6. Waiting in Line Stinks

6 Waiting in Line Stinks Andrea said she knew where Santa was, and she led us to the other side of the mall. Finally, we found the end of the line of people waiting to meet Santa. There must have been a million hundred kids there! I could see a sign in the distance that said SANTA'S WORKSHOP, but Santa Claus was too far away. He was in a special roped-off area. "We should sneak up to the front of the line," I whispered. "That would be wrong, Arlo," Andrea said. "These kids got here before we did." I was going to sneak up anyway, but a

安德里亚说她知道圣诞老人在哪里，然后把我们领到商场的另一边。 最后，我们找到了排队等着见圣诞老人的人。 那里一定有成千上万的孩子！我可以看到远处的一个标志，上面写着圣诞老人的工作室，但是圣诞老人离得太远了。 他在一个用绳子围起来的特殊区域。 “我们应该溜到队伍前面去。”我低声说。 “那是不对的，阿乐，”安德烈说。 “这些孩子比我们先到这里。” 我本来也想溜过去的，但是

big arm came down in front of my face. I looked up. You'll never believe whose arm it was. Officer Spence, our school security guard! He was standing on a Segway. Those things are cool. "Officer Spence!" I said. "What are you doing here?" "Making sure everybody waits in line," he told me. "And earning a little extra money over the holidays." "How long will we have to wait in line?" Ryan asked. "About an hour," Officer Spence said. "An hour?!" "We could die from old age while we're waiting," I said. "An hour is like forever," said Michael.

一只大胳膊伸到我面前。 我抬起头来。你绝对不会相信那是谁的手臂。 斯宾塞警官，我们学校的保安！他站在赛格威上。 这些东西很酷。“官斯宾塞!”我说。 “你在这儿干什么？”“确保每个人都排队等候，”他告诉我。 “还能在假期赚点外快。” “我们要排队等多久？”瑞恩问道。 “大约一个小时，”斯宾塞警官说。 “一个小时? !”“我们在等待的时候可能会老死，”我说。 “一小时就像永远，”迈克尔说。

Andrea rolled her eyes. "Boys should learn to be patient," she said. I wasn't sure if it was worth it to wait in line for an hour. I thought that maybe we should just forget about meeting Santa. But that's when I heard these magic words...." Santa is giving out candy," some kid said.

安德烈翻了个白眼。“男孩应该学会耐心，”她说。 我不确定排队等一个小时是否值得。 我想也许我们应该忘记见圣诞老人的事。 但就在那时，我听到了这些神奇的话....” 圣诞老人在发糖果，”一个孩子说。

"Santa is giving out candy," said some other kid. "Santa is giving out candy!" said another kid. In case you were wondering, everybody was saying that Santa was giving out candy. And if there's one thing that I love almost as much as Santa, it's candy. All the candy I got on Halloween was gone. So we decided to stay in line. But waiting in lines is boring. To kill the time, I practiced what I was going to say when I got to Santa.... "I want the new Striker Smith Commando action figure with missile launcher, voice activator, attack dog, and deluxe blowtorch. Other accessories sold separately. Batteries not included." Striker Smith is a superhero from the future who travels through time and fights

“圣诞老人在发糖果，”另一个孩子说。 “圣诞老人在发糖果！”另一个孩子说。 如果你想知道，每个人都说圣诞老人在发糖果。 如果说有一样东西我几乎和圣诞老人一样爱，那就是糖果。 我万圣节收到的糖果都没了。 所以我们决定排队。 但是排队是很无聊的。 为了消磨时间，我练习了到圣诞老人那里时要说的话.... “我想要带有导弹发射器、声音激活器、攻击犬和豪华喷灯的新射手史密斯突击队人物模型。 其他配件单独出售。 电池不包括在内。”射手史密斯是一位来自未来的超级英雄，他可以穿越时间并进行战斗

all who dare to thwart his destiny. He can turn into a jet plane when you push a button on his stomach. His armor suit is tough enough to withstand a nuclear blast. He's a one-man wrecking machine, ready to take on any evil to save the world. Two Christmases ago, I got my first Striker Smith action figure. Then on the school bus I tied a string to Striker's leg and lowered him out the window so he could fight bad guys who were attacking the bus. But Striker fell under the bus and got decapitated. That's a fancy way of saying his head came off. We had a funeral for his head.* I got a new Striker Smith last Christmas. But he met his untimely end when his head got tragically melted in a battle with an evil magnifying glass. So now I wanted to get a new Striker, the one that comes with a

所有胆敢阻挠他命运的人。 你按下他肚子上的按钮，他就能变成一架喷气式飞机。 他的盔甲足够坚固，可以承受核爆炸。 他是一个人的毁灭机器，随时准备对抗任何邪恶来拯救世界。 两年前的圣诞节，我得到了我的第一个射手史密斯人偶。 然后在校车上，我把一根绳子绑在斯特莱克的腿上，把他从窗户放下来，这样他就可以和袭击校车的坏人搏斗了。 但斯特莱克掉到车底下，被斩首了。 这是说他的头掉下来的华丽说法。 我们为他的头举行了葬礼。去年圣诞节我得到了一台新的Striker Smith。 但是当他的头在与邪恶的放大镜的战斗中悲惨地融化时，他就过早地结束了他的生命。 所以现在我想买一个新的前锋，一个带有

blowtorch. It is cool. Most of the other kids in line were little. They didn't even look like they were in first grade yet. Man, I thought, those kids can't even read. They don't know what two plus two equals! They don't know anything. It's hard to believe that I was that dumb just a few years ago.

喷灯。它很酷。排队的其他孩子大多都很小。 他们甚至还不像一年级学生。 天啊，我想，那些孩子连字都不会读。 他们不知道二加二等于多少！他们什么都不知道。 很难相信几年前我还那么笨。