and Other Animals
美音、自然拼读、分级阅读与词汇复习
In Part Three, Charly put an end to the town’s drought.
编 三个 Charly)结束了小镇的干旱.
She made it rain on her garden—but also on the Swing Into Spring Parade, which put a smile on no one’s face but Charly’s.
她的花园上下起雨来,
“I did it!
“我做到了!
I really did it!”
我确实做到了!”
I sang out.
我唱出来了。
“I made it rain.”
“我让它下雨了。 “
“About that.
“关于这一点。
” said Dad.
爸爸说。
“I know you helped with the rain stick, and Aunt Dee helped with the rain dance.
“我知道你帮了雨棒,迪伊阿姨帮了雨舞。
But I wrote the rain song.
但我写了雨之歌。
And it was my rain-cloud experiment with the fan and ice cubes that really did it.
这是我用风扇和冰块做的雨云实验 真正做到了。
Isn’t the rain glorious?”
雨岂不光荣? “
Well, if you are a garden of wild oats, watermelon seeds, and apple pits struggling to grow in parched ground, rain is glorious.
那么,如果你是一个花园 野燕子,西瓜种子, 和苹果坑挣扎 生长在干燥的地, 雨水是辉煌的。
But if you are a town full of people in the middle of an outdoor festival, rain is not so glorious.
但是,如果你是一个镇 满人在一个户外节日的中间, 雨水不是那么光荣。
“You are always ruining everything!”
“你总是在破坏一切! “
cried Ethan Jordan, a boy in my class who is also my number one enemy.
我班上的一个男孩 也是我头号敌人
His wet, New York Yankees T-shirt clung to his chest so tightly it looked like he had pinstriped skin.
他湿透了,纽约洋基队的T恤 紧紧地塞入了胸口 看起来他皮肤被刺伤了
Then a mob of sopping wet fourth-graders yelled out, “Charly did it, Charly did it!
一群湿的四年级学生大叫道:“查理做到了,查理做到了!
Get her.”
抓住她。”
“Hold on now, kids,” said Dad.
爸爸说,
“Charly didn’t make it rain.
" Charly没有下雨。
Her Aunt Delilah had some of her pilot friends do a cloud-seeding experiment with special chemicals.
她的姨妈Delilah让一些她的飞行员朋友用特殊的化学物质做一个云播实验.
They made it rain.
他们弄出雨来
Isn’t that right, Dee?”
对吗,迪伊? “
Aunt Dee looked at me, my rain hat dripping, my spirits dampened.
姑妈 迪伊看着我,我的雨帽滴出,我的精神被压抑了
“I tried to tell you before that I wasn’t able to get my friends to come through.”
“我之前想告诉你, 我无法让我的朋友通过。 “
“But if they didn’t make it rain, then.
“但如果他们不下雨,
,” I started, “I really did it?
我开始说,“我真的做到了?
I made it rain on everyone’s parade?”
我让每个人都在游行上下雨? “
I looked at Ethan and the other kids.
我看着伊森和其他孩子
Now they looked like they really wanted to throttle me.
现在他们看起来好像真的想压住我
Before they got the chance, I grabbed Murray, my big old chocolate Labrador, and took off.
在他们得到机会之前,我抓住了默里, 我的大巧克力拉布拉多,然后起飞。
“See you at home, Dad!”
“回家见,爸爸!”
I took a shortcut through the hole in the fence behind Mr.
我走捷径穿过了后面的栅栏的洞
MacGruder’s yard, just to make sure Ethan and the other kids didn’t follow me.
麦格鲁德的院子,
I made it home just as the rain let up.
我把它带回家,就像雨松了。
I couldn’t keep the grin off my face.
我无法保持笑容;
“That was quite a storm we just had,” said Great Aunt Tess as I banged through the door.
泰斯大姨妈在我敲门时说:“刚才真是一场风暴,”
Her friends from the Scrabble society were coming over that evening for a tournament.
她的拼字学会朋友 那晚要来参加比赛
Gattie’s apartment wasn’t big enough for tournament night, so Dad let her use our house.
Gattie的公寓不够大,
Folding tables and chairs filled the living room.
折叠的桌子和椅子填满了客厅.
Little glass bowls with little balls of hard candies in flavors like toffee and butter rum that don’t taste good until you are at least 60 years old sat on side tables.
小玻璃碗, 有小球硬糖果的口味, 如奶酪和黄油朗姆酒等,
“It was raining cats and dogs,” she added.
她补充说,“这是在下雨的猫和狗”。
That’s my family for you, always saying these sayings that I don’t always understand.
这是我的家人, 总是说这些话,
Gattie explained that “raining cats and dogs” meant a really hard rain.
Gattie解释道,“给猫和狗排雨”意味着真正的硬雨。
She said that back in the old days, cats and dogs would sleep on roof tops.
她说,回到以前,猫和狗会睡在屋顶上.
When a really hard rain came, they’d all jump down from the roof, so it seemed like it was raining cats and dogs.
他们都从屋顶上跳下来,
Gattie also said that I looked like something the cat dragged in and made me bathe and put on clean clothes.
Gattie还说,我看起来像猫抓来的东西,让我洗澡并穿上干净的衣服.
When I came downstairs afterward, Gattie had on her coat.
之后我下楼时 Gattie穿着她的衣服
“I’m going to the bakery across town to get some pastries for the party.
我将前往全城的面包店,
I’ll be back in an hour.
我一小时后回来。
Try to keep yourself from looking like something the cat dragged in again.”
尽量避免自己看起来 像猫再次拖入。 “
First off, we don’t have a cat.
首先,我们没有猫。
Secondly, I don’t know why you would let a cat drag you inside.
为何让一只猫把你拖进去?
The third thing is, now I really wanted to find out what something a cat dragged in really looked like.
第三件事是,现在我真的想 找出什么是猫拖入 真正看起来像什么。
It was time for another experiment.
是时候再做一次实验了
I opened all the doors and windows.
我把门窗都打开了
But how would I get cats inside?
但我怎么让猫进去?
I cried, “Here kitty, kitty.”
我哭道,“小猫咪,在这里。 “
But no cats came.
但是没有猫来了。
Then I remembered that cats like to play with string.
然后我想起猫喜欢玩弦.
I scattered some balls of yarn Gattie was using to make a sweater that hadn’t even gotten its first sleeve yet.
我撒出一些球来做一件毛衣,
Then I placed saucers of milk in corners of the room.
然后我在房间的角落放入了牛奶的调料.
I made trails to the milk with pieces of cheese and Murray’s food.
我用奶酪和Murray的食物,
Since Murray was sleeping (on the sofa, which he only did when the adults were out), I figured he wouldn’t mind my using his food for the experiment.
因为Murray正在睡觉(在沙发上,
Then I tried again.
然后我又试了一次
“Here kitty, kitty,” I called out.
"小猫咪,"我喊出来。
“Come inside.
“进来。
I have toys and snacks for you.”
我有玩具和零食给你。 “
Nothing.
没什么
Maybe all the cats were sleeping?
也许所有的猫都在睡觉?
Maybe I needed to put up a sign, Cat Party.
猫党,也许我得立个招牌
But, no, cats can’t read.
猫不会读。
Maybe I needed to go to where cats hang out and invite them personally.
也许我需要去猫儿家 亲自邀请他们
I was about to hop on my bike and head over to the garbage cans behind the restaurant on Main Street when a little gray cat with white paws leaped onto the kitchen windowsill.
我当时正要跳上我的自行车 走到主街餐厅后面的垃圾桶 一只白色爪子的小灰猫跳到厨房的窗台上
“Meow,” she purred.
" 微,"她纯洁。
It seemed like she was saying “Hello.”
她似乎在说"你好"。
“Meow,” I said back.
我回话了。
I hoped she understood that I meant, “Welcome, little kitty.”
我希望她理解我的意思是,“欢迎小猫咪。 “
She did!
没错!
In came the kitty, slowly.
猫咪进来了,慢慢来
She nibbled a piece of cheese.
她咬了一块起司
Then I picked up a ball of yarn and dangled an end above her.
然后,我捡起一球纱 并缠住她的一端。
She tried to grab it, and I pulled it away.
她试图抓住它, 我把它拉走了。
She tried again and again.
她一次又一次尝试。
Up, down, up, down.
上下相会.
We played at this game for so long I almost forgot that I was doing an experiment.
我们玩了这么久 我差点忘了我在做实验
That’s when I realized the kitty hadn’t dragged anything in with her.
这时我才意识到小猫咪没有牵扯到她身上。
I wondered how I would get her to go out and come back in dragging something.
我不知怎么让她出去 回来拖东西
Then, the kitty yowled and hissed.
然后,小猫叫了又叫了
I looked around the room.
我四处看看房间
Cats!
猫!
They appeared everywhere!
到处都是
“Okay, time to find out what cats dragged in,” I said.
”我说,
(I had no idea how to say that in purr-sian, which is the name I made up for cat language.)
(我不知道该怎么说) 在purr-sian语中,这就是我为猫语所编出的名字.
The little kitty ran off.
小猫咪跑了
I looked around the room.
我四处看看房间
That’s when I saw him—a giant tiger- striped tomcat.
这时我看见他,
The little kitty tried to dive past him out the window, but his paw swatted her back inside.
小猫咪想从他窗外潜过 但他的爪子把她打回了里面
The little kitty let out a sound that would have made a tiger proud.
小猫咪会发出声音 让老虎感到骄傲
The tomcat dove at her like a jaguar, and they ran around the room in circles.
汤姆猫像美洲虎一样朝她走来走去 他们绕来绕去
The little kitty leapt straight up to the ceiling.
小猫咪跳到天花板上
Now, if she had stayed up there I might have avoided what happened next.
现在,如果她呆在那里,我可能已经避免了接下来发生的事情。
But that crazy cat landed right on sleeping Murray’s head!
但那只疯狂的猫就落在默里睡觉的头上!
The dog woke up and growled, the cats yowled, and I howled, “Stop!”
这只狗醒来并咆哮起来, 猫们大叫着, 我喊着,“停下来!”
Now, up-ended tables and a floor littered with hard candies that nobody eats anyway wouldn’t have been a terrible result for a science experiment gone haywire.
现在,高档的桌子和地板上都放满了硬糖,
But during the cat and dog chase, a bunch of squirrels and a family of freeloading raccoons chowed down on the trails of Murray’s food!
但是,在猫和狗的追逐中,一群松鼠和一群自由上膛的浣熊在默里的食物的出行道上倒下!
Murray, doing his duty as a watchdog, stopped chasing the cats and went after the squirrels and raccoons.
默里履行监督职责,停止了对猫的追逐并去追捕松鼠和浣熊.
What a mess they made!
他们搞得一团糟!
No wonder they’re considered wild animals.
难怪他们被认为是野生动物。
Fortunately, (well, maybe not) another uninvited guest arrived at the party—a skunk.
幸运的是,(也许不是)另一个没有邀请的来宾来到了派对上——一个臭鼬。
The skunk let loose a spray of skunk juice that set off another round of yowling, growling, and howling, plus some screeching and shrieking.
臭鼬放出一喷臭鼬汁,再放出一回叫叫叫叫叫叫叫叫叫叫声,再放出一些叫叫叫叫叫叫叫叫叫声.
The cats and dogs and squirrels and raccoons and skunks and who knows what other wildlife thankfully took the chase outside.
猫和狗,松鼠,浣熊和臭鼬 谁知道其他野生生物 感激地把追逐带到外面
I know I should have left a note for Dad and Gattie saying where I was going, but I didn’t have time.
但我没有时间。
Besides, I had no idea where I was going.
再说,我不知道我要去哪里
I hopped on my bike and chased after the chase.
我跳上我的自行车,追赶追逐。
Where will the chase end?
追逐到底会到哪里去?
What about Charly’s garden?
夏丽的花园呢?
Find out in, “Let a Smiley Face Be Your Umbrella.”
找出“让笑脸做你的伞子。 “