Chapter 8

chapter eight LATER THAT EVENING... Come,come,come,come. You are lying, Kimmy. Dirk is a brave hero. Indeed, to eat that you want to conjure up some fine dining for dust or just more Cheeto dust?" Galamelon," Quint calls, stepping down into the pool. "My cane has finished charging. Shall we get a few hours of late-night cramming in?"

第八章那天晚上晚些时候…… 来,来,来,来。你在撒谎，吉米。 德克是个勇敢的英雄。真的，吃这个，你是想变出一些好吃的灰尘，还是只是更多的奇多灰尘？”昆特喊道，走下泳池。 “我的手杖充电完了。 我们要不要在深夜花几个小时死记硬背？”

Galamelon springs to his feet. "Absolutely, Quint. Too bad—I was just about to summon a hearty banquet for our companions. But, mentor duty calls. Let's leave them to their sad, not-fancy foods. You've got training to do." Dirk shoots Kimmy a skeptical glance as Quint and Galamelon hike up and out of the sloping pool. "So, Kimmy, tell me," Dirk says, as he chomps into a triple-decker, orange peanut butter vending machine cracker sandwich. "What are we looking at tomorrow? You said the Drakkor, like, levels up between attacks?" "Sure does!" Kimmy chirps, peeling a hunk off a large ball of dough and popping it into her mouth. "Gets bigger, scarier." "Wish we still had Big Mama..." Dirk says, sounding mournful. "Or our BoomKarts. Or any of the crazy Quint contraptions we had back in Wakefield, at our tree house." "You must miss home," Kimmy says gently. "Eh. Only a little. Home is wherever my buddies are—" "OPEN WIDE!" Kimmy suddenly exclaims. "Huh?" Dirk glances up just as Kimmy tosses a fresh glob of dough in Dirk's direction. Dirk opens his mouth, but—

加隆跳了起来。 “绝对,五胞胎。太糟糕了——我正准备为我们的同伴们举行一场丰盛的宴会。 但是，导师的职责在召唤。让他们去吃那些可悲的，不好吃的食物吧。 你还得接受训练。” 当昆特和加隆从倾斜的水池里爬出来时，德克怀疑地瞥了吉米一眼。 “那么，吉米，告诉我，”德克一边说，一边大口嚼着一个三层的橙色花生酱自动售货机饼干三明治。 “明天我们会看到什么？” 你说过德拉科会在两次攻击之间升级？”“当然!”吉米唧唧喳喳地叫着，从一大团面团上剥下一大块，塞进嘴里。 “越来越大，越来越可怕。”“真希望我们还有大妈妈……” 德克悲哀地说。 “或者我们的BoomKarts。或者我们在韦克菲尔德的树屋里的任何疯狂的昆特装置。” “你一定想家了，”Kimmy温柔地说。 “嗯。只会一点点。我的伙伴们在哪里，家就在哪里——”“敞开胸怀！”吉米突然惊呼道。 “嗯?”德克抬头看了一眼，吉米朝德克的方向扔了一团新鲜的面团。 德克张开嘴，但是——

what the hey Drooler yoke drooler gulps down the intercepted hunk of dough, and doesn't even have the decency to look ashamed. He emits a high-pitched BURP, followed by a mischievous little giggle. "Never seen him do that before," Dirk marvels. "Little guy learns something new every day." Kimmy nods. "Me too! I learned that your dimension has a lot of mattress stores. Like, way more than seems necessary? And you guys have these things called families, which is just b-a-n-a-n-a-s." "Well, Kimmy," Dirk says. "Let's hope Quint is learning as fast as you and Drooler..." Quint is not learning as fast as Kimmy or Drooler. At that moment, he is nervously staring down a rusted

那个爱流口水的人狼吞虎咽地吃下那一大块面团，甚至连羞耻的表情都没有。 他发出一声尖锐的打嗝声，接着是调皮的咯咯笑。 “以前从没见过他那样做，”德克惊叹道。 “小家伙每天都能学到新东西。” 吉米点点头。“我也是!我听说你的维度有很多床垫店。 远远超出了必要的范围？ 你们有所谓的家庭，就是b-a-n-a-n-a-s。” “好吧，吉米，”德克说。“希望昆特学得和你和流口水一样快……” 昆特学得不如吉米和德鲁尔快。 在那一刻，他紧张地盯着一个生锈的

snack shack, which Galamelon has modeled into a makeshift conjurer's shooting range. A single soda bottle sits atop the cash register. "This one's extra simple," Galamelon says, slapping Quint on the shoulder. "Just swing your cane in a tri-circular motion, say 'Arcane Jab,' and blast that bottle to bits. It's a low-level conjuration. A total cinch job." Quint takes a deep breath and focuses on the bottle. He begins swirling the cane, and then— "ARCANE JAB!" zsh. You did it. That was way bigger and more destructive than I intended. "What?? Everyone loves big and destructive! Like I always say, 'No such thing as too big or too

加梅隆把它模仿成一个临时的魔术师射击场。 收银机顶上放着一瓶苏打水。 “这个特别简单，”加隆拍了拍昆特的肩膀说。 “只要把你的手杖摆成三圈运动，说‘奥术刺’，然后把那个瓶子打得粉碎。 这是一个低级的咒语。 这是件轻而易举的事。”昆特深吸了一口气，把注意力集中在瓶子上。 他开始挥动手杖，然后——“奥术刺！”zsh。 你做到了。这比我想的要严重得多，破坏力也更大。 “什么? ?每个人都喜欢大的和破坏性的！就像我经常说的，‘没有太大或太大的东西

destructive.' That was my yearbook quote." Quint shakes his head. "Why can't I do this? I don't even feel like myself." Galamelon sets a hand on Quint's shoulder. "Maybe you're not yourself anymore. Think about it! Spooky, huh? And on that note..." Galamelon fishes an eye mask from his pocket. "Bedtime! I'm bushed. Sleep tight!" Quint is left standing there with his mouth open and his cane hanging limply from his hands. He watches Galamelon descend into the mostly empty motel pool, cursing the condition of their chosen sleeping spot, before finally flopping into a half- inflated unicorn pool float. "You OK, bud?" Quint turns and sees Dirk walking around the edge of the pool. "No! I am going to let Kimmy down. I'm going to let everyone down." "Quint—" "I was doing multiplication at age four! Trigonometry at age seven. They were going to send me to the high school to take advanced biology, but I refused because the high school smells like cologne and tuna casserole!"

破坏性的。”这是我在年鉴上引用的。” 昆特摇了摇头。“为什么我不能这么做？” 我甚至感觉不像我自己了。” 加隆把手放在昆特的肩膀上。 “也许你不再是你自己了。 想想看！令人毛骨悚然的,嗯? 说到这里……”加隆从口袋里掏出一个眼罩。 “睡觉!”我是疲倦的。睡个好觉!”昆特站在那里，嘴巴张着，手里无力地挂着手杖。 他看着Galamelon下到几乎空无一人的汽车旅馆泳池，咒骂着他们选择的睡觉地点的条件，最后跌进了一个半充气的独角兽泳池浮筒。 “你还好吧，伙计？”昆特转过身来，看见德克在泳池边走来走去。 “不!我要让吉米失望了。 我会让所有人失望的。” “我四岁的时候就会做乘法了！”七岁学三角。 他们要送我去高中上高级生物，但我拒绝了，因为高中闻起来有古龙水和金枪鱼砂锅的味道！”

Learning things fast is what I do. That's who I am, Quint. I feel like I'm cramming for a final exam, but I only just open the textbook for the first time. And even worse, after opening the textbook, I discovered that I can't even read the textbook. "You done?" Dirk asks. Quint sighs heavily—and nods. "Good. Now listen," Dirk says. "I never crammed for a test. I don't think I ever even opened a textbook. And look at me now." "You look like bootleg He-Man." "Exactly! I turned out fine!" "Fine won't cut it," Quint says, his voice heavy as he plops down on a rusted lounge chair. "I need an A+

快速学习是我所做的。 这就是我，昆特。我觉得我在为期末考试死记硬背，但我只是第一次打开课本。 更糟糕的是，打开课本后，我发现我连课本都看不懂。 “你做了什么?”德克问道。昆特重重地叹了口气——点点头。 “很好。现在听着，”德克说。 “我从不为了考试而死记硬背。 我想我甚至都没打开过教科书。 看看现在的我。”“你看起来像盗版的希曼。” “完全正确!我变好了！”“算了也不行，”昆特说，他的声音沉重，扑通一声坐在一张生锈的躺椅上。 “我需要A+