Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 It was Fish Stick Delight Day in the cafeteria, which meant that the entire lunchroom smelled like the bottom of a fishing boat. Frankie, Ashley, and I waited in line, pushing our trays forward with one hand and holding our noses with the other. I had put Journey to Jupiter on my lunch tray, thinking that maybe if I kept it close, the words would magically fly into my brain. "Let me get this straight, Zip," Frankie said, as he took a plate of fish sticks and peas and put them on his tray. "Mr. Rock asked you to try out to be on the welcoming committee for Paula Hart, but you've decided not to? That doesn't make any sense."

第四章今天是自助餐厅的鱼棒日，这意味着整个餐厅都散发着一股渔船底的味道。 弗兰基、阿什莉和我排队等候，一只手把盘子往前推，另一只手捏着鼻子。 我把《木星之旅》放在我的午餐托盘上，想着如果我把它放在身边，这些词就会神奇地飞进我的脑海。 “让我把事情搞清楚，次波，”弗兰基说着，拿了一盘鱼条和豌豆放在他的托盘上。 “洛克先生让你试着成为宝拉·哈特的欢迎委员会成员，但你决定不去？” 这没有任何意义。”

"No," I answered. "What doesn't make sense is the fact that I'd have to read her whole book by tomorrow. There's no way I could do that." I grabbed my plate of fish sticks, but the book took up so much room on my tray, there was barely a place to put it down. It didn't matter, anyway, because a large sweaty hand came swooping in and snatched the plate right out of my hands. The large sweaty hand belonged to the large sweaty Nick McKelty. "You snooze, you lose, Zipperbutt," he said as he stuffed one of the fish sticks into his mouth. "Your lunch belongs to me."

“不，”我回答。“不合理的是，我必须在明天之前读完她的整本书。 我不可能那样做。” 我抓起一盘鱼条，但那本书在我的托盘上占据了很大的空间，几乎没有地方放下它。 不过没关系，因为一只汗流浃背的大手突然扑过来，从我手中抢走了盘子。 那只大汗淋漓的手属于大汗淋漓的尼克·麦凯尔蒂。 “你打盹，你就输了，拉链屁股，”他边说边把一根鱼棒塞进嘴里。 “你的午餐是我的。”

"Give Hank his lunch back," Ashley said. "That is disgusting, taking food off other people's trays." McKelty didn't answer. He just opened his mouth and let out one of his snorty rhino laughs. We could see the fish flakes squeezing through the gap between his front teeth. It was enough to make me lose my appetite. "That's okay, Ashley," I said. "I'm not hungry anymore." I filled my tray with three cups of diced peaches and headed for our usual table. Frankie and Ashley followed. We sat down, being careful not to sit too close to McKelty. He was at the table next to us, sucking in a giant pile of food like a vacuum cleaner. "Back to Paula Hart," Frankie said. "She writes the coolest books. I've read them all." "Me too," Ashley said. "They're not that hard, Hank. Try it. Open the book and read the first couple of sentences." I took the book off my tray and opened it to Chapter One. I stared at the first sentence for a

“把汉克的午餐还给他，”艾希礼说。 “从别人的盘子里拿食物真是太恶心了。” 麦凯尔蒂没有回答。他只是张开嘴，发出一声鼻塞的犀牛笑。 我们可以看到鱼片从它的门牙缝里挤了出来。 这足以使我失去食欲。 “没关系，艾希礼，”我说。 “我不饿了。”我在托盘里装满了三杯桃子丁，然后走向我们常坐的桌子。 弗兰基和艾希礼跟在后面。 我们坐了下来，小心翼翼地不让自己坐得离麦凯尔蒂太近。 他坐在我们旁边的桌子上，像吸尘器一样吸着一大堆食物。 “回到宝拉·哈特，”弗兰基说。 “她写了最酷的书。 我都读过了。”“我也是，"艾希礼说。 “没那么难，汉克。 试一试。打开书，读前几句。” 我把书从托盘上拿下来，翻到第一章。 我盯着第一句话看

long time. Here is what was written: Dressed in their white space suits, Sarah and James looked out the portal of their rocket and gazed down at Jupiter. I cleared my throat and read aloud. "Dressing in whale steamships, Susan and James grazed out the pothole at Jupiter." Frankie and Ashley looked at each other without a word. "How'd I do?" I asked. Judging from the looks on their faces, I wasn't too hopeful.

长时间。上面是这样写的：莎拉和詹姆斯穿着白色太空服，从火箭的入口望出去，凝视着下面的木星。 我清了清嗓子，大声朗读起来。 苏珊和詹姆斯穿着鲸鱼船的衣服，在朱庇特岛擦出了坑。 弗兰基和艾希礼互相看了看，一句话也没说。 “我做得怎么样？”我问。从他们脸上的表情来看，我并不抱太大希望。

"Well, it was definitely interesting," Frankie said. "And very creative," Ashley added. "But I wasn't trying to be creative," I explained. "I was just trying to read the words on the page. And I didn't, right?" Ashley and Frankie shook their heads. "See," I said. "I told you I can't read." I heard a loud rhino snort from the table next to us. "That's because you're stupid, Zipperteeth," McKelty yelled. "You can't do anything right." Ashley and Frankie jumped up and marched right over to Mrs. Crock, who was on lunchroom duty. "Nick McKelty is calling Hank names," Frankie said. And before you could say Fish Stick Delight, Mrs. Crock was escorting Nick McKelty out of the cafeteria. There is no name calling allowed at PS 87. "Don't pay any attention to McKelty," Ashley said after he was gone. "You can do anything you want to do, Hank."

“嗯，确实很有趣，”弗兰基说。 “而且很有创意，”阿什利补充道。 “但我并不想有什么创意，”我解释说。 “我只是想看看纸上的字。 但我没有，对吧？”艾希礼和弗兰基摇了摇头。 “看，”我说。“我告诉过你我不识字。” 我听到隔壁桌子传来一声响亮的犀牛呼噜声。 “那是因为你太蠢了，拉链牙，”麦凯尔蒂喊道。 “你什么都做不对。” 艾希礼和弗兰基一跃而起，径直向在餐厅值班的克罗克太太走去。 “尼克·麦凯尔蒂在骂汉克，”弗兰基说。 你还没来得及说鱼棒软糖，克罗克夫人就把尼克·麦凯尔蒂送出了自助餐厅。 在ps87不允许骂人。 “别理麦凯尔蒂，"艾希礼在他走后说。 “你可以做任何你想做的事，汉克。”

"Except be on the welcoming committee for Paula Hart." "That's not the worst thing in the world," Frankie said. "The only thing you'll miss is not getting your picture on the big bulletin board." I nearly choked on my diced peaches. "What did you say?" I asked Frankie. "I said that the welcoming committee gets their picture on the big bulletin board by the entrance. It says so on the poster for tryouts." The poster! There's another thing I can't read. "Oh man, I want my picture up there more than anything," I said. "Just once, I'd like to show Emily that I can get a special honor, too." "Hey, we're here to help," Ashley said. "What's the plan?" "Well, Mr. Rock said we could be a trio. How about if you guys try out with me and help me do what I can't do?" "There's not much time. The tryouts are tomorrow," Frankie said.

“除了成为宝拉·哈特的欢迎委员会成员。” “这还不是世界上最糟糕的事情，”弗兰基说。 “你唯一会怀念的就是你的照片没有出现在大公告栏上。” 我差点被桃子丁噎住了。 “你说什么？”我问弗兰基。 “我说欢迎委员会的照片会贴在入口处的大布告栏上。 选拔海报上是这么写的。” 海报!还有一件事我看不懂。 “哦，伙计，我最想要的就是把我的照片挂在上面，”我说。 “就这一次，我想让艾米丽知道，我也能得到一项特殊的荣誉。” “嘿，我们是来帮忙的，”阿什利说。 “计划是什么？”“嗯，洛克先生说我们可以组成一个三人组。 不如你们和我一起试一试，帮我做我做不到的事？”“时间不多了。 明天是选拔赛，”弗兰基说。