8 BEAN’S BACKYARD

BEAN'S BACKYARD "You peek over. See if Nancy's there," said Bean. "She might be in the yard looking for me." Ivy nodded and stood up. She could just see over the fence. "I don't see anyone," she said. "Then they're probably out looking for me," said Bean. She pictured her mom and Nancy with worried faces. "I've been gone for a long time." "Let's go get the worms," said Ivy, pulling herself over the fence. Bean's backyard was a big rectangle. There was a nice part, with flowers and neat grass. And then there was a messy part, with lumpy grass and a trampoline and a playhouse that Bean had had since she was little. She could barely fit inside it

“豆子的后院”你偷看了一眼。 看看南希在不在，”比恩说。 “她可能在院子里找我呢。” 艾薇点点头，站了起来。她能看到栅栏那边。 “我没看见任何人，”她说。 “那么他们可能在外面找我，”比恩说。 她想象着妈妈和南希愁眉苦脸的样子。 “我已经离开很长时间了。” “我们去抓虫子吧，”艾薇说着，爬过了栅栏。 比恩家的后院是一个大长方形。 有一个很好的地方，有鲜花和整齐的草。 然后是凌乱的部分，有凹凸不平的草地，蹦床和比恩从小就有的游戏屋。 她几乎装不进去

anymore. There was stuff lying all over the messy part: hula hoops, balls, arrows, shovels, buckets, and a broken stilt (Bean had really hurt herself that time). The worms were in the messy part, over next to the playhouse, where the ground was wet.

了。脏乱的地方到处都是东西：呼啦圈、球、箭、铲子、水桶，还有一根断了的高跷（那次比恩真的受伤了）。 蚯蚓在凌乱的地方，挨着游戏室，那里的地面是湿的。

Ivy and Bean grabbed shovels and a bucket and got to work. At first, there was just a lot of mud. Then there was mud and a few worms. But the more they dug, the more worms they found. Six. Ten. Thirteen worms. The worms oozed and curled through the mud. Bean liked the way they

艾薇和比恩抓起铲子和水桶开始工作。 起初，只有很多泥。 然后是泥和一些蠕虫。 但他们挖得越多，发现的蠕虫就越多。 六。十个。十三蠕虫。蠕虫在泥中蠕动着，蜷曲着。 比恩喜欢他们的样子

were fat one second and stretched out and skinny the next. She and Ivy dug deeper and deeper, until they had made a big muddy pit in the ground. It was almost two feet across, and water dribbled down the sides. Worms were squirming at the bottom of the pit, trying to get away. Bean felt a little sorry for them. But Ivy just picked them up and dumped them into the bucket. Bean thought of Nancy kicking and waggling, and she began dumping them into the bucket too., "How many do we need?" asked Bean. The worms were piled on top of one another on the bottom of the bucket. Ivy looked "Only ten. But the more worms we have, the harder she'll dance". "This is enough," said Bean. "Poor

前一秒还很胖，下一秒就变瘦了。 她和艾薇越挖越深，直到他们在地上挖了一个泥泞的大坑。 它几乎有两英尺宽，水从两边滴落下来。 蚯蚓在坑底蠕动，试图逃跑。 比恩为他们感到有点难过。 但艾薇只是把它们捡起来扔进了桶里。 比恩想到南希又踢又摇，于是她也开始把它们扔进桶里。“我们需要多少？”比恩问。 虫子一个叠一个地堆在桶底。 艾薇看起来“只有十岁”。但我们的虫子越多，她就跳得越厉害。” “这就够了，”比恩说。 “可怜的

worms." "All right," said Ivy. She looked toward Bean's house. "Let's go see if your sister is home." "Okay, but we'd better sneak," said Bean. Bean's house was good for sneaking. At the back, there was a porch. If you crawled like a bug across the porch, you could look through a big window into the kitchen. The girls ran toward the bushes that grew next to Bean's porch and ducked down, hiding. Quietly, they began to creep up the stairs that led to the porch. Very quietly, they crawled across the floor. And then—Bean heard a sound. She froze.

虫子。”“好吧，”艾薇说。 她朝比恩的房子望去。 “我们去看看你妹妹在家不在。” “好吧，但我们最好偷偷摸摸。”比恩说。 比恩的房子很适合偷偷摸摸。 在后面，有一个门廊。 如果你像虫子一样爬过门廊，你可以透过一扇大窗户看到厨房。 女孩们跑向比恩门廊旁边的灌木丛，蹲下身子躲起来。 他们开始悄悄地爬上通往门廊的楼梯。 他们悄悄地爬过地板。 然后，比恩听到了一个声音。 她愣住了。

There it was again. A sob. It was someone crying. Bean listened. It sounded like Nancy. Bean put her hand on Ivy's arm and pointed to the window. They crawled to it and peered in like spies.

它又出现了。抽泣。 是有人在哭。豆听着。 听起来像南希。比恩把手放在艾薇的胳膊上，指着窗户。 他们爬到那里，像间谍一样往里窥视。