9 Little-Bit

9 Little-Bit PEEEEEEEEEAAAAAANUUUUUUUUUTTTT!" The cry started in the living room and finished, arriving at pace, in the hallway. "LITTLE-BIT!" replied Peanut as she scooped up her excited younger sister and hugged her. "What adventures have you had today then?" The nickname gene was strong in the Jones family. Its youngest member had been born just over five years ago and her parents had named her Elizabeth May. Elizabeth was an unusually early talker, saying her first word (trousers') when she was just under a year old, but she had always had trouble saying her own name. "Lilibet" was the closest she could get. Over time (and with the help of her big sister) this became

9 “小不点花————生————！” 哭声从客厅响起，噔噔噔一路传到了走廊。 “小不点！”花生应声答道，把兴奋的小妹妹抱进了怀里。 “那你今天都经历了什么好玩的事呀？” 琼斯家的外号基因特别强大。 家里最小的孩子出生才五年多，爸爸妈妈给她取名伊丽莎白·梅。 伊丽莎白开口说话特别早，还不到一岁就会说第一个词“裤子”，可她一直说不清楚自己的名字。 “莉莉贝特”是她能读对的最接近的发音了。 久而久之，在大姐姐的帮助下，这个叫法就变成了

"Little-Bit'. Needless to say, the nickname stuck. "Well," said Little-Bit, "today at school I was playing in the play kitchen with Marley and Marley said that he wanted to pretend-cook a fried egg in the play kitchen and I said that Marley couldn't pretend-cook a fried egg in the play kitchen because I was using the frying pan to pretend-cook some sausages and then Marley said that he could just use the oven to pretend-cook his fried egg and I said don't be silly Marley you need the hot, flat surface area of the frying pan in order to get the egg's molecules to move as fast as possible so that they collide and weaken the bonds holding the amino acid chains together thus enabling the loose protein strings to move and tangle together turning the liquid egg into a semi-solid state and if you do that in the oven the egg will eventually bake but it will take far too long." She paused to catch her breath. And do you know what Marley did?" "What did Marley do?" giggled Peanut. "He went to play dressing-up with Weronika." Despite being seven years her senior, Peanut loved hanging out with her little sister. The

“小不点”。 不用说也知道，这个外号就这么叫开了。 “唔，”小不点说，“今天我在学校和马利玩过家家厨房，马利说他想假装煎个鸡蛋。我说不行哦，煎锅我正用来煎香肠呢。然后马利说他可以用烤箱煎蛋呀。我说你傻啦马利，必须得用煎锅热热的平面才能让鸡蛋分子动得足够快，它们碰撞后会打散氨基酸链的化学键，让松散的蛋白质缠在一起，把液态鸡蛋变成半固体。放烤箱的话鸡蛋最后确实能熟，但是要等好久好久哦。” 她停下来喘了口气。 “你知道马利做了什么吗？” “马利做了什么呀？”花生咯咯笑着问。 “他跑去跟薇罗妮卡玩扮装游戏了。” 虽然花生比妹妹大七岁，可她特别喜欢跟小妹妹待在一起。 这

combination of Little-Bit being unusually bright and Peanut embracing her inner five-year-old whenever possible meant that they shared exactly the same sense of humour. Most of their games involved the family pets. For example, Giles the dog would often find himself wearing a cap and a pair of sunglasses, propelling himself along on a skateboard trying to catch the dog biscuit attached to the end of the small fishing rod that was, in turn, attached to his cap. Their cat, Catface, on the other hand, would regularly find herself wearing a bonnet, sitting in a makeshift cat classroom and being taught her ABCs by Little-Bit. For the entirety of the game, the cat's name would be Jennifer Four-year-Old. More often than not, Peanut played the part of Lavender Well-TO-Do, a classmate of Jennifer's. "Oh well, it's Marley's loss, I guess," said Little-Bit. "What's for dinner, Mummy?"

小不点格外聪明，花生又总愿意陪着她玩五岁小孩的游戏，姐妹俩的笑点完全一模一样。 她们玩的大部分游戏都和家里的宠物有关。 比如，狗狗贾尔斯常常被戴上帽子和墨镜，踩着滑板往前滑，还要去咬拴在小鱼竿末端的狗饼干，而那根鱼竿正好拴在他的帽子上。 至于她们的猫咪猫脸儿，总被戴上软帽，坐在临时搭的猫咪教室里，跟着小不点学字母。 整场游戏里，这只猫都叫“四岁珍妮弗”。 大多时候，花生都扮演珍妮弗的同学“薰衣草大小姐”。 “唉，我猜，这就是马利的损失啦。”小不点说。 “妈妈，晚饭吃什么呀？”