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But whoever created that thing set the volume too high, and there's no way to turn it down. You have to wait for the witch to go through its whole routine, which is like two minutes long. We hung it out over the front porch last year, but little kids were too scared of the thing, and the only trick-or-treaters we had were the teenagers who came by after 10 p.m. The day after Halloween, Dad put the witch on a shelf in the furnace room in the basement, and that's where it's been ever since. But that doesn't mean it's stopped causing PROBLEMS.

但不管是谁造的，音量调得太高了，没办法调小。 你得等女巫完成她的全部动作，大概两分钟。 去年，我们把它挂在前廊上，但小孩子们太害怕它了，唯一来玩“不给糖就捣蛋”的是晚上10点以后来的青少年。 万圣节后的第二天，爸爸把女巫放在地下室火炉间的架子上，从那以后它就一直放在那里。 但这并不意味着它不再带来问题。

The witch is SUPER sensitive to sound, and sometimes the slightest noise will set it off, even if the noise is on a different floor. CACKLE CACKLE CACKLE CACKLE CACKLE To make matters WORSE, the witch seems to have a mind of its own, and sometimes it'll go off randomly even if no one makes a PEEP. I've had at least two sleepovers end early because of that thing. CACKLE CACKLE CACKLE CACKLE CACKLE

女巫对声音超级敏感，有时最轻微的噪音也会触发它，即使是在另一层。 更糟糕的是，女巫似乎有自己的想法，有时即使没有人发出吱吱声，它也会随机响起。 我至少有两次通宵派对都因为那东西提前结束了。 咯咯笑，咯咯笑，咯咯笑

I've been trying all year to convince Mom and Dad to throw the witch away, but Dad says it's just a plastic toy and I need to stop being such a scaredy-cat. But I guess Mom got sick of the witch randomly going off all the time, and a few weeks ago she told Dad to go downstairs and take the batteries out, which he did. And what happened NEXT is the reason I haven't been in the furnace room ever since. CACKLE CACKLE CACKLE CACKLE CACKLE What stinks is that all my old Halloween costumes are down in the furnace room. So unless Mom's willing to spring for something NEW, I guess I'm not going trick-or-treating this year.

我一整年都在劝爸爸妈妈把女巫扔掉，但爸爸说那只是个塑料玩具，我不能再这么胆小了。 但我猜是妈妈受够了女巫总是随意发威，几周前她让爸爸下楼把电池取出来，他照做了。 接下来发生的事就是我从此再也没进过炉房的原因。 咯咯，咯咯，咯咯，咯咯，咯咯，咯咯，最臭的是我所有的旧万圣节服装都在下面的炉房里。 所以除非妈妈愿意买些新的东西，我想今年我不会去“不给糖就捣蛋”了。

Sunday Well, all the hard work we put into decorating for Halloween yesterday got wiped out. A bunch of geese got at the jack-o'-lanterns in the middle of the night and made a HUGE mess. Every fall, geese flying south for the winter make a pit stop in our town and stick around for a few weeks before heading back out. Usually they poop all over the soccer field at the town park, but other than that they're pretty harmless. For some reason, though, this year they're SUPER aggressive toward people.

嗯，我们昨天为万圣节布置的所有辛苦工作都白费了。 半夜里，一群鹅扑向南瓜灯，弄得一团糟。 每年秋天，飞往南方过冬的大雁都会在我们镇上停留几周，然后再飞回来。 通常它们会在城镇公园的足球场上到处拉屎，但除此之外，它们基本上是无害的。 不过，出于某种原因，今年它们对人的攻击性超级强。

For the past few weeks, me and Rowley have been getting ambushed just about every day on our walk home from school. HONK! And the geese aren't just going after KIDS, either. Whenever Dad goes out to get the mail, he's gotta arm himself for battle. Dad wants to call Animal Control to clear the geese off our street, but Mom won't let him.

在过去的几周里，我和罗利几乎每天从学校回家的路上都会遭到伏击。 嘎!鹅们也不只是冲着孩子们来的。 每当爸爸出去取邮件时，他都要武装自己准备战斗。 爸爸想打电话给动物管理中心把鹅从我们这条街上赶走，但是妈妈不让他这么做。

She says geese have been flocking to these parts for thousands of years, and if anything WE'RE the ones intruding on THEIR lives. I'm personally fine with animals, as long as they keep their distance. But I think if we don't draw a line somewhere, we're just headed for trouble. My science teacher said that 40,000 years ago, dogs used to be wild animals, just like wolves. But then I guess they saw our warm fires and cozy caves and wanted to get in on the action. So they wagged their tails and did a few tricks and that's all it took.

她说，几千年来，鹅一直成群结队地来到这些地方，如果说有什么不同的话，就是我们侵入了它们的生活。 我个人对动物没什么意见，只要它们保持距离就行。 但我认为如果我们不划清界限，我们就会遇到麻烦。 我的科学老师说，4万年前，狗是野生动物，就像狼一样。 但后来我猜他们看到了我们温暖的炉火和舒适的洞穴，就想加入进来。 所以它们摇着尾巴，耍了几个小把戏，就这样了。