17 A Little-Bit of Help

17 A Little-Bit of Help Leanne, I'm home!" shouted Peanut. "At last!" called a voice from the kitchen. "Where have you been? It's nearly six o'clock. I was getting worried. Detention, obviously," she replied. "I've been doing litter duty for the last two hours." Peanut flung her coat over the banister, kicked off her shoes and headed straight into the kitchen looking for snacks. There she found the Joneses" childminder creating some kind of sculptural masterpiece Vla the medium of Little- Bit's hair. "You must be starving, sweetie. There's some lasagne in the oven. Help yourself.

17 一点帮助 “莉安，我到家啦！ 佩纳特大声喊道。 “可算回来了！”一个声音从厨房传来。 “你去哪了？ 都快六点了。 我都开始担心你了。 “当然是留校受罚啦，”她答道。 “我刚才扫了两个小时的垃圾。” 佩纳特把外套甩在栏杆上，踢掉鞋子，直奔厨房找零食。 她在那儿看到琼斯家的保姆正以小不点 的头发为素材创作雕塑般的杰作。 “你肯定饿坏啦，宝贝。 烤箱里有千层面。 自己拿哦。

Leighann followed Peanut's gaze to the plait she was weaving. "It's called a waterfall braid," she said. Sure enough, her little sister's honey-coloured locks were cascading down to her shoulders from a neat plait that circled the rear of her head. It looked just like a waterfall. It's amazing," said Peanut. "Thanks, sweetie. Now, don't forget, your mum's going out for dinner with her boss tonight, so Leo's in charge. She came home early from work to get ready," said Leighann. "Ugh. How could I forget?" groaned Peanut, before grabbing a cereal bar and a satsuma and heading up to her bedroom, rucksack on her back. "I'll come down for dinner after she's gone," she called over her shoulder. When Peanut opened the door to her room, the first thing she saw was the picture of the broken vase lying on her bed. She raced over, picked it up and carefully put it on her desk. She took the pencil, still swaddled in Rockwell's handkerchief, from her blazer pocket, unwrapped it and placed it next to the drawing. Then she picked up one of her many sketchbooks, found a blank page and wrote "LORE" in big block letters (with a rather fetching three-dimensional bevel effect).

莉安娜顺着佩纳特的目光看向她正在编的辫子。 “这叫瀑布辫哦，”她说道。 果然没错，妹妹蜜色的秀发从头后那圈整齐的发辫处垂落肩头， 看起来真的就像瀑布一样。 “太漂亮了，”佩纳特说。 “谢谢你呀，宝贝。 对了，别忘了，你妈妈今晚要和老板出去吃饭，今晚里奥看家。 “她提前下班回家准备了，”莉安娜说。 呃。 我怎么可能忘得掉？” 佩纳特抱怨道，接着拿了谷物棒和一个蜜橘，背上背包上楼回房间。 “等她走了我再下来吃饭，”她回头喊道。 佩纳特推开房门，第一眼就看见床上放着那幅碎花瓶的画。 她跑过去，拿起画小心地放在书桌上。 她从西装口袋里拿出那支还裹在罗克韦尔手帕里的铅笔，拆开包放在画旁边。 接着她拿出一本自己的速写本，找到一页空白，用粗体大写字母写下“LORE”（还做了好看的立体斜角效果）。

She stared at the sketchbook. What could it mean? Is it an anagram? She started scribbling more words: ROLE ROLE ORLE LERO ERLO She scratched her head. She wasn't getting anywhere. Then, suddenly, the door crashed open. "PEEEEEEEAAAAANNNNNUUUUUUUTTTTTT!" Peanut spun around as Little-Bit came hurtling into the room, hair waterfall flying through the air behind her, just in time to catch her in a big hug. "Hi, LB!" "Whatchya doing?" Little-Bit asked. She was looking at the open sketchbook on the desk behind Peanut. Oh. Just trying to work something out. Are you trying to work out which letters are missing on your new pencil?" said Little-Bit, picking it up from next to the sketchbook. "Be careful with that," said Peanut. Anyway, what do you mean, missing"?" "Oh, it's just that it looks a bit like one of those missing letter games, the ones in my Junior Puzzler Compendium. "Missing letters? But there are letters there. L, O, R and E." "Yes, but I've immediately noticed two things about those.

她盯着速写本看。 这到底是什么意思呢？ 会不会是变位词？ 她开始乱写其他字母组合：ROLE ROLE ORLE LERO ERLO 她挠了挠头。 一点头绪都没有。 就在这时，门猛地被撞开了。 “佩————纳————特————！” 小不点猛地冲进房间，佩纳特赶紧转身，刚好一把抱住她，那头瀑布辫都在身后甩飞起来了。 “嗨，小不点！” “你在干嘛呀？” 小不点问道。 她正盯着佩纳特身后书桌上打开的速写本看。 哦。 就是在想一件事。 “你是在猜你新铅笔上缺了什么字母吗？”小不点说着，从速写本旁边拿起了铅笔。 “拿的时候小心点，”佩纳特说。 话说你说缺字母，是什么意思？” “哦，我就是觉得它有点像缺字母游戏，就是我那本《少年谜题大全》里的那种。 “缺字母？ 明明上面有字母啊。 L、O、R和E呀。”“没错，可我一眼就发现这几个字母有两个问题。

First, they are only just visible. The R, for example, has almost disappeared. Like it's been rubbed off. And second, the spacing between the letters is very uneven. That, to me, is suspicious. If the R can be rubbed off, then so can other letters that might once have been in those spaces. I think that's what's happened here. We have a missing letters puzzle." Sometimes, having a younger sister who is clearly smarter than you are could be really annoying. This was not one of those times. "Little-Bit, you're a genius!" shouted Peanut, and she gave her sister a big kiss on the cheek. Downstairs, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" shouted Mum, and the girls heard her clumping down the stairs in her high heels. Good evening, Tracey darling. Long time no see. Ha ha." The sound of Mr Stone's voice smarming up to her mum made Peanut feel ill. "Bye, kids. Bye, Leighann. Don't go to bed too late, guys. shouted Mum. The door slammed shut. "Little-Bit! Get your PJs on!" yelled Leighann up the stairs. I have to head home soon. "You'd better go," said Peanut. "I don't want you getting in trouble too! I'll let you know if I solve the puzzle in the morning. "Promise?" said Little-Bit. Promise," said Peanut.

首先，它们几乎都看不清了。 比如说那个R，几乎都快消失了。 就好像被磨掉了一样。 第二，字母之间的间隔非常不均匀。 我觉得这很不对劲。 如果R能被磨掉，那那些空地方原来有的其他字母肯定也能被磨掉。 我觉得事情就是这样的。 这就是一个缺字母谜题呀。” 有时候，有个明明比你聪明的妹妹真的挺让人窝火的。 但这次不是。 “小不点，你真是天才！”佩纳特大喊，还在妹妹的脸颊上狠狠亲了一口。 楼下的门铃响了。 “我去开！”妈妈喊道，姐妹俩听到她踩着高跟鞋咚咚咚下楼的声音。 晚上好呀，亲爱的特蕾西。 好久不见了。 哈哈。” 斯通先生讨好妈妈的声音，听得佩纳特浑身不舒服。 “再见啦，孩子们。 再见，莉安娜。 别睡太晚哦，小家伙们。 妈妈喊道。 门砰的一声关上了。 “小不点！ 快去穿睡衣！” 莉安娜朝着楼上喊道。 我很快就得回家了。 “你快去吧，”佩纳特说。 我可不想你也跟着惹麻烦！ 我早上解开谜题就告诉你。 “你保证？”小不点说。 “我保证，”佩纳特说。