8

But the last straw was when Amanda Pickler did a Book Talk on "The Brain with a Mind of Its Own." Amanda brought in a fake brain made out of Jell-O, but she lost her grip and dropped it on the floor, which made two kids pass out. A bunch of parents aren't happy about the Spineticklers books, either. I heard that Danny McGlurk's dad went to last week's PTA meeting and said he wanted the books banned because they promote WITCHCRAFT.

但最后一根稻草是阿曼达·皮克勒做了一个关于“有自己思想的大脑”的书演讲。 阿曼达带来了一个用果冻做的假大脑，但她没抓稳，把它掉在地上，两个孩子晕了过去。 很多家长也不喜欢《刺虫》系列的书。 我听说丹尼·麦格鲁克的爸爸参加了上周的家长会，他说他希望取缔这些书，因为它们宣扬巫术。

Apparently, Mr. McGlurk caught Danny dabbling in the "dark arts" in his garage, and Mr. McGlurk blamed it all on the Spineticklers books. But the way I heard it, Danny was just practicing magic tricks for the fall talent show. I seriously hope the Spineticklers books don't get banned, because they're the only thing keeping my reading grade up. Were required to read fifteen books by the end of the year, and ALL of mine are from that series. The way you prove you finished reading a book is by taking a multiple-choice test on the computer.

显然，麦格鲁克先生发现丹尼在他的车库里玩“黑魔法”，麦格鲁克先生把这一切都归咎于刺虫的书。 但据我所知，丹尼只是在为秋季才艺表演练习魔术。 我真心希望刺虫的书不要被禁，因为它们是唯一能让我的阅读成绩提高的东西。 我们被要求在年底前读完15本书，而我的书都来自那个系列。 证明你读完一本书的方法是在电脑上做多项选择题。

I've gotten a 100% on every single test I've taken so far, which I guess proves I'm really paying attention when I read the books. QUESTION 12: Who did the Chattering Chompers eat? Mother Father Baby Ellis All of the above When I got home, I told Mom how Mrs. Mott was making us redo our author biographies, and I didn't know what to do. But Mom told me the reason I couldn't find any information on I.M. Spooky is because he's not an actual PERSON. I told Mom that was ridiculous because this guy has written almost 200 books. But Mom said sometimes publishers create a fictional author and then hire a bunch of people to write books under that name.

到目前为止，我参加的每一次考试都得到了100%的成绩，我想这证明我在读书的时候真的很专心。 问题12：叽叽喳喳的人吃了谁？ 我回到家，告诉妈妈莫特太太是如何让我们重做作家传记的，我不知道该怎么办。 但妈妈告诉了我我找不到im信息的原因 诡异是因为他不是一个真实存在的人。 我告诉妈妈这太荒谬了，因为这家伙写了将近200本书。 但妈妈说，有时出版商会虚构一个作者，然后雇一群人用这个名字写书。

I gotta say, if that's true I feel kind of cheated. But I feel worse for ROWLEY, because he wasted his time writing I.M. Spooky a letter. Dear Mr. Spooky, First of all let me say I am a huge fan. But the reason I am writing is to complain that the book "Scaredy Cat, and the Haunted House was WAY too scary. Mom was trying to help me find a different author who's an actual human being when there was a knock at our door. I answered it, and there was a lady and some kid I'd never seen before.

我得说，如果这是真的，我觉得自己被骗了。 但我为罗利感到难过，因为他浪费时间写im 令人毛骨悚然的一封信。亲爱的幽灵先生，首先我想说我是你的超级粉丝。 但我写这篇文章的原因是抱怨《吓人的猫和鬼屋》这本书太吓人了。 妈妈正想帮我找一个真正有人性的作家，突然有人来敲门。 我接了电话，里面有一位女士和一个我从未见过的孩子。

I was pretty spooked when she asked if my name was Greg Heffley. That's when I saw the deflated balloon in the kid's hand, and I put two and two together. At first I was kind of excited, because if someone found my BALLOON, that meant I was gonna get that giant jar of candy corn. But then I remembered what I wrote in my letter and wished I could take some of it back. And finally, if you find this balloon and return it to me without delay, I can promise you a large cash reward. I have a rich uncle and I'm sure he'd be happy to hook you up. I didn't want these people thinking I was some weird kid who makes friends by sending out letters attached to helium balloons. But I guess it didn't really matter. I figured I could just take my balloon back and send them on their way.

当她问我是不是格雷格·赫夫利时，我吓坏了。 就在那时，我看到了那孩子手里那个瘪了气的气球，于是我把事实和事实联系起来。 一开始我有点兴奋，因为如果有人发现了我的气球，那就意味着我将得到那一大罐玉米糖。 但后来我想起了我在信中写的东西，希望我能收回一些。 最后，如果你找到这个气球并马上还给我，我保证给你一大笔现金奖励。 我有个有钱的叔叔，我相信他会很乐意帮你牵线的。 我不想让这些人认为我是一个古怪的孩子，通过把信绑在氦气球上来交朋友。 但我想这并不重要。 我想我可以把我的气球拿回去送他们上路。

Before I knew it, though, Mom was at the front door, and she invited them INSIDE. Thirty seconds later we had these two total strangers sitting at our kitchen table. The lady introduced herself as Mrs. Selsam and said her son's name was Maddox. They live in the next town over. Apparently this kid Maddox was practicing the violin in his bedroom and saw the balloon dangling from a tree branch outside.

我还没反应过来，妈妈就来到了前门，她邀请他们进去了。 30秒后，这两个完全陌生的人坐在我们的餐桌旁。 这位女士介绍自己是塞尔萨姆夫人，并说她儿子的名字叫马多克斯。 他们住在隔壁的镇上。 很显然，这个叫马多克斯的孩子在卧室里练小提琴时看到了外面树枝上挂着的气球。