Chapter 3

Chapter three, As soon as we got into our apartment, Emily ran to her room and slammed the door. I followed her and stood patiently outside of it, knocking until my knuckles hurt. She never said "Come in" or "Go away." "Emily!" I called. "Open the door. I have a great idea about your party." "Oh really? And what is your great idea, as if you could have one?" "Open the door and I'll tell you." I heard her walking across the carpet, then the door opened a crack. "What?" she said. "Well," I began. "You want a snake at your party, right?" "Duh."

我们一进公寓，艾米丽就跑回自己的房间，砰地关上了门。 我跟着她，耐心地站在门外，一直敲到指关节疼。 她从没说过“请进”或“走开” “艾米丽!”我叫。“开门。 我对你的派对有个好主意。” “哦,真的吗?你的好主意是什么，如果你能有一个的话？”“开门，我告诉你。” 我听见她走过地毯，然后门开了一条缝。 “什么？”她说。“嗯，”我开始说。 “你想让蛇出现在你的派对上，对吧？”“咄”。

"So all you have to do is produce one out of thin air. Problem solved." I smiled my best Hank Zipzer smile, giving her a touch of the old Zipzer attitude. It didn't work. She didn't buy it for one minute. "Hank," she said. "That is the craziest thing you've ever said. Snakes don't appear out of thin air. Now stop bugging me." She started to close the door, but before she could, I stuck my foot in the doorway to block it. I knew I had to come up with a plan she'd believe. Unfortunately, I didn't have one.

“所以你所要做的就是凭空制造一个。 问题解决了。”我露出汉克·齐泽尔式的微笑，给她一点老齐泽尔式的态度。 但没有成功。她一点也不相信。 “汉克，”她说。“这是你说过的最疯狂的话。 蛇不是凭空出现的。 别再烦我了。”她想关门，但还没等她关门，我就用脚堵住了门。 我知道我必须想出一个她会相信的计划。 不幸的是，我没有。

But to my surprise, when I opened my mouth, this is what came out. "Snakes do appear out of thin air," I said. "If you know the right people. And I do." "Who?" she asked. I opened my mouth again, and this time, an even bigger surprise was waiting on my tongue. "The Westside Wizard," I said. "Don't tell me you've never heard of him. His specialty is pulling snakes out of thin air and twirling them above his head. They get a little dizzy, but they love it because it makes kids happy." Emily looked at me suspiciously.

但令我惊讶的是，当我张开嘴，说出的是这个。 “蛇确实是凭空出现的，”我说。 “如果你认识合适的人。 我就是这么想的。”“谁？”她问。 我再次张开嘴，这一次，更大的惊喜等在我的舌头上。 “《西区巫师》，”我说。 “别告诉我你从没听说过他。 他的专长是从稀薄的空气中拉出蛇，然后在头顶上旋转。 他们会有点头晕，但他们很喜欢，因为这让孩子们很开心。” 艾米丽怀疑地看着我。

"And how do you know this Westside Wizard?" she asked. "I've never heard of him." "Emily, you may have forgotten, but I'm in the second grade. We second-graders know all kinds of things you little first-graders don't." "You don't know how to subtract, and I do," Emily pointed out. "Okay, fine," I told her. "You can talk about math all you want. I'll just call the wizard and tell

“你是怎么认识这个西区巫师的？”她问。 “我从来没听说过他。” “艾米丽，你可能忘了，但我是二年级学生。 我们二年级的学生知道你们一年级小学生不知道的所有事情。” “你不知道怎么做减法，而我知道，”艾米丽指出。 “好吧，好吧，”我告诉她。“你可以随心所欲地谈论数学。 我给巫师打电话告诉他

him you're not interested in having him come to your party." "No, no. Don't do that, Hank. Do you think he'd really come? The party's only a week away." I gave her that Zipzer smile again. "He will if I ask him," I said with confidence. Let me just say right here, I have no idea where that confidence was coming from. I had never heard of the Westside Wizard. It was just something that fell out of my mouth. I noticed that Emily was smiling. And it was the same excited smile she'd had at Ralph's booth at the street fair. "Hank! You are the best big brother in the world." She reached out and gave me a giant hug. Right in the middle of it, we both realized that this was weird. First of all, we don't hug. And second of all, she grabbed me so suddenly that her braids slapped me in the face. The hug stopped almost as soon as it started, which was just fine with me.

你对他来参加你的聚会不感兴趣。” “不,不。别这样，汉克。 你认为他真的会来吗？ 离聚会只有一个星期了。” 我又给了她一个微笑。 “如果我问他，他会的。”我自信地说。 我只想说，我不知道这种自信从何而来。 我从来没听说过西区巫师。 只是从我嘴里说出来的。 我注意到艾米丽在微笑。 这是她在街头集市上看到拉尔夫摊位时那种兴奋的微笑。 “汉克!你是世界上最好的哥哥。” 她伸出手给了我一个大大的拥抱。 就在这个过程中，我们都意识到这很奇怪。 首先，我们不拥抱。 其次，她突然抓住我她的辫子打在我脸上。 拥抱刚开始就停止了，这对我来说很好。

Emily rushed past me and ran into the living room. "Where are you going?" I shouted. "To call all the friends I invited and tell them about the Westside Wizard. This is going to be the best birthday party they've ever been to." On the one hand, it was good to see Emily so excited. On the other hand, I had gotten myself into a giant pickle. Actually, make that a whole jar of

艾米丽从我身边冲过，跑进客厅。 “你要去哪儿？”我叫道。 “打电话给我邀请的所有朋友，告诉他们西区巫师的事。 这将是他们参加过的最棒的生日派对。” 一方面，看到艾米丽如此兴奋是件好事。 另一方面，我让自己陷入了一个巨大的困境。 实际上，把它做成一整罐