3 The Floating Brain

Chapter 3 THE FLOATING BRAIN meep… "Called moss animal!" said Thudd. "Moss animal not one animal. Is colony. Millions, millions, millions of tiny animals that live together. "Not hurt Drewd and Oody. Moss animal eat things too small to see—germs and stuff."

“叫苔藓动物！”萨德说。 “苔藓动物不是一种动物。 是殖民地。数以百万计的小动物生活在一起。 “不要伤害德鲁和奥迪。苔藓动物吃小得看不见的东西——细菌之类的。”

"Gross-a-mundo!" said Judy. "Let's get out of here!" "Pedal harder!" said Andrew. It wasn't easy to pedal underwater, but Andrew and Judy kept at it until they were hot and sweaty. The GNAT's wings didn't even flutter. Andrew shook his head. "Um, the GNAT isn't working," he said. "Nothing you make ever works!" said Judy. meep… "Purple-button time," said Thudd. Thudd had three rows of three buttons on his chest. Each button glowed bright green except for

“世界真恶心！”朱迪说。 “我们离开这里吧！”“踩得更用力！”安德鲁说。 在水下踩踏板并不容易，但安德鲁和朱迪一直坚持着，直到他们又热又出汗。 小蚊的翅膀甚至没有抖动。 安德鲁摇了摇头。“嗯，蚊子不工作，”他说。 “你做的东西都没用！”朱迪说。 “紫色按钮的时间到了。” 砰砰的胸前有三排纽扣。 每个按钮都是亮绿色的，除了

the big purple button in the middle. That was the emergency button for calling Uncle Al. Thudd pressed the big purple button. It blinked three times and went off. Andrew pointed left. "There's a lily pad a couple of feet away. We can paddle to it and wait for Uncle Al." Using their hands as oars, Andrew and Judy rowed the GNAT toward the lily pad. "Yeoouch!" cried Judy, struggling to pull her hand out of the water. "Something's got my arm! HELP!" Andrew undid his seat belt and leaned over to see. Thudd crept out of Andrew's pocket, scurried over Judy's lap, and looked down. Just below the water, an insect hung upside down. Four of its prickly legs gripped Judy's arm. meep… "Backswimmer bug!" said Thudd. "Swim upside down under skin of water. Breathe by trapping air bubble in special hairs on body." Andrew grabbed Judy's arm. "When I count to three, yank!

中间那个紫色的大纽扣。 那是呼叫艾尔叔叔的紧急按钮。 砰地按了一下紫色的大按钮。 它眨了三下眼睛就熄灭了。 安德鲁指着左边。“几英尺远的地方有一片睡莲。 我们可以划过去等阿尔叔叔。” 安德鲁和朱迪用手当桨，把小蚊蚋划向睡莲丛。 “哎呀！”朱迪叫道，挣扎着把她的手从水里抽出来。 “有东西咬住了我的胳膊！”救命!”安德鲁解开安全带，俯下身去看。 “砰”从安德鲁的口袋里爬出来，跑到朱迪的腿上，往下看。 就在水下，一只昆虫倒挂着。 它的四条带刺的腿抓住朱迪的胳膊。 “背泳虫！” “在水面下倒过来游泳。 通过身体上特殊的毛发捕捉气泡来呼吸。” 安德鲁抓住朱迪的胳膊。 “我数到三的时候，拉克！”

"One… two… three! Oooomph!" With the yank, Judy's arm came free. But the GNAT flipped over and dumped Andrew and Judy into the water. Eek! squeaked Thudd as he plunked into the pond. "Blurf!" sputtered Andrew, coming up for air. "Blaaargh!" Judy half coughed and half sneezed. Andrew scooped Thudd up and put him back in his pocket. "It's a good thing I gave you three

“一……二……三！”Oooomph !”猛地一拉，朱迪的胳膊松开了。 但是蚊子翻了个身，把安德鲁和朱迪扔进了水里。 唷!砰地一声掉进池塘里。 “胡说！”安德鲁喘着气说。 “Blaaargh !”朱迪半咳嗽半打喷嚏。 安德鲁把萨德捞起来，放回口袋里。 “幸亏我给了你三个

coats of Protectum," said Andrew. "Your brain chips won't get soggy." He turned to Judy. "Now aren't you glad you were wearing a Wannabee?" he asked. "That bug could have chomped your arm off." "I'm not glad about anything!" said Judy. "Come on," said Andrew. "Let's flip the GNAT over and try to fly it." Andrew and Judy tugged and pulled, but the GNAT was bigger than they were and heavy with water. All the while, they could hear the croaking of the frogs. Underwater, things were poking them. One of the GNAT's wings slipped and the GNAT quickly sank. "Uh-oh," said Andrew. "Guess we'll have to swim to the lily pad." "Swim." said Judy. "It's hard to even stay afloat in this stupid Wannabee." Andrew shrugged. "We don't have much choice," he said. "Unless you want to hitch a ride

安得烈说。 “你的大脑芯片不会被浸湿。” 他转向朱迪。“现在你是不是很高兴你戴了一个Wannabee?”他问。 “那只虫子可能把你的胳膊咬掉了。” “我什么都不高兴！”朱迪说。 “来吧。”安德鲁说。“让我们把蚊子翻过来，试着让它飞起来。” 安德鲁和朱迪又拉又拉，但蚊子比他们还大，而且水很沉。 他们一直能听到青蛙的呱呱声。 水下有东西在戳他们。 小蚊的一只翅膀滑了一下，小蚊很快沉了下去。 “哦哦，”安德鲁说。“看来我们得游到睡莲叶那儿去了。” “游泳。”朱迪说。“在这个愚蠢的Wannabee上都很难保持漂浮。” 安德鲁耸耸肩。“我们没有太多选择，”他说。 “除非你想搭便车

on that!" He pointed to a giant bug swimming toward them. It looked like a cockroach. Its back was covered with white bumps. "Aaaaaaack!" said Judy. meep… "Giant water bug!" said Thudd. "Male giant water bug. Female water bug glue eggs onto back of male water bug. Male take care of eggs till eggs hatch. "Giant water bug ferocious. Eat anything. Catch fish. Eat tadpoles." Andrew treaded water quietly till the giant water bug passed by. "He doesn't seem interested in eating us," said Andrew. "Let's get to the lily pad before he changes his mind." Andrew dog-paddled toward the lily pad. Judy pulled ahead of him. She was captain of her swim team at Benjamin Franklin Junior High. All around them, long-legged water striders skittered over the pond. One of their feet brushed against Andrew's face.

在那!”他指着一只向他们游来的大虫子。 它看起来像一只蟑螂。 它的背上长满了白色的疙瘩。 “啊——啊！”朱迪说。“巨大的水虫！” “雄性巨型水虫。雌水虫把卵粘在雄水虫的背上。 雄性照顾卵直到卵孵化。 巨大的水虫凶猛。 吃任何东西。抓鱼。蝌蚪吃。” 安德鲁静静地踩着水，直到巨大的水虫经过。 “他似乎对吃我们不感兴趣。”安德鲁说。 “在他改变主意之前，我们去睡莲叶吧。” 安德鲁像狗一样朝睡莲叶划去。 朱迪把车开到他前面。她是本杰明·富兰克林初中游泳队的队长。 在他们周围，长腿的水黾在池塘里游来游去。 他们的一只脚擦到了安德鲁的脸。