5 ZUZU SPILLS THE BEANS

ZUZU SPILLS THE BEANS The next day at lunch recess, there were no gymnastics on the grass. No soccer, either. Every second-grader in the school gathered around the play structure, watching the bathroom. Whenever someone went in, they could see the ghost inside. It had definitely become clearer during the night. Pretty soon, nobody went in. Everyone knew about the ghost, even the kindergartners, and nobody wanted to use a haunted bathroom. Still, the second- graders kept watching the door, just in case an army of ghosts floated out. "What are you kids doing?" yelled Rose the Yard Duty. "We're just standing here," Bean yelled back. "It's a free country." "You watch it, Miss Bean" warned Rose,

第二天午休时，草地上没有体操。 也没有足球。学校里所有二年级的学生都聚集在操场周围，看着厕所。 只要有人进去，就能看到里面的鬼。 在夜里，它确实变得更清晰了。 很快就没人进去了。 每个人都知道这个鬼，甚至是幼儿园的孩子，没有人愿意使用闹鬼的浴室。 二年级的学生仍然守着门，以防一群鬼飘出来。 “你们这些孩子在干什么？”院子管理员罗斯喊道。 “我们只是站在这里。”比恩喊道。 “这是一个自由的国家。”“你小心点，豆子小姐，”罗斯警告说，

but she went away. The ghost didn't start causing problems until that afternoon. It was right in the middle of Drop Everything and Read when Ms. ArubaTate's classroom door burst open. Mrs. Noble marched in, holding Zuzu by the shoulder. Mrs. Noble was a fifth-grade teacher. She had a thousand tiny wrinkles on her face, and she wore high heels and stockings every day. Bean's mother said that Mrs. Noble was an "old-fashioned teacher." Bean's sister Nancy said that Mrs. Noble locked kids in her art cupboard when they were bad. Bean's mother said that Nancy was exaggerating. That was a nice way to say lying.

但是她走了。那个鬼直到那天下午才开始制造麻烦。 就在“放下一切，阅读”活动进行到一半的时候。 ArubaTate教室的门突然打开了。 诺布尔夫人挽着祖祖的肩膀大步走了进来。 诺布尔夫人是一名五年级教师。 她的脸上有无数细小的皱纹，她每天都穿着高跟鞋和长袜。 比恩的母亲说，诺布尔夫人是一位“老式的老师”。 比恩的妹妹南希说，诺布尔夫人把淘气的孩子锁在她的艺术橱里。 比恩的妈妈说南希夸大其词了。 这是撒谎的好说法。

Bean put her book down. She didn't like Drop Everything and Read anyway, except for the beginning, when she got to drop things. Mrs. Noble's high heels were red with stiff black bows at the front, and her shiny red fingernails were pressed into Zuzu's shoulder. Zuzu was about to cry. This was going to be much more interesting

宾放下了她的书。不管怎么说，她不喜欢《放下一切阅读》，除了开头，她要放下一切。 诺布尔夫人的高跟鞋是红色的，前面有黑色的硬蝴蝶结，她闪亮的红指甲按在祖祖的肩膀上。 祖祖几乎要哭了。这会更有趣

than a book. Mrs. Noble didn't bother to lower her voice. "Becky," she boomed, "you've got to keep an eye on them! I found this one all the way over in the upper-school bathroom." Ms. Aruba-Tate looked worried. "What were you doing in the upper-school bathroom, honey?" Zuzu opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Big tears dripped down her cheeks and fell on the floor. "Our bathroom's h-h-haunted!" she wailed suddenly. Oh brother. Bean looked sideways at Ivy. Trouble. Ivy was staring at Zuzu.

而不是一本书。诺布尔夫人没有降低她的声音。 “贝基，”她大声说，“你得盯着他们！我在高中的浴室里找到了这个。” 阿鲁巴-塔特看起来很担心。 “亲爱的，你在高中的浴室里干什么？”祖祖张开嘴，但没有发出声音。 大颗大颗的眼泪从她的脸颊上滴落在地板上。 “我们的浴室闹鬼了！”她突然嚎啕大哭起来。 哦,哥哥。比恩斜眼看着艾薇。 麻烦。艾薇盯着祖祖。

Then Zuzu pointed right at Ivy and Bean. "They—they—they saw a ghost in the bathroom, and it's mad because the school's on top of its grave, and there's a portal, and more ghosts are coming!" she gasped. Ivy slid down in her chair until she could

祖祖指着艾薇和比恩。 “他们——他们——他们看到盥洗室里有个鬼，这简直是疯了，因为学校站在坟墓的顶端，还有一个传送门，还有更多的鬼要来！”她喘着气说。 艾薇在椅子上滑了下来，直到她可以

hardly see over the desktop. Ms. Aruba-Tate put her arms around Zuzu. "Honey, the bathroom's not haunted—" "Oh yes it is!" hollered Eric. "I saw him!" yelled Dusit. "He's got yellow, glowing eyes, Ms. Aruba-Tate," said Vanessa. "Ivy says." Ivy looked at the classroom door. If she ran for it, would Ms. Aruba-Tate catch her before she got out? Ms. Aruba-Tate turned to Ivy. "Is all this coming from you, Ivy?" She sounded like she couldn't believe it. Ivy swallowed. She wished she had never seen the ghost. She wished she had never said the word ghost. "All what?" she said finally, in a high voice. Ms. Aruba-Tate looked over the class. "Boys and girls, who has heard this silly

几乎看不到桌面。 阿鲁巴-塔特搂住祖祖。 “亲爱的，浴室没有闹鬼——”“哦，不，是闹鬼！”埃里克大叫。 “我看见他了！” “他有一双发光的黄眼睛，”她说。 阿鲁巴-塔特，”凡妮莎说。 “艾薇说。”艾薇看着教室的门。 如果她参加竞选，她会吗？ 阿鲁巴-塔特在她出来之前抓住了她？ 阿鲁巴-塔特转向艾薇。 “这一切都是你说的吗，艾薇？”听起来她简直不敢相信。 艾薇吞下。她真希望自己从未见过鬼。 她真希望自己从来没有说过鬼魂这个词。 “怎么了？”她最后大声问道。 阿鲁巴-塔特女士扫视了一下全班。 男孩女孩们，谁听过这傻话