Chapter 1

THE DEAD SEA SQUIRRELS Boy Meets Squirrels From the co-creator of VeggieTales Mike Nawrocki Illustrated by Luke Seguin-Magee

《死海松鼠》男孩遇见了《VeggieTales》的共同创作者迈克·纳瓦罗基的松鼠，由卢克·塞根-马吉绘制

CHAPTER 1 The bell sounded, and so ended the first day of fifth grade. "One down, 179 to go!" Michael Gomez said as he closed his history textbook and packed it into his homeroom desk. "Don't rush it!" Michael's best friend, Justin, said, standing up from his desk and slinging on his backpack. "We're fifth graders for a whole year. Elementary school royalty! Enjoy it!"

第一章下课铃响了，五年级的第一天就这样结束了。 “干掉一个，还剩179个！”迈克尔·戈麦斯说着合上历史课本，把它塞进了教室的桌子。 “别着急！”迈克尔最好的朋友贾斯汀说着，从桌子上站起来，背起背包。 “我们整整一年都是五年级学生。 小学皇族！享受它!”

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Michael replied as they headed into the hallway. "Next year, we'll be back down at the bottom of the pile again in middle school." Justin stopped an unsuspecting second grader in the hall. "You there, young one. Would you like some wise advice from an older and much, much wiser fifth grader?" "Um... I gotta go." The kid hurried away. "He's obviously intimidated by our greatness," Michael said. "Have you seen Sadie today? I want to tell her about the squirrels." "Nope. Haven't seen her." "You gotta come check them out. I set them up in cool poses on my dresser. They look like crusty action figures."

“是啊，我想你是对的。”迈克尔回答道，他们朝走廊走去。 “明年，我们中学的成绩又会降到最底层。” 贾斯汀在大厅拦住了一个毫无戒心的二年级学生。 “你在那儿，年轻人。你想听听一个比你年长、比你聪明得多的五年级学生的忠告吗？”“嗯…… 我得走了。”那孩子匆匆走开了。 “他显然被我们的伟大吓到了，”迈克尔说。 “你今天看到赛迪了吗？” 我想告诉她松鼠的事。” “不。我没见过她。”“你一定要来看看。 我把它们摆成很酷的姿势放在我的梳妆台上。 它们看起来就像硬邦邦的人偶。”

"Gross," Justin replied. He was not a fan of the two petrified squirrels Michael had brought home from their summer trip. The friends had spent the whole summer in a tent near the Dead Sea in the Middle East with Michael's dad, who was a professor of ancient civilizations. On the last day of their trip, Michael nearly got lost forever when he disappeared into a cave, all by himself, to retrieve the disgusting little creatures. "Gross is just the word that came to mind when I saw you coming!" a voice called out as Michael and Justin exited the school to cut through the playground on their walk home. Edgar, by far the biggest kid at school, leaned against the jungle gym with two smaller fourth-grade friends who seemed to think Edgar's comment was hilarious. "Hey, Edgar," Justin answered nervously. One of the reasons Edgar was the biggest kid in school was that he was most likely the oldest. No one had ever dared to ask him how old he was, but Michael and Justin were pretty sure he had to be at least 12. Even though he was only in fourth grade, everyone knew rule number one at Walnut Creek Elementary School was Don't Mess with Edgar.

“恶心，”贾斯汀回答。他不喜欢迈克尔夏天旅行带回来的两只石化松鼠。 这对朋友整个夏天都在中东死海附近的一个帐篷里和迈克尔的父亲一起度过，迈克尔的父亲是一位古代文明教授。 在他们旅行的最后一天，迈克尔几乎永远迷路了，因为他一个人消失在一个山洞里，去找回那些恶心的小生物。 “看到你来的时候，我脑子里就想到了恶心这个词！”迈克尔和贾斯汀走出学校，穿过操场回家时，一个声音喊道。 埃德加是学校里最大的孩子，他和两个四年级的小个子朋友靠在攀登架上，他们似乎觉得埃德加的评论很滑稽。 “嘿，埃德加。”贾斯汀紧张地回答。 埃德加之所以是学校里最大的孩子，其中一个原因是他很可能是年龄最大的。 从来没有人敢问他多大了，但迈克尔和贾斯汀很确定他至少有12岁了。 尽管他才上四年级，但大家都知道核桃溪小学的第一条规矩是别惹埃德加。

But now Michael was elementary school royalty. He stuck out his chest. "Don't mess with us, Edgar. We're fifth graders!" Terrified, Justin whispered to Michael, "What did you say?" Not terrified in the least, Edgar stepped forward and yelled, "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

但现在迈克尔是小学的贵族了。 他挺起胸膛。“别惹我们，埃德加。 我们是五年级学生！”贾斯汀吓坏了，小声问迈克尔：“你说什么？”埃德加一点也不害怕，走上前喊道：“你说什么？！”