9 Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Marvin came home late in the afternoon. He was tired from playing hard, but still very excited. He walked through the gate, past the red post. Suddenly, he remembered. "Shoes," he said aloud. He felt awful. It seemed as if he was always forgetting something. He sighed. He knew his mom would be mad. She had planned to leave work early just so she could take him shopping. Maybe she forgot, too, he thought. He hoped. Linzy, his little sister, met him at the door. "You better hide," she warned. Marvin slowly stepped inside. His mother was standing by the stairs. Her hands were

马文下午很晚才回家。 他玩得很累，但仍然很兴奋。 他穿过大门，经过那根红柱子。 突然，他想起来了。“鞋子。”他大声说。 他感觉糟透了。他似乎总是忘记些什么。 他叹了口气。他知道他妈妈会生气的。 她本来打算早点下班，这样她就可以带他去购物了。 也许她也忘了，他想。 他希望。他的小妹妹林兹在门口迎接他。 “你最好躲起来，”她警告说。 马文慢慢地走了进去。 他的母亲站在楼梯旁。 她的手是

on her hips. "So nice of you to come home," she said. "Sorry," said Marvin. "Sorry?" asked his mother. "Is that it?" Marvin didn't know what else he could say. "I forgot," he said. "You won't believe what happened at school today!" "What was the last thing I said to you before you left this morning?" his mother asked. Marvin sighed. "You said to come straight home so we could go shopping for shoes. But—" "I left work early so that I would be able to take you," said his mother. "I had to rearrange my whole work schedule." Marvin's father came down the stairs. "Don't you ever think about others?" he asked. It was two against one. "Linzy, Jacob, and your mother sat around waiting for you," his father said. "Don't you think they had better things to do?" "I'm sorry," Marvin said again. "I forgot all about it. But you won't—" "We finally left without you," said his mother. "Now

在她的臀部。“你能回家真是太好了，”她说。 “对不起。”马文说。“什么?”他妈妈问。 “是这样吗?”马文不知道还能说些什么。 “我忘了，”他说。“你不会相信今天在学校发生了什么!”“今天早上你离开前我对你说的最后一件事是什么?” 马文叹了口气。“你说让我直接回家，这样我们就可以去买鞋了。 但是——”“我早点下班是为了能带你去，”他妈妈说。 “我不得不重新安排我的整个工作日程。” 马文的父亲走下楼梯。 “你从来不为别人着想吗?”他问。 是二对一。“琳兹、雅各布和你妈妈坐在那里等你，”他父亲说。 “你不认为他们有更重要的事情要做吗?”“对不起。”马文又说了一遍。 “我全忘了。但是你不会——”“我们最后还是丢下你离开了，”他母亲说。 “现在

I'm going to have to take you to the store tomorrow. Which means rearranging my work schedule again." "I can wear my old shoes," Marvin offered. "Maybe you should just go barefoot to your cousin's bar mitzvah," said his father. "Maybe that will help you learn." "Can I go barefoot, too?" asked Jacob. He smiled at Marvin. Their parents didn't think that was funny. "Do you know what time it is?" his mother asked him. "No." "It's almost six o'clock," said his father. "Six o'clock?" asked Marvin. "Quick, turn on the TV!" His parents stared at him. His mother raised her eyebrows. "There will be no television for you," said his father. "Not for a week. Maybe then you won't forget so much. Maybe television is destroying your brain." "It's not regular television," Marvin tried to explain. "The—" "No TV!" shouted his mother. "You care more about television than you do about your own family," accused his father.

明天我得带你去商店。 这意味着我要重新安排我的工作日程。” “我可以穿我的旧鞋，”马文说。 “也许你应该光着脚去参加你表弟的成人礼，”他父亲说。 “也许这会帮助你学习。” 雅各说:“我可以光着脚走吗?” 他对马文笑了笑。他们的父母不认为这很有趣。 “你知道现在几点了吗?”他妈妈问他。 “没有。”“快六点钟了，”他的父亲说。 “六点钟?”马文问。 “快，打开电视!”他的父母盯着他。 他母亲扬起眉毛。 “你不会有电视了，”他的父亲说。 “一个星期都没有。也许那样你就不会忘记那么多。 也许电视正在摧毁你的大脑。” “这不是普通的电视节目，”马文试图解释。 “不许看电视!”他妈妈喊道。 “你更关心电视，而不是你自己的家庭，”他的父亲指责道。

"I don't," said Marvin. "But you have to watch—" "We don't have to watch anything!" his mother interrupted. "Now, I don't want to hear any more about it. If you keep it up, there will be no TV for a month. You may go to your room and get started on your homework." Marvin didn't know what to do. His parents wouldn't listen to him. They thought he was a selfish, rotten TV mush-brain. He slowly started up the stairs. Linzy caught up to him. "You want to see my new shoes, Marvin? They're really pretty. They have bows and buttons." Marvin tried to smile. Down below, in the family room, Marvin's father turned on the news. Marvin heard Clark Rogers's voice coming from the television.

“我不知道，”马文说。“我们什么都不用看!”他妈妈打断了他的话。 “现在，我不想再听了。 你再这样下去，一个月都看不见电视了。 你可以回你的房间开始做作业了。” 马文不知道该怎么办。 他的父母不听他的。 他们认为他是一个自私的烂电视白痴。 他慢慢地走上楼梯。 林兹追上了他。“你想看看我的新鞋吗，马文?” 它们真的很漂亮。他们有蝴蝶结和纽扣。” 马文试图微笑。在楼下的客厅里，马文的父亲打开了电视。 马文听到电视里传来克拉克·罗杰斯的声音。

"The president went looking for good citizens today. And he found them at Dogwood Elementary School." Marvin stopped. "Hey, Marvin, that's your school!" Jacob shouted from the bottom of the stairs. "That's Marvin!" exclaimed Marvin's father.

“总统今天去寻找好公民。 他在山茱萸小学找到了他们。” 马文停了下来。“嘿，马文，那是你的学校!”雅各布在楼梯底下喊道。 “那是马文!”马文的父亲叫道。

"I want to see!" said Linzy. She ran down the stairs. Marvin stepped down a couple of steps and leaned way over the banister. He saw himself on TV adding the big numbers. Then he saw the president talking to his class. "America is not just a place on a map. America is made up of all of its citizens. If we want America to be a great country, it is up to every single one of us—me, you, Mr. McCabe, Mrs. North, Marvin—to be good citizens." "Did he mean you, Marvin?" asked Jacob. "Shh!" said Marvin's mother. "The students in Mrs. North's third-grade class had lots of ideas about what it means to be a good citizen," said Clark Rogers. Marvin saw Casey Happleton on the television. "Help people who need help." "There's Nick," said Jacob. "Don't fight." "And Stuart," said Marvin's mother. "If you, uh, see a fire or something, you should put it out." "The students also had lots of interesting and unusual questions for the president," said Clark Rogers.

“我想看!”林兹说。 她跑下楼梯。马文走下几级台阶，从栏杆上探过身子。 他在电视上看到自己在加那些大数字。 然后他看到校长在和他的学生讲话。 “美国不仅仅是地图上的一个地方。 美国是由全体公民组成的。 如果我们想让美国成为一个伟大的国家，就得靠我们每一个人——我、你、麦凯布先生、诺斯夫人、马文——成为好公民。” “他是指你吗，马文?”雅各布问。 “嘘!”马文的妈妈说。 克拉克·罗杰斯说:“诺斯老师三年级班上的学生对如何做一个好公民有很多想法。” 马文在电视上看到凯西·哈普尔顿了。 “帮助需要帮助的人。” “那是尼克，”雅各布说。 “别打架。”“还有斯图尔特，”马文的妈妈说。 “如果你，呃，看到火什么的，你应该把它扑灭。” 罗杰斯说:“学生们还向总统提出了许多有趣和不同寻常的问题。