11 PAINTING THE STREETS

CHAPTER 11 PAINTING THE STREETS

第十一章粉刷街道

"Ready?" I asked Dad. I balanced the can of white spray paint in my slippery gloved hands. "Yep, you're all set." He pressed down the edges of the stencil one more time. "You shook it

“准备好了吗?”我问爸爸。我用戴着滑溜溜的手套的手平衡着那罐白色喷漆。 “是的，你都准备好了。”他又一次把模板的边缘压紧。 你摇了摇它

really well, right?" "Yes, of course I did!" I stuck out my tongue. He laughed and stepped way back next to my mom. I pressed down the top of the spray paint can, and white mist flew out. I kept spraying until you couldn't read the stencil anymore. Next up was my favorite part. The big reveal! I set the can down and carefully peeled back the stencil. My parents clapped. "Beautiful work!" Right in front of the storm drain in bright white letters, there was now a message: DUMP NO WASTE. DRAINS TO STREAM.

很好，对吧？”“是的，我当然知道！”我伸出舌头。 他笑了，退到我妈妈旁边。 我按下喷漆罐的顶部，白雾飞了出来。 我一直喷，直到你看不清模版。 接下来是我最喜欢的部分。 大揭秘！我放下易拉罐，小心翼翼地剥开封口。 我的父母鼓掌。“美丽的工作!”在排水沟的正前方，用明亮的白色字母写着一条信息：禁止倾倒废物。 排水沟流。

I'd been so worried about the stream getting polluted with car wash soap again that my parents and I came up with a plan. Our city even had stencils and paint all ready for us. They just needed volunteers to drive around and paint the message on the storm drains. Over the last several weeks, we'd spent an hour or two each Saturday and Sunday labeling storm drains in town. This was the last one!

我一直很担心小溪会再次被洗车皂污染，所以我和父母想出了一个计划。 我们的城市甚至为我们准备好了模板和颜料。 他们只需要志愿者开车四处转转，把信息涂在雨水沟上。 在过去的几个星期里，我们每周六和周日都会花一两个小时在镇上的排水沟上贴上标签。 这是最后一个了！

As we drove home, I felt a great sense of relief. Now instead of the water from the gutter mysteriously disappearing, people could read about where it goes. They'd understand that whatever they put down there would end up in our stream. We pulled into our driveway, and Mom let out a giant laugh. She quickly clapped her hand over her mouth. "Are you OK?" my dad asked. "Uh, yes. I, uh, thought I saw something on our doorstep." Mom reached back and squeezed my knee. Something on our doorstep? Oh! Something! I squished my face against the window searching for Pip. There he was, right on our doorstep. On Sassafras' head. I could tell that Sassafras was not pleased. His ears were out to the side, and he had a sour look on his face. I looked away so I wouldn't start cracking up. Once my dad parked, I bolted out of the car. I pretended to bend down to tie my shoe. Pip hopped up onto my head. Sassafras let out a big breath of

当我们开车回家时，我感到如释重负。 现在，人们可以从书上看到水去了哪里，而不是从排水沟里神秘地消失了。 他们会明白，不管他们在那里放什么，最后都会进入我们的河流。 我们把车开进车道，妈妈大笑起来。 她迅速用手捂住嘴。 “你还好吗？”爸爸问。 “嗯,是的。我好像看到门阶上有东西" 妈妈伸手捏了捏我的膝盖。 门口有东西吗？ 哦!的东西!我把脸贴在窗户上寻找匹普。 他就在那儿，就在我们家门口。 在黄樟的头上。我看得出来，萨萨弗拉斯很不高兴。 他的耳朵歪向一边，脸上带着一种酸溜溜的表情。 我把目光移开，以免开始大笑。 爸爸一停车，我就冲出了车。 我假装弯下腰系鞋带。 匹普跳到我的头上。 黄樟喷出一大口

relief and bumped against me, purring in thanks. "I thought you'd never get home!" Pip exclaimed. "The merhorses are requesting you down at the stream, Zoey." "Are they OK?" I whispered up to Pip. "Yes. They have news for you!" Pip said excitedly and gave a little jump on my head. I sighed with relief. Pip had been able to find some grubs from the forest monsters to keep the merhorses comfortable. But apparently the

松了一口气，撞在我身上，咕噜着感谢。 “我还以为你永远回不了家呢！”皮普喊道。 “苏伊，那些人鱼在小溪那边找你呢。” “他们还好吗？”我低声对匹普说。 “是的。他们有消息要告诉你！”匹普兴奋地说，在我的头上跳了一下。 我松了口气。匹普已经从森林里的怪物那里找到了一些蛆虫，让这些人鱼感到舒服。 但显然