4 THE ROAD TO DISASTERVILLE

THE ROAD TO DISASTERVILLE Bean tried to warn her. Sisters were no good. They tattled on you if you did the tiniest thing a little bit wrong, and then you had to go sit outside. They bossed you. They got mad if you took one measly glass animal out of their rooms. They laughed at you. They completely freaked out about small problems, even if you were just about to clean them up. They told you your drawings were weird looking, your hair smelled, and there was a big scary secret that no one would ever tell you, not in a million years. And then they smiled at you in a grown-uppy way, just to remind you that they knew it and you didn't. All day long, sisters did that. And then, right before bed, they said, "I was just kidding."

通往灾难之路比恩试图警告她。 姐妹不行。如果你做了一件最微小的错事，他们就会告发你，然后你就得坐在外面。 他们对你发号施令。如果你把一只可怜的玻璃动物带出他们的房间，他们就会生气。 他们嘲笑你。他们完全被小问题吓坏了，即使你刚刚要清理它们。 他们说你的画很奇怪，你的头发很臭，还有一个大秘密没人会告诉你，一百万年也不会。 然后他们以一种成熟的方式对你微笑，只是为了提醒你他们知道而你不知道。 一整天，姐妹们都这样做。 然后，就在睡觉前，他们说：“我只是在开玩笑。”

Ivy said that was older sisters. Younger sisters weren't like that. Younger sisters were perfectly okay. Especially very small ones. A baby sister, for instance, would be only half as annoying as Nancy, maybe even less. Just annoying enough to keep Ivy from getting spoiled. A baby sister was what she needed. "Trust me, you don't," said Bean. "I do!" said Ivy.

艾薇说那是姐姐。 妹妹们不是这样的。 妹妹们都很好。 尤其是非常小的。 例如，一个小妹妹的烦人程度可能只有南希的一半，甚至更少。 烦到让艾薇不被宠坏。 她需要一个小妹妹。 “相信我，你不知道，”比恩说。 “我喜欢！”艾薇说。

Bean shook her head. "Next stop, Disasterville." But Ivy was already zipping toward the gate. She stopped and looked back at Bean. "Come on!" she said. "Let's go tell my mom." "Tell her what?" said Bean, getting up. "Tell her to have a baby." Wow. Bean didn't know how that was going to work, but she was interested to find out. Once she was at Ivy's house, though, she decided it would be more polite to wait in Ivy's room during the telling part. It didn't take very long. Three minutes, maybe. "What did she say?" asked Bean. "She said HA!" Ivy answered, flopping down on her bed. "And then she sang a song about the old gray mare just ain't what she used to be. And then she said Absolutely not, no with a capital N." "Sounds like she means it," said Bean. "You'd better just give me the jiggly man."

比恩摇了摇头。“下一站，灾难镇。” 但艾薇已经向大门疾驰而去。 她停下来，回头看着比恩。 “来吧！”她说。“我们去告诉我妈妈吧。” “告诉她什么？”比恩说着站了起来。 “让她生个孩子吧。” 哇。比恩不知道这是怎么回事，但她很想知道。 不过，当她到了艾薇家后，她决定在艾薇的房间里等着听故事会更有礼貌。 没花多长时间。大概三分钟吧。 “她说了什么？”比恩问。 “她说哈！”艾薇答道，扑通一声倒在床上。 然后她唱了一首关于老灰母马的歌，这匹老灰母马已经不是从前的样子了。 然后她说绝对不行，绝对不行。” “听起来她是认真的，”比恩说。 “你最好把那个摇摇晃晃的人给我。”

"No," said Ivy. "I'm going to brainstorm." Ms. Aruba-Tate was nuts about brainstorming. She was always doing it. When she brainstormed, Ms. Aruba-Tate wrote down words and drew circles around them with her big purple pen. She called this an Idea Map. Bean didn't really get why brainstorming was different than regular thinking, so she just watched while Ivy brainstormed. First, Ivy slid to the floor. Then, she put her hands over her eyes. After that, she rolled around and grunted.

“不，”艾薇说。“我要去头脑风暴。” 阿鲁巴-塔特痴迷于头脑风暴。 她总是这么做。当她集思广益的时候。 阿鲁巴-塔特写下了单词，并用她紫色的大笔在它们周围画了圈。 她把这叫做“想法地图”。 比恩真的不明白为什么头脑风暴和常规思考不同，所以她只是看着艾薇头脑风暴。 首先，艾薇滑到了地板上。 然后，她用手捂住眼睛。 在那之后，她打滚，哼哼着。

It wasn't very interesting, watching Ivy brainstorm. Bean wandered over to Ivy's doll tenement. Ivy's room was divided into five little sections. There was an art studio, a sleeping area, a living room, a magic lab, and a doll tenement, where all of Ivy's dolls lived. Ivy had scads of dolls. She had regular plastic dolls, china dolls dressed like old-fashioned girls, dolls in fancy costumes, wooden dolls, stuffed dolls, Barbies, and even a rock in a nightgown. Bean poked around, looking for the jiggly man. Ivy stopped rolling around the floor and put her feet up on the wall. That way the blood would slosh to her brain and make it storm.

看着艾薇头脑风暴，一点都不有趣。 比恩漫步到艾薇的玩偶公寓。 艾薇的房间被分成了五个小区域。 有一间艺术工作室、一间卧室、一间客厅、一间魔法实验室和一间玩偶公寓，艾薇的所有玩偶都住在那里。 艾薇有很多洋娃娃。她有普通的塑料娃娃、穿得像老式女孩的瓷器娃娃、穿着奇装异服的娃娃、木制娃娃、填充娃娃、芭比娃娃，甚至还有一块穿着睡衣的石头。 比恩四处张望，寻找那个摇摇晃晃的男人。 艾薇不再在地板上滚来滚去，把脚放在墙上。 这样血液就会流到她的大脑，形成风暴。