Chapter 11

Chapter eleven The door to our apartment opened just in time. I had never been so glad to see my mom's face. I broke free from the zombie and zoomed inside like I had a jet pack on my back. "Frankie! Ashley! Get in here," I yelled. "And Mom! Slam the door! Quick!" But my mom wasn't fast enough, and the green-faced zombie followed us into the living room. This was it. I had no choice. It was time for me to be brave. "Stop right there," I said, stepping in front of my family and friends and spreading my tinfoil arms in front of them. "I am a zombie fighter. Take one step farther and I'll have to use my powers to melt you into a green puddle."

第十一章我们公寓的门及时打开了。 看到妈妈的脸，我从来没有这么高兴过。 我挣脱了僵尸的束缚，像背上了喷气背包一样冲了进去。 “弗兰基!希礼!进来，”我喊道。 ”和妈妈!砰的一声关上门！快!”但我妈妈不够快，绿脸僵尸跟着我们进了客厅。 就是这样。我别无选择。 我该勇敢起来了。 “到此为止吧，”我说着，走到我的家人和朋友面前，在他们面前摊开我那裹着锡纸的手臂。 “我是一个僵尸战士。再往前走一步，我就要用我的法力把你融化成绿色的水坑了。”

"Hank," my mom said. "That's no way to talk to Mrs. Fink." "But, Mom, can't you see? That's not really Mrs. Fink anymore. She's been taken over by zombies. Just look at her." "Oh," Mrs. Fink said, reaching out to touch my arm. "I think I understand the problem." "Don't get near me," I warned her. "You can't eat my brain. It's off-limits." "I'm not a zombie, honey," she said. "I promise." "Then why is your face green?" "I was just having some Halloween fun. So I covered my face with my avocado face cream." "Oh really? Then where have your teeth gone?" "They're in a glass on the sink. Maybe you didn't know, but I wear false teeth. I'm so sorry that I scared you." "Mrs. Fink," my mom said. "I'm so embarrassed about the way Hank spoke to you. If you'll excuse us, I'd like to have a word with him."

“汉克，”我妈妈说。“你可不能这样跟芬克太太说话。” “可是，妈妈，你看不出来吗？”那已经不是芬克夫人了。 她被僵尸控制了。 看看她吧。”“哦，”芬克太太说着，伸手摸摸我的胳膊。 “我想我明白这个问题了。” “别靠近我，”我警告她。 “你不能吃我的大脑。这是禁区。” “我不是僵尸，亲爱的，”她说。 “我保证。”“那你的脸为什么是绿色的？”“我只是想找点万圣节的乐子。 所以我在脸上涂了鳄梨面霜。” “哦,真的吗?那么你的牙齿到哪里去了？”“它们在水槽上的一个玻璃杯里。 也许你不知道，我戴假牙。 我很抱歉吓到你了。” “芬克太太，”我妈妈说。汉克对你说话的方式让我很尴尬。 如果你不介意的话，我想和他谈谈。”

Mrs. Fink winked at me as she left, and a big glob of green slime slid off her face onto her shoes. "Don't forget to come back for a Tootsie Roll," she said to all three of us as she left our apartment. My mom looked me right in the eye. "What is all this about, Hank?" she asked. "I think I know, Mrs. Zipzer," Ashley said. "Ever since last night's movie, Hank has been worried about a zombie invasion." "We thought he was just kidding," Frankie said. "But now we see he wasn't." "This is silly, Hank," my mom said. "There's no such thing as zombies. They are made up." "Oh yeah?" I said. "Then how come it says in the encyclopedia at the library that zombies do exist? I read it, right on the page. It said, "According to experts, there is evidence that

芬克太太离开时向我眨了眨眼睛，一大团绿色的黏液从她脸上滑到她的鞋子上。 “别忘了回来吃棒棒糖，”她离开公寓时对我们三个人说。 我妈妈直视着我的眼睛。 “这是怎么回事，汉克？”她问。 “我想我知道，齐泽尔太太，"艾希礼说。 “自从昨晚看完电影，汉克就一直担心僵尸会入侵” “我们以为他只是在开玩笑，”弗兰基说。 “但现在我们知道他不是。” “这太愚蠢了，汉克，”我妈妈说。 “没有僵尸这种东西。 它们是编造出来的。”“哦?”我说。 “那为什么图书馆的百科全书里说僵尸确实存在呢？” 我读了，就在那一页上。 它说，“根据专家的说法，有证据表明

zombies exist." My mom nodded her head. "I think I understand what's happening here," she said slowly. "Isn't it true, sweetie, that reading is very hard for you? And sometimes you add words to what's on the page... or leave words out?" "I guess that's true, Mom." "So I suggest we all go to the computer and look up zombies again. We'll give it another reading." Frankie, Ashley, and I followed my mom to the dining-room table, where she sat down in front of her laptop.

僵尸存在。”妈妈点了点头。 “我想我明白这是怎么回事了，”她慢慢地说。 “亲爱的，是不是读书对你来说很难？” 有时你会在纸上添加单词…… 还是不写？”“我想这是真的，妈妈。” “所以我建议我们都去电脑前再查一下僵尸。 我们再读一遍。” 弗兰基、阿什利和我跟着妈妈走到餐桌前，她坐在笔记本电脑前。

She typed in some words. In just a few seconds, the encyclopedia page about zombies popped up. It was the same page that was in the book I read. Frankie leaned toward the screen and read the first sentence out loud. "The word zombie was first used in 1819 in Brazil," he read. "Oh, that's what that word was," I said. "Brazil! Well, that makes much more sense than Bad Bill." Frankie continued reading. "According to

她打了一些字。几秒钟后，关于僵尸的百科全书页面跳出来了。 这和我读过的那本书是同一页。 弗兰基靠向屏幕，大声读出了第一句话。 “僵尸这个词最早是1819年在巴西使用的，”他读到。 “哦，这就是那个词的意思，”我说。 “巴西!好吧，这比坏比尔说得通多了。” 弗兰基继续读着。 “根据

experts, there is no evidence that zombies exist." "Wait a minute," I said. "Where do you see the word no?" "It's right here, Zip," he said, pointing to the word on the screen. "Do you think it was there this whole time?" I asked. "Yes, I do." There was a long silence as I thought about that. "So I've been scared of a zombie invasion this whole time because I skipped over a two- letter word?" Frankie and Ashley and my mom all nodded. For some reason, I felt like I was going to cry. Why couldn't I read like Frankie and Ashley? At that moment, I really didn't like my brain. Why didn't it work like everyone else's? Ashley put one of her giraffe hooves on my shoulder.

专家们，没有证据表明僵尸存在。” “等一下，”我说。“你在哪儿看到‘不’字的？”“就在这里，齐普，”他指着屏幕上的字说。 “你觉得它一直都在那儿吗？”我问。 “是的，我喜欢。”我想着这事，沉默了很长时间。 “所以我一直害怕僵尸入侵，就因为我跳过了一个两个字母的单词？”弗兰基，阿什莉和我妈妈都点了点头。 出于某种原因，我觉得我要哭了。 为什么我不能像弗兰基和阿什莉那样读书？ 那一刻，我真的不喜欢我的大脑。 为什么它不像其他人那样有效？ 阿什利把她的一只长颈鹿蹄子放在我的肩膀上。