9 A Patch of Blue

Chapter 9 A PATCH OF BLUE Oh no! Andrew thought. He grabbed Thudd and started to run toward the edge of the butter. But it was far away, and the butter was slippery. Mrs. Scuttle opened the door of the toaster oven, put in a slice of bread, closed the door, and flipped a switch. Then she stomped back to the refrigerator. The next second, Andrew and Thudd were zooming out of the refrigerator into the warm air of the kitchen. It was as if the butter dish were a flying saucer!

第九章一片蓝色哦，不！安德鲁的想法。 他一把抓住泰德，朝黄油的边缘跑去。 但那地方很远，黄油又很滑。 斯卡特尔太太打开烤面包机的门，放了一片面包进去，关上门，打开开关。 然后她跺着脚回到冰箱前。 下一秒，安德鲁和萨德嗖地从冰箱里出来，进入了厨房的温暖空气中。 就好像那盘黄油是一个飞碟！

They landed on the kitchen counter, right next to the plate where Mrs. Scuttle had made her tomato-and-cheese sandwich. Ding! Mrs. Scuttle took the hot toast out of the toaster oven and put it on the plate. Then Andrew saw a silver flash. It was the knife again! The blade slammed into the stick of butter and peeled the butter away in a huge wave of yellow. It curled toward Andrew and Thudd, picked them up, and swept them away!

它们落在厨房柜台上，就在斯卡托太太做番茄奶酪三明治的盘子旁边。 丁!斯卡托太太从烤面包机里拿出热面包，放在盘子里。 接着，安德鲁看到一道银色的闪光。 又是那把刀！刀刃猛撞在黄油棒上，把黄油剥开，形成一大片黄色。 它卷向安德鲁和萨德，把他们抱起来，把他们卷走了！

They lifted off into the air and then swooped down. Andrew could see they were headed for the huge brown field of toast below! The butter landed, and Andrew began to feel warm—toasty warm. meep… "Warm, warm, warm!" squeaked Thudd. "Getting dry!" Andrew smiled. "Super-duper pooper scooper!" The butter was melting. Andrew was getting as buttery as Thudd! The knife started smooshing the butter around the bread like a snowplow. Andrew and Thudd ended up on the very edge of the bread crust. Andrew looked down over the bread crust to the plate below. He saw lots of breadcrumbs and some sparkling, cube-shaped boulders. meep… "Salt!" said Thudd. "Salt come from salt cave. Salt cave happen when old ocean dry up!" Then Thudd got excited. meep… "Look!" he squeaked. "Blue!"

他们飞到空中，然后俯冲下来。 安德鲁看见他们正朝着下面那大片棕色的烤面包地飞去！黄油落地了，安德鲁开始感到一阵暖意。 “温暖，温暖，温暖！” “干!”安德鲁笑了。 “超级屎铲！”黄油在融化。 安德鲁变得像砰砰一样兴高采烈！刀开始像扫雪机一样把面包周围的黄油磨碎。 安德鲁和萨德最后站在了面包皮的边缘。 安德鲁从面包皮上往下看了看下面的盘子。 他看到了许多面包屑和一些闪闪发光的立方体巨石。 “盐！” “盐来自盐洞。 老海洋干涸时就会出现盐洞！”然后，泰德变得兴奋起来。 “看！”他尖声说。 “蓝!”

Andrew squinted in the direction Thudd was pointing. There was a speck of blue behind one of the salt boulders. Above the blue was a bit of frizzy brown! "Judy!" said Andrew. "Oody!" said Thudd. Judy didn't look up. She was too far away to hear their tiny voices. "Hmm," murmured Andrew. "I have an idea." He threw the end of the Drastic Elastic toward Judy. It zoomed past her and bounced off a salt crystal. Judy spun around to see what had happened. Then she looked up. But she didn't see them. Andrew snapped the Drastic Elastic back. He whirled it over his head like a lasso and threw it again. This time the little cup on the end got caught on a salt crystal next to Judy. Judy ran over to the cup. She picked it up and looked it over. Then she put it up to her mouth. Andrew put the other end up to his ear.

安德鲁眯着眼睛朝萨德指的方向看了看。 在一块盐砾的后面有一个蓝色的斑点。 在蓝色的上方是一点卷曲的棕色！“朱迪！”安德鲁说。 “哇！”朱迪没有抬头。 她离得太远，听不到他们细微的声音。 “嗯，”安德鲁喃喃地说。“我有个主意。” 他把强力橡皮筋的一端扔给朱迪。 它从她身边呼啸而过，被一块盐晶体弹了回来。 朱迪转过身去看看发生了什么事。 然后她抬起头来。但是她没有看到他们。 安德鲁啪的一声把强力橡皮筋弹了回去。 他把它像套索一样绕过头顶，又扔了出去。 这一次，末端的小杯子被朱迪旁边的一块盐水晶夹住了。 朱迪跑向杯子。她把它捡起来仔细看了看。 然后她把它放到嘴边。 安德鲁把另一端放到耳朵上。

"WELL, HELLO, MR. BUG-BRAIN!" Judy yelled. She yelled so loudly that Andrew's ear hurt! "Wait till I get my hands on you! Where have you been!" "We've been chilling in the refrigerator," said Andrew. "But the good news is that Thudd got buttered. And the toast is so warm it's getting him dry! What happened to you? We were afraid you got microwaved on Mrs. Scuttle's sandwich!" "Almost!" said Judy. "But I got knocked off a slice of tomato by a grain of salt!" Suddenly the toast started rising into the air. Mrs. Scuttle was about to take a bite! Andrew felt a tug on the Drastic Elastic. Judy was trying to pull them off the crust and down to the plate. But the Drastic Elastic was caught on the crust!

“你好，虫脑先生！”朱迪喊道。 她叫得那么大声，安德鲁的耳朵都疼了！“等我抓到你！”你上哪儿去了？”“我们一直在冰箱里冻着，”安德鲁说。 但好消息是，泰德被涂上了黄油。 烤面包太热了，把他弄干了！你怎么了？ 我们还担心你在斯卡托太太的三明治上被微波炉加热了呢！”“差不多了！”朱迪说。 “但是我被一粒盐从一片西红柿上撞下来了！”突然，祝酒词开始升到空中。 斯卡托太太正要咬一口呢！安德鲁感到有人在猛拉橡皮筋。 朱迪想把它们从脆皮上扯下来，放到盘子里。 但是“剧烈弹性”号被地壳卡住了！

Judy got dragged off the plate as Mrs. Scuttle raised the toast to her lips. Andrew yanked the Drastic Elastic free from the crust and gave it a sharp snap. Judy bounced up and landed beside him! "Oh, great!" said Judy. She let go of her end of the Drastic Elastic and climbed over a buttery crumb. "Now we're both going to be slurped up by rubbery Scuttle lips!"

当斯卡托太太把烤面包片举到嘴边时，朱迪被从盘子里拖了出来。 安德鲁猛地把“剧烈弹性”从地壳上拽了出来，啪了一声。 朱迪跳起来，落在他身边！“哦，太好了！”朱迪说。 她松开了强力橡皮筋的一端，爬上了一块黄油屑。 “现在我们两个人都要被橡皮似的贝壳嘴吞下去了！”