4 WHAT FUN TO BELONG TO A SECRET SOCIETY!

CHAPTER FOUR WHAT FUN TO BELONG TO A SECRET SOCIETY! IT WASN'T Susie. It was Peter's mother coming to say that it was getting late, and did they know what the time was? She was very surprised to meet Scamper flying out of the door in the greatest excitement, barking for all he was worth. He was quite disappointed that it was only Peter's mother! 'Oh, Mother, it can't be half-past six yet,' groaned Peter. 'We haven't nearly finished the meeting. Yes, I know we haven't done our homework, but we haven't much tonight. Can't we have another ten minutes?'

参加一个秘密社团是多么有趣啊！不是苏西。 是彼得的妈妈过来说天晚了，他们知道现在是什么时候吗？ 她很惊讶地看到斯坎普非常兴奋地飞出了门，拼命地叫着。 他很失望，原来是彼得的妈妈！“哦，妈妈，还不到六点半呢。”彼得呻吟道。 我们的会议还没开完呢。 是的，我知道我们还没有做作业，但是今晚我们没什么事。 我们不能再等十分钟吗？”

'Yes. Ten minutes, then,' said his mother, and went away. The door was shut again, and the Secret Seven began to talk hurriedly. 'George, you can do a spot of shadowing, and so can Colin,' said Peter. 'You girls can do the observation idea, go to the station or the bus stop, or anywhere. Jack, you and I will do a bit of spying. We'll find a good spying-place, sit there, and watch what goes on without being seen. It will be good practice for when we really have to do it!' 'How do we do the shadowing?' asked George. 'We'd be seen following anybody in broad daylight.' 'Well, do it when it's dark, then,' said Peter. 'But don't go shadowing anyone together, you and Colin, or you'll be spotted at once. That would be silly. Go separately, choose someone you see, and follow them to their home without being seen. If you can do that, you'll be very smart!'

‘是的。“那么十分钟吧。”他母亲说着就走了。 门又关上了，七个秘密人物开始急促地说话。 “乔治，你可以做一点影子，科林也可以。”彼得说。 “你们这些女孩可以采取观察的想法，去车站或公交车站，或任何地方。 杰克，你和我侦查一下。 我们要找一个监视的好地方，坐在那里，不被人发现地监视一切。 这将是一个很好的练习，当我们真的必须这样做！“我们怎么做影子？”乔治问。 “我们会被人看到在光天化日之下跟踪任何人。“好吧，那就等天黑了再说。”彼得说。 “但是不要跟在一起跟着任何人，你和科林，否则马上就会被发现的。 那太愚蠢了。分别去，选择一个你看到的人，然后在不被发现的情况下跟着他们到他们的家。 如果你能做到这一点，你就很聪明了！”

'I'd rather tackle a real mystery or problem than mess about practising,' said George, in a grumbling voice. 'I'm the head of this Society, and you have to obey orders,' said Peter in rather a haughty voice. 'I've got to keep the Secret Seven going, haven't I? Well, I'm doing my best.' 'Anyway, you never know when we might come across something when we're putting in a bit of practice in these things,' said Jack, cheerfully. 'Things pop up most unexpectedly.' 'We'll practise our observation stunt on Saturday morning,' said Janet. 'I'll go to the railway station. I always like that, it's nice and busy and noisy.' 'I'll go to the bus stop,' said Pam. 'You come with me, Barbara.' 'Right,' said Peter, pleased. 'Now we've all got secret jobs to do, and they'll keep us going till something turns up. Jack, I'll let you know

“我宁愿解决一个真正的谜题或难题，也不愿瞎练。”乔治咕哝着说。 “我是这个协会的会长，你必须服从命令。”彼得用一种相当傲慢的声音说。 “我得让七人秘密继续下去，不是吗？” 嗯，我已经尽力了。“不管怎么说，你永远不知道我们在练习这些东西的时候什么时候会遇到什么。”杰克高兴地说。 “事情出乎意料地突然出现。“我们星期六早上练习观察特技，”珍妮特说。 “我要去火车站。 我一直很喜欢那里，那里很好，很热闹，也很吵。“我要去公共汽车站，”潘说。 “你跟我来，芭芭拉。“好的，”彼得高兴地说。 “现在我们都有秘密工作要做，他们会让我们一直干下去，直到有新情况出现。 杰克，我会告诉你的

when I've thought of a good place for us to hide and keep a watch on any goings-on nearby.' Everyone got up, sorry that the meeting had come to an end. Pam and Barbara offered to help Janet wash up, and all the boys carried in the dirty plates and mugs for the girls. 'Now for homework,' said Peter, with a groan. 'I wish I'd listened better in class this morning. I haven't the faintest idea how to do those sums we've been set.' Pam, Jack and George said good night, and thanked Peter's mother for the 'delicious' tea. The others washed up together, chattering at the tops of their voices. They didn't say a word of what had happened at the meeting, of course. Nobody was ever supposed to tell anything that had passed at one of the Secret Seven gatherings. But all the members thought about it a lot. It was fun to belong to a Secret Society. It was

当我想到一个好地方，让我们躲起来，监视附近发生的任何事情。”大家都站了起来，很遗憾会议结束了。 帕姆和芭芭拉主动提出帮珍妮特洗碗，所有的男孩都把脏盘子和杯子拿给女孩们。 “现在该做家庭作业了。”彼得呻吟着说。 “我真希望我今天早上上课时听得认真些。” 我一点儿也不知道怎样算那些给我们定的数目。"帕姆、杰克和乔治互道晚安，并感谢彼得的妈妈送来的“美味”茶。 其他人一起冲了上来，扯着嗓子叽叽喳喳地说个不停。 当然，他们对会上发生的事只字不提。 在七大秘密聚会上发生的任何事情都不应该泄露出去。 但是所有的成员都想了很多。 参加一个秘密社团是很有趣的。 这是

something you could hug to yourself and think about before you went to sleep at night. Janet looked at her Secret Seven badge that evening when she took it off her dress. 'S.S.,' she said. 'It should really be five Ss. S.S.S.S.S. For Super, Smashing, Secret, Seven, Society! I must remember to tell Peter that. I'll go to the station on Saturday morning, and watch for someone to describe perfectly. I won't miss a thing, not even the colour of his tie! I'll show the others how good I am at noticing every single thing about somebody I see just for a minute.' Peter was thinking about what he and Jack could do, too, as he lay in bed that night. A spyhole? Now, where would an interesting one be? In the middle of the bush beside the main road? Yes, that would be a good place. They could take notebooks and note down the cars that went by. They could put down anything they thought was interesting or suspicious. It

你可以在晚上睡觉前抱着自己想一想。 那天晚上，珍妮特把她的“七号秘密”徽章从裙子上取下来，看着它。 “s.s.，”她说。“实际上应该是5个s。 代表超级，粉碎，秘密，七，社会！我一定要记得告诉彼得这件事。 星期六早上我要去车站，等着有人来完美地描述一下。 我什么都不会错过，即使是他领带的颜色！我要让其他人看看，我是多么善于注意别人身上的每一个细节，就一分钟。”那天晚上，彼得躺在床上，也在想他和杰克能做些什么。 窥视孔?那么，有趣的在哪里呢？ 在主干道旁的灌木丛中吗？ 是的，那是个好地方。 他们可以用笔记本记下经过的车辆。 他们可以放下任何他们认为有趣或可疑的东西。 它

would be fun! Each member was planning carefully what he or she was to do. George was perhaps making the most careful plans of all. He was to go and shadow somebody. Well, he would do it really properly! He would first of all hide somewhere, and watch for somebody to come by. Then he would slip out and follow them, oh, so carefully and quietly! He would put on his rubber shoes. And I'll creep behind in the shadows, just like a policeman following a thief or a spy! he thought. I'll be like a shadow myself. Nobody will know I'm there. I'll choose a man with a bag, to make it more real. I'll pretend he's got stolen maps in it, or jewels or something. Gosh, I'm going to enjoy this! All the Seven fell asleep at last. What fun it was to belong to a Secret Society!

会很有趣的！每个成员都在仔细计划他或她要做什么。 乔治也许正在制定最周密的计划。 他要去跟踪某个人。 嗯，他会做得很好！他首先要找个地方躲起来，等着有人过来。 然后他会溜出去跟着他们，哦，那么小心，那么安静！他会穿上他的胶鞋。 我会躲在暗处，就像警察跟踪小偷或间谍一样！他想。 我自己也会像影子一样。 没人会知道我在那里。 我会选一个带包的男人，让它更真实。 我就假装里面有偷来的地图，或者珠宝什么的。 天哪，我一定会喜欢的！最后七个人都睡着了。 参加一个秘密社团是多么有趣啊！