this kid named Corey Lamb. I think Corey was number 1 on the list of suspects because he’s smart and he’s always using big words.

第一个被拷问的就是这个叫考瑞·兰姆的孩子，我觉得考瑞应该是头号嫌疑人，因为他很聪明而且老是爱用很难的字眼。

Corey fessed up to the crime in no time flat. But it turns out he only said he did it because the pressure made him crack.

考瑞立马坦白说是他干的。不过看来他当时说是自己干的，只是因为迫于压力才承认的。

The next kid on the list was Peter Lynn, and before you knew it Peter was confessing, too.

第二个嫌疑人叫彼得·林恩，而且你还没回过神来他也承认了。

I figured it was just a matter of time before those guys CORNERED me. So I knew I had to think up something fast.

我盘算着，要不了多久那些家伙也会把我弄得我无路可走。所以我很清楚自己不得不立刻想出一个办法。

I’ve read enough Sherlock Sammy books to know that sometimes it takes a nerd to get you out of a pinch. And I figured if anyone could crack this case, it was Alex Aruda.

我读过不少歇洛克·萨米的小说，知道有时候你必须找专家让自己摆脱困境，而且我觉得要找个人破解这个案子的话，那还得找亚历克斯•阿卢达。

So me and a couple of other guys who were worried about getting hassled went over to Alex to see if he could help us out.

于是我就和其他几个也担心被盘问的孩子一起走到亚历克斯跟前，看看他能不能帮我们一把。

We told Alex we needed him to solve the mystery of who took Mrs. Craig’s dictionary, but he didn’t even know what we were TALKING about. I guess Alex had been so wrapped up in his book that he hadn’t even noticed what had been going on around him for the past couple of days.

我们跟亚历克斯说，需要他来解决到底是谁拿了克雷格太太的字典这个谜团，可他居然不知道我们说的到底是什么事。我估计他是看书太入迷了，所以根本没注意到这几天周围究竟发生了什么。

Plus, Alex always stays inside to read during recess, so Mrs. Craig’s punishment hadn’t had a big effect on his life.

还有，亚历克斯总是课间呆在里面看书，所以克雷格太太的惩罚对他的生活也没什么大的影响。

Unfortunately, Alex has read his share of Sherlock Sammy books, too, so he said he would help us if we paid him five bucks. Well, that was totally unfair, because Sherlock Sammy only charges a nickel. But me and the other guys agreed it was worth it, and we pooled our money, then forked over the five dollars.

很不幸，亚历克斯本人也读过有关歇洛克•萨米的书，于是他说我们付给他五个美元他才肯帮忙。嘿，这也太黑了，因为歇洛克•萨米收费不过五美分啊。但我们还是都觉得花这钱也值得，所以就凑了份子然后把五美元塞给他。

We laid out all the facts of the case to Alex, but we didn’t know the whole lot. Then we asked Alex if he could get us pointed in the right direction.

我们把案子的情况给亚历克斯陈述了，但也不太了解这事的全貌，后来我们就问他是否能给我们指条明路。

I expected Alex to start taking notes and spout some scientific mumbo jumbo, but all he did was cover the book he was reading and show the cover to us. And you’re not gonna BELIEVE this, but it was Mrs. Craig’s dictionary.

我指望着亚历克斯会做个记录、冒点科学术语什么的，但他却只是合上看的书，还把书的封面给我们看。你绝对不敢相信这件事：这书就是克雷格太太的字典！

Alex said he had been studying the dictionary to get ready for the state spelling bee next month. Well, THAT would’ve been nice to know BEFORE we gave him our five bucks. Anyway, there was no time to waste complaining, because Mrs. Craig was gonna be back in the room at any second.

亚历克斯说，他正攻读这本字典准备好下个月参加州上的单词拼写比赛。哎呀，要是我们给他五美元之前知道这事儿就好了。不管怎么说，也没时间抱怨了，因为克雷格太太随时都会回到教室。

Corey Lamb grabbed the book from Alex and put it on Mrs. Craig’s desk. But she walked in the room right at that moment.

考瑞•兰姆从亚历克斯手中一把抓过字典去放到克雷格太太的桌上去，这时候克雷格太太正好走进教室。

Mrs. Craig ended up going back on her whole “no consequences” promise, so Corey Lamb is gonna be spending the next three weeks inside during recess. Looking on the bright side, though, at least he’ll have Alex Aruda to keep him company.

结果怎么着，克雷格太太说过“既往不咎”却食言了，于是考瑞•兰姆要在三周时间里课间休息不准出教室了。不过，凡事往好处想的话，他至少还是有亚历克斯•阿卢达陪着自己的。

注释：in charge of负责；pandemonium群魔殿；get stuck陷入困境； figure out想出；interrogate拷问；suspect嫌疑人；big word大词，困难的字；fess up坦白；in no time flat立刻；crack原意为“打开”，这里的意思是承认；a matter of time时间问题；corner做动词“逼入困境”讲；Sherlock Sammy为小说中虚构的少年神探； nerd沉闷古板的人；沉迷于某种专业知识尤其是电脑的人；get sb. out of pinch帮助某人脱困；crack the case破解案子；hassle不断纠缠，盘问；wrapped up沉迷于；buck“美元”的俗称；charge收费；nickel一种硬币，价值为五美分；pool凑钱，凑份子；lay out罗列，陈述；point指向；spout喷出，说出；mumbo jumbo专业术语；cover书的封面；spelling bee美国的一种著名的单词拼写大赛；at any second随时，这里的second的意思是“秒”；get back on promise食言，说话不算数；look on the bright side往好处想；keep sb. company陪伴某人