2. My Secret Plan

2 My Secret Plan I grabbed a bar of soap from our bathroom sink. My secret plan was to go over to Andrea's house and soap up her windows. That would show her who's boss. Nobody TP's my house and gets away with it. I knew that my mom would never let me go out so late to soap up Andrea's windows. I would have to come up with another reason to get out of the house. "Mom, can I go over to Ryan's house for a few minutes?" I asked. "I need to get our homework assignment for tonight." "Okay," she said, "but why do you have a bar of soap in your hand?" "Uh I may have to wash my hands," I lied.

我从浴室的水池里抓起一块肥皂。 我的秘密计划是去安德里亚家，用肥皂擦她的窗户。 那会让她知道谁才是老大。 没人敢在我家撒尿还能逍遥法外。 我知道我妈妈不会让我这么晚出去给安德里亚的窗户擦肥皂的。 我就得再找个理由走出家门。 “妈妈，我能去瑞恩家几分钟吗？”我问。 “我需要拿到今晚的家庭作业。” “好吧，”她说，“但你手里为什么拿着一块肥皂呢？”“呃，我可能得洗手了。”我撒谎道。

"A.J., I'm sure Ryan has soap at his house." "I don't like Ryan's soap," I told her. "It smells stinky." "Why don't you just wash your hands right here and then go over to Ryan's house?" Mom asked. "My hands might get dirty while I'm over there," I explained. "Ryan's house is really filthy." "Just go, A.J.," my mom said as she rubbed her forehead with her fingers. Yes! I win! If you can get your mom or dad to rub their forehead with their fingers, they'll agree to just about anything. That's the first rule of being a kid. Ryan lives down the street from me. I ran over to his house as fast as I could so I wouldn't be attacked by any monsters along the way. You never know when there might

“ aj，瑞恩家里肯定有肥皂” “我不喜欢瑞恩的肥皂，”我告诉她。 “闻起来很臭。”“你为什么不在这里洗手，然后去瑞恩家呢？”母亲问。 “我在那儿的时候手可能会弄脏，”我解释说。 “瑞恩的房子真的很脏。” “去吧，aj，”妈妈一边说一边用手指揉着额头。 是的!我赢了!如果你能让你的父母用手指摩擦他们的额头，他们就会同意任何事情。 这是当孩子的第一准则。 瑞安就住在我家隔壁。 我以最快的速度跑向他的房子，这样我就不会在路上被任何怪物攻击。 你永远不知道什么时候会发生

be monsters out, roaming the streets. I told Ryan my secret plan to soap up Andrea's windows. He told his mom that he needed to go to my house to get tonight's homework assignment. It took some convincing, but finally she rubbed her forehead with her fingers and said he could go. Little did she know that we were going to Andrea's house to do a little mischief. Ryan and I sneaked down the street like secret agents, hiding behind cars and trees so we wouldn't get caught. It was cool. "I'm traveling incognito," I whispered to Ryan. "What's a cognito?" "How should I know?" I said. "But secret agents always travel in them."*

当怪物出来，在街上游荡。 我告诉瑞安我的秘密计划是用肥皂擦安德里亚的窗户。 他告诉他妈妈他要去我家拿今晚的家庭作业。 她费了好大劲才说服他，最后她用手指揉了揉额头，说他可以走了。 她一点也不知道我们要去安德里亚家搞点恶作剧。 瑞安和我像秘密特工一样偷偷溜过街道，躲在汽车和树后面，以免被抓住。 很酷。“我要隐姓埋名旅行。”我低声对瑞安说。 “什么是cognito?”“我怎么知道？”我说。 “但秘密特工总是乘坐它们旅行。”＊

After walking a million hundred miles, we finally reached Andrea's street. "This is gonna be great!" Ryan whispered. "Shhhhhhhh!" We crept up to Andrea's front window. I reached into my pocket. I took out the bar of soap. And just as I was about to rub the soap

走了一百万英里后，我们终于到了安德里亚住的那条街。 “这太棒了！”瑞安低声说。 “Shhhhhhhh !”我们蹑手蹑脚地走到安德里亚的前窗。 我把手伸进口袋。我拿出一块肥皂。 就在我要擦肥皂的时候

all over the window, I saw the most horrible, revolting, disgusting creature I have ever encountered in my life. It was Andrea! "Ahhhhhhh!" Ryan and I screamed. "What are you doing over here, Arlo?" asked Andrea as she lifted up the window. She calls me by my real name because she knows I don't like it. "Uh nothing," I said. "We were, uh bird-watching." "Yeah," Ryan agreed. "We were watching birds. I think I just saw a yellow-bellied sapsucker in that tree over there."

透过窗户，我看到了我一生中遇到的最可怕、最令人作呕、最令人厌恶的生物。 是安德里亚！“Ahhhhhhh !”瑞安和我尖叫起来。 “你在这儿干什么，阿乐？”安德烈抬起窗户问。 她叫我的真名，因为她知道我不喜欢这样。 “嗯，没什么，”我说。“我们在，嗯，观鸟。” “是的，”瑞恩同意道。“我们在看鸟。 我想我刚才在那边那棵树上看到了一只黄肚皮的树苗。”