2 NOODLING AROUND

CHAPTER 2 NOODLING AROUND Alexander stepped into the empty lobby of Stermont Elementary. It's weird to be early, for once, he thought. He took the escalator to the second floor, where he noticed someone moving in the distance. Two someones. MR. HOARSELY School secretary, janitor, nurse, bus driver, and gym teacher Former S.S.M.P. member, and a HUGE fraidy-cat Only grown-up who can see monsters? MS. UNDERPANTS Principal by day... Boss-monster by night? Alexander's teacher (one-on-one!)

亚历山大走进斯特蒙特小学空荡荡的大厅。 他想，这么早来一次真奇怪。 他乘自动扶梯上了二楼，在那里他注意到远处有人在走动。 两个某人。学校秘书、看门人、护士、巴士司机、体育老师 只有大人才能看到怪物？ 内裤校长女士白天… 晚上的boss怪物？亚历山大的老师（一对一！）

Good, Alexander thought. Ms. Vanderpants is not in her office! Alexander crouched low on the escalator to the next floor. Then he ran up the rest of the escalators all the way to floor thirteen. He jogged down the hallway, pausing at a heavy stone door. There's that scratching sound again! he thought. What is Ms. Vanderpants hiding in there? He ran down the hall to the principal's office, which was also his classroom. He stepped inside. Nothing seemed out of place. There was still a greenish-blue folder sitting on her desk.

很好，亚历山大想。Ms。 范德帕斯不在她的办公室！亚历山大在通往下一层的自动扶梯上蹲得很低。 然后他顺着其余的电梯一直跑到13楼。 他沿着走廊慢跑，在一扇沉重的石门前停了下来。 又有抓挠的声音了！他想。 范德帕斯女士在里面藏了什么？ 他沿着走廊跑到校长办公室，那也是他的教室。 他走了进去。一切似乎都很正常。 她的桌子上还放着一个蓝绿色的文件夹。

Perfect! he thought. Maybe she hasn't noticed I took the wrong folder! Bluish-green folder: Principal Vanderpants's list Greenish-blue folder: Alexander's homework Alexander switched the folders and looked back at the door. No sign of his principal. Spy time! he thought. He glanced around the room. Books Potted cactus Big fancy desk Weird white bucket File cabinet Silver bell

完美!他想。也许她没注意到我拿错文件夹了！蓝绿色文件夹：范德帕斯校长的清单蓝绿色文件夹：亚历山大的家庭作业亚历山大把文件夹调换一下，回头看了看门。 没有他的委托人的踪迹。间谍!他想。 他环视了一下房间。 书盆栽仙人掌大花式书桌奇怪的白桶文件柜银铃

The file cabinet in the corner, thought Alexander. It is probably full of secrets! He checked over his shoulder, took a breath, and then tugged on a drawer. KER-CLICK. It was unlocked. But there were no files inside. Instead, the drawer was filled with long flat boxes. Alexander picked one up. "Spaghetti?" he said, in a half whisper. He tried the other drawers. The whole cabinet was full of uncooked spaghetti. Alexander shook a box. He opened it and gave it a sniff. "Good morning, Alexander," said a voice from the doorway.

角落里的文件柜，亚历山大想。 它可能充满了秘密！他回头看了看，吸了一口气，然后拉了拉抽屉。 KER-CLICK。门没锁。 但是里面没有文件。 相反，抽屉里装满了又长又平的盒子。 亚历山大拿起一个。“意大利面？”他低声说。 他试了试其他的抽屉。 整个橱柜里都是生的意大利面。 亚历山大摇晃着一个盒子。他打开它，闻了闻。 “早上好，亚历山大。”门口传来一个声音。

"Ack!" Alexander jumped. "If you snoop around, you may not be happy with what you find," Ms. Vanderpants said with a frown. "Now clean up so we can get to work." "Um, Ms. Vanderpants?" he asked. "Why do you have all this spaghetti?" Ms. Vanderpants looked at Alexander over the top of her glasses. "It's for a special project I've been cooking up." She glanced down at the greenish-blue folder near Alexander's feet. "I'm glad to see you remembered your homework." "Actually—" Alexander began. Ms. Vanderpants flipped through the folder. Is this a joke, Mr. Bopp? You didn't complete one problem!"

“消!”亚历山大吓了一跳。“如果你四处窥探，你可能会对你发现的东西不满意。” 范德培斯皱着眉头说。 “现在打扫一下，我们可以开始工作了。” “嗯，范德帕斯女士？”他问。 “你为什么有这么多意大利面？”Ms。 范德帕斯从眼镜上方看了看亚历山大。 “这是我一直在策划的一个特殊项目。” 她低头看了看亚历山大脚边那个蓝绿色的文件夹。 “我很高兴看到你记得你的家庭作业。” “实际上——”亚历山大开口说。 范德帕斯女士翻了翻文件夹。 这是在开玩笑吗，波普先生？你一题都没做！”

Alexander wanted to say "sorry I didn't do my homework, but I was busy saving Stermont from a monster attack that YOU set up!" But instead he just mumbled, "Sorry." "Alexander," she said. "I chose you for this one- on-one class for a reason. I'm counting on you to finish your work, so I can give you extra challenges. Do you understand?" "Uh, yeah," Alexander said as he sat down. Actually, no, he thought. "Very well," said Ms. Vanderpants. "Finish your homework this morning. Then, after lunch, come straight back here to do all of today's classwork. No recess." Alexander's eyebrows and lips tightened into stiff, straight lines, like sticks of uncooked spaghetti.

亚历山大想说：“对不起，我没有做作业，但我正忙着从你安排的怪物袭击中救出斯特蒙特！”但他只是咕哝着：“对不起。” “亚历山大，”她说。“我选择你来上这门一对一的课是有原因的。 我指望你完成你的工作，所以我可以给你额外的挑战。 你明白吗？”“嗯，是的，”亚历山大说着坐了下来。 事实上，没有，他想。“很好。” Vanderpants。“今天早上完成作业。 然后，午饭后，直接回到这里做今天所有的作业。 没有休息。”亚历山大的眉毛和嘴唇绷紧，绷成笔直的线条，就像一根未煮熟的意大利面。