11 A REAL TWIST

CHAPTER 11 A REAL TWIST All right, Rip, get it over with," Alexander said. "Throw something at me or call me names or whatever, so you can go home." "Sounds like fun," Rip said, "but that's not why I'm here. I actually came to tell you"— he slurped some punch "that I believe you. About the monsters." Alexander was speechless. "Did you hear me?" asked Rip. "So, wait," Alexander said. "Are you the one who wrote on my napkin yesterday?"

第十一章真正的转折好了，瑞普，快点结束吧。”亚历山大说。 “朝我扔东西，或者骂我什么的，这样你就可以回家了。” “听起来很有趣，”里普说，“但这不是我来这里的原因。 其实我是来告诉你的，”他啜了一口潘趣酒，“我相信你。 关于怪物的事。”亚历山大无言以对。 “你听见了吗？” “那么，等等，”亚历山大说。 “你是昨天在我的餐巾纸上写字的那个人吗？”

Rip looked confused. "Napkin? No. I thought you were nutso then. But as I was walking home from school, I passed by one of those balloon things. A big orange cactus. It gave me a funny look, so I started throwin' rocks at it. It caught one of my rocks and threw it back at me! Look!" Rip rolled up his sleeve. There was an ugly red scrape between some of his fake tattoos. "Whoa," said Alexander. "Yeah," said Rip. "And then the thing started chasing me! I ran home. I tried to tell my parents, but they didn't believe me. I still had your stupid invitation in my pocket, and I remembered what you'd said in class. So I came here."

瑞普看起来很困惑。“餐巾? 否。我当时以为你疯了。 但是当我从学校走回家的时候，我经过了一个气球。 一个大的橙色仙人掌。它奇怪地看了我一眼，所以我开始朝它扔石头。 它抓住了我的一块石头，又朝我扔来！看!”里普卷起袖子。 他的一些假纹身之间有一块难看的红色刮痕。 “哇，”亚历山大说。“是的，”瑞普说。 “然后那东西开始追我！”我跑回家。 我试着告诉我父母，但他们不相信我。 我口袋里还留着你那愚蠢的请柬，我还记得你在课堂上说过的话。 所以我来到这里。”

Rip rolled his sleeve back down. "Your front yard is crawling with those things! I had to sneak around them." "Who can we tell about the balloon goons?" said Alexander. They looked at the two grown-ups at the party: Alexander's dad, who was fussing with the bouncy castle, and the nervous clown. "Let's try the clown," Alexander said. Alexander and Rip walked over to the clown.

里普又把袖子卷了下来。 “你的前院爬满了那些东西！”我不得不偷偷地绕过他们。” “我们能告诉谁气球打手的事？”亚历山大说。 他们看着派对上的两个大人：亚历山大的爸爸，他正在摆弄充气城堡，还有那个紧张的小丑。 “我们试试小丑吧，”亚历山大说。 亚历山大和瑞普走向小丑。

The clown wore a fake bald cap and big, pointy shoes. A smile was painted on his face, but he didn't look happy. He was blowing up a balloon. "Excuse me," said Alexander. "Eep!" The clown released his balloon. He glanced at the woods, then back at the boys. "Pay attention!" he said. "I'm about to show you a very important balloon animal." "Um, okay.." said Alexander. The clown blew up a long, skinny balloon. "Now watch!" He held the balloon by one end and twisted the other end around. "Left, right, left. Down, around, pull!"

小丑戴着一顶假秃顶，脚穿一双尖头大鞋。 他脸上挂着笑容，但他看起来并不开心。 他正在吹气球。 “对不起，”亚历山大说。 “燃灯!”小丑释放了他的气球。 他看了一眼树林，又回头看了看孩子们。 “注意！”他说。“我要给你看一个非常重要的气球动物。” “嗯，好吧……”亚历山大说。 小丑吹起了一个又长又细的气球。 “现在看!”他抓住气球的一端，把另一端扭过来。 “左，右，左。向下，转过去，拉！”

He gave the balloon one last tug. "Ta-daaa!" "What is it?" asked Alexander. "One big knot?" "No a mangled pretzel!" said Rip. The clown wiped his brow. "Just remember: left, right, left. Down, around—" "Hi, boys!" Alexander's dad jumped out from behind a shrub. "Eep!" the clown shrieked, dropping his balloon knot. The balloon popped and the clown shrieked again. Alexander's dad laughed. "This guy's a hoot!" "Yeah, he's crazy all right," said Alexander, peering into the woods.

他最后拉了一下气球。 “Ta-daaa !”“什么事？”亚历山大问。 “一个大结？”“不，是残缺的椒盐卷饼！”瑞普说。 小丑擦了擦额头。“只要记住：左，右，左。 趴下，绕过去——”“嗨，孩子们！”亚历山大的爸爸从灌木丛后面跳了出来。 “嘘！”小丑尖叫着，松开了他的气球结。 气球爆了，小丑又尖叫起来。 亚历山大的爸爸笑了。“这家伙真好笑！”“是啊，他确实疯了。”亚历山大说着，凝视着树林。