The Gizmos' Party

The Gizmos Party

《小发明派对》

Chapter 1 One day I was playing a game of football with my friends. Suddenly the alarm on my hologram phone buzzed. I groaned and clicked it on. A hologram of my mom's face appeared. My friends thought it was amazing. Then my mom began speaking. Albert Gizmo, come home right now for dinner. It was no good arguing. I headed home and missed the end of the game. Sometimes life is hard when your mother is an inventor.

第一章 有一天，我正和朋友们一起踢足球。 突然，我的全息手机的警报响了起来。 我嘟囔了一声，点开了手机。 我妈妈的脸的全息投影弹了出来。 我的朋友们都觉得这太酷啦。 紧接着我妈妈开口说话了。 阿尔伯特·吉兹莫，现在马上回家吃晚饭。 争辩也没用。 我只好往家走，错过了球赛的结尾。 要是你妈妈是个发明家，有时候日子可真不好过。

The hologram phone was mom's latest invention. Everyone thought it was brilliant, but I was fed up with mom's strange gadgets. Sometimes I wish I had normal parents.

这款全息手机是妈妈的最新发明。 所有人都觉得它超棒，可我已经受够了妈妈那些稀奇古怪的小发明了。 有时候我真希望自己的爸妈是普通人。

My sister, Mary, felt the same way. Why can't they have normal hobbies like stamp collecting or deep sea diving? She asked that evening. Or balloon dancing or alligator wrestling, I said. We both stared at the hologram phone on the coffee table. I hate this thing, I said as I turned a dial on the machine. It came off in my hand. Oops!

我妹妹玛丽和我想法一样。 他们为什么就不能有普通点的爱好呢，比如集邮或者深海潜水？ 那天晚上她问道。 要么跳气球舞或者和鳄鱼摔跤也行啊，我说道。 我俩都盯着茶几上的全息手机。 我讨厌这玩意儿，我一边说一边拧了拧机器上的一个旋钮。 结果它被我拧下来了。 哎哟！

What should we do? Mom hates it when we touch her inventions. I stuck the dial back on as quickly as possible. I hoped it wasn't broken. Just then mom came back in the room. Your dad's favorite film is on TV tonight, she said. I must call him and tell him that Invaders from Planet Z is on. She turned the machine on and punched in dad's number. Mary and I looked at each other nervously. Would the machine still work? It's time to come home and watch your favorite film on TV, mom said into the phone. I let out a sigh of relief. It looked as if the machine still worked.

我们该怎么办呀？ 妈妈最讨厌我们碰她的发明了。 我赶紧以最快的速度把旋钮按了回去。 我希望它没被弄坏。 就在这时妈妈走进了房间。 今晚电视要播你爸爸最爱的电影哦，她说道。 我得打电话告诉他，《Z星入侵者》开播了。 她打开机器，输入了爸爸的号码。 我和玛丽紧张地对视了一眼。 这机器还能正常用吗？ 快回家来看你最爱的电视电影啦，妈妈对着手机说道。 我松了一大口气。 看来这机器还能用嘛。

I was wrong. I had broken the phone. Dad's hologram phone buzzed, but he didn't get mom's message. Someone else got the message instead. Far, far away, two strange figures were listening. Interesting, said one. What is a film? And what is TV? asked the other. Interesting.

我错了。我把手机弄坏了。爸爸的全息手机响了，但他没收到妈妈的消息。反而有其他人收到了这条消息。 在很远很远的地方，两个奇怪的家伙正在收听这条消息。 真有意思，一个说道。电影是什么？电视又是什么？另一个问道。 真有意思。