6. The Truth about Mrs. Barr

6 The Truth about Mrs. Barr After school, the gang and I decided to hang around the playground for a while before going home. Andrea and Emily came over to bother us, of course. They couldn't stop talking about Mrs. Barr. "Mrs. Barr is so cool," said Andrea. "She's traveled all over the world." "When I grow up, I want to be a

6的真相太太巴尔放学后,该团伙和我决定呆在操场上一段时间然后回家。 当然，安德里亚和艾米丽是来打扰我们的。 他们不停地谈论巴尔夫人。 “巴尔太太太酷了，”安德烈说。 “她周游了世界各地。” “当我长大了，我想成为一名

globetrotter like her," said Emily. "No way," I told her. "You don't even play basketball." "Very funny, Arlo," said Andrea.* "It must be nice to have a job where you get to travel all the time," said Ryan. "That's not a job," I said. "Mrs. Barr isn't getting paid. If you don't get paid, it's not a job." "Then how does she earn a living?" asked Michael. "Beats me," said Neil. "I'm sad that tomorrow is Mrs. Barr's last day at our school," said Andrea. "Not me," I said. "What do you have against Mrs. Barr?" asked Neil. "Yeah," said Alexia. "She's a nice lady." I had given this a lot of thought. Ever since Mrs. Barr walked into our classroom, there was something about her

像她一样的环球旅行家，”艾米丽说。 “不可能，”我告诉她。“你连篮球都不打。” “真有趣，阿乐。”安德烈说。“有一份可以经常出差的工作一定很不错，”瑞恩说。 “那不是工作，”我说。 “巴尔夫人拿不到工资。 如果你拿不到报酬，那就不是工作。” “那她怎么谋生呢？”迈克尔问。 “我不知道。”尼尔说。“我很难过，明天是巴尔夫人在我们学校的最后一天，”安德里亚说。 “不是我，”我说。“你对巴尔夫人有什么不满？”尼尔问。 “是啊。”亚历克西娅说。“她是个很好的女士。” 这个问题我想了很多。 自从巴尔夫人走进我们的教室，她就有一种特殊的感觉

that bothered me. "That lady is no geography teacher," I announced. "She didn't even know what the word 'geography' meant until Andrea told her." "She never said she was a geography teacher, Arlo," said Andrea. "She's just somebody who Mr. Cooper met on his trip to Spain."

这让我很困扰。“那位女士不是地理老师，”我宣布。 “在安德烈告诉她之前，她甚至不知道‘地理’这个词是什么意思。” “她从没说过她是地理老师，阿乐，”安德里亚说。 “她只是库珀先生去西班牙旅行时遇到的一个人。”

"That's right," I agreed. "She's just a stranger. I'll tell you what I think. Mrs. Barr is a phony. She's probably a criminal." "WHAT?!" everybody said. "Are you crazy, A.J.?" asked Ryan. "Look," I explained. "Do you know why Mrs. Barr travels all over the world? It's because she's on the run from the cops! She's probably a jewel thief." "That's just nuts, A.J.," said Michael. "Oh, yeah?" I said. "What about all that jewelry she wears? I bet it's stolen. That's why she doesn't have a job. She probably stashes her stolen jewels in that suitcase she rolls around all the time." "Arlo, are you feeling okay?" asked Andrea. "Maybe you need to talk to Dr. Brad." Dr. Brad is our school counselor. Kids can talk to him if they have problems. But I didn't have any problems.

“没错，”我表示同意。“她只是个陌生人。 我来告诉你我的想法。 巴尔夫人是个骗子。她可能是个罪犯。” “什么？！”大家都说。“你疯了吗，A.J.?”瑞恩问。 “看，”我解释道。“你知道巴尔夫人为什么要周游世界吗？” 那是因为她在逃避警察的追捕！她可能是个珠宝大盗。” “真是疯了，a.j.，”迈克尔说。 “哦,是吗?”我说。“那她戴的那些珠宝怎么办？” 我打赌是偷来的。所以她没有工作。 她很可能把偷来的珠宝藏在她经常转来转去的手提箱里。” “阿乐，你感觉还好吗？”安德烈问。 “也许你需要和医生谈谈。 布莱德。”布莱德博士是我们学校的辅导员。 孩子们有问题可以找他倾诉。 但我没有遇到任何问题。

"Think about it," I said. "Mrs. Barr loves wearing masks. You know who else wears masks?" "Who?" everybody asked. "Robbers!" I said. "People who steal stuff." "That's ridiculous, Arlo!" said Andrea. "Mrs. Barr is a world traveler. She's trying to help us learn geography. She's not even getting paid. She's teaching us out of the goodness of her heart. You should be thanking her instead of calling her a criminal." "Yeah, well, I don't trust her." "Dude, every time a new grown-up comes to our school, you say you don't trust them," said Ryan. "You say they're an imposter." "Sometimes people are who they say they are, A.J.," said Alexia. "Yeah," said Neil. "Sometimes people do nice things just because they're nice

“想想吧，”我说。“夫人。 巴尔喜欢戴面具。你知道还有谁戴面具吗？”“谁？”大家都问。 “强盗!”我说。“偷东西的人。” “这太荒唐了，阿乐！” 巴尔夫人是一位世界旅行家。 她想帮助我们学习地理。 她连工资都拿不到。 她教我们是出于好心。 你应该感谢她，而不是叫她罪犯。” “是啊，我不相信她。” “老兄，每次一个新的成年人来到我们学校，你都说你不信任他们，”瑞恩说。 “你说他们是骗子。” “有时候人们就是他们所说的那个人，a.j.，”亚历克西娅说。 “是的，”尼尔说。“有时候人们做好事只是因为他们是好人

people." "Hey, you don't have to believe me," I told them. "Good, because I don't," said Ryan. Even my best friends were ganging up on me. I went home by myself.

人”。“嘿，你们不必相信我，”我告诉他们。 “很好，因为我不知道，”瑞恩说。 就连我最好的朋友也联合起来对付我。 我一个人回家了。