4

HERE COMES THE AIRPLANE, ALFRENDO! OPEN WIDE! But that wasn't the only thing I used that doll for. I found out that he made a really excellent comic book stand, too. I have to admit, after a few months I got really attached to that doll. Since I didn't have a pet, it was kind of nice to have something to take care of for once.

飞机来了，阿尔弗伦多！打开宽!但那不是我用娃娃做的唯一事情。 我发现他还做了一个很棒的漫画书摊。 我得承认，几个月后我真的爱上了那个娃娃。 因为我没有宠物，所以有东西可以照顾一次也挺好的。

But one day I came home from school and I couldn't find Alfrendo ANYWHERE. I searched the house from top to bottom, but there was no trace of him. The only thing I could think of was that I dropped Alfrendo at some point and somehow didn't notice. I was pretty torn up about losing my doll, but what I was REALLY worried about was Mom thinking I couldn't be trusted around my new baby brother. So I got a grapefruit out of the fridge and drew a face on it with a marker.

但是有一天我从学校回到家，我到处都找不到阿尔弗雷多。 我把房子搜了个底朝天，但没有他的踪迹。 我能想到的唯一一件事就是我在某个时候放弃了阿尔弗雷多，但不知怎么的，我没有注意到。 丢了我的娃娃，我很伤心，但我真正担心的是妈妈认为我在我的新弟弟身边不可信。 于是我从冰箱里拿出一个葡萄柚，用记号笔在上面画了一张脸。

Then I wrapped the grapefruit in a dish towel, and for the next three months I pretended it was my doll. Mom and Dad didn't seem to notice. But I was terrified by the idea that the REAL Alfrendo was gonna find his way back home and get his revenge on me for abandoning him and replacing him with a fruit.

然后我用抹布把葡萄柚包起来，在接下来的三个月里，我假装它是我的洋娃娃。 妈妈和爸爸似乎没有注意到。 但一想到真正的阿尔弗伦多会找到回家的路来报复我因为我抛弃了他，用一个水果代替了他，我就吓坏了。

In fact, I still worry about that to this day. It's the reason I always check to make sure my window is locked before I go to bed at night. I'm a little embarrassed to say this, but I actually got attached to that GRAPEFRUIT, too. But after a while it started to rot, and Dad traced the weird smell back to my Alfrendo decoy. Mom didn't seem too upset that I'd lost my doll, but I will say she's never left me alone in the house with

事实上，直到今天我还在担心这个问题。 这就是为什么我总是在晚上睡觉前检查我的窗户是否锁上了。 说起来有点不好意思，但我也很喜欢那个葡萄柚。 但过了一段时间，它开始腐烂，爸爸追踪到那股奇怪的气味是我的阿尔弗兰多诱饵。 我丢了娃娃，妈妈似乎并不怎么难过，但我敢说她从来没有把我一个人留在家里

Manny for more than fifteen minutes. Like I said, though, it was nice to have something to take care of, and I missed that feeling. So these days I've been spending a lot of time playing this game called Net Kritterz. In fact, I've been playing Net Kritterz every free second I get. The basic idea is that you have to feed your pet and keep it happy. And if your pet is happy, you get tokens so you can buy it clothes and furniture and stuff like that. I've played so much that my pet Chihuahua has a mansion with an indoor swimming pool, a bowling alley, and about 150 different outfits.

曼尼说了15分钟 就像我说的，有东西要照顾的感觉很好，我很怀念那种感觉。 所以这些天我花了很多时间玩一个叫Net Kritterz的游戏。 事实上，我一有空就玩奈特·克里特兹。 基本的想法是，你必须喂养你的宠物，让它快乐。 如果你的宠物很开心，你会得到代币，这样你就可以给它买衣服和家具之类的东西。 我玩得太久了，以至于我的宠物吉娃娃有了一个带室内游泳池的豪宅，一个保龄球馆，还有大约150套不同的衣服。

The only thing I'm not happy about is his name. Mom's the one who set up my account, and I can't figure out how to change the name she registered with. GREGORY'S LITTLE FRIEND Mom says I take better care of my virtual pet than I do myself, and I guess I can't argue with her there. Over the weekend I played for sixteen hours without even taking a break to go to the bathroom.

我唯一不满意的是他的名字。 是妈妈给我开的账号，我不知道怎么改她注册的名字。 格里高利的小朋友妈妈说我照顾我的虚拟宠物比照顾我自己还好，我想我不能和她争辩。 整个周末，我玩了16个小时，甚至没有停下来上厕所。