1. Happy Birthday to Me

1 Happy Birthday to Me My name is A.J. and I know what you're thinking. You're wondering why I just put four M&M's in my mouth. Let me explain. If I put just one M&M in my mouth, I would barely taste it. The thing is just too small. It would be like taking a pill.

祝我生日快乐我的名字是A.J. 我知道你在想什么 你在想我为什么要往嘴里塞四块巧克力豆吧。 让我解释一下。如果我把一颗M&M巧克力豆放进嘴里，我几乎尝不出它的味道。 这东西实在太小了。 就像吃药一样。

Two M&M's are twice as much as one M&M, of course. But they're still not enough to get that full chocolate blast after you melt the candy coating in your mouth. Three M&M's are almost enough. But when you put three M&M's in your mouth, you definitely feel like something is missing. Four is the perfect number of M&M's to put in your mouth at one time. Yum! If you put five M&M's in your mouth, well, they're not gonna taste any better than four M&M's. So why do it? And if you're one of those people who pop a whole handful of M&M's in your mouth at once, well, that's just crazy. What a waste of perfectly good M&M's. So there you have it. Now you know

当然，两块巧克力豆的价格是一块巧克力豆的两倍。 但它们仍然不足以让你在嘴里融化糖果涂层后获得完整的巧克力效果。 三个M&M差不多就够了。 但当你把三块M&M放进嘴里时，你肯定会觉得少了什么。 四颗是一次放进嘴里的M&M巧克力豆的最佳数量。 Yum !如果你把5颗M&M豆放进嘴里，它们的味道不会比4颗更好。 那么为什么要这么做呢？如果你是那种一次把一大把M&M巧克力豆塞进嘴里的人，那就太疯狂了。 真是浪费了这么好的巧克力豆。 这就是结果。现在你知道了

that four is the magic number of M&M's to put in your mouth at one time. You're welcome. "A.J.," my mom said, "the big day is coming. What do you want for your birthday?" "A truck full of M&M's," I replied. "You can't buy a truck full of M&M's," my dad told me. Nine years old. That's a big one. This will be my last single-digit birthday. Once you hit ten years old, you're into double digits. And you know what that means—it's all downhill from there. Not many people live to be a hundred years old and reach triple digits. So once you reach double digits, your life is pretty much over. You might as well move to a nursing home. "Seriously, A.J.," my dad asked,

4是一次放进你嘴里的M&M巧克力豆的神奇数字。 不客气。“aj，”我妈妈说，“大日子就要到了。 你想要什么生日礼物？”“一卡车的M&M巧克力豆。”我回答。 “你不能买一卡车的M&M巧克力豆，”爸爸告诉我。 九岁。这是一个大问题。 这将是我最后一次个位数生日。 一旦你到了十岁，你就会变成两位数。 你知道那意味着什么——从那以后一切都在走下坡路。 没有多少人能活到一百岁，活到三位数。 所以一旦你达到两位数，你的生活就差不多结束了。 你还不如搬到养老院去住。 “说真的，aj，”我爸问，

"what do you want for your birthday? Or what do you want to do for your birthday?" "Can I take a trip to outer space?" I asked. "There are no trips to outer space," my mom replied. "At least not yet." "How about Antarctica?" I suggested. "I've always wanted to go to Antarctica and live with the penguins." "That's a little too far away, A.J.," my dad said. "Can I go bungee jumping off the Empire State Building?" I asked. Bungee jumping off the Empire State Building would be cool.

“你想要什么生日礼物？” 或者你想为你的生日做什么？”“我能去外太空旅行吗？”我问。 “没有去外太空的旅行，”我妈妈回答。 “至少现在还没有。”“南极洲怎么样？”我建议。 “我一直想去南极洲，和企鹅住在一起。” “那有点太远了，aj，”我爸说。 “我能去帝国大厦蹦极吗？”我问。 从帝国大厦上蹦极一定很酷。

"I'm pretty sure that's not allowed," said my mom. Parents are such a drag. They never let you do anything that's fun. I wasn't getting anywhere. I would have to ask for something smaller. "How about a fireworks party?" I suggested. "Blowing stuff up is cool." "I don't think our neighbors would appreciate that," said my dad. "If we had a fireworks party, Mr. Kidd next door would probably call the police." Bummer in the summer! No matter what I suggested, my parents came up with some lame reason why we couldn't do it. This was going to be the worst birthday in the history of birthdays. "How about we just have a regular birthday party, A.J.?" suggested my mom. "We'll have all your friends over,

“我很确定这是不允许的，”我妈妈说。 父母真是个累赘。他们从不让你做有趣的事。 我哪儿也去不了。 我得要个小点的。 “烟花晚会怎么样？”我建议。 “炸东西很酷。” “我想我们的邻居不会喜欢的，”爸爸说。 “如果我们开烟花派对，隔壁的基德先生可能会报警。” 夏天的流浪者！不管我怎么建议，我父母总能想出一些蹩脚的理由来解释为什么我们不能这么做。 这将是生日史上最糟糕的生日。 “我们就办一个普通的生日派对怎么样，aj ?”妈妈建议道。 “我们会把你所有的朋友都请来，