8 I’m a Good Kicker

CHAPTER EIGHT I'M A GOOD KICKER PICASSO PARK IS really big. It's got all kinds of stuff—two baseball diamonds, a fishing pond, a basketball court, a big playground, a walking trail with ten exercise stations, three soccer fields, and four tennis courts. The tree was by the basketball court on the other side of the park. We saw four people on the way. First, we saw my mom. For real. She was at the first exercise station on the walking trail. She was using her stretchy elastic band. It was wrapped around a pole and she pulled on it and

我踢得好毕加索公园真大。 它有各种各样的东西——两个棒球场、一个鱼塘、一个篮球场、一个大操场、一条有十个锻炼站的步道、三个足球场和四个网球场。 那棵树在公园另一边的篮球场旁边。 我们在路上看到四个人。 首先，我们看到了我妈妈。为真实的。 她在步道上的第一个锻炼站。 她在用她的弹性橡皮筋。 它缠在一根杆子上，她拉着它，然后

grunted. When she saw us, she stopped. "What are... you three... up to?" Mom asked after saying hello to Simon and Rosie. She panted a little bit between words. "And what... are you doing...with all... that stuff?" "We have to get a ball out of a tree," I answered. "Balls can... grow... on trees?" Mom asked. She was joking. But Simon didn't know she was joking. "I kicked it up into the big pine tree by the basketball court," he said. "Rosie and Molly are going to help me get it out." "I see," Mom said and nodded. She didn't care that Simon didn't get her joke. She started to pull on her elastic band again. "Molly, when I finish the trail... it's time... to go home. It's a school night."

哼了一声。当她看到我们时，她停了下来。 “是什么…你们三个……到吗?”妈妈向西蒙和罗茜打招呼后问道。 她说话之间喘着气。 “什么…你在做……与所有… 这些东西?”“我们必须从树上取一个球，”我回答。 “球能…成长……在树上?”母亲问。 她在开玩笑。但西蒙不知道她是在开玩笑。 “我把它踢到了篮球场旁的大松树上，”他说。 “罗茜和莫莉会帮我把它弄出来。” “我明白了，”妈妈说着点了点头。 她不在乎西蒙听不懂她的笑话。 她又开始拉松紧带。 “莫莉，等我走完路…… 是时候……回家。今天晚上要上学。”

We also passed Mr. Garcia at the fishing pond. He fishes there all the time. He said he hadn't caught anything yet. And there were two teenagers playing tennis. Then we got to the basketball court—and the tree. "It's taller than I thought," Rosie said, stretching

我们还在鱼塘旁遇见了加西亚先生。 他总是在那里钓鱼。 他说他什么也没钓到。 有两个青少年在打网球。 然后我们到了篮球场——还有那棵树。 “它比我想象的要高，”罗西一边说一边伸了伸懒腰

her neck to look up at the top. "It's huge." "How did you kick Max's soccer ball all the way up there?" I asked. "I'm a good kicker, I guess," Simon said and shrugged. "You must be." "Come on," Rosie said. Her eyes were squinted and her lips were squeezed tight. "Let's get started." We tried the white PVC pipes first. It took a long time to connect them all. We had to squeeze the pipes into the connectors really tightly—and sometimes they were a little too loose and sometimes they were a little too tight. But when we did finish, the result was excellent. The final pipe was almost as long as the basketball court. "This will totally reach the ball!" Simon yelled from the far end of the long pipe. He was excited that our first idea could work. "Let's lift it up!"

她的脖子向上看。 “这是巨大的。”“你是怎么把马克斯的足球踢到上面去的？”我问。 “我想我踢得不错，”西蒙说着耸了耸肩。 “你一定是。”“来吧，”罗茜说。 她眯着眼睛，紧抿着嘴唇。 “我们开始吧。”我们先试了白色PVC管。 把它们全部连接起来花了很长时间。 我们必须把管子紧紧地挤进连接件里有时候太松了，有时候又太紧了。 但是当我们完成的时候，结果非常好。 最后一个管道几乎和篮球场一样长。 “这个球一定能到！”西蒙在长管子的另一端喊道。 我们的第一个想法可行，他很兴奋。 “我们把它举起来吧！”

"Okay!" Rosie called. She and I were at the other end. We had just attached the final piece. Rosie seemed confident too. Just to me, she said, "This is going to be easier than I thought." Then we lifted the super long pipe. We found out that it wasn't going to be easier than we thought. We also found out we were running out of time. Mom was already doing push-ups at station three of the exercise trail. And we saw someone else arrive at the park—someone we really didn't want to see.

“好吧!”罗西。我和她在电话的另一端。 我们刚刚接上了最后一块。 罗茜看起来也很自信。 她只对我说：“这比我想象的要容易。” 然后我们抬起了那根超长的管子。 我们发现这并不比我们想象的容易。 我们还发现时间不多了。 妈妈已经在锻炼路线的第三站做俯卧撑了。 我们看到另一个人来到了公园——一个我们真的不想见到的人。