9 School

9. SCHOOL On the walk to town with her mom, Matilda felt very uncomfortable. Everyone they passed stared at her. Curtains twitched and shopkeepers peered from empty shops. A police car stopped across the road and the two officers inside watched them walk by, openmouthed, before grabbing their radios.

9. 在和妈妈一起去镇上的路上，玛蒂尔达感到很不舒服。 他们经过的每个人都盯着她看。 窗帘抖动着，店主从空荡荡的商店里窥视着。 一辆警车在马路对面停了下来，里面的两名警官看着他们张着嘴走过，然后抓起了他们的对讲机。

As they passed the Town Hall, they noticed Mrs. Bevan with a placard. "I heard that Mayor Carrot refused to pay the piper," said Mrs. Bevan, who had decided a protest was in order, even though she didn't have children of her own. "Mervyn Wobley had insomnia and went for a walk along the waterfront. He said he heard some funny music as he was coming back home." Once Mrs. Bevan had updated Matilda's mom on everything that had happened, they continued on to school. On most mornings, the front of the school was a riot of children, parents, and badly parked cars. But today it was deserted.

当他们经过市政厅时，他们注意到比文太太拿着一张布告。 “我听说胡萝卜市长拒绝承担责任，”贝文说。尽管她自己没有孩子，但她还是决定举行抗议。 默文·沃利（Mervyn Wobley）失眠了，他沿着海滨散步。 他说他在回家的路上听到了一些奇怪的音乐。” 贝文太太把发生的一切都告诉了玛蒂尔达的妈妈，然后她们继续去学校。 在大多数的早晨，学校门前都是一群孩子、家长和乱停的汽车。 但今天却空无一人。

"See you later," Matilda's mom said, and kissed Matilda on the forehead. "Wait for me to pick you up. See you at three!" Matilda was only at school for an hour. The teacher said she wouldn't want the other children to miss out on important lessons and then ran to the staff room, crying. So Matilda stared out the window, waiting for her mom to get out of work and pick her up. Occasionally a police car would fly along the road. The classroom felt very empty. On a normal school day, there would be mayhem if their teacher ran off crying to the staff room and left her students

“待会儿见。”玛蒂尔达的妈妈说着，吻了吻玛蒂尔达的额头。 “等我来接你。 三点钟见！”玛蒂尔达只在学校待了一个小时。 老师说她不想让其他孩子错过重要的课程，然后哭着跑到教工室。 于是玛蒂尔达凝视着窗外，等着妈妈下班来接她。 偶尔会有警车在路上飞驰而过。 教室里空荡荡的。 在正常的上学日，如果他们的老师哭着跑到教工室，离开她的学生，就会造成混乱

unsupervised. Even Matilda's desk felt empty and lonely without Ruby sitting next to her. Why am I the only one? Matilda wondered to herself. Why didn't I disappear too? Why did Mrs. Bean think the kids' disappearance has something to do with the Pirate Piper? After Matilda had been wondering for almost an hour, her mom turned up. As the sun rose higher over the troubled town, the Jolley-Rogers sailed their ship into Dull-on-Sea.

无监督。即使是玛蒂尔达的办公桌，没有鲁比坐在她旁边，也感到空虚和孤独。 为什么只有我一个人？玛蒂尔达暗自纳闷。 为什么我没有消失？ 为什么豆太太认为孩子们的失踪和海盗吹笛手有关？ 玛蒂尔达想了将近一个小时后，她妈妈出现了。 太阳在这个混乱的小镇上升得更高了，乔利-罗杰斯一家把他们的船开进了杜尔海。

Jim's mom was happy to moor the Blackhole in the harbor now that the rats had disappeared. While Jim and his dad secured the gangplank, Arthur Poppycock donned his harbormaster's hat and marched over to greet them. "You might want to keep your nippers on board!" said Arthur, pointing to Jim. "All the children went missing last night! Every child in Dull-on-Sea! Gone! Just like that! I didn't see or hear a thing!" "Dad!" said Jim urgently. "I've gotta go to Tilda's house!" "There's not much point," said Arthur Poppycock. "They're all gone. The police are on it, though. I'm sure they'll have

既然老鼠都不见了，吉姆的妈妈很高兴把黑洞停泊在港口里。 吉姆和他爸爸稳住跳板的时候，阿瑟·波比科克戴上了港务长的帽子，大步走过去迎接他们。 “你最好把你的小钳子留在船上！”阿瑟指着吉姆说。 “昨晚所有的孩子都失踪了！”所有的孩子！不见了!就这样！我什么也没看见，什么也没听见！”“爸爸！”吉姆急切地说。 “我得去蒂尔达家！”“没有什么意义，”阿瑟·波比科克说。 “他们都走了。不过警方正在调查。 我相信他们会的

all the children home by the end of the day. Mind you, Chief Inspector Klewless was on the radio earlier saying he was a bit baffled." "Aye, lad," said Jim's dad, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Probably best to stay here, safe on the ship, till we know what's goin' on."

所有的孩子在一天结束前都回家了。 提醒你一下，克勒夫斯探长早些时候在广播里说他有点困惑。” “是啊，孩子，”吉姆的爸爸把手放在他的肩膀上说。 “在我们弄清楚发生了什么事之前，最好还是呆在这里，安全地待在船上。”