Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 "I made the basketball team," I blurted out at the dinner table that night. "Hank, you interrupted your sister," my mom said. "She was just telling us about what happens to reptiles in cold weather." "I'm sorry, Emily," I said, although I didn't really mean it. "I just couldn't keep the good news in my body anymore. So it flew off my tongue." "Hank, I didn't know you had an interest in basketball," my dad said. "I didn't know either until Frankie and Ashley said they had been picked for the team." "How's your shooting?" my dad asked. "Needs work." "How's your dribbling?" "Needs work." "How's your passing?"

“我入选了篮球队，”那天晚上在餐桌上我脱口而出。 “汉克，你打断了你妹妹的话，”我妈妈说。 “她只是在告诉我们爬行动物在寒冷的天气里会发生什么。” “对不起，艾米丽，”我说，虽然我并不是真心的。 “我再也不能把这个好消息藏在心里了。 所以我就脱口而出了。” “汉克，我不知道你对篮球有兴趣，”爸爸说。 “我也不知道，直到弗兰基和阿什利说他们被选入了球队。” “你的射击怎么样？”爸爸问。 “需要工作。”“你的运球怎么样了？”“需要工作。” “你过得怎么样？”

"Never heard of it." "It's when you assist another player by passing the ball so he or she can shoot," Emily said. "Everyone knows that. Even Katherine." Emily's pet iguana, Katherine, who sits on her shoulder during dinner, whipped her tongue out and hissed at me. "No one wants to hear from you," I snapped. "You didn't make the team." "Do not take that tone of voice with Katherine," Emily said. "She's very sensitive." "Awww... what's going to happen?" I said, faking a nice tone of voice. "Is she going to cry when she's spitting up lettuce balls?" "For your information, Katherine digests her lettuce very well," Emily snapped. "All right, you two," my dad said. "That's enough. Hank, after dinner I'll take you

“从来没听说过。”艾米丽说：“这是指你通过传球帮助另一名球员投篮。” “每个人都知道。甚至凯瑟琳。” 艾米丽的宠物鬣蜥凯瑟琳在晚餐时坐在她的肩膀上，伸出舌头对我发出嘶嘶声。 “没人想听你说话，”我厉声说。 “你没有入选球队。” “别用那种语气跟凯瑟琳说话，”艾米丽说。 “她很敏感。”“哇… 会发生什么？”我装出一副和蔼的语气说。 “她吐莴苣球的时候会哭吗？”“告诉你，凯瑟琳的莴苣消化得很好，”艾米丽厉声说。 “好吧，你们两个，”爸爸说。 “这就够了。汉克，晚饭后我带你去

downstairs to the basement courtyard and give you some basketball pointers." "Great idea, Dad, but there's no basketball hoop in the courtyard." "Leave it to your creative dad," he said. "Okay," I said, even though I had no idea what he was talking about. "I didn't know you played basketball, Stanley," my mom said. My dad kind of puffed up his chest. "I was a pretty fair player in my day. They called me Dr. Dunk." "Wow, Dad," I said. "I didn't know you were a doctor, too." "That was his nickname, you muffin head," Emily said, "because Dad scored a lot of points." "I think you boys will have fun playing basketball together," my mom said.

下楼到地下室的院子里，给你一些篮球指导。” “好主意，爸爸，但是院子里没有篮球框。” “让你富有创造力的爸爸来做吧，”他说。 “好吧，”我说，尽管我不知道他在说什么。 “我不知道你会打篮球，斯坦利，”妈妈说。 我爸爸的胸都鼓起来了。 “我当年是一个相当公平的球员。 他们叫我邓克博士。”“哇，爸爸，”我说。 “我不知道你也是个医生。” “那是他的昵称，你这个松饼头，”艾米丽说，“因为爸爸得了很多分。” “我想你们两个一起打篮球会很有趣的，”我妈妈说。

I wasn't sure. My dad can get really impatient when he's trying to teach me a game. Last week, he was trying to teach me how to play Scrabble, which is not a good game for me since I can't spell. I tried to explain to him that he could roll his eyes at me all he wanted, but it My dad suggested we skip dessert and go right downstairs to practice. That was okay with me, since my mom is into making super healthy, semi-disgusting desserts. That night it was tomato soup cupcakes with blueberries. I grabbed our basketball, and we took the elevator down to the basement. We walked through the laundry room and out the back door to the courtyard. It's a cement square surrounded on all four sides by our ten-floor apartment building. My dad reached into a grocery bag he was carrying and pulled out two wire hangers. He twisted them together, then wasn't going to help me be a better speller.

我不确定。我爸爸教我玩游戏的时候会变得很不耐烦。 上周，他试图教我如何玩拼字游戏，这对我来说不是一个好游戏，因为我不会拼写。 我试着跟他解释，他可以对我翻白眼，但我爸爸建议我们不吃甜点，直接去楼下练习。 这对我来说没什么，因为我妈妈喜欢做超级健康，半恶心的甜点。 那天晚上是蓝莓番茄汤纸杯蛋糕。 我抓起我们的篮球，坐电梯下到地下室。 我们穿过洗衣房，从后门走到院子里。 它是一个水泥广场，四面被我们的十层公寓楼包围着。 爸爸把手伸进随身携带的购物袋里，拿出两个金属衣架。 他把它们混在一起，然后就不会帮我更好地拼写了。

bent them into a circle and hung them up on a nail that was sticking out of the brick. "This is called using your head," my dad said, pointing to his homemade basket. "Now let's practice using your hands. Take your first shot." I held the ball in my hands and took aim. Just as I was about to let it go, I heard a noise from Mrs. Park's apartment. It sounded like a teakettle going off. I turned to follow the noise, and the ball went sideways. It never even came close to the basket. My dad shook his head. "You need to focus," he said. "Concentrate. Keep your eyes on where you want the ball to go. Understand?" "Completely, Dad," I said. I picked up the ball and took aim again. This time, I stared as hard as I could at the basket—until a fat gray pigeon swooped down from a windowsill. I saw it from the corner of my

把它们弯成一个圆圈，挂在从砖里伸出来的钉子上。 “这叫动脑筋，”爸爸指着他自制的篮子说。 “现在让我们练习用手。 第一次出手吧。”我把球握在手里，瞄准了。 就在我要放手的时候，我听到朴太太的公寓里有声音。 那声音听起来像茶壶在响。 我转身跟着声音走，球偏了。 它甚至从来没有靠近过篮筐。 爸爸摇了摇头。“你需要集中注意力，”他说。 “集中。把你的眼睛放在你想要球去的地方。 明白了吗?”“完全正确，爸爸。”我说。 我捡起球，再次瞄准。 这一次，我拼命地盯着篮子，直到一只灰色的胖鸽子从窗台上俯冲下来。 我从我的角落里看到的

eye just as I let go of the ball. Once again—you guessed it— I shot a total air ball. I could see the frustration building up in my dad. "Let's give shooting a rest," he said with a sigh. "Let me see you dribble." I picked up the ball and dribbled around the courtyard. At least, I tried to. It's a good thing there were four walls around me. Otherwise the ball would have rolled into the Hudson River.

就在我放开球的时候，我的眼睛。 再一次——你猜对了——我投了一个全不上篮。 我可以看到我父亲的挫败感在积累。 “咱们歇歇吧，”他叹了口气说。 “让我看看你运球。”我捡起球，绕着院子运球。 至少，我试过了。幸好我周围有四堵墙。 否则球就会滚进哈德逊河。