Chapter 1

CHARLEE SAM COPELAND SaRah HORNE. TURNS INTO A T-KEX 'Belly-busting hilarity!

查理·山姆·科普兰·萨拉·霍恩。 变成了T-KEX的破肚狂欢！

CHAPTER 1 Charlie McGuffin was being followed. A malevolent shadow was watching him. Waiting. Something– or someone– was stalking him through the corridors of the school. A dark presence, menacing, unseen and unknowable– 'Look, Dylan, I know it's you following me. I can see you there,' Charlie said, hands on hips. 'Can you actually stop? You just look weird doing it. Seriously, Dylan– come out from behind the pillar.' Dylan stepped out from behind a pillar. 'And take that ridiculous hat off,' Charlie added. Dylan took off the ridiculous hat, a floppy summer hat borrowed from his mum. 'And the sunglasses. Take those off as well.' Dylan took off the sunglasses. 'Now please stop following me.' Dylan stepped forward, chest puffed. 'You know you can run, McGuffin, but you can't hide. You. Can't. Hide.' A smile slid across Dylan's face like a slug trail. 'I'm your shadow. Your dark half.

第一章查理·麦高芬被跟踪了。 一个恶毒的影子正注视着他。 等待。有什么东西——或者什么人——在学校的走廊里跟踪他。 一个黑暗的存在，威胁，看不见，不可知——“看，迪伦，我知道是你在跟踪我。” “我能看到你在那儿。”查理双手叉腰说。 “你真的能停下来吗？”你这样做看起来很奇怪。 说真的，迪伦——从柱子后面出来吧。”迪伦从一根柱子后面走了出来。 “把那顶可笑的帽子摘下来，”查理补充说。 迪伦摘下了那顶可笑的帽子，那是一顶从他妈妈那里借来的松软的夏季帽子。 “还有太阳镜。把这些也脱了。”迪伦摘下墨镜。 “现在请不要再跟着我了。”迪伦挺起胸膛走上前去。 “你知道你可以跑，麦高芬，但你躲不了。 你。不能。隐藏。”迪伦的脸上掠过一丝微笑，就像一条鼻涕虫的痕迹。 “我是你的影子。你黑暗的那一半。

Wherever you go, I will be there. Hunting you. Ready to pounce like a… like a… frog.' 'A frog? A pouncing frog? Frogs don't even pounce.' 'Yes, they do. They pounce on flies. And you're my fly. Trapped in my web.' 'A… frog web?' said Charlie, looking a little baffled. 'You think you're so clever, McGuffin, don't you? Well, you're not. Your silly little friends might think you're a genius–' 'I'm not sure they do actually. In fact, I'm pretty certain Flora thinks I'm the total opposite. She even said that to me yesterday. She said "Charlie, you are actually the total opposite of a genius."' 'Enough!' Dylan held his hand up. 'Just know that I am going to capture you.' Dylan opened his hand. Inside was a matchbox. He shook it. It was empty. 'I am going to wait until you change into an animal. And I'm going to trap you. And then you won't be laughing. Or if you are, no one will hear you. Because you'll be trapped in a matchbox. A matchbox prison!'

无论你去哪里，我都会在那里。 狩猎。准备像青蛙一样猛扑过来。“一只青蛙？” 一只猛扑过来的青蛙？青蛙甚至不会猛扑过去。”“是的，他们有。 它们扑向苍蝇。你是我的苍蝇。 被我的网困住了。“一张……蛙网？”查理说，看上去有点困惑。 “你自以为很聪明，麦高芬，是不是？” 好吧，你不是。你那些愚蠢的小朋友可能认为你是个天才——”“我不敢肯定他们真的这么认为。 事实上，我很确定芙罗拉认为我完全相反。 她昨天也这么跟我说过。 她说：“查理，你完全不是天才。”“够了!”迪伦举起手。 “你要知道，我会抓住你的。”迪伦张开手。 里面是一个火柴盒。他摇了摇。 它是空的。“我要等到你变成动物。 我要给你设个陷阱。 然后你就笑不出来了。 就算你是，也没人会听到。 因为你会被困在火柴盒里。 火柴盒监狱！”

Dylan started laughing to himself and then walked off, still laughing wildly, leaving Charlie standing alone in an empty corridor. Charlie couldn't help it– Dylan was getting to him. He could feel his stress levels begin to rise, little shivers of electricity darting through him. This was the first sign that Charlie was about to change. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply a couple of times, focusing on his breathing. Then he opened his eyes wide. 'Hey, Dylan!' Charlie shouted to the small figure at the end of the long corridor. 'Dylan! I think I'm changing! Quick!' Dylan turned round and began running back as fast as he could. 'Quick, Dylan! It's happening!' Dylan sprinted as fast as he could. He reached Charlie, panting. 'Oh, sorry,' Charlie said. 'False alarm.'

迪伦自己笑了起来，然后走开了，仍然狂笑着，留下查理一个人站在空荡荡的走廊里。 查理没办法，迪伦在追他。 他能感觉到他的压力水平开始上升，电流在他身上掠过。 这是查理即将改变的第一个迹象。 他闭上眼睛，深呼吸了几次，专注于自己的呼吸。 然后他睁大了眼睛。 “嘿,迪伦!”查理朝长走廊尽头的小个子喊道。 “迪伦!我想我正在改变！快!”迪伦转过身，开始以最快的速度往回跑。 “快,迪伦!它的发生!”迪伦以最快的速度冲刺。 他气喘吁吁地走到查理身边。 “哦，对不起，”查理说。 “假警报”。

Dylan glared at Charlie. 'WHAT?' 'I'm sorry!' Charlie said, grinning. 'I could have sworn I started feeling it. Ah, well, it's an unpredictable science, this whole changing business. Better luck next time. Actually there won't be a next time. You're wasting your time. I've worked out how to control it, you see, so I can absolutely guarantee a hundred per cent that there'll be no more Charlie changing into anything.' Charlie winked at Dylan, and then walked off, laughing maniacally, leaving Dylan standing alone in the empty corridor.

迪伦怒视着查理。“什么?“对不起！”查理笑着说。 “我发誓我开始有这种感觉了。 这是一门不可预测的科学，这一切都在变化。 祝你下次好运。事实上，不会再有下次了。 你在浪费时间。你看，我已经想出了控制它的办法，所以我可以百分之百地保证再也不会有查理变成什么东西了。”查理朝迪伦眨了眨眼，然后狂笑着走开了，只留下迪伦一个人站在空荡荡的走廊里。

AUTHOR'S NOTE If you haven't read Book 1 in this series, Charlie Changes Into a Chicken, then you're probably pretty confused about what's going on right now. Tough luck. You should have bought Book 1. You come waltzing in here thinking, Oh, I don't need to read Book 1. I'm very clever and I'm sure I'll work out what's happening as I go along. Well, NOW who looks silly? You haven't a clue what's going on, have you? You don't know who Charlie is or who Dylan is or why Dylan is trying to put Charlie in a matchbox. All I can say is good luck with the rest of the book, dunderhead.

作者注：如果你还没有读过这个系列的第一本书《查理变成了一只鸡》，那么你可能对现在发生的事情很困惑。 艰难的运气。你应该买第一册的。 你大摇大摆地走进来，想着，哦，我不需要读第一册。 我很聪明，我相信我在前进的过程中会弄清楚发生了什么。 好吧，现在谁看起来很傻？ 你根本不知道发生了什么，对吧？ 你不知道查理是谁，迪伦是谁也不知道迪伦为什么要把查理放在火柴盒里。 我只能说祝你接下来的书好运，笨蛋。