Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17 "Why is there a cat stuck in my floor?" Michael, back from school, looked around his room. Mr. Nemesis was the only animal in sight. "Merle? Pearl?" Michael whispered, concerned. Not hearing a response, he ran

第十七章“为什么有只猫卡在我的地板上？”迈克尔从学校回来，环顾了一下他的房间。 涅墨西斯先生是眼前唯一的动物。 “默尔?珠儿?”迈克尔担心地小声说。 没有听到回应，他跑了

over and unplugged Mr. Nemesis from the vent. "What did you do with them?!" Michael demanded, holding the disgruntled cat at eye level. "Grrrrr," Mr. Nemesis growled. "Bad kitty," Michael scolded. "We're in here!" Merle called out from the vent. Hearing Merle's voice, Mr. Nemesis tried to squirm free. Michael ran to the door and tossed him into the hallway, slamming his door shut before the cat could pounce back in. THUD! "Mrrrrr!" could be heard on the other side of the door. With the coast clear, Merle and Pearl popped their heads out of the vent. "We have got to do something about these living arrangements," Merle complained. "So? How did you do?" Pearl asked Michael eagerly. Michael frowned. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper with a sigh. "What?!" Pearl gasped. "I was sure that you—" She stopped as Michael handed her the test results. She stared at a big, fat 98 next to a big smiley face.

把克星先生从通风口上拔了下来。 “你对他们做了什么？！”迈克尔问道，把那只不高兴的猫放在眼睛的高度。 “呜——呜。”涅梅西斯先生咆哮道。 “坏猫，”迈克尔责骂道。 “我们在这里！”莫尔从通风口喊道。 听到梅尔的声音，克星先生试图挣脱。 迈克尔跑到门口，把他扔到走廊里，在猫还没来得及冲进来之前就把门砰地关上了。 砰的一声!门的另一边传来“唔……”的声音。 海岸安全了，莫尔和珀尔从通风口探出头来。 “我们必须对这些生活安排做点什么，”梅尔抱怨道。 “所以呢?你做得怎么样？”珠儿急切地问迈克尔。 迈克尔皱起了眉头。他把手伸进背包，叹了口气，拿出一张皱巴巴的纸。 “什么? !”珍珠气喘吁吁地说。“我确信你——”迈克尔把检查结果递给她时，她停了下来。 她盯着一个又大又胖的98，旁边是一个大大的笑脸。

Michael cracked up. "Got you!" he said. "Ohhhhh!" Pearl scowled. "Don't scare me like that!" "It was a hard test, but studying paid off! Ms. McKay took 15 points off for the retake, which means I got an 83 —an official B! Now that $10 is mine, and I can pay Justin back with $5 to spare!" "That's a lot of math right there," Merle noted. "A good grade on your test is the best reward, but $10 is a nice incentive," Pearl said. "When you work hard, you prosper!"

迈克尔笑了。“抓到你了！”他说。 “啊!”珍珠皱起了眉头。“别这样吓唬我！”“这是一个很难的考试，但学习是有回报的！”Ms。 麦凯重考扣掉了15分，这意味着我得了83分——正式的B！现在这0是我的了，我可以用多余的钱还贾斯廷了！”梅尔指出：“这里有很多数学问题。 珀尔说：“在考试中取得好成绩是最好的奖励，但0分是一个很好的激励。” “当你努力工作时，你就会成功！”

"You know what this means, right?" Michael asked Merle. "Skee-Ball and skating to celebrate!" "Woo-hoo!" Merle hollered. Michael and the squirrels circled up and did a happy dance in the middle of the room. Suddenly, the door opened. Michael spun around to look, worried that Mr. Nemesis had figured out how to open it. No. Worse. Much worse. It was Michael's mom, staring in disbelief at her son happy dancing with two rodents. Justin and Sadie stood directly behind her, mouths hanging open.

“你知道这意味着什么，对吧？”迈克尔问莫尔。 “用滑雪球和滑冰来庆祝！”“啊!”默尔大声喊道。 迈克尔和松鼠们围成一圈，在房间中央高兴地跳起了舞。 突然，门开了。 迈克尔转过身去看，担心克星先生已经找到了打开它的方法。 否。更糟。更糟。那是迈克尔的妈妈，她难以置信地看着儿子开心地和两只啮齿动物跳舞。 贾斯汀和赛迪就站在她身后，张着嘴。

"AHHHHH!!!" Mrs. Gomez screamed. Before she could collect herself, Justin asked, "You guys ready to go skating?" Michael knew he needed to act fast before his mom started asking questions. "Mom, can I go?" Mrs. Gomez, in shock, simply nodded her head as Michael stuffed the squirrels into his backpack and headed out.

“啊! ! ! !”戈麦斯太太尖叫起来。 她还没回过神来，贾斯汀就问：“你们准备好去滑冰了吗？”迈克尔知道他必须在妈妈开始问问题之前迅速采取行动。 “妈妈，我能去吗？”戈麦斯夫人很震惊，只是点了点头，迈克尔把松鼠塞进背包，然后走了出去。