2. Garden Monster

Chapter 2 Garden Monster Bradley flopped down on the ground. "Nearly every berry is bitten in half!" he cried. "There aren't enough good ones left to make jam!" "You could make zucchini jam," Nate suggested. "Funny, Nate," Brian said. Lucy looked at some of the zucchini. "Guys, it's not just the strawberries," she said. "Something is chewing on the vegetables, too. See, the same kind of bites."

布拉德利扑通一声倒在地上。 “几乎所有的浆果都被咬成了两半！” “没有足够的好树来做果酱了！”“你可以做西葫芦果酱，”内特建议道。 “好笑，内特，”布莱恩说。 露西看了看西葫芦。 “伙计们，不仅仅是草莓，”她说。 “还有什么东西在啃蔬菜。 看，同样的咬痕。”

"Oh no!" Brian said. "Dad is gonna freak when he finds out!" "You'd better find whatever critter is doing this," Lucy said. "Otherwise, it will eat everything!" Nate looked around nervously. "What if it's a snake?" "Maybe it's birds," Brian said. "They could fly right in!" Lucy picked up one of the bitten strawberries. "No, this doesn't look like a bird bite," she said. "Or a rabbit or a snake." "What kind of bite does it look like?" Bradley asked. Lucy turned the berry over and showed the boys. "It's a big, round bite," she said. "I think I've seen bites like this before." She looked at the boys. "In the desert near where we live, there are lizards called Gila monsters. They eat birds' eggs and small animals, but sometimes they come into people's gardens," she said. "And they're poisonous." "Great, we've got a poisonous monster in our garden!" Brian said.

“哦,不!”布莱恩说。“爸爸知道了一定会抓狂的！”“你最好找到是什么动物干的。”露茜说。 “否则，它会把所有的东西都吃掉！”内特紧张地环顾四周。 “如果是一条蛇呢？”“也许是鸟，”布莱恩说。 “他们可以直接飞进来！”露西捡起一个被咬过的草莓。 “不，这看起来不像被鸟咬伤，”她说。 “或者一只兔子，或者一条蛇。”“它看起来像什么样的咬伤？”布拉德利问。 露西把浆果翻过来给孩子们看。 “咬得又大又圆，”她说。 “我想我以前见过这样的咬伤。” 她看着男孩们。“在我们住的附近的沙漠里，有一种叫做吉拉怪的蜥蜴。 它们吃鸟蛋和小动物，但有时它们会进入人们的花园，”她说。 “而且它们有毒。”“太好了，我们的花园里有一只有毒的怪物！”布莱恩说。

Lucy laughed. "No, you don't," she said. "Gila monsters only live in hot, dry places. They'd die in Connecticut because it gets too cold here. But we once had one in our garden, and the bite is the same. They make just one chomp, with no chewing or nibbling." "I'm not staying here to weed," Nate cried. "I want to keep all ten toes!" "What about the ice cream?" Brian asked. "I don't need any ice cream!" Nate said. Bradley laughed. "Yes, you do," he said. "I just thought of what we can give Dad for Father's Day," Brian said. "What?" Bradley asked. "Well, since we can't make the jam because something's eating the berries, we can find whatever is doing it," Brian said. "We'll save Dad's garden, and that will be his present!" Bradley kicked a stone. "I still want to make the jam," he muttered. "Did you see Dad's face when he told us about Grandma Pinto's jam that he used to eat?" "We still have to catch whatever is biting all this stuff," Lucy said.

露西笑了。“不，你不知道，”她说。 吉拉怪物只生活在炎热干燥的地方。 他们会死在康涅狄格，因为这里太冷了。 但我们曾经在花园里养过一只，咬起来还是一样的。 它们只咬一口，不咀嚼或轻咬。” “我不想呆在这里抽大麻，”内特哭着说。 “我想保留这十个脚趾！”“那冰淇淋呢？”布莱恩问。 “我不需要冰淇淋！”内特说。 布拉德利笑了。“是的，你知道，”他说。 布赖恩说：“我只是在想我们可以送爸爸什么父亲节礼物。” “什么?”布拉德利问。“好吧，既然我们不能做果酱，因为有东西在吃浆果，我们就能找到做果酱的东西，”布莱恩说。 “我们将拯救爸爸的花园，这将是他的礼物！”布拉德利踢了一块石头。 “我还是想做果酱，”他嘟囔着。 “你看到爸爸告诉我们他以前常吃的平托奶奶做的果酱时的表情了吗？”“我们还得抓住咬这些东西的东西。”露西说。

"What if it's a skunk?" Brian asked. He was grinning. "Or a monkey!" Nate said. "It could be a slug," Brian said. "EEEEWWWWW!" Nate yelled. "I'm not touching any slug!" "Guys, get serious," Bradley said. He looked at the fence his father had built around the garden. "Whatever is eating the stuff climbed over that!"

“如果是一只臭鼬呢？”布莱恩问。 他咧着嘴笑。“或者一只猴子！”内特说。 “可能是鼻涕虫，”布莱恩说。 “EEEEWWWWW !”内特喊道。“我不碰鼻涕虫！”“伙计们，认真点，”布拉德利说。 他看着父亲在花园周围筑起的栅栏。 “不管什么东西在吃，它都是从上面爬过去的！”

Nate stood next to the fence and held his hand up. "This fence is three feet tall," he said. "No little animal could get over it." "Something might have dug under the fence," Lucy said. "Let's look for holes." The kids checked every inch of the ground under the fence, all around the garden. "Nothing crawled under," Bradley said. The four kids looked at each other. "Well, if it can't get over the fence," Nate said, "and it didn't go under the fence, it must have gone right through the fence!" "It's a ghost!" Brian said. Bradley laughed at his brother. "I don't think ghosts eat strawberries. But Lucy's right. We have to catch whatever it is," he said. "Otherwise Dad won't have a garden, let alone strawberries."

内特站在栅栏旁边，举起手。 “这个栅栏有三英尺高，”他说。 “没有任何小动物能克服它。” “可能有什么东西在篱笆下面挖了。”露茜说。 “我们找洞吧。”孩子们把篱笆下的每一寸土地都找遍了，把花园也找遍了。 “没有东西爬到下面，”布拉德利说。 四个孩子面面相觑。 “好吧，如果它不能越过栅栏，”内特说，“而且它没有从栅栏下面穿过，那它一定是直接穿过了栅栏！”“是鬼！”布莱恩说。 布拉德利嘲笑他的弟弟。 “我不认为鬼魂会吃草莓。 但露西是对的。我们必须抓住它，不管它是什么。” “不然爸爸连花园都没有，更别说草莓了。”