7 THE BIG BOOK OF PRACTICAL JOKES

CHAPTER 7 THE BIG BOOK OF PRACTICAL JOKES Lauren hurried up the stairs. "Is she the ghost?" Little John asked. "I don't know. I don't think so," Kaz said. "I think she is," Little John said. "Otherwise, why is she here when everyone else is gone?" "Maybe she just got home," Kaz suggested. "Or maybe she's been here all along. Maybe she was hiding, and maybe she's the one who dropped the marbles down the stairs and scared those people away," Little John said. Kaz frowned. "Why would she do that?" "Same reason Eli would," Little John said. "Maybe she doesn't want to move. Or maybe she wants everyone to think Eli's the ghost. She could

《恶作剧大全》劳伦匆匆上了楼。 “她是鬼吗？”小约翰问。 “我不知道。我不这么认为，”卡兹说。 “我想她是，”小约翰说。 “否则，为什么其他人都走了，她还在这儿？”“也许她刚刚回家。”卡兹暗示道。 “也许她一直都在这里。 也许是她躲起来了，也许是她把弹珠从楼梯上扔下去，把那些人吓跑了，”小约翰说。 Kaz皱起了眉头。“她为什么要这么做？”“和伊莱一样，”小约翰说。 “也许她不想搬家。 或者她想让所有人都认为伊莱是鬼魂。 她可以

be playing a trick on him because he plays tricks on everyone else." "Could be," Kaz said. But he thought it was more likely that Eli was the ghost. A little while later, the front door opened, and Eli and his mom walked in. Eli's mom was talking on her cell phone. "Yes, I understand," she said, closing the door behind her. Eli started to walk away, but his mom held him by the elbow. "I will have a talk with him," she said into the phone. "Thanks for letting me know." She set the phone on the table with the bowl of marbles. "Marbles on the stairs this time?" she said as she grabbed a handful of marbles from the bowl. "This behavior has to stop, Eli. Someone could have gotten hurt." "I didn't do it!" Eli said. Lauren came partway down the stairs. "Didn't do what?" she asked, resting her chin on the railing.

捉弄他，因为他捉弄别人。” “有可能，”卡兹说。但他认为伊莱更有可能是鬼魂。 过了一会儿，前门开了，伊莱和他妈妈走了进来。 伊莱的妈妈在打电话。 “是的，我明白，”她说着随手关上了门。 伊莱想走开，但他妈妈抓住了他的胳膊肘。 “我要和他谈谈，”她对着电话说。 “谢谢你告诉我。” 她把电话和那碗弹珠一起放在桌上。 “这次是楼梯上的弹珠吗？”她边说边从碗里抓起一把弹珠。 “这种行为必须停止，伊莱。 有人可能会受伤。” “不是我干的！”伊莱说。 劳伦走下楼梯。 “没做什么？”她把下巴搁在栏杆上问道。

"Oh, I didn't know you were home, Lauren," her mother said. "I just got home," Lauren said. "Cheer-leading practice was canceled today." "The ghost was here again," Eli told Lauren. "It rolled marbles down the stairs and scared away the people who came to look at our house." "There's no such thing as ghosts," Eli's mom said in a tired voice. Lauren turned and ran back up the stairs. "Well, I know I didn't do it. I wasn't even here," Eli said. Lauren returned a couple of seconds later with a heavy book. "Look what I found on Eli's bed," she said, tromping down the stairs. She marked a page with her finger and held the book so her mom could read the title: The Big Book of Practical Jokes. "What were you doing in my room?" Eli cried. "You borrowed my markers yesterday. I went to get them back," Lauren said. She turned to their

“哦，我不知道你在家，劳伦，”她妈妈说。 “我刚到家，”劳伦说。 “今天的啦啦队训练取消了。” “鬼魂又来了，”伊莱告诉劳伦。 “它把弹珠滚下楼梯，吓跑了来看我们房子的人。” “世上没有鬼，”伊莱的妈妈用疲惫的声音说。 劳伦转身跑回楼梯。 “嗯，我知道不是我干的。 我甚至都不在这里，”伊莱说。 几秒钟后，劳伦拿着一本厚厚的书回来了。 “看我在伊莱的床上发现了什么，”她边说边跺着脚走下楼梯。 她用手指在书页上做了记号，然后拿起书，让妈妈读书名：《恶作剧大书》。 “你在我房间里干什么？”伊莱哭了。 “你昨天借了我的马克笔。 我去把它们拿回来，”劳伦说。 她转向他们。

mother. "Look what page the book was open to." She opened the book and read out loud, "'How to Make People Think Your House Is Haunted. Number one, roll marbles down the stairs.'" "Eli!" their mom cried, hands on her hips.

妈妈。“看书翻到哪一页了。” 她打开书，大声朗读：“如何让人们认为你的房子闹鬼。” 第一，把弹珠滚下楼梯。“伊莱！”他们的妈妈双手叉腰叫道。

"What?" Eli said. "That book was on my shelf when we left. It wasn't on my bed." "It was on your bed," Lauren argued. Kaz and Little John looked at each other. They'd seen the book on Eli's bed, too. But they didn't know whether it was there when Eli and Claire were looking around upstairs or whether it had appeared after they left. "I wasn't here when any of that stuff happened," Eli said again. "You could have rigged up something to go off when you're not here," Lauren said. "You like to play tricks on people. You know you do!" Kaz knew it, too. He had seen Eli borrow books on the subject from the library. "I'm being framed!" Eli insisted. "Someone's trying to make it look like I'm the one doing all this stuff." Lauren snorted. "Who would do that?" "A ghost," Eli said. "I'm being framed by a ghost."

“什么?”伊莱说。“我们离开的时候，那本书还在我的书架上。 它不在我的床上。”“它在你的床上，”劳伦争辩道。 卡兹和小约翰面面相觑。 他们也看到了伊莱床上的那本书。 但他们不知道它是在伊莱和克莱尔在楼上四处张望时出现的，还是在他们离开后出现的。 “那些事情发生的时候我都不在这里，”伊莱又说了一遍。 “你本可以在你不在家的时候制造爆炸，”劳伦说。 “你喜欢捉弄人。 你知道你有！”卡兹也知道。 他曾看见伊莱从图书馆借过这方面的书。 “我被陷害了！”伊莱坚持道。 “有人想让我看起来是做这些事的人。” 劳伦哼了一声。“谁会这么做？”以利说：“是鬼。” “我被鬼陷害了。”