10 The Sweetshop Sleepover

The Sweetshop Sleepover Bethany hadn't left the house with any kind of plan. She'd done it because she needed the space. Usually, she found scooting around the neighborhood at night a pretty awesome way to clear her head. But before she even made it to the end of their road, she was waved to a

糖果店过夜宝芬妮出门时没有任何计划。 她这么做是因为她需要空间。 通常，她发现晚上在附近骑摩托车是一种非常棒的清醒头脑的方式。 但还没等她走到路的尽头，就有人向她招手

stop by her neighbor, Eduardo Barnacle—a nosy child, in every sense of the word. "What do you want, Barnacle?" she asked. "A softer tone of voice wouldn't go amiss," said Eduardo, as he flared his humongous nostrils snootily. "Especially as I wish to wish you my most jubilant congratulations." "You what?" said Bethany." 'Jubilant.' It means triumphant and joyous. I learned it from my word-of-the-day loo paper," said Eduardo, enormously pleased to have an opportunity to trot out the new word. "I heard the news about your party! My family was honored and positively jubilated to receive the invitation from Miss Muddle this morning." "Oh right, that—yeah," mumbled Bethany.

顺便去看看她的邻居爱德华多·巴纳克——一个不折不扣的爱管闲事的孩子。 “你想干什么，藤壶？”她问。 “柔和一点的语气不会有问题，”爱德华多说着，傲慢地张开了他那巨大的鼻孔。 “尤其是我要向你致以最热烈的祝贺。” “你说什么？”宝芬妮说。 “欢欣鼓舞”。它的意思是胜利和欢乐。 我是从我的每日一词厕纸上学到的，”爱德华多说，他非常高兴有机会展示这个新词。 “我听说了你聚会的消息！”今天早上收到马德尔小姐的邀请，我的家人感到荣幸和欢欣鼓舞。” “哦，对，那是。”宝芬妮咕哝着。

"You don't seem very excited." Eduardo shook his nostrils, and the rest of his head, in a disappointed manner. "If someone was throwing me a party, I'd be tickled pink. In fact, I might even go as far as to say that I would be feeling—" Bethany whizzed away on her scooter before Eduardo had a chance to show off his loo-paper word. She didn't get far before she was stopped again. "Congratu-bloomin'-lations!" said the bird-keeper, who ran out of his shop with Keith the Dove perched on his shoulder. "Who would'a thought it? The girl who used to teach my talking birdies how to say rude words, getting a bleedin' party! Not me. I'll tell you that much!"

“你看起来不是很兴奋。” 爱德华多失望地摇了摇鼻孔和头的其余部分。 这个人说：“如果有人给我开派对，我会非常高兴的。 事实上，我甚至可能会说，我会感到——”在爱德华多有机会炫耀他的厕纸字之前，贝瑟妮骑着她的摩托车疾驰而去。 她没走多远就又被拦住了。 “祝贺你开花！”看鸟人说着，把鸽子基思搭在他的肩膀上跑出了他的店。 “谁会想到呢？”那个曾经教我的会说话的小鸟怎么说粗话的女孩，开了个该死的派对！不是我。 我就告诉你这么多！”

Keith the Dove usually looked down on humanity and other lesser species, but even he was inclined to coo pleasingly at Bethany. Bethany was stopped several more times on her journey. The kindly old lady who had offered do-gooding advice in the past shuffled out of her house to offer Bethany a celebratory cough sweet. Paulo the postman said it had been an honor to deliver every one of Miss Muddle's invitations. Even the zookeeper lady, who looked remarkably like a lizard, croaked out a few reluctant compliments. Bethany was beginning to think it had been a lot easier when the neighborhood thought that she was a prankster, because at least they avoided her back then. She couldn't face any more compliments, so she parked in

鸽子基思通常看不起人类和其他低等物种，但即使是他也倾向于在伯大尼愉快地低声说话。 宝芬妮在路上又被拦了几次。 那位慈祥的老太太过去曾给过她一些行善的建议，她慢吞吞地走出家门，给宝芬妮送上了一块庆祝的止咳糖。 邮差保罗说，能把马德尔小姐的每一张请柬都送来是他的荣幸。 就连那个看起来像只蜥蜴的女动物园管理员也不情愿地说了几句恭维话。 贝瑟妮开始觉得，当邻居们认为她是一个爱恶作剧的人时，事情就容易多了，因为至少那时他们避开了她。 她再也听不下去恭维了，就把车停进去了

front of the one place where she thought she might be able to get some peace—the sweetshop. The lights were on and the door was unlocked. Inside, there was heavy metal music blaring and rattling from the sweetshop speakers. Miss Muddle was at a worktop, holding a blowtorch over another variation of the bombastic bubbletrumpets, which reminded Bethany of the beast all over again. She stomped over and turned down the speakers. "Don't do that!" shouted Miss Muddle. "The bubbletrumpets might be more musical if they can hear some tunes as I apply the finishing touches!" Bethany turned the music back up, as Miss Muddle blowtorched the final bubbletrumpet

在她认为也许能得到安宁的地方——糖果店的前面。 灯还亮着，门也没锁。 里面，糖果店的扬声器里传出了刺耳的重金属音乐。 马德尔小姐站在工作台上，拿着喷灯照着另一种夸张的泡泡喇叭，这使宝芬妮又一次想起了那只野兽。 她跺着脚走过去，把喇叭关小了。 “别这样！”马德尔小姐喊道。 “如果泡泡小号在我做最后的修饰时能听到一些曲调，它们可能会更有音乐感！”贝瑟妮把音乐调大，马德尔小姐点燃了最后一支泡泡小号

of the batch. Then, as soon as she switched off the blowtorch, she removed a freeze-breeze hair dryer from her apron and started cooling her creations. "SWITCH OFF THE MUSIC—NOW!" shouted Miss Muddle. "TOO MUCH MUSIC AND THE TRUMPETS MIGHT BECOME TOO BOMBASTIC!" Bethany cut the music. The sweetshop was silent, save for the crackle of the bombastic bubbletrumpets cooling and solidifying. Miss Muddle gave the trumpets a sniff and nodded approvingly. "I think I've done it," said Miss Muddle. She beckoned Bethany over as she used an extremely sharp knife to carve off a slice. "If my calculations are correct, then this should be the taste equivalent of hearing a brass

这批的。然后，她一关掉喷灯，就从围裙上取下一个冷冻风吹风机，开始冷却她的作品。 “关掉音乐——现在！”马德尔小姐喊道。 “太多的音乐和小号可能会变得太夸张！”宝芬妮把音乐剪掉了。 糖果店静悄悄的，只听见吹泡泡的喇叭在冷却和凝固时发出的噼啪声。 马德尔小姐闻了闻喇叭，赞许地点了点头。 “我想我做到了。”马德尔小姐说。 她招手叫宝芬妮过来，用一把非常锋利的刀切下一片。 “如果我的计算是正确的，那么这味道应该相当于听到铜管声