6 How Big Is That Pumpkin in the Window

Chapter 6 How Big Is That Pumpkin in the Window? After school my mom picked up Max, my big brother, and me so we could go to the store to get new jeans. All my knees had holes again. My little sister, Hazel, was in her car seat. She was wearing fairy wings, her swimsuit, pajama bottoms, and yellow mittens. The usual. "Hazel, your socks don't match," Max said. "Neither do Roscoe's," she pointed out. "The red one is my lucky sock," I said. "When I wear it on my right foot, something good always happens." "Remind me to wash that one of these years," Mom said. "So what good thing happened today because of your red sock?" Hazel asked.

第六章橱窗里的南瓜有多大? 放学后，妈妈接麦克斯、哥哥和我去商店买新牛仔裤。 我的膝盖又破了洞。 我的小妹妹哈泽尔坐在她的汽车座椅上。 她戴着仙女的翅膀，穿着泳装，睡裤，戴着黄色的连指手套。 通常的。“黑兹尔，你的袜子不相配，”马克斯说。 “罗斯科的也一样，”她指出。 “红色的是我的幸运袜，”我说。 “当我把它戴在右脚上时，总会有好事发生。” “这几年记得提醒我把它洗了，”妈妈说。 “那么，你的红袜子给今天带来了什么好事?”黑兹尔问道。

"Nothing yet," I admitted. "But if Mom will take us to the bookstore, I think something wonderful might happen." I gave Mom my sweetest smile. It takes all my smile muscles. "Mom, can we go to the bookstore after we buy clothes?" I asked. "I need to weigh a giant pumpkin." Mom looked at me in the rearview mirror. "Could you run that by me again?" I explained all about the pumpkin and the bookstore and the school winning lots of books. I kind of forgot to mention the part about me winning a googol pounds of candy. Mom said yes. Not even "We'll see" or "Maybe some other time, Roscoe." We drove to a giant store called the Clothes Closet. It has pants and socks and underwear and other stuff that wears out. It is also probably the most boring place on the planet. Finally it was time for the bookstore. Hilltop Bookstore was at the very tip-top of a big hill.

“还没有。”我承认。 “但是如果妈妈带我们去书店，我想可能会发生一些奇妙的事情。” 我给了妈妈我最甜蜜的微笑。 它消耗了我所有的微笑肌肉。 “妈妈，我们买完衣服可以去书店吗?”我问。 “我要称一个大南瓜的重量。” 妈妈从后视镜里看着我。 “你能再说一遍吗?”我解释了所有关于南瓜、书店和学校赢得很多书的事情。 我忘了说我赢了一磅糖果的事了。 妈妈答应了。连"回头再说吧"或"改天吧，罗斯科"都没说 我们开车去了一家名叫“衣橱”的大商店。 它有裤子、袜子、内衣和其他可以穿旧的东西。 它也可能是地球上最无聊的地方。 终于到了去书店的时间了。 山顶书店坐落在一座大山的山顶上。

Mom parked the car at the bottom of the hill near a statue of our town founder, Thomas Toadswaddle. It's a very big statue made of metal. He is wearing an old-fashioned hat. And holding a porcupine. Nobody knows why. I guess he just liked porcupines. We walked past the statue and up the hill. Max and Hazel and I beat Mom to the bookstore. There it was at last. The giant pumpkin. It was beautiful and big and very orange. It was the size of a baby dinosaur. Or maybe a teenager elephant. We made whoa and no way sounds. Max whistled. I tried to whistle, but my whistle has more spit than whistle.

妈妈把车停在山脚下，靠近我们镇的创始人托马斯·托德襁褓的雕像。 这是一座很大的金属雕像。 他戴着一顶老式的帽子。 抱着一只豪猪。没人知道为什么。 我猜他只是喜欢豪猪。 我们走过雕像，上了山。 麦克斯，海柔尔和我比妈妈先到书店。 它终于来了。巨大的南瓜。 它又大又漂亮，是橘黄色的。 它有一只小恐龙那么大。 或者是一只十几岁的大象。 我们发出了“哇”和“没门”的声音。 马克斯吹口哨。我试着吹口哨，但我的口哨比口哨更有口水。

Then Hazel told Mom I was spitting on her. Which was true. But it doesn't count as real spitting if it's whistle spit. And not on purpose. When we got inside, the bookstore clerk said, "I saw you checking out our pumpkin. Would you like to guess its weight?" "You bet!" I said. "Just write down your guess, and be sure to include your name and phone number," said the

然后黑兹尔告诉妈妈我朝她吐口水了。 这是真的。但如果是口哨声，就不算真正的吐痰。 而且不是故意的。当我们走进书店时，店员说:“我看到你在看我们的南瓜。 你想猜猜它的重量吗?”“你赌!”我说。 “只要写下你的猜测，一定要写上你的名字和电话号码。

bookstore guy, whose name was Dan. It said so on his name tag. Sometimes knowing a little about reading comes in very handy. "I guess fifteen pounds because that's how old Rachel is and she is my favorite babysitter," Hazel said. "Okay, Hazel," said Mom. "Fifteen pounds it is." Mom wrote down Hazel's guess for her. Then Max wrote his. Mom read the contest rules. "If one of you kids wins, you are all sharing the candy prize," she said. "And you're making it last five years." "Mommy, can I look at the pop-up books?" Hazel asked. "Sure," said Mom. "Roscoe, we'll just be over in the children's books. Take your best guess, sweetie." I walked back and forth past the giant pumpkin. I looked it up and down. I knocked on it. I even sniffed it. Max groaned. "Just write down some number, Roscoe. It's not like you're actually going to win."

书店的人，他叫丹。 他的名牌上是这么写的。 有时候，了解一点阅读知识是很有用的。 黑兹尔说:“我猜是15磅，因为蕾切尔就这么大，她是我最喜欢的保姆。” “好吧，黑兹尔，”妈妈说。“是十五镑。” 妈妈为她写下了Hazel的猜测。 然后马克斯写了他的。妈妈读了比赛规则。 她说:“如果你们中的一个孩子赢了，你们就分享糖果奖。” “而且你要让它持续五年。” “妈妈，我能看看这些立体书吗?”黑兹尔问道。 “当然，”妈妈说。“罗斯科，我们就在儿童读物里。 亲爱的，你自己猜吧。” 我在巨大的南瓜前走来走去。 我上下打量了一番。我敲了敲门。 我甚至闻一闻。马克斯呻吟着。 “写下一些数字，罗斯科。 又不是说你真的会赢。”

Big brothers should come with a set of earplugs. It is hard to keep your candy-and-books dream alive when they are around. I touched my lucky red sock for good luck. Then I closed my eyes and waited to see if the perfect number popped into my brain. But instead of a number, I thought of a fuzzy caterpillar. Then I thought of a fuzzy panda bear. Then I thought of a fuzzy— Something was tickling my hand! "Look, Roscoe!" Hazel said. "I found this kitty in the pop-up books!" I opened my eyes. Hazel was holding a tiny kitten. A real one. A real, live BLACK CAT!

大哥应该带一副耳塞。 当他们在身边的时候，你很难保持你的糖果和书的梦想。 我摸了摸我的幸运红袜子以求好运。 然后我闭上眼睛，等着看一个完美的数字是否突然出现在我的脑海里。 但我想到的不是数字，而是一只毛茸茸的毛毛虫。 然后我想到了一只毛茸茸的熊猫。 然后我想到了一个模糊的东西在挠我的手!“看,罗斯科!”黑兹尔说。 “我在立体书里找到了这只小猫!”我睁开眼睛。 黑兹尔抱着一只小猫。 一个真正的。一只活生生的黑猫!