7 A Distant Relative

chapter 7 A DISTANT RELATIVE Sploooosh! Mrs. Scuttle's hand plunged into the suds in front of the Umbubble. "Now, where is that plug?" they heard her mumble. GLOORP! "Maybe Mrs. Scuttle will get the plug back in," said Andrew nervously. Judy looked around the tub. Sponge Island was beside them. It was moving toward the drain, too. "Paddle us to the sponge, Andrew!" she said. "What about the ant?" Andrew asked. "Either we get ourselves onto that sponge or we go down the drain!" Judy said. "Here, I'll help."

第7章一位远房亲戚！斯卡托太太把手伸进了泡泡前面的泡沫里。 “喂，那个插头在哪儿？”他们听见她喃喃地说。 GLOORP !“也许斯卡特尔太太会把插头插回去，”安德鲁紧张地说。 朱迪环视了一下浴缸。 海绵岛就在他们旁边。 它也在向排水沟移动。 “把我们划到海绵上，安德鲁！”她说。 “那蚂蚁呢？”安德鲁问道。 “我们要么爬到海绵上，要么就掉进下水道！”朱迪说。 “来，我来帮你。”

She pushed her legs through the Um-bubble and started kicking. But the current held the Umbubble like a train on a track. They couldn't get to the sponge! The drain was getting closer and closer. Ahwooooo! Water splashed and soap bubbles popped as Harley bounded out of the tub. The Umbubble bounced and spun in the rough water. "You come back here, mister!" screamed Mrs. Scuttle. She rushed after Harley—and left the drain open! Out of the corner of his eye, Andrew caught a glimpse of something big coming up behind the sponge. It looked like a smooth white iceberg! "Holy moly!" said Andrew. "Look at that!" meep… "Bar of soap!" said Thudd. "It's as big as the Titanic!" said Judy. The soap bashed into the sponge. The sponge smashed into the Umbubble! Thump!

她把腿伸到泡泡里，开始踢。 但是水流把Umbubble拖得像轨道上的火车一样。 他们够不到海绵！排水沟越来越近了。 Ahwooooo !哈利从浴缸里跳出来时，溅起了水，肥皂泡噼啪作响。 Umbubble在波涛汹涌的水中弹跳旋转。 “你给我回来，先生！”斯卡特尔太太尖叫道。 她冲过去追哈利——却忘了关排水沟！从眼角的余光里，安德鲁瞥见海绵后面出现了一个很大的东西。 它看起来像一座光滑的白色冰山！“天哪！”安德鲁说。 “一块肥皂！” “它和泰坦尼克号一样大！”朱迪说。 肥皂冲进海绵里。 海绵砸在了泡泡里！重打!

"Oof!" hollered Andrew and Judy as they slammed back against the wall of the Umbubble. The next thing they knew, Andrew and Judy were looking into the yawning mouth of a huge, spooky cave. The Umbubble was stuck to the bottom of the sponge! Almost all the water had drained out of the bathtub, but the sponge was still sliding slowly toward the front.

“汪！”安德鲁和朱迪叫了一声，猛地撞在Umbubble的墙上。 接下来，安德鲁和朱迪看到了一个巨大的、令人毛骨悚然的山洞，洞口张着大口。 Umbubble粘在海绵底部了！几乎所有的水都从浴缸里流出来了，但海绵还在慢慢地向前面滑动。

Suddenly Thudd's purple button started blinking. The button popped open. Out came the purple beam. Outside the Umbubble, at the edge of the sponge cave, a purple, transparent Uncle Al was waving at them. "Unkie!" said Thudd. "Uncle Al, is it really you?" Andrew asked. "It had better be," said Judy. Uncle Al laughed. "That sounds like Judy. And is that Thudd and Andrew, too?" Andrew and Judy looked at each other, confused. "It's us, Uncle Al," said Andrew. "Can't you see us?" "Oh! I guess I should explain!" said Uncle Al. "I can hear you but I can't see you. Not with this model of the Hologram Helper. I'm still working on it. Are you okay? What's the purple-button emergency?" "Well," said Andrew. "The first thing is, we're really small—"

突然，泰德的紫色按钮开始闪烁。 按钮砰的一声打开了。紫色的光束出来了。 在泡泡外面，海绵洞的边缘，一个紫色的、透明的艾尔叔叔正在向他们招手。 “哎哟！”“艾尔叔叔，真的是你吗？”安德鲁问道。 “最好是这样，”朱迪说。 艾尔叔叔笑了。“听起来像朱迪。 那也是泰德和安德鲁吗？”安德鲁和朱迪面面相觑，不知所措。 “是我们，阿尔叔叔。”安德鲁说。 “你看不见我们吗？”“哦!我想我应该解释一下！”阿尔叔叔说。 “我能听到你说话，但我看不见你。 用这个全息图助手是不行的。 我还在努力。你还好吗？ 什么是紫色按钮紧急事件？”“嗯，”安德鲁说。 “首先，我们真的很小——”

"Of course you're small!" said Uncle Al. "You're only ten years old! You'll grow! I don't think that's a purple-button emergency Andrew." Judy rolled her eyes. "Uncle Al, we're smaller than flyspecks! We've been up a dog's nose! We got dragged off by a flea! We've been attacked by eyelash mites! Now we're inside this rubbery Umbubble thing and stuck under a sponge that's sliding toward the drain in Mrs. Scuttle's bathtub!" Uncle Al's eyebrows went up. "Ah! Well, that's a different story!" Judy went on. "We've got to get back to the Atom Sucker. That's the gizmo Andrew invented that shrunk us. It's in my backyard." "And we've got to get back by 8:01 tonight," Andrew added. "What happens at 8:01?" asked Uncle Al. "The Atom Sucker might kind of… blow up," said Andrew. "And we'll be stuck like this forever!" said Judy.

“你当然小了！”阿尔叔叔说。 “你才十岁！”你会成长!我不认为这是紧急情况，安德鲁。” 朱迪翻了个白眼。“艾尔叔叔，我们比飞沫还小！”我们一直在狗的鼻子里！我们被跳蚤拖走了！我们被睫毛螨袭击了！现在我们在这个橡胶泡泡里，被卡在一块海绵下面，海绵正滑向斯卡托太太浴缸的排水管！”艾尔叔叔扬起了眉毛。 “啊!好吧，那是另一回事了！”朱迪接着说。 “我们必须回到原子吸盘那里。 那是安德鲁发明的缩小我们的小玩意。 就在我家后院。”“我们必须在今晚8点01分之前回来，”安德鲁补充道。 “8点01分发生了什么？”阿尔叔叔问。 “原子吸盘可能会……爆炸。”安德鲁说。 “我们就永远被困在这里了！”朱迪说。

"Humpty Dumpty on a Ritz cracker!" exclaimed Uncle Al. "This is a purple-button emergency." Suddenly the left half of Uncle Al disappeared. "I hope this doesn't mean you're leaving, Uncle Al," said Judy. "What do you mean?" asked Uncle Al. "Half of you isn't there!" said Judy. Uncle Al's voice sounded far away. "There must be a problem with Thudd's antennas. I may not be able to stay long." The right half of Uncle Al started to fade. "Come back!" said Andrew. "I've got to tell you about Thudd!" But Uncle Al turned as clear as a raindrop and disappeared completely.

“胖墩儿吃里兹饼干！”艾尔叔叔叫道。 “这是一个紫色按钮紧急事件。” 突然，阿尔叔叔的左半部分不见了。 “我希望这不是说你要走了，阿尔叔叔，”朱迪说。 “你是什么意思？”阿尔叔叔问。 “你们一半人都不在！”朱迪说。 阿尔叔叔的声音听起来很远。 “泰德的天线肯定有问题。 我可能待不了多久了。” 阿尔叔叔的右半部分开始褪色。 “回来！”安德鲁说。“我得告诉你关于砰的事！”但阿尔叔叔却像雨滴一样清晰地消失了。