8 Flamingos, Comic Books, and Bungee Cords

CHAPTER EIGHT FLAMINGOS, COMIC BOOKS, AND BUNGEE CORDS THE GARAGE WAS totally full of stuff. "Where should we start?" Simon asked. "Let's just pull everything out," Rosie suggested. "We'll put it all in the driveway. We should knock down the cobwebs and sweep the garage out anyway, right? Then we can clean stuff and bring it all back in." Here is some of the stuff we moved out to the driveway:

火烈鸟、漫画书和蹦极绳车库里堆满了东西。 “我们从哪里开始呢？”西蒙问。 “我们把所有东西都拿出来吧，”罗茜建议道。 “我们把它们都放在车道上。 不管怎样，我们应该把蜘蛛网清除干净，把车库打扫干净，对吧？ 然后我们可以清理东西，把它们都带回来。” 这是我们搬到车道上的一些东西：

Hammers, wrenches, and screwdrivers Five old paint cans Lots of gardening gloves Empty flowerpots A bucket of nails and screws Three basketballs, two baseballs, a soccer ball, and seven tennis balls Two stepladders A stack of old newspapers one big adult bike Three brooms Dozens of simon's old comic books in plastic box Some cans of motor oil Two rubber bins of simon's old homework assignments and report cards Three rakes Eight plastic pink flamingos Two shovels An old Easter basket Two bags of old clothes

锤子，扳手和螺丝刀五个旧油漆罐许多园艺手套空花盆一桶钉子和螺丝三个篮球，两个棒球，一个足球，和七个网球两个梯子一堆旧报纸一辆大成人自行车三把扫帚几十本西蒙的旧漫画书装在塑料盒子里几罐机油两个橡胶箱装着西蒙的旧作业和成绩单三把耙子八只粉红色的塑料火烈鸟两把铲子一个旧复活节篮子两袋旧衣服

A big plastic snowman Three tables with legs that fold one red wagon Two scooters One skateboard Simon's broken bike Two hoses A lawn mower A bucket of paintbrushes Bungee cords Jumper cables A bunch of other stuff It took almost an hour to get everything out of the garage. Simon went to check with his mom. His dad was way closer. He was past Lafayette. Simon and Rosie let me do the organizing. I like to organize things. My brain is good at it. I put everything together in categories. Some of them made perfect sense to Rosie and Simon. A bunch of outside stuff—two of the rakes, the hoses, and gardening things—were grouped together. And I grouped Simon's stuff—the balls, skateboard, and his broken bike—all together.

一个大塑料雪人三张桌腿可以折叠一辆红色货车两辆踏板车一个滑板西蒙的破自行车两根水管一台割草机一桶油漆刷蹦极绳跳绳一堆其他的东西花了将近一个小时才把所有的东西从车库里搬出来。 西蒙去问他妈妈了。 他爸爸离他更近。他已经过了拉斐特。 西蒙和罗茜让我来组织。 我喜欢整理东西。 我的大脑很擅长这个。我把所有东西分类。 其中一些对罗西和西蒙来说非常有意义。 一堆外面的东西——两把耙子、水管和园艺用品——被放在一起。 我把西蒙的东西——球、滑板和他的破自行车——都放在一起。

But some of the groups didn't make as much sense to them. Here's an example: the motor oil, the Easter basket, a broom, a rake, and the adult bike. Rosie asked, "Why are these things grouped together?" I thought it was kind of funny that they couldn't tell why. I mean, it was obvious to me. "It's The Wizard of Oz group," I answered. "The Wizard of Oz?" Simon asked. "How?" "Well, the Tin Man needed to be oiled all the time, so that's the motor oil," I explained and pointed at each item. "Dorothy rode around on her bike and carried Toto in a basket. The Wicked Witch of the

但有些组对他们来说没有多大意义。 举个例子：机油、复活节篮子、扫帚、耙子和成人自行车。 罗茜问：“为什么这些东西放在一起？”我觉得他们说不出原因挺有趣的。 我是说，这对我来说很明显。 “是《绿野仙踪》剧组，”我回答。 “《绿野仙踪》？”西蒙问。 “如何?”“嗯，锡人需要一直加油，所以那是机油，”我解释着，指着每一件东西。 多萝茜骑着她的自行车，把托托放在一个篮子里。 邪恶的女巫

West rode around on a broom. And you could use a rake for sweeping up straw. That's the Scarecrow." Simon and Rosie nodded and smiled at me. They really understand how my brain works. It made sense to them now.

韦斯特骑着扫帚到处转。 你还可以用耙子来清扫稻草。 那是稻草人。”西蒙和罗茜对我点头微笑。 他们真的了解我的大脑是如何工作的。 现在他们明白了。

We put a lot of stuff on the three tables after we unfolded the legs. The rest we just put on the driveway. Once everything was organized, we each took a broom and knocked a bunch of cobwebs and dust off the garage walls, corners, and ceiling. It took a while. We didn't see any actual spiders. When that was done, we swept the floor. We built up a big cloud of dust and whooooshed it out the door—and away from the newly washed car. The dust cloud was so thick that we could barely see through it.

展开桌腿后，我们在三张桌子上放了很多东西。 剩下的就放在车道上。 一旦一切都整理好了，我们每个人都拿起扫帚，把车库墙壁、角落和天花板上的一堆蜘蛛网和灰尘敲掉。 花了一段时间。我们没有看到真正的蜘蛛。 当这一切结束后，我们扫地。 我们扬起了一大团灰尘，嗖的一声把它吹出了门——远离了新洗的汽车。 尘埃云很厚，我们几乎看不透。