Chapter 4

Friday Dad has been in the shed every night this week making Agung's bird table. During the day he is a warehouse manager at a car metal parts factory. He finds it agonisingly dull, apart from Fridays, when there's Toad in the Hole in the canteen. His dream is to come up with an invention that will make enough money to buy a house where Agung isn't

这周爸爸每天晚上都在小屋里做阿贡的鸟桌。 白天，他是一家汽车金属配件厂的仓库经理。 除了星期五食堂里有《洞里的蟾蜍》，他觉得枯燥得要命。 他的梦想是想出一项发明，赚到足够的钱，在阿贡没有的地方买一栋房子

stuck in the garage and so Dad can retire and rummage through even more skips. Mam thinks bringing back other people's rubbish is unhygienic. She never complains when he's turned it into something useful, though. The saucepan rack he made gets shown off to everyone who comes round, including the electricity meter man. I am sure he is more interested in finishing his rounds than listening to her harp on about effective storage solutions. (Must look into whether saucepan racks could be a money spinner).

被困在车库里，这样爸爸就可以退休，翻找更多的跳绳了。 妈妈认为把别人的垃圾拿回来是不卫生的。 不过，当他把它变成有用的东西时，她从不抱怨。 他做的炖锅架向每一个来访的人炫耀，包括电表员。 我敢肯定，他更感兴趣的是完成巡视，而不是听她喋喋不休地谈论有效的存储解决方案。 （必须研究一下平底锅架是否能成为摇钱树）。

How to make moneySpinning inventions? Dad's pan rack basically a towel holder and some hooks. Invisible elastic that keeps shoes together. So Agung can always wear a matching pair. Portable pedestrian crossing so you can safely cross the road wherever and whenever. Aunt police with the wholesome smell of niceness.

纺纱发明如何赚钱？ 爸爸的烤盘架基本上就是一个毛巾架和一些挂钩。 无形的弹性，使鞋子保持在一起。 所以阿贡总是可以穿一双相配的。 可携式人行横道，让您可以随时随地安全地过马路。 警察阿姨身上散发着一股清新的气息。

Dev's been asking me all sorts of questions to help with his research. After school he asked if I was psychic and I replied, 'Well if I was, I'd know what my flippin' talent was, wouldn't I?!' While he was off thinking up more daft questions I asked Dad if I could help with the bird table. You never know, there could be the minutest chance that I had inherited his craft skills. I was surprised he said yes, as he knows how clumsy I can be. Just this morning I fell UP the stairs. The carpet burn is still visible under my chin. By all accounts 'falling up' shouldn't be possible. Jack, who is a science geek, said it defied the laws of gravity. I wondered if that counts as a talent? I should check the Guinness World Records.

戴夫一直在问我各种各样的问题来帮助他的研究。 放学后，他问我是不是灵媒，我回答说：“如果我是灵媒，我就知道我的翻转天赋是什么了，不是吗？”当他在想更多愚蠢的问题时，我问爸爸我能不能帮忙收拾一下鸟桌。 你永远不知道，我可能会有一丝机会继承他的手艺。 我很惊讶他答应了，因为他知道我有多笨手笨脚。 就在今天早上，我从楼梯上摔了下来。 我下巴下面还能看到地毯上的痕迹。 所有人都说“摔倒”是不可能的。 杰克是一个科学极客，他说这违背了万有引力定律。 我想知道这算不算天赋？ 我应该查一下吉尼斯世界纪录。

'I'm off to the BAMBOO GARDEN with Agung to get us Chinese takeaway for tea,' Dad said. 'Can you finish off the bird table with a lick of paint all over?' HA! DID HE THINK I WAS A TOTAL DIMWIT? Anyone is capable of slopping on a bit of paint. 'Never fear, Dad, you're looking at the next Michelangelo,' I assured him. 'Well as long as you're not the next Jackson Pollock, that's all right,' he replied, shoving a brush and tin of paint in my hands and walking off. I didn't know who Jackson Pollock was but I'm sure he wasn't as bad as Dad made

爸爸说：“我要和阿贡一起去竹园，给我们买些中国菜吃。” “你能把鸟桌全部涂上一点漆吗？”哈!他觉得我是个十足的傻瓜吗？ 任何人都有可能溅上一点油漆。 “别害怕，爸爸，你看到的是下一个米开朗基罗，”我向他保证。 “好吧，只要你不是下一个杰克逊·波洛克（Jackson Pollock）就行，”他回答说，把一支刷子和一罐颜料塞到我手里，然后走开了。 我不知道杰克逊·波洛克是谁，但我肯定他不像爸爸画的那么坏

out. The bird table looked superb. It was like a miniature Swiss cottage on a stick. I felt honoured to be contributing to Dad's fine piece of craftmanship. I prised open the paint tin lid with the screwdriver and was shocked to see the colour inside. It was luminous orange! Maybe Dad has been colour blind all along and I wasn't aware? Or maybe he wanted to help birds locate the table in the dark? Anyway I was sure Dad knew what he was doing, so I laid some old newspaper on the lawn and made a start. I was onto the roof part when I stopped to rest my eyes. The glare of the paint was burning into my retinas. I looked up and spotted FUZZFACE about to attack a pigeon. All I could think was there'd be a massive scuffle and a million feathers would get stuck to my

出去了。鸟桌看起来棒极了。 它就像一个小型的瑞士小屋。 我很荣幸能为爸爸的精湛手艺添砖加瓦。 我用螺丝刀撬开油漆锡盖，看到里面的颜色吓了一跳。 它是明亮的橙色！也许爸爸一直是色盲，只是我不知道？ 或者他想帮助鸟儿在黑暗中找到桌子？ 无论如何，我确信爸爸知道他在做什么，所以我在草坪上放了一些旧报纸，开始了。 当我停下来让眼睛休息时，我已经爬上了屋顶。 耀眼的油漆刺痛了我的视网膜。 我抬头一看，发现绒毛脸正准备攻击一只鸽子。 我所能想到的就是会有一场大混战无数的羽毛会粘在我的