3. Pictures

3/Pictures The next morning, Mother called me for breakfast. "Good morning," said Mother. "Good morning," said Daddy. "Good morning," I said. "Roosters can peck your head into a nub." Daddy put down his coffee cup. "Excuse me?" I pointed to my head. "A nub," I explained. "A nub is a teensy little knob head. Roosters can peck your head into one." Mother looked strange at me. "What in the world is this about?"

第二天早上，妈妈叫我吃早饭。 “早上好，”妈妈说。 “早上好，”爸爸说。 “早上好，”我说。“公鸡可以把你的头啄成一个小疙瘩。” 爸爸放下他的咖啡杯。 “对不起?”我指了指我的头。 “一个小肿块，”我解释道。“nub是一个小小的球形头。 公鸡可以把你的头啄进去。” 妈妈奇怪地看着我。 “这到底是怎么回事？”

I did a big breath at her. 'Cause how can I even be clearer on this subject? "A nub! A nub! A roundish, ballish head knob! And do not tell me that roosters do not peck you. On account of we had Pet Day at my school. And meanie Jim brought a rooster to Room Nine. And that boy is a rooster expert." I looked at her. "Plus also, you said Uncle Billy's rooster was mean, too. Right, Mother? Remember that?" Mother looked fusstrated at me. Then she put her head on the table. And she didn't come up for a real long time.

我对她深深地吸了一口气。 因为在这个问题上我还能说得更清楚吗？ “一个核心!一个要点!一个圆圆的球形头！别告诉我公鸡不啄你。 因为我们学校有宠物日。 卑鄙的吉姆带了一只公鸡到九号房间。 那个男孩是公鸡专家。” 我看着她。“还有，你说比利叔叔的公鸡也很凶。 对了,妈妈?还记得吗?”母亲沮丧地看着我。 然后她把头放在桌子上。 她很长一段时间都没上来。

Finally, she peeked her eyes at Daddy. "Now what?" she asked kind of quiet. "Maybe it'll blow over," said Daddy. I shook my head. "No, it will not blow over," I told them. "'Cause roosters do not listen to reason. And so there is nothing we can do about this pecking situation."

最后，她偷偷瞥了爸爸一眼。 “现在怎么办？”她有点安静地问。 “也许会过去的，”爸爸说。 我摇了摇头。“不，风不会过去的，”我告诉他们。 “因为公鸡不听道理。 所以我们对这种啄食情况无能为力。”

Daddy rubbed his eyes. "Could we please just change the subject?" he said. "Yeah, only not talking about a nub will not make it go away," I said. "And so—" "That's enough," said Daddy very growly. I quick stopped talking then. But even after we changed the subject, nubs kept staying on my mind. That day at school, Mrs. told us to draw a picture about our trip to the farm. She said to make it a colorful picture of what we wanted to see there. I drawed and drawed. Plus also, I colored and colored. When all of us got done with our pictures, we sat our chairs in a big circle. And we told each other about what we drew. My bestest friend named Lucille went first.

爸爸揉了揉眼睛。“我们能换个话题吗？”他说。 “是啊，只是不谈论肿块不会让它消失，”我说。 “够了，”爸爸粗声粗气地说。 我很快就不说话了。 但即使在我们改变话题之后，我的脑海里还是一直有疙瘩。 那天在学校，夫人让我们画一幅关于我们去农场旅行的画。 她说要把我们想在那里看到的东西做成一幅彩色图画。 我画了又画。另外，我涂了又涂。 当我们所有人都拍完照片后，我们围成一个大圈坐在椅子上。 我们告诉对方我们画的是什么。 我最好的朋友露西尔先去了。

She drawed a picture of a pink flamingo. "Flamingos are my favorite animals," she said. "That's because pink is my favorite color. And flamingos are pink. And I have a pink dress that will match them perfectly. So that is the dress I'll be wearing on the field trip." She wrinkled her nose real cute. "Pink brings out the natural blush of my complexion," she told Mrs. "Have you ever noticed my satiny-smooth skin?" Mrs. looked and looked at that girl. "You're a fascinating child, Lucille. But I'm afraid there aren't any flamingos on a dairy farm," she said. Lucille looked surprised. "So where are they, then?" she asked. "Well, flamingos can be found a lot of places," said Mrs. "South America, for

她画了一幅粉红色的火烈鸟。 “火烈鸟是我最喜欢的动物，”她说。 “那是因为粉红色是我最喜欢的颜色。 火烈鸟是粉红色的。我有一件粉红色的裙子和它们非常相配。 所以这就是我在实地考察时要穿的衣服。” 她把鼻子皱得很可爱。 “粉红色使我的肤色更显红润，”她对琼斯太太说。“你注意过我光滑如丝的皮肤吗？”太太看了又看那个女孩。 “你是个迷人的孩子，露西尔。 但恐怕奶牛场里没有火烈鸟，”她说。 露西尔显得很惊讶。“那么他们在哪里呢？”她问。 “嗯，很多地方都能找到火烈鸟。”“南美，为

example." Lucille shrugged her shoulders. "So, fine. We'll just go there, instead." Mrs. said for Lucille to please sit down. Just then, Paulie Allen Puffer springed out of his chair. "Look, Teacher! I drew a catfish!" he said. "See his whiskers? My brother said catfish whiskers are so sharp they can slice your finger to the bone." Mrs. made a sick face. "Yes, well, thank you for sharing that, Paulie Allen. But we're not going fishing. We're going to a farm, remember?" Paulie Allen Puffer looked upset. "Yes, but my brother said there's lots of catfish farms around here. And so that's the kind of farm I think we should—" "No, Paulie. No," said Mrs. "We're just

的例子。”露西尔耸了耸肩。 “那么,好。我们还是去那里吧。” 太太叫露西尔坐下。 就在这时，保利·艾伦·帕弗从椅子上跳了起来。 “看,老师!我画了一条鲶鱼！”他说。 “看到他的胡子了吗？”我哥哥说鲶鱼的胡须很锋利，可以把你的手指切到骨头上。” 太太做了个恶心的鬼脸。“是的，谢谢你的分享，保利·艾伦。 但是我们不去钓鱼。 我们要去农场，记得吗？”保利·艾伦·帕夫看起来很不安。 “是的，但是我哥哥说这附近有很多鲶鱼养殖场。 所以我认为我们应该——"“不，保利。 “不，”她说。“我们只是