2. Mr. Nekobi

2 MR. NEKOBI Just as the quicksand was about to swallow Sam, a hand grabbed his wrist! His eyes shot open. It was Mr. Nekobi, the old man who took care of the school. Mr. Nekobi tugged. Sam was yanked free. Sam gasped for air. "The playground sand," Sam said. "It just tried to eat me!"

就在流沙要把山姆吞没的时候，一只手抓住了他的手腕！他突然睁大了眼睛。 是内科比先生，那个照顾学校的老人。 内科比拉了拉。萨姆被拽了出来。 萨姆喘着气。“操场上的沙子，”萨姆说。 “它只是想吃了我！”

Mr. Nekobi slowly got to his feet. He was out of breath, too. His face looked like a piece of paper that someone had balled up and then tried to flatten again. He stared at Sam. His eyes were small and gray. A chill went up Sam's spine. Mr. Nekobi growled, "You should be more careful. Or you won't last long as hall monitor, Sam Graves." "Be careful of what? Be careful because other parts of the school might try to eat me?!" Sam said. Then he paused. "Wait what does my being the hall monitor have to do with this? And why do you care if I stay on as hall monitor or not?"

Nekobi先生慢慢地站了起来。 他也上气不接下气。 他的脸看起来就像一张纸，有人把它揉成一团，然后又想把它弄平。 他盯着萨姆。他的眼睛又小又灰。 一阵寒意袭上了萨姆的脊背。 内科比咆哮道，“你应该更小心。 否则你当不了厅长，萨姆·格雷夫斯。” “小心什么？”小心点，因为学校里的其他人可能会想吃我？！”山姆说。 然后他停顿了一下。“等等，我当厅长和这件事有什么关系？” 你为什么在乎我是否继续做大厅管理员呢？”

Mr. Nekobi began walking away. Over his shoulder, he said, "Because I'm the one who chose you." "What does that mean?" Sam asked. But Mr. Nekobi didn't answer. He simply turned the corner, out of sight.

内科比开始走开。 他回过头说：“因为是我选择了你。” “这是什么意思？”山姆问。 但内科比没有回答。 他只是拐了个弯，就不见了。

Sam shook his head, thinking, This has been the weirdest day of my life! And it's only 8:30 in the morning! He needed to tell Lucy and Antonio about the quicksand and about creepy Mr. Nekobi. But first he had to ditch the orange sash. Sam darted inside and flung open his locker. Whoa! He stumbled back and threw his hand over his nose. His locker stunk!

山姆摇了摇头，心想：这是我一生中最奇怪的一天！现在才早上八点半！他需要告诉露西和安东尼奥关于流沙的事还有令人毛骨悚然的奈科比先生。 但首先他得脱掉橙色腰带。 萨姆冲了进去，猛地打开了他的储物柜。 哇!他踉跄着往回走，用手捂住鼻子。 他的储物柜臭死了！

The smell coming out of Sam's locker reminded him of rotten chocolate milk or something. "Yikes, what did I leave in here?" he asked. Sam shoved the sash inside his locker. Then he knew what it smelled like: really bad breath.

从山姆的储物柜里传出的气味让他想起了变质的巧克力牛奶之类的东西。 “哎呀，我把什么留在这儿了？”他问。 萨姆把腰带塞进了他的储物柜。 然后他才知道那是什么味道：真的是口臭。