3. The Flashback

CHAPTER 3 THE FLASHBACK It was about one year earlier, and all of the faculty and students of Jerome Horwitz Elementary School had gathered in the gymnasium for what would later be known as the "Sticky Chair Incident." George and Harold stepped up to the microphone.

第三章闪回那是大约一年前，杰罗姆·霍维茨小学的所有师生聚集在体育馆，发生了后来被称为“粘椅子事件”的事件。 乔治和哈罗德走到麦克风前。

"Ladies and gentlemen," said George, "Harold and I have invented something that is guaranteed to keep you all glued to your seats!" "Yes," said Harold. "We call it glue." Mr. Krupp became very angry. "You two did not invent glue!" he shouted. He stood up to take the microphone away from Harold, and his chair stood up with him. Everyone in the gymnasium laughed. The school secretary, Miss Anthrope, stood up to help remove Mr. Krupp's chair from his pants. Her chair stood up with her, too. Everyone in the gymnasium laughed harder.

“女士们，先生们，”乔治说，“哈罗德和我发明了一种东西，保证能把你们都粘在座位上！”“是的。”哈罗德说。 “我们称之为胶水。”克虏伯先生非常生气。 “你们两个没有发明胶水！”他喊道。 他站起来，从哈罗德手中接过麦克风，他的椅子也跟着站了起来。 体育馆里的每个人都笑了。 学校的秘书Anthrope小姐站起来帮克虏伯先生把椅子从裤子上拿开。 她的椅子也跟着站了起来。 体育馆里的每个人都笑得更厉害了。

The other teachers stood up, and— you guessed it—they were stuck to their chairs as well. Everyone in the audience howled with laughter. One kid stood up to go to the bathroom, and his chair came up with him, also. The audience stopped laughing so hard. They all quickly checked their chairs, and suddenly, the laughter stopped completely. Everyone in the whole school was glued to their seats.

其他老师站了起来——你猜对了——他们也都坐在椅子上。 观众们都哄堂大笑起来。 一个孩子站起来要去洗手间，他的椅子也跟着过来了。 观众们不再笑得那么厉害了。 他们都赶紧把椅子挪了挪，突然，笑声完全停止了。 整个学校的每个人都全神贯注地坐在座位上。

You see, while it was true that George and Harold had not invented glue, they had invented a new kind of glue. By simply mixing rubber cement with concentrated orange juice mix, they had created a quick-drying, body-heat-activated glue. Then they applied this special glue to every seat in the gymnasium (except theirs) early that morning. Everybody in the gymnasium was glaring at George and Harold and seething with anger. "I've got a good idea," said George. "What?" asked Harold. "RUN!" cried George.

你看，虽然乔治和哈罗德确实没有发明胶水，但他们发明了一种新型胶水。 通过简单地将橡胶水泥与浓缩橙汁混合物混合，他们制造出了一种快速干燥的人体热激活胶。 然后他们在那天早上把这种特殊的胶水涂在体育馆的每个座位上（除了他们的座位）。 体育馆里的每个人都怒视着乔治和哈罗德，怒不可遏。 “我有个好主意，”乔治说。 “什么？”哈罗德问。“快跑！”乔治喊道。

George and Harold were grinning from ear to ear, remembering their silly invention and the chaos that followed. "That was hilarious," laughed Harold. "Yeah," chuckled George. "It'll be hard to top that this year!" "Well, you won't get a chance this year," said Mr. Krupp. He took out a magnifying glass and held it up to the fine print on the sign. "This contest is open to all students in the third and fourth grades EXCEPT George Beard and Harold Hutchins."

乔治和哈罗德想起他们愚蠢的发明和随之而来的混乱，笑得合不拢嘴。 “太搞笑了。”哈罗德笑着说。 “是啊，”乔治笑着说。“今年很难超过这个数字了！”“嗯，今年你不会有机会了，”克虏伯先生说。 他拿出一个放大镜，对着招牌上的小字看了看。 “这个比赛对所有三年级和四年级的学生开放，除了乔治·比尔德和哈罗德·哈钦斯。”

"You mean, we can't enter the contest?" asked Harold. "It's worse than that," laughed Mr. Krupp. "You boys can't even attend this year's convention. I'm putting you two in study hall that whole day!" Mr. Krupp turned and walked away, laughing victoriously. "Rats!" said Harold. "What are we going to do now?" "Well," said George, "you know the old saying: If you can't join 'em, beat 'em!"

“你是说，我们不能参加比赛了？”哈罗德问。 “比那还糟，”克虏伯先生笑着说。 “你们这些家伙连今年的大会都不能参加。 我要让你们俩在自习室待一整天！”克虏伯转过身，得意地笑着走开了。 “老鼠！”哈罗德说。“我们现在该怎么办？”“好吧，”乔治说，“你知道那句老话：如果你不能加入他们，就打败他们！”