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CELLULAR TELEPHONE Perfect for kids and the elderly! When I looked more closely, I found out it wasn't an ordinary cell phone. It was called a "Ladybug." The phone didn't have a keypad on it or anything. It only had two buttons: one to call home and one for emergencies. So it's pretty much useless. All my other gifts were clothes and other stuff I didn't really need. I was still hoping I might get that recliner, but once I realized there weren't any places Mom and Dad could be hiding a giant leather chair, I gave up looking. Then Mom told everyone it was time to go into the

适合小孩和老人使用！当我仔细观察时，我发现这不是一个普通的手机。 它被称为“瓢虫”。 手机上没有键盘之类的东西。 它只有两个按钮：一个用于打电话回家，另一个用于紧急情况。 所以它没什么用。 我所有的其他礼物都是我并不真正需要的衣服和其他东西。 我仍然希望我能得到那张躺椅，但当我意识到爸妈没有地方可以藏一把巨大的皮椅子时，我放弃了寻找。 然后妈妈告诉大家是时候进入

dining room to have some cake. Unfortunately, Uncle Joe's dog, Killer, had beaten us to it. I was hoping Mom would go out and get me a new cake, but she just took a knife and cut away the parts the dog didn't touch. Mom cut me a big piece, but by that point I wasn't really in the mood for cake. Especially not with Killer

去餐厅吃点蛋糕。 不幸的是，乔叔叔的狗“杀手”抢在我们前面。 我希望妈妈能出去给我买一个新的蛋糕，但她只是拿了一把刀，把狗没有碰过的部分切掉了。 妈妈给我切了一大块，但那时我真的没有心情吃蛋糕。 尤其是杀手

throwing up little birthday candles under the table. Sunday I guess Mom must've felt bad about how my birthday went down, because today she said we could go to the mall and get a "makeup gift." Mom took Manny and Rodrick along for the ride, and she said they could each pick out something, too, which is totally unfair, because it wasn't THEIR birthday yesterday. We walked around the mall for a while and ended up in a pet store. I was hoping we could pool our money to buy a dog, but Rodrick seemed to be interested in a different kind of pet. Mom handed us each a five-dollar bill and told us we

把生日蜡烛扔到桌子底下。 星期天我猜妈妈一定对我的生日感到很难过，因为今天她说我们可以去商场买一个“化妆礼物”。 妈妈带着曼尼和罗德里克一起去，她说他们也可以各自挑选一些东西，这完全不公平，因为昨天不是他们的生日。 我们在商场里转了一会儿，最后来到了一家宠物店。 我希望我们能凑钱买只狗，但罗德里克似乎对另一种宠物感兴趣。 妈妈递给我们每人一张5美元的钞票，告诉我们

could buy whatever we wanted, but five bucks doesn't exactly get you very far in a pet store. I finally settled on this really cool angelfish that's all different colors. Rodrick picked out a fish, too. I don't know what kind it was, but the reason Rodrick chose it was because the label on the tank said the fish was "aggressive." Manny spent HIs five bucks on fish food. At first I thought it was because he wanted to feed the fish that me and Rodrick bought, but by the time we got

我们想买什么就买什么，但五块钱在宠物店可不够。 我最后选定了这条颜色各异的天使鱼。 罗德里克也挑了一条鱼。 我不知道这是哪种鱼，但罗德里克之所以选择它，是因为鱼缸上的标签上写着这种鱼“具有攻击性”。 曼尼把五块钱花在鱼食上了。 一开始我以为是因为他想喂我和罗德里克买的鱼，但等我们

home, Manny had eaten half the canister. Monday This is the first time I've had my very own pet, and I'm kind of getting into it. I feed my fish three times a day, and I keep his bowl really clean. I even bought a journal so I could keep track of everything my fish does during the day. I have to admit, though, I'm starting to have a little trouble filling up the pages. I asked Mom and Dad if we could buy one of those aquariums and get a ton of fish to keep my little guy company. But Dad said that aquariums cost money and maybe I could ask for one for Christmas.

回到家，曼尼已经吃了半罐。 这是我第一次拥有自己的宠物，我有点喜欢上它了。 我一天喂我的鱼三次，我把它的碗保持得很干净。 我甚至买了一本日记，这样我就可以记录我的鱼在白天做了什么。 不过我得承认，我开始在填写页数方面有点困难。 我问爸爸妈妈，我们能不能买一个这样的鱼缸，养上一吨鱼来陪伴我的小家伙。 但是爸爸说水族馆是要花钱的，也许我可以要一个作为圣诞礼物。

See, this is what stinks about being a kid. You only get two shots at getting stuff you want, and that's on Christmas and your birthday. And then when one of those days Does come, your parents mess things up and buy you a Ladybug. If I had my own money, I could just buy whatever I wanted and not have to embarrass myself every time I needed to rent a video game or buy a piece of candy or something. Anyway, I've always known that I'll eventually be rich and famous, but I'm starting to get a little concerned

看，这就是当孩子的坏处。 你只有两次机会得到你想要的东西，那就是圣诞节和你的生日。 当那些日子真的到来的时候，你的父母把事情搞砸了，给你买了一只瓢虫。 如果我有自己的钱，我就可以买任何我想要的东西，而不是每次我需要租一个电子游戏或买一块糖果或其他东西时都让自己感到尴尬。 不管怎样，我一直都知道我最终会变得富有和出名，但我开始有点担心了