3 UNDER COVER JOB

UNDER COVER JOB In front of every house on Pancake Court, there was a yard. Then there was a sidewalk. After that came the curb, and then came the street. At the front of every yard, near the sidewalk, there was a little cement rectangle. Every house on Pancake Court had one of these little cement rectangles in front of it, and every little cement rectangle had a small hole in it. Bean had known this for years. But what was under the rectangle? Bean didn't know. It could be a tunnel that led to the center of the Earth. It could be anything! Bean crouched over the little cement rectangle in front of her house and peered into the hole. No good. She couldn't see anything. She lay down on the grass and put her eye over

掩护工作在煎饼街的每栋房子前面都有一个院子。 然后是一条人行道。 然后是马路牙子，然后是街道。 在每个院子的前面，靠近人行道的地方，都有一个小小的水泥矩形。 煎饼阁的每栋房子前面都有一个这样的小水泥矩形，每个小水泥矩形上面都有一个小洞。 比恩多年前就知道了这一点。 但是矩形下面是什么呢？ 比恩不知道。它可能是一条通往地球中心的隧道。 它可能是任何东西！比恩蹲在她家门前的小矩形水泥地上，往洞里看。 没有好。她什么也看不见。 她躺在草地上，把眼睛蒙上

the hole. Nothing but darkness. "What's down there?" said a voice. "Yikes!" squawked Bean, flopping over like a pancake. It was Ivy, leaning over her. "What're you doing?" It's hard to be tough while you're lying flat on your back, but Bean tried. "I'm cracking a case." "You're what?" asked Ivy.

洞里。只有黑暗。 “下面是什么？”一个声音说。 “哎呀！”憨豆尖声叫道，像煎饼一样翻了个身。 原来是艾薇，俯在她身上。 “你在干什么？”当你平躺着的时候，很难表现得坚强，但比恩试过了。 “我正在破案。”“你是什么？”艾薇问。

"It means solving a mystery," Bean said. She sat up. "I'm practicing to be a private investigator. P. I. for short." "Pi?" Ivy said. "3.1415—" "No, not that one. P. I. stands for private investigator. You know, someone who solves mysteries. Like Al Seven." "Al who?" asked Ivy. So Bean explained everything about Al Seven and Seven Falls. For a while, Ivy thought Al Seven was seven, but soon she understood. Bean told her about how Al Seven found clues and rubbed his face. She told Ivy about how Al Seven snuck after people and spied on them and asked them the hard questions. How Al Seven spied on Sammy La Barba and saw him put money in a mailbox. And then about how Al Seven gave all the money to a girl named Lola.

“这意味着解开一个谜，”比恩说。 她坐了起来。“我正在练习做私家侦探。 简称p.i.。”“π?”艾薇说。 “3.1415 -”“不，不是那个。 p.i.代表私家侦探。 就是那种能解开谜团的人。 就像Al Seven。”“谁？”艾薇问。 宾解释了关于艾尔七世和七瀑布镇的一切。 有一段时间，艾薇以为阿尔七是七岁，但很快她就明白了。 比恩告诉她阿尔·希文是如何找到线索并揉了揉自己的脸。 她告诉艾薇，阿尔·西弗是如何偷偷摸摸地跟踪别人，监视他们，问他们尖锐的问题。 艾尔·七是如何监视萨米·拉·巴尔巴看到他把钱放进邮箱的。 然后说阿尔·西文把所有的钱都给了一个叫萝拉的女孩。

"Why'd he do that?" asked Ivy. Bean shrugged. "Don't know. But then he sits in his car for a long time and then the police come and some newspaper guys, and he's a big hero. But he doesn't care, and he walks off alone in an alley." "Wow." Ivy was impressed. "So," Bean said. "I'm going to be a P. I. and I'm going to solve mysteries." Ivy looked around Bean's front yard. "What

“他为什么要那样做？”艾薇问。 豆耸耸肩。“不知道。 但后来他在车里坐了很长时间，然后警察和一些报社的人来了，他成了一个大英雄。 但他不在乎，他一个人走在巷子里。” “哇。”艾薇被打动了。“所以，”比恩说。 “我要成为一名私家侦探，我要解开谜团。” 艾薇看了看比恩家的前院。 “什么

mystery are you solving now?" "The Mystery of What's Under the Cement Rectangle," Bean answered. "Hey!" Ivy said. "I've always wondered about that!" "That's what makes it a mystery," said Bean. She rolled over and looked into the hole again. "I was trying to see into it, but it was too dark, so now—" She hooked her finger into the hole. "Ew. It's slimy." But Al Seven wouldn't let a little slime stop him, and neither would Bean. She pulled. The cement rectangle made a scraping sound. Just as she thought: It was a lid. She pulled harder. More scraping. She pulled really hard. The cement rectangle popped upward. "Wow," said Ivy, bending over the rectangle in the grass. Underneath the cement lid, down below the grass, there was a rectangular space full of slime. In the middle of the space stood a gray

你现在正在解开一个谜吗？”比恩回答说：“揭开矩形水泥下面的神秘面纱。” “嘿!”艾薇说。“我一直在想这个问题！”“这就是它的神秘之处，”比恩说。 她翻了个身，又往洞里看了看。 “我想往里面看，但是太黑了，所以现在——”她把手指伸进洞里。 ”电子战。这是虚伪的。”但阿尔·七不会让一点点黏液阻止他，比恩也不会。 她把。水泥矩形发出刮擦的声音。 正如她所想的：这是一个盖子。 她拉得更用力了。更多的刮。 她拉得很用力。那个水泥矩形突然隆起。 “哇，”艾薇说，俯身看着草地上的长方形。 在水泥盖下面，在草地下面，有一个长方形的空间，里面充满了黏液。 在空间的中央站着一个灰色的

machine with a dial on it. Pipes came from its sides and disappeared into the ground. "Hey, look at that!" It was Sophie S. from down the street, bending over Bean. "I always wanted to know what was under there." "The Mystery of What's Under the Cement Rectangle has now been solved," Bean said. It felt good to have an answer.

带有刻度盘的机器。 管子从它的侧面冒出来，消失在地下。 “嘿，看那个！”是苏菲·S。 从街上走过来，俯身看着比恩。 “我一直想知道那下面有什么。” 比恩说：“水泥矩形下面的奥秘现在已经解开了。” 有了答案感觉真好。