Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 Frankie and Ashley and I decided that our best chance to make Stanley come alive was to see if Jaden would help me. He seemed to know everything about robots that I didn't. Before Frankie and Ashley left my apartment, we decided to try to find Jaden at recess the next day and ask his advice. In the morning, I packed Stanley in one of my mom's recycled grocery bags. It smelled a little like hamburger meat, but Stanley never mentioned that he was a vegetarian, so I didn't think he would mind. Of course, if I had been in there, all I'd be thinking about was a cheeseburger with extra ketchup and pickles.

弗兰基、艾希礼和我决定，让斯坦利活过来的最好机会就是看看杰登是否会帮我。 他似乎知道关于机器人的一切，而我不知道。 在弗兰基和阿什利离开我的公寓之前，我们决定在第二天课间休息的时候找到杰登，征求他的意见。 早上，我把斯坦利装进了我妈妈的一个回收购物袋里。 它闻起来有点像汉堡肉，但斯坦利从来没有提过他是素食主义者，所以我想他不会介意的。 当然，如果我当时在里面，我脑子里想的肯定是芝士汉堡外加番茄酱和泡菜。

I put Stanley's motor and the remote control in a nest of some of the leftover toilet paper, to protect them from bouncing around on the walk to school. Ashley was very proud that the paper didn't go to waste. We asked my dad to walk us to school early so we could hang out on the playground and see if Jaden showed up. "I think you should use the extra time to study for your spelling test," my dad said as he dropped us off at the front door. Principal Love, who greets all of us at the entrance every morning, overheard what my dad said.

我把斯坦利的马达和遥控器放在一堆剩下的卫生纸里，以防它们在上学的路上蹦来蹦去。 艾希礼为报纸没有白白浪费而感到非常自豪。 我们让爸爸早点送我们去学校，这样我们就可以在操场上闲逛，看看杰登是否出现了。 “我认为你们应该利用这些额外的时间来复习拼写考试，”爸爸把我们送到前门时说。 每天早上在入口处迎接我们所有人的洛夫校长无意中听到了我爸爸说的话。

"Ah yes," he said. "Spelling. Nothing thrills me like a word spelled correctly. Take receive, for instance." "I'd rather not," I mumbled. "R-E-C-E-I-V-E," Principal Love said. "That's music to my ears." "Not to mine," I said. "It's just a bunch of letters that I can never get in the right order." We scooted out of there before Principal Love could go on about the wonders of spelling. "Let's see if Jaden is on that same bench where he was yesterday," Frankie said.

“啊，是的，”他说。“拼写。 没有什么比单词拼写正确更让我兴奋的了。 以接收为例。” “我宁愿不要，”我咕哝着说。 “R-E-C-E-I-V-E，”洛夫校长说。 “这对我来说太美妙了。” “不是我的，”我说。“只是一堆字母，我永远无法按正确的顺序排列。” 在洛夫校长还没来得及讲拼写的奇迹之前，我们就离开了那里。 “让我们看看杰登是否还坐在昨天的那个板凳上，”弗兰基说。

We hurried to the bench by the fence, but Jaden wasn't there. We looked around the lunch tables, the handball court, and even peeked into the attendance office. The only person there was Mrs. Crock, eating a drippy egg sandwich. "Can I help you, kids?" she asked, with what looked like an entire loaf of bread wedged between her teeth. "We're looking for Jaden," Ashley said. "Would that be Jaden S. or Jaden W.?"

我们急忙走到篱笆旁的长凳上，但杰登不在那里。 我们参观了午餐桌、手球场，甚至还偷看了一下考勤办公室。 唯一在场的人是克罗克太太，她正在吃溏心蛋三明治。 “我能帮你们吗，孩子们？”她问道，牙缝里好像塞着一整块面包。 “我们在找杰登，”阿什利说。 “是杰登·s还是杰登·w ?”

"The Jaden who has trouble talking," I said. "Not that there's anything wrong with that." "Oh, that would be Jaden W." "I really need his help," I said. "His mom called and said he'll be late today," Mrs. Crock said. "Why don't you look for him at lunch?" We went to class, and I put the bag with Stanley underneath my desk. It wasn't long before I felt Nick McKelty's stinky breath on the back of my neck. He leaned his soccer-ball-size head over my shoulder to peek inside the bag. "What's in there, Zipperbutt?" he asked. "You're playing with your teeny tiny unicorn Legos again? I haven't done that since kindergarten." Leave it to McKelty to say something mean. He's the worst bully in the school. "That shows how much you know, Nick," I said. "That happens to be the one and only sock-picker-upper robot in the entire city." He let out one of his hippo snort laughs, and with it came a blast of hot air that curled the

“那个说话有困难的杰登，”我说。 “这并没有什么错。” “哦，那应该是杰登·w。” “我真的需要他的帮助，”我说。 “他妈妈打电话说他今天会晚回来，”克罗克太太说。 “你为什么不在午饭时去找他呢？”我们去上课，我把包和斯坦利放在我的桌子下面。 没过多久，我就感觉到尼克·麦凯尔蒂的臭气吹到了我的脖子后面。 他把他那足球大小的脑袋靠在我的肩膀上偷看包里的东西。 “拉链屁股，里面是什么？”他问。 “你又在玩你的小独角兽乐高积木了？” 从幼儿园开始我就没这么做过。” 让麦凯蒂说些刻薄的话吧。 他是学校里最坏的恶霸。 “这说明你懂得很多，尼克，”我说。 “它恰好是整个城市唯一一个捡袜子的机器人。” 他发出一声像河马一样的鼻息大笑，随之而来的是一阵热空气，把他的头发卷了起来

hair on my neck. "Please take your stinky breath off my neck," I said, "and pant somewhere else." "People love my breath," McKelty panted. "What planet do you live on?" I shot back. We could have gone on forever, but Ms. Flowers was already telling us to stand to say the Pledge of Allegiance. It seemed like forever until lunchtime. I couldn't concentrate on anything. Not the times tables. Not the spelling words. Not even the science chapter Ms. Flowers read to us about the three types of clouds. All I could think about was whether or not Jaden would help me finish Stanley. I couldn't wait to see if we could get him to pick up the socks. When the lunch bell rang, Frankie, Ashley, and I were the first ones into the lunchroom. Kids were talking and laughing as they headed to their usual tables. We found Jaden sitting alone at a table in the corner, wearing his vest

我脖子上的头发。“请把你的臭气从我脖子上拿开，”我说，“到别处去喘气。” “人们喜欢我的呼吸，”麦凯尔蒂喘着气说。 “你住在哪个星球上？”我反驳道。 我们本可以一直聊下去的，但是。 弗劳尔斯已经让我们站起来宣读效忠誓言了。 好像永远都到不了午餐时间。 我无法集中注意力。 不是乘法表。不是拼写单词。 甚至连科学章节也没有。 花儿给我们朗读云的三种类型。 我满脑子想的都是杰登会不会帮我干掉斯坦利。 我迫不及待地想看看能不能让他把袜子捡起来。 午餐铃一响，弗兰基、阿什莉和我最先走进了午餐室。 孩子们有说有笑地走向他们常坐的桌子。 我们发现杰登独自坐在角落的一张桌子旁，穿着他的背心