6 Talking with Strangers

Chapter 6 TALKING WITH STRANGERS In the backseat, Coke and Pep sat stunned and silent. On the inside, the twins both knew the right thing to do—come clean and tell their parents what had happened to Aunt Judy in the RV. But they couldn't bring themselves to do it. How do you break the news to your mother that her sister was a psychopath and pyromaniac who tried to kill you? How do you tell her that her sister blew herself up? It's impossible. Besides, every time the twins tried to be honest and tell their parents the truth, they didn't believe it. Coke and Pep kept their mouths shut. What happened to Aunt Judy in the RV would be their secret, at least for the time being. Awkward silence filled the car as the Ferrari

第六章与陌生人交谈在汽车后座上，可口可乐和佩普目瞪口呆地坐着，一言不发。 在内心深处，这对双胞胎都知道该做什么——坦白告诉父母朱迪阿姨在房车里发生了什么。 但他们无法让自己这么做。 你怎么把这个消息告诉你的母亲她的妹妹是个精神病和纵火狂，还想杀了你？ 你怎么跟她说她姐姐引爆了自己？ 这是不可能的。此外，每次这对双胞胎试图诚实地告诉父母真相时，他们都不相信。 可口可乐和佩普缄口不言。 朱迪阿姨在房车里发生的事将是他们的秘密，至少目前是这样。 像法拉利一样，车内充满了尴尬的寂静

headed west through Arkansas, passing Dagmar State Wildlife Management Area and Wattensaw State Game Area. Unless you were a nature lover, there wasn't a whole lot to look at outside the window. "Hey, let's play the spy game!" Dr. McDonald blurted out enthusiastically. Groans came out of the backseat. "Come on, it'll be fun!" he said. "See if you can find the letters of the alphabet outside the car. I'll start. Look! The A for 'Arkansas' is on that license plate right in front of us." "B," said Mrs. McDonald. "The sign on that building to the right." "C," Dr. McDonald said. "On that billboard. How about one of you kids take a turn?" "We don't want to play, Dad," Pep replied. "You kids are no fun at all," he said. The game ended right there. The twins went back to their private thoughts. As the Ferrari cruised west along I-40, signs started to appear for Little Rock, the state capital.

向西穿过阿肯色州，经过达格玛州立野生动物管理区和瓦滕索州立狩猎区。 除非你是一个热爱大自然的人，否则窗外没什么可看的。 “嘿，我们来玩间谍游戏吧！”博士。 麦克唐纳兴奋地脱口而出。 从后座传来呻吟声。 “来吧，会很有趣的！”他说。 “看看你能不能在车外找到字母表上的字母。 我将开始。看！‘阿肯色’的字母A就在我们面前的车牌上。” “B，”麦克唐纳太太说。“右边那栋楼上的标志。” “C，”麦克唐纳说。“在那个广告牌上。 你们谁来轮流试试怎么样？”“我们不想玩，爸爸，”佩普回答。 “你们这些孩子一点也不好玩，”他说。 比赛就此结束。 这对双胞胎又回到了各自的思绪中。 当法拉利沿着I-40向西行驶时，该州首府小石城的标志开始出现。

"I wonder why it's called Little Rock?" asked Dr. McDonald. "They probably have a bunch of little rocks," Pep guessed. "Actually, Little Rock gets its name from a rock formation on the south bank of the Arkansas River," Coke informed the rest of the family. "It was called 'la Petite Roche,' which means 'the little rock' in French. I saw that—" "Shut up!" Pep shouted at her brother. "Nobody cares!" "Don't tell your brother to shut up," Dr. McDonald told Pep. "It's not his fault that he knows a lot of things." "I can't take it anymore!" Pep shouted. She picked up a magazine and whacked Coke on the shoulder with it. "Ow! Knock it off!" At this point, Dr. McDonald made an executive decision. Everyone's nerves suddenly seemed to be on edge. The stress of seeing the RV explode had clearly gotten to Pep.

“我想知道它为什么叫小石城？” 麦当劳。“他们可能有一堆小石头，”佩普猜测。 “实际上，小石城得名于阿肯色河南岸的一块岩石，”科克告诉其他家人。 “它被称为‘la Petite Roche’，在法语中是‘小岩石’的意思。 我看见了——”“闭嘴！”佩普对她的弟弟大喊大叫。 “没有人在乎!”“不要叫你弟弟闭嘴。” 麦克唐纳告诉佩普。“他知道很多事情，这不是他的错。” “我再也受不了了！”Pep喊道。 她拿起一本杂志，拍了拍可乐的肩膀。 “噢!别闹了！”在这一点上，Dr。 麦当劳做了一个行政决定。 每个人的神经似乎都突然绷紧了。 看到房车爆炸的压力显然影响到了佩普。

Everybody needed to calm down a little. "I'm starved," he said as he pulled off the highway at the Little Rock exit and crossed the Arkansas River. One block off the riverbank was a bustling street with a convention center, the Little Rock River Market, and some restaurants. "How about this joint?" Mrs. McDonald said as they approached a place called Flying Fish. Dr. McDonald pulled into the parking lot. Flying Fish, needless to say, specializes in seafood. The family slid into a booth and ordered an assortment of catfish, shrimp, oysters, crab, and gumbo for everyone to share. "You think they have grits?" Coke asked. "I always wanted to try grits." "Grits sound gross," Pep said. "Well, you don't listen to them," Coke told his sister. "You eat them." One wall of the restaurant was an unusual sight—row upon row of wooden plaques, each one with a fish mounted on it. There were more

每个人都需要冷静一下。 “我饿死了，”他在小石城出口下高速公路，穿过阿肯色河时说。 离河岸一个街区是一条熙熙攘攘的街道，有一个会议中心、小石城河市场和一些餐馆。 “这个地方怎么样？”当他们走近一个叫飞鱼的地方时，麦克唐纳太太说。 麦克唐纳医生把车开进了停车场。 飞鱼，不用说，专门做海鲜。 一家人溜进一个摊位，点了各种各样的鲶鱼、虾、牡蛎、螃蟹和秋葵汤供大家分享。 “你觉得他们有粗玉米粉吗？”可口可乐问道。 “我一直想尝尝粗玉米粉。” “粗玉米粉听起来很恶心，”佩普说。 “好吧，你根本不听他们的，”科克对妹妹说。 “你吃它们。”餐厅的一面墙上是一道不寻常的风景——一排排的木牌匾，每块上面都挂着一条鱼。 还有更多

than three hundred of them, and all of them looked the same. Upon closer examination, it was obvious that the fish were made out of rubber. At the top of the wall was a sign: BILLY BASS ADOPTION CENTER. "What the heck?" Coke asked. "This will be great for Amazing but True!" Mrs. McDonald said as she grabbed her camera. Dr. McDonald explained to the kids that, around the turn of the century, millions of people bought these silly novelty gifts called Big Mouth Billy Bass. The head and the tail of the fish would wiggle back and forth while the fish sang songs like "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and "Take Me to the River." The fish's mouth even moved while it sang.

超过三百人，而且他们看起来都一样。 仔细一看，很明显这些鱼是用橡胶做的。 墙顶上有一块牌子：比利·巴斯收养中心。 “搞什么鬼？”可口可乐问道。 “《惊人但真实》将会很棒！”麦克唐纳太太一边说一边抓起相机。 麦克唐纳博士向孩子们解释说，在世纪之交，数百万人买了这种愚蠢的新奇礼物，叫做大嘴比利巴斯。 当鱼儿唱着“别担心，快乐”和“带我去河边”这样的歌时，鱼的头和尾巴会来回摆动。 这条鱼唱歌的时候嘴巴甚至还在动。

Don't believe me? YouTube it. Go ahead, I'll wait. Anyway, Big Mouth Billy Bass was really annoying, and when the fad ended, people were stuck with the silly toys. A lot of the fish ended up in the garbage or at garage sales. Some of them, apparently, ended up at Flying Fish Restaurant in Little Rock, Arkansas. "Do you like our little museum?" asked the waitress when she brought the food. "If you donate a Big Mouth Billy Bass to our collection, you get a free catfish basket." Mrs. McDonald took notes for her website. She seemed to have an uncanny knack for

不相信我？YouTube。 去吧，我等你。不管怎样，大嘴比利·巴斯真的很烦人，当这股热潮结束时，人们就被这些愚蠢的玩具困住了。 很多鱼最后都被扔进了垃圾堆或在车库出售。 显然，其中一些人最后去了阿肯色州小石城的飞鱼餐厅。 “你喜欢我们的小博物馆吗？”服务员端上菜时问。 “如果你捐赠一只大嘴比利·巴斯给我们的收藏，你会得到一个免费的鲶鱼篮子。” 麦克唐纳夫人为她的网站做笔记。 她似乎有一种不可思议的本领