9. Hunter Talks

Chapter 9 Hunter Talks The kids trekked up Bridge Lane. Pal tugged on his leash, as if he knew exactly where he was going. They stopped in front of the little yellow house on Thrush Court, then walked up the driveway to the garage. The basketball was lying under the hoop. Pal began whimpering and tugging Bradley toward the garage.

第9章猎人的谈话孩子们沿着桥巷走着。 帕尔拉着他的皮带，好像他很清楚自己要去哪里。 他们在画眉院的黄色小房前停了下来，然后沿着车道走到车库。 篮球躺在篮筐下面。 帕尔开始呜咽，拖着布拉德利向车库走去。

Suddenly they heard laughter from inside the garage. Pal began barking and yanked the leash from Bradley's hand. He raced to the garage, barking like crazy. "Pal, stop!" Bradley yelled. He grabbed the leash and pulled his dog away from the door. Two things happened at once: A skinny, barefooted teenager opened the garage door. And Ms. Tery came running out of the house. Anyone could tell she was the teenager's mother. Both were tall with big feet and red hair. The teenager stepped out onto the driveway. He shut the garage door behind him. Bradley noticed a sign on the door. It said DANGER—SPIDERS INSIDE. NO MOMS ALLOWED! "Well, hello there," Ms. Tery said to Bradley, Brian, Nate, and Lucy. "What brings you to my humble home?" "Hi, Ms. Tery," Bradley said. "We came to talk to your son." "I don't even know these kids, Mom," the tall boy said.

突然，他们听到车库里传来笑声。 帕尔开始吠叫，并从布拉德利的手中猛拉皮带。 他狂吠着跑向车库。 “朋友,停止!”布拉德利喊道。 他抓住皮带，把狗从门口拉开。 两件事同时发生了：一个瘦小的、光着脚的少年打开了车库的门。 特里女士从房子里跑了出来。 任何人都能看出她是那个少年的母亲。 两人都很高，大脚，红头发。 少年走到车道上。 他随手关上了车库的门。 布拉德利注意到门上的一个标志。 上面写着危险——里面有蜘蛛。 妈妈不允许！“嗯，大家好。” 特里对布拉德利、布莱恩、内特和露西说。 “什么风把你吹到我简陋的家里来了？”“嗨,女士。 太好了，”布拉德利说。“我们来找你儿子谈谈。” “我甚至不认识这些孩子，妈妈，”高个子男孩说。

Nate held up the sneakers. "Do you know these?" he asked. Hunter Tery blushed as red as his hair. "Those look just like mine!" Ms. Tery said. "Are they yours, Hunter?" "Yeah, they're mine," Hunter said. He took the sneakers and slipped them onto his feet. Pal was barking wildly at the garage door. "Is this your pooch?" Ms. Tery asked Bradley. "What does he want in our garage?" "I'm not sure, but I think our hamster might be in there," Brian said. "Pal can smell her, right, boy?" This made Pal bark even louder. "Do you mean the hamster that got stolen?" Ms. Tery asked. "Hunter, do you know anything about a hamster?" Hunter looked at his feet. "Um, yeah, I guess," he said. "You guess?" his mother said. "Well, I guess I need an explanation." Hunter sighed. Then he pulled open the garage door. "Come on in," he said.

内特举起运动鞋。 “你知道这些吗？”他问。 亨特·特里脸红得和他的头发一样红。 “它们看起来和我的一模一样！”Ms。 Tery说。“是你的吗，亨特？”“是的，它们是我的，”亨特说。 他拿起运动鞋，把它们套在脚上。 伙计对着车库门狂吠。 “这是你的狗吗？”特里问布拉德利。 “他在我们的车库里干什么？”“我不确定，但我想我们的仓鼠可能在里面，”布莱恩说。 “伙计能闻到她的味道，对吧，小子？”这让帕尔叫得更响了。 “你是说那只被偷的仓鼠吗？”Ms。 Tery问道。“亨特，你知道仓鼠的事吗？”亨特看了看自己的脚。 “嗯，是的，我想，”他说。 “你猜怎么着？”他妈妈说。 “好吧，我想我需要一个解释。” 猎人叹了口气。然后他拉开车库的门。 “进来吧，”他说。

"No way!" his mother said. "You know how I feel about spiders!" "There aren't any spiders, Mom," Hunter said. "The sign was to keep you out." Ms. Tery walked into the garage. The four kids followed her inside. Hunter came last. He left the door open. Two other teenagers were sitting at a workbench. "Hi, Ms. Tery," they both mumbled. "Hello, Will. Hello, Buddy," Ms. Tery said. "What're you fellas working on?" A laptop computer sat on the workbench. Each boy had a notebook in front of him. "It's our invention project," Hunter told his mother. "Oh, yes, the one that's a big secret," she said. "And does this project involve stealing a hamster?" Bradley noticed that Will and Buddy were wearing green-and-orange sneakers, like Hunter's. "Not exactly, Mom," Hunter said. He walked to the back of the garage. There was a sheet covering a lumpy mound on the floor. Hunter pulled the sheet off. Bradley saw the aquarium, a tennis

“不可能！”他妈妈说。 “你知道我对蜘蛛的感觉！”“没有蜘蛛，妈妈，”亨特说。 “那个标志是不让你进来的。” 特里女士走进车库。 四个孩子跟着她进去了。 亨特是最后一个。他让门开着。 另外两个十几岁的孩子坐在工作台前。 “嗨，特里女士。”他们俩都咕哝着说。 “你好,。你好，巴迪。 Tery说。“你们在忙什么？”工作台上放着一台笔记本电脑。 每个男孩面前都有一个笔记本。 “这是我们的发明项目，”亨特告诉他的母亲。 “哦，是的，就是那个大秘密，”她说。 “这个项目包括偷一只仓鼠吗？”布拉德利注意到威尔和巴迪穿着绿橙相间的运动鞋，就像亨特的一样。 “不完全是，妈妈，”亨特说。 他走到车库后面。 地板上有一块被单盖着一个凹凸不平的土墩。 亨特把床单扯下来。 布拉德利看到了水族馆，一个网球

racket, and a bunch of other stuff. Hunter came back with Goldi in his hands. "Goldi!" the four younger kids cried. Pal nearly went crazy barking. Hunter handed the hamster to Brian, who put him on the floor in front of Pal. Pal got flat on the floor, and Goldi climbed up on his nose. "All the other stuff we took is back there," Hunter said. Ms. Tery gave her son a long look. "Have a seat and explain, please," she said. Hunter folded his lanky body onto the bench next to Will and Buddy. "We belong to the Junior Inventors club at school," he said. "We decided to invent a new kind of sneaker." Will and Buddy held up their feet to show off theirs.

球拍，还有其他一些东西。 亨特带着戈尔迪回来了。 “戈尔迪！”四个小一点的孩子叫道。 朋友几乎要发疯了。 亨特把仓鼠递给布莱恩，布莱恩把它放在帕尔面前的地板上。 帕尔趴在地板上，戈尔迪爬上了他的鼻子。 “我们带走的所有其他东西都在后面，”亨特说。 特里太太久久地看了儿子一眼。 “请坐下来解释一下，”她说。 亨特把他瘦长的身体叠在威尔和巴迪旁边的长凳上。 “我们是学校少年发明家俱乐部的成员，”他说。 “我们决定发明一种新型运动鞋。” 威尔和巴迪举起脚来炫耀他们的脚。

Hunter pointed to his mother's sneakers. "I got the green-and-orange idea from yours, Mom," he said. "Our plan was to invent sneakers that didn't smell, even after you wore them a lot. We call them Sweet Feet. Will is real good in science, and he came up with this formula for the soles. His dad helped us find a company that agreed to make them. But first they wanted us to try them out, so they sent a few sample pairs." Hunter pointed down at his feet. "We were supposed to wear them to see if the formula worked," he went on. "But I decided to hang my pair around town to get people curious. I hung them in trees where people would see them and want to buy them." "What about the little ones?" Brian asked. "The company sent us a bunch," he said. "We decided to leave them at people's houses, to get them interested." "But why take the hamster?" his mother asked. "And those other things?" "That was Buddy's big idea," Hunter said. "But we were going to give it all back, honest! Buddy figured people would notice the miniature

亨特指着母亲的运动鞋。 “妈妈，我从你那里得到了绿色和橙色的主意，”他说。 “我们的计划是发明一种没有气味的运动鞋，即使你经常穿它们。 我们叫它们甜脚。威尔很擅长科学，他想出了这个鞋底配方。 他爸爸帮我们找了一家愿意生产的公司。 但首先他们想让我们试穿一下，所以他们寄来了几双样品。” 亨特向下指着他的脚。 “我们应该戴上它们，看看配方是否有效，”他接着说。 “但我决定把我的裤子挂在镇上，让人们好奇。 我把它们挂在树上，人们会看到它们并想买它们。” “小的呢？”布莱恩问。 “公司给我们送来了一堆，”他说。 “我们决定把它们放在人们的家里，让他们感兴趣。” “但是为什么要带走仓鼠呢？”他妈妈问。 “那其他的呢？”“这是巴迪的好主意，”亨特说。 “但是我们要把钱都还回去，真的！”巴迪认为人们会注意到他的微缩模型