Chapter 6

Chapter six The soccer ball was coming at me so fast that it didn't even look like a ball. It looked like those pictures of meteors I've seen hurtling toward Earth—except at that moment, I was Earth. I had no time to think. Luckily, my reflexes took over, and I dove into the dirt. When I lifted my head, I saw the ball crash into the fence behind me. It landed so hard, it actually made the chain-link fence rattle. "You got one hot foot there, Elsie," I told her. "You should consider going pro." As I stood up and started to brush myself off, I heard someone calling my name. I've heard that same voice ever since I was two years old.

足球向我飞来的速度如此之快，以至于它看起来都不像一个球。 它看起来就像我看过的那些流星冲向地球的照片——只是在那一刻，我是地球。 我没有时间思考。幸运的是，我的条件反射起了作用，我一头扎进了泥土里。 当我抬起头时，我看到球撞在了我身后的篱笆上。 它落得很重，连铁丝网都震得嘎嘎作响。 “你的脚真热，埃尔西，”我对她说。 “你应该考虑成为职业选手。” 当我站起来开始梳洗时，我听到有人叫我的名字。 我从两岁起就一直听到这个声音。

"Hank!" Frankie called. "Yo, Hank! Where are you?" "If you can hear us, give us a sign," Ashley yelled. "I'm in here, guys," I answered. "Hank," another voice called. "This is Ms. Shimozato. Where exactly are you? We're all so worried." "I'm in the elephant enclosure. With Elsie." There was a long silence. Then Ms. Shimozato said, "You mean you're inside there?" "As in, actually inside?" Frankie called out. "As in, next to an elephant?" Ashley added. "Her name is Elsie," I called out. "Come around the corner to the gate and I'll introduce you." I looked over at Elsie who was shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "You're going to meet my best friends," I explained to her. "And Ms. Shimozato. Her son Ryan is in my class." Elsie didn't seem too interested. She

“汉克!”弗兰基。“哟,汉克!你在哪儿？”“如果你能听到我们，就给我们个手势，"艾希礼喊道。 “我在这里，伙计们。”我回答。 “汉克，”另一个声音叫道。 “我是Shimozato女士。你到底在哪里？ 我们都很担心。”“我在大象的围栏里。 埃尔希。”沉默了很长时间。 然后下户女士说，“你是说你在里面？”“真的在里面吗？”弗兰基喊道。 “就在大象旁边吗？”阿什利说。 “她叫埃尔西。”我喊道。 “从拐角处到大门口来，我给你介绍。” 我看了看埃尔西，她正把重心从一只脚移到另一只脚上。 “你会遇到我最好的朋友，”我向她解释道。 还有Shimozato女士。她的儿子瑞恩和我同班。” 埃尔西似乎不太感兴趣。 她

reached out with her trunk and sucked up some dirt from the ground, then sprayed it all over her back. "Don't be nervous," I said. "You're going to like them as much as you like me." Two seconds later, Frankie, Ashley, and Ms. Shimozato appeared at the fence. When they saw me inside, standing next to Elsie, Ms. Shimozato let out a shriek. "Hank, get out of there right this second," she said. "What's the rush?" I said. "It's safe in here."

她伸出鼻子，从地上吸了一些泥土，然后喷在她的背上。 “别紧张，”我说。 “你会像喜欢我一样喜欢他们的。” 两秒钟后，弗兰基、阿什莉和琼斯太太。 下户出现在篱笆旁。 当他们看到我在屋里站在埃尔西旁边时。 下户发出一声尖叫。 “汉克，马上离开那里，”她说。 “急什么？”我说。 “这里很安全。”

"Hank," Ashley said. "In case you haven't noticed, there's a giant elephant standing right next to you." "Don't worry. Elsie and I are friends. Well, maybe not friends, but teammates." "Mrs. Flowers sent us to bring you back immediately," Ms. Shimozato said. "You better listen this time, Zip," Frankie said. "You're in big trouble." "When you didn't come back with McKelty, Ms. Flowers got worried," Ashley went on. "She called the office and got a bunch of staff members to help look for you. I talked her into letting Frankie and me go on a search if we promised to stick with Ms. Shimozato and come back right away." "I can't get out of here," I told them. "The fence is too high, and the gate is locked." "So you're stuck in there forever?" Ashley asked. "A zookeeper named Nora has the key," I explained. "She's wearing a T-shirt that says Wild About Giraffes. If you find her, she'll help."

“汉克，”艾希礼说。“如果你没有注意到，有一头巨象就站在你旁边。” “别担心。埃尔西和我是朋友。 好吧，也许不是朋友，而是队友。” “弗劳尔斯太太让我们马上把你带回来。” Shimozato说。“这次你最好听我说，次波，”弗兰基说。 “你有大麻烦了。”“当你没有和麦凯尔蒂一起回来的时候， 弗劳尔斯很担心，"艾希礼接着说。 “她给办公室打电话，让一群工作人员帮忙找你。 我说服了她，让我和弗兰基去找她前提是我们要保证和。 下门，马上回来。” “我不能离开这里，”我告诉他们。 “栅栏太高了，大门又锁上了。” “所以你永远被困在里面了？”阿什利问道。 “一个叫诺拉的动物园管理员有钥匙，”我解释说。 “她穿着一件t恤，上面写着‘热爱长颈鹿’。 如果你找到她，她会帮你的。”

"We're on it," Frankie said. "Hank, you stay right there," Ms. Shimozato told me. "As if I have any choice," I muttered. "Come on, children," I heard Ms. Shimozato said. "This is an emergency. We have to hurry." The three of them ran off down the path and I turned around to see what Elsie was up to. She had wandered over to her cave, where several large bales of hay were stacked up against the wall. She lifted the top one with her trunk and carried it over to the middle of her enclosure. "You must be hungry," I said to her. "That's a lot of hay for lunch. Talking about lunch, I'm hungry, too. I wish I liked hay, but I'm more of a hot dog guy myself." Elsie went over to the stack, lifted another huge bale of hay, and brought it back to the middle of her space. Then she picked it up as high as she could and slammed it against the first one. I think she was trying to break them up so she could start eating the hay. Boy, was she

“我们正在处理，”弗兰基说。 “汉克，你呆在那里，”她说。 Shimozato告诉我。“好像我还有别的选择似的，”我喃喃地说。 “来吧，孩子们。” Shimozato说。“这是紧急情况。 我们得快点了。”他们三个人沿着小路跑开了，我转过身去看看埃尔西在干什么。 她走回了自己的洞穴，那里的墙边堆着几大包干草。 她用鼻子提起上面的那只，把它带到她的围栏中央。 “你一定饿了，”我对她说。 “午餐有很多干草。 说到午餐，我也饿了。 我希望我喜欢干草，但我自己更喜欢热狗。” 埃尔西走到栈边，又拿起一大包干草，把它放回她的空间中央。 然后，她把它举得尽可能高，狠狠地撞在第一个上面。 我想她是想拆散他们这样她就可以吃干草了。 天啊，是她吗？

strong. "I bet your trunk could lift me," I said to Elsie. "I weigh a lot less than those bales." Wait a minute, Hank Zipper brain, I thought. You may have a hard time in school, but sometimes that brain of yours comes up with a brilliant idea. And this is one of those times. "Elsie," I began. "I need your help." She stopped eating her hay and stared at me. "That's good," I said. "Now watch me. I'm going to explain what I need you to do. You're

强。“我打赌你的箱子能把我提起来，”我对埃尔西说。 “我的体重比那些包轻得多。” 等一下，汉克·拉链脑，我想。 你可能在学校过得很艰难，但有时你的大脑会想出一个绝妙的主意。 这就是其中一次。 “埃尔西，”我开始说。“我需要你的帮助。” 她停止吃干草，盯着我看。 “那很好，”我说。“现在看着我。 我来解释一下我需要你做什么。 你