Chapter 1

The Call of the SILVER WIBBER

《银晃鸟的召唤》

CHAPTER ONE Kate took a sip of her ice-cold apricot juice and looked out at the slowly passing jungle. She was on the poop deck - the very top deck - of Miss Custard, a fancy white steamboat that was chugging through green waters and giant glossy leaves on a special cruise in celebration of the Captain's new range of mayonnaise. Along with her dad and her best friend Rupert, Kate was here to write

第一章 凯特抿了一口冰杏汁，望着窗外缓缓掠过的丛林。 她站在“卡仕达小姐号”的艉楼甲板上——那是船的最顶层甲板。这是一艘精致的白色汽船，正突突地穿行在碧绿的水面与硕大油亮的叶片之间，这次特别航行是为了庆祝船长新推出的蛋黄酱系列产品。 凯特和爸爸还有最好的朋友鲁珀特一起在这里，是为了写

a food review for The Lookout Post by commission of her One True Idol, Catherine Rodríguez. It was a very exciting job. Unfortunately, Kate was finding it difficult. This was why: MORE SHRIIIM trilled Captain Mustard from overhead. She was abseiling down the boat's huge chimney, glittery trousers flapping, with a steaming platter balanced on one hand. Captain Mustard seemed to be everywhere all at once, one second springing up from behind a coil of oily rope, the next swinging between open

一篇给《瞭望哨报》的美食评论，这是她唯一的真偶像凯瑟琳·罗德里格斯委托的任务。 这份工作可太让人激动了。 可惜的是，凯特觉得这任务难办得很。 原因是这样的：“再来点虾——！”芥末船长的声音从头顶欢快地飘下来。 她正顺着船上巨大的烟囱往下绳降，亮闪闪的裤子被风吹得鼓起来，一只手还稳稳端着一盘冒着热气的菜。 芥末船长好像时时刻刻无处不在，前一秒还从一卷沾了油的缆绳后面蹦出来，下一秒就荡过敞开的

balconies and plonking herself right into the seat next to Kate. You had better give me a good review now!" said Captain Mustard, handing over the wobbly shrimp. "Not like those lies they spin in The Daily Spoon!" "Of course, said Kate, weakly. This time the shrimps were covered in a lurid orange sauce, and... holy moly... were those sprinkles?! "I think I'm going to be sick again,

阳台，“咚”地一下坐到凯特旁边的座位上。 “你现在可得给我写个好评论啊！”芥末船长一边说，一边递过来那份晃悠悠的虾。 “别像《每日勺子报》那些人，满嘴瞎话！” “当然啦。”凯特有气无力地说。 这次的虾裹着一层亮得扎眼的橘色酱汁，而且……我的天呐……那上面撒的是糖碎？！ “我感觉又要吐了。”

said Rupert as soon as Captain Mustard had bounced away, globs of sauce splattering the deck behind her. Rupert had been sick three times already. It probably didn't help that he was a strict vegetarian and kept staring deep into the eyes of the dead shrimps and saying things like, "Do you think he had ever been in love?" or "This one could have been an incredible artist. I can tell by the antennae? It was getting very tedious, and Kate was struggling to write anything at all.

芥末船长一蹦一跳地走开，鲁珀特就立刻开口了，她身后的甲板上溅得满是酱汁的小斑点。 鲁珀特已经吐过三次了。 他是个严格的素食主义者，还总盯着死虾的眼睛，说些“你觉得他这辈子有没有爱过呀？”之类的话，这情况怕是好不了了。 要么就说“这只说不定本来能成为个超厉害的艺术家呢”。 “看他的触须我就能看出来？” 这情形越来越烦人，凯特半个字都写不出来了。

What Kate really wanted to do was open her Special Correspondent Manual and get stuck into a proper story. She wanted to write about the terrible evening entertainment (how had the singers got this job? Who agreed to make not one but three horrible dresses?), the jungle outside and how it made different noises at different times of day, and the troop of Bird Brigaders who carried clipboards and binoculars everywhere they went — even into the shower. (Kate knew this because Bertie, a friendly Bird Brigader, had told her so.) The only thing getting in the way were these stinking shrimps. But she had promised Catherine Rodríguez she would

凯特真正想做的，是翻开她的特约记者手册，好好写个正经故事。 她想写糟糕透顶的晚间娱乐节目（这些歌手到底是怎么拿到这份工作的？ 是谁同意做了三条丑裙子，还不是一条？），想写外面的丛林，还有一天里不同时段丛林发出的不一样的声响，还有那群鸟旅队的队员，他们走到哪儿都带着剪贴板和双筒望远镜——连洗澡都带。 （凯特知道这事，是友好的鸟旅队员伯蒂告诉她的。） 唯一挡路的就是这些臭烘烘的虾。 可她已经答应凯瑟琳·罗德里格斯了，她要