8. They Are Listening

Chapter 8 They Are Listening "Is that Brian coming back?" Nate whispered. "I don't know," Bradley said. Suddenly they all heard a little yelp. "What was that?" Bradley asked. "Where's Brian?" They heard a thump. They heard chewing and swallowing noises. Then they heard nothing. The house was silent again.

第八章他们在听“是布莱恩回来了吗？”内特低声说。 “我不知道，”布拉德利说。 突然，他们都听到一声轻微的尖叫。 “那是什么？”布拉德利问。 “布莱恩在哪儿?”他们听到砰的一声。 他们听到咀嚼和吞咽的声音。 然后他们什么也没听到。屋子里又安静下来了。

Nate let out a little giggle. "I guess they didn't like the grapes, so they took Brian instead!" he said. "Don't joke around!" Bradley said. "I'm going to look for him!" "We're coming with you," Lucy whispered. "We are?" Nate asked. Lucy nudged him. "We're all in this together!" she said. The three kids peeked out from behind the sofa. On hands and knees, they crawled into the hallway. "Look, the bathroom door is open," Bradley said. "Brian's not there!" "And all the grapes are gone!" Nate said. It was true. Lucy's trail of grapes had disappeared. Lucy pointed to the closet door. It was closed. "I thought we left it open," Nate whispered. "We did," Lucy whispered back.

内特咯咯地笑了起来。 “我猜他们不喜欢葡萄，所以他们把布莱恩带走了！”他说。 “别开玩笑了！”布拉德利说。 “我要去找他！”“我们和你一起去。”露茜小声说。 “我们是谁?”内特问道。露茜用胳膊肘捅了捅他。 “我们都在一起！”她说。 三个孩子从沙发后面往外偷看。 他们用手和膝盖爬进走廊。 “看，浴室的门开着，”布拉德利说。 “布莱恩不在那儿！”“所有的葡萄都没了！”内特说。 这是真的。露西留下的葡萄痕迹消失了。 露西指着壁橱的门。 它关闭了。“我以为我们没把门关上。”内特低声说。 “是的。”露茜小声回答。

Suddenly the hall closet door burst open. Brian jumped out. "Boy, am I glad to see you!" he said. "I thought the green guys got you, too!" "And we thought they got you!" Bradley said, grinning at his twin. "They did!" Brian yelled. "I was coming out of the bathroom when something fell over my head! It felt like a hundred little arms grabbed me. They stuck me in the closet!" "Ugh!" Nate said, pointing to a piece of lint on Brian's shoulder. "Space cooties!" "Very funny, Nate," Brian said. But he wiped the lint off. "Did you eat all the grapes I left out?" Lucy asked. "No, it must have been them," Brian said. "I just ate the ones you put in the closet." "Did you see the aliens?" Nate asked. "No!" Brian said. "They threw this over my head!" He reached into the closet and pulled out a fuzzy red cloth.

突然，门厅壁橱的门被撞开了。 布莱恩跳了出来。“孩子，见到你真高兴！”他说。 “我还以为绿军也抓到了你呢！”“我们还以为他们抓住你了呢！”布拉德利笑着对着他的双胞胎兄弟说。 “他们做了!”布莱恩喊道。“我刚从浴室出来，突然有东西砸在我头上！”感觉就像有一百只小胳膊抓住了我。 他们把我关在壁橱里！”“哎!”内特指着布莱恩肩膀上的一块绒布说。 “空间虱子!”“很有趣，内特，”布莱恩说。 但他擦掉了绒毛。 “你把我剩下的葡萄都吃了吗？”露西问。 “不，一定是他们，”布莱恩说。 “我只是吃了你放在壁橱里的那些。” “你看到外星人了吗？”内特问道。 “不!”布莱恩说。“他们把这个扔到我头上！”他把手伸进壁橱，拿出一块毛茸茸的红布。

"That's what Mom puts under the Christmas tree," Bradley said. "Guys, what if they know about Lucy's plan?" Nate asked. "What if they're planning to capture us?" "They're not getting me again!" Brian said. "I'm hiding!" He tore up the stairs. "Let's barricade ourselves in our room," Bradley said. He and Lucy and Nate followed Brian. They found him under his bed. Bradley got down on his hands and knees. "Bri, come on out," he said. "We locked the bedroom door. We can move the dresser in front of it." "I'm staying here till Mom and Dad get home," Brian said. Nate knelt down, too. "The first place the aliens will look is under your bed," he said. They heard Brian sigh. "Maybe it is a dream," he said. "And we're all in it."

“那是妈妈放在圣诞树下的东西，”布拉德利说。 “伙计们，如果他们知道露西的计划怎么办？”内特问道。 “要是他们打算抓我们怎么办？”“他们不会再抓到我了！”布莱恩说。 “我躲!”他飞快地爬上楼梯。 “我们把自己关在房间里吧，”布拉德利说。 他、露西和内特跟着布莱恩。 他们在床下发现了他。 布拉德利跪在地上。 “布莱，出来吧，”他说。 “我们锁上了卧室的门。 我们可以把梳妆台移到它前面。” “我要呆在这里，直到爸爸妈妈回家，”布莱恩说。 内特也跪了下来。“外星人首先会看的地方是你的床底下，”他说。 他们听到布莱恩叹了口气。“也许这是一个梦，”他说。 “我们都在其中。”

Bradley reached under the bed and pinched his brother. "Hey, what's that for?" Brian yelled. "See, you're awake," Bradley said. "It's not a dream. Come on out, Bri. We need you to help us move the furniture." Brian slid out from under the bed. His jeans and shirt were covered with dust. "Hey, what's that?" Lucy asked. She was pointing at Pal's rubber hot dog on top of Brian's bed. "It's Pal's toy hot dog," Brian said. "He must have left it there."

布拉德利伸手到床底下，掐了他弟弟一下。 “嘿，那是干什么用的？”布莱恩喊道。 “看，你醒了，”布拉德利说。 “这不是梦。出来吧，布莱。 我们需要你帮我们搬家具。” 布莱恩从床底下溜了出来。 他的牛仔裤和衬衫上满是灰尘。 “嘿，那是什么？”露西问。 她指着布莱恩床上帕尔的橡胶热狗。 “这是帕尔的玩具热狗，”布赖恩说。 “他一定是落在那里了。”

"But he took it outside when we were eating breakfast," Lucy said. "I saw him. I remember thinking he'd lose it in the snow." Nate picked up the dog toy. "Does Pal have two rubber hot dogs?" he asked. "Nope, only one," Bradley said. "Then how did it get up here in your bedroom?" Lucy asked. The four kids stared at each other. Bradley looked up at the ceiling. "Oh no," he whispered. Then he put his fingers to his lips. He pointed up. There was a heat vent in the ceiling. Bradley grabbed a paper and pencil. He scribbled a note and held it up. The note said:

“可是我们吃早饭的时候，他把它拿到外面去了。”露茜说。 “我看见他了。我记得我还以为他会在雪地里丢了呢。” 内特拿起狗玩具。 “帕尔有两个橡胶热狗吗？”他问。 “不，只有一个，”布拉德利说。 “那它是怎么跑到你的卧室里来的？”露西问。 四个孩子面面相觑。 布拉德利抬头看着天花板。 “哦，不，”他低声说。然后他把手指放到嘴唇上。 他向上指了指。天花板上有一个通风口。 布拉德利抓起纸和笔。 他草草写了一张纸条，举了起来。 字条上写着：