1. Spying on the Neighbors

Calendar Mysteries November Night by Ron Roy

罗恩·罗伊的《日历之谜十一月之夜》

Chapter 1 Spying on the Neighbors On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, Bradley Pinto walked into his bedroom. His twin brother, Brian, was kneeling in front of the window. He was peering through binoculars. "What are you doing?" Bradley asked. "Nothing," Brian said.

感恩节前的一个星期天，布拉德利·平托走进自己的卧室。 他的孪生兄弟布莱恩跪在窗前。 他正在用双筒望远镜观察。 “你在干什么？”布拉德利问。 “没什么，”布莱恩说。

"Yes, you are," Bradley said. "You're spying on the new neighbors again." "I'm not exactly spying," Brian said. "I'm just checking them out." Bradley flopped down on his bed. "Mom and Dad gave us the binoculars so we could learn about birds and nature stuff," he said. "Looking at people is more fun," Brian said. "And I am learning about nature. I saw a hawk in the tree." Bradley knelt next to his brother. He looked at the brand-new fence that surrounded the neighbors' yard. A tall dead tree stood in the middle of the backyard. Before the new neighbors moved in, the twins used to play inside the tree's hollow trunk. The tree trunk was so big that Bradley and Brian couldn't stretch their arms around it. Sometimes, they would hide in the trunk from their older brother, Josh. Other times, the twins and their friends Nate and Lucy would sit inside and pretend they were lost in the woods. Or they'd pretend to be cave people hiding from ferocious animals.

“是的，你是，”布拉德利说。 “你又在监视新邻居了。” “我并不是在监视，”布莱恩说。 “我只是看看。” 布拉德利扑通一声倒在床上。 “爸爸妈妈给了我们双筒望远镜，这样我们就可以了解鸟类和大自然的东西，”他说。 “看着人更有趣，”布莱恩说。 “我正在了解大自然。 我看见树上有只鹰。” 布拉德利跪在他哥哥旁边。 他看了看邻居院子周围崭新的栅栏。 后院中央立着一棵高大的枯树。 在新邻居搬进来之前，这对双胞胎经常在树的空心树干里玩耍。 树干太大了，布拉德利和布莱恩无法伸开胳膊搂住它。 有时，他们会躲在后备箱里，不让他们的哥哥乔希看到。 其他时候，双胞胎和他们的朋友内特和露西会坐在里面，假装他们在树林里迷路了。 或者他们会假装是穴居人躲避凶猛的动物。

Bradley had lined the hollow trunk with hay from Polly the pony's stall to make it softer to sit on. Brian had invented a game called troll in the hole. He would hide inside the tree trunk, wearing a scary Halloween mask. Bradley, Nate, and Lucy would walk past, and Brian would jump out, yelling, "Troll is hungry! Troll is going to eat you!" Nate would yell, "Don't eat me, Mr. Troll! I taste like rotten eggs!" Bradley would yell, "Don't eat me, Mr. Troll! I taste like dirty socks!" Lucy would just run away, laughing. But last week, a moving van had shown up. Workers unloaded furniture and boxes. New neighbors moved in! Bradley's mom told the twins the neighbors were Mr. and Mrs. Sargent. A few days later, a truck carrying lumber drove into the driveway. Two men spent a whole day building a tall wood fence around the neighbors' yard with slats so close together that the kids couldn't see through it. There was a wide gate so the Sargents could drive their car inside the fence.

布雷德利在中空的树干上铺上了小马驹波莉马厩里的干草，让树干坐起来更柔软。 布莱恩发明了一个叫洞里的巨魔的游戏。 他会躲在树干里，戴着可怕的万圣节面具。 布拉德利、内特和露西走过，布莱恩会跳出来，大喊：“巨魔饿了！巨怪要吃了你！”内特会大喊：“别吃我，巨魔先生！”我吃起来像臭鸡蛋！”布拉德利会大喊：“别吃我，巨魔先生！我尝起来像脏袜子！”露西会笑着跑开。 但上周，一辆搬家车出现了。 工人们卸下家具和箱子。 新邻居搬进来了！布拉德利的妈妈告诉双胞胎，邻居是萨金特夫妇。 几天后，一辆载着木材的卡车驶入车道。 两个人花了一整天的时间，在邻居的院子周围筑了一道高高的木栅栏，栅栏的板条靠得很近，孩子们根本看不透。 有一个宽大的大门，这样萨金斯夫妇就可以把车开到栅栏里面去。

Now the kids couldn't get into the yard. They couldn't play troll in the hole. They could just look at their favorite tree through binoculars. "Look, there they are!" Brian cried suddenly. On the other side of the fence were a man and woman. They had gray hair and wore sweaters and jeans. The man had on a red baseball cap. A gray ponytail stuck out the back. They stood and stared up at the old dead tree. "Maybe they're going to cut the tree down," Bradley said. "They better not!" Brian wailed. "What about my money?" "What money?" Bradley asked. Brian picked up his piggy bank and shook it. The bank was empty. "Every week, I hide my allowance money in a jar. I put the jar inside the old tree under the hay." Bradley's eyes got wide. "Why do you hide your money?" he asked. "So Josh won't get it!" Brian said. "He used to sneak in here and borrow money from my bank. Only he forgot to pay it back!"

现在孩子们进不了院子了。 他们不能在洞里玩巨魔。 他们可以通过双筒望远镜观察他们最喜欢的树。 “看，他们在那儿！”布莱恩突然叫了起来。 篱笆的另一边是一男一女。 他们头发花白，穿着毛衣和牛仔裤。 那人戴着一顶红色棒球帽。 一条灰色的马尾辫从后面伸出来。 他们站着抬头盯着那棵枯死的老树。 “也许他们要把树砍倒，”布拉德利说。 “他们最好不要！”布莱恩恸哭。 “我的钱怎么办？”“什么钱?”布拉德利问。 布赖恩拿起他的储蓄罐摇了摇。 银行里空无一人。“每个星期，我都把零用钱藏在罐子里。 我把罐子放在那棵老树的干草下面。” 布拉德利睁大了眼睛。“你为什么把钱藏起来？”他问。 “这样乔什就不会明白了！”布莱恩说。 “他过去常常偷偷溜进来，从我的银行借钱。 只是他忘了还钱！”

They both looked out the window. "What if the new neighbors find the jar?" Brian asked. "There's twenty dollars and thirty-seven cents in it!" "Well, what about my flashlight?" Bradley asked. "What about it?" Brian said. "The last time we were playing inside the tree, I left my special flashlight under the hay," Bradley said. "The one with little bats on the handle that glow in the dark!" Just then, something huge, black, and hairy bolted out of the neighbors' back door. It charged across the yard toward the man and woman. "Oh my gosh, a bear is attacking Mr. and Mrs. Sargent!" Brian said. The giant hairy thing stood on its hind legs and began licking Mrs. Sargent's face. Bradley gulped. "It's just a really big dog," he said. "I guess that's why they built the fence." The boys' basset hound, Pal, wandered into the room. He padded over to the window and put his front paws on the sill. When he saw the neighbors' dog, he let out a low growl.

他们俩都望着窗外。 “如果新邻居发现了罐子怎么办？”布莱恩问。 “里面有20美元37美分！”“那么，我的手电筒怎么办？”布拉德利问。 “怎么了？”布莱恩说。 布拉德利说：“上次我们在树下玩的时候，我把我特制的手电筒放在了干草下面。” “就是把手上有小蝙蝠，能在黑暗中发光的那个！”就在这时，一个巨大的、黑色的、毛茸茸的东西从邻居的后门窜了出来。 它穿过院子向那对男女冲去。 “哦，天哪，一只熊正在袭击萨金特夫妇！”布莱恩说。 这个毛茸茸的庞然大物用后腿站立起来，开始舔萨金特太太的脸。 布拉德利一饮而尽。“它真的是一只大狗，”他说。 “我想这就是他们建栅栏的原因。” 男孩们的巴吉特猎犬帕尔（Pal）溜进了房间。 他蹑手蹑脚地走到窗前，把前爪放在窗台上。 当他看到邻居家的狗时，他发出一声低吼。