6 The Wrong Book

CHAPTER 6 The Wrong Book It was My Missing Friend by Stella B—the other Stella B. "Oh no!" I said. "It's the wrong book— the scary book!" "Oooh, Stella," Arielle said in her softly- soft voice. "You don't think it's because... well, because..." "Because what?" I asked. "Because of what Joshua said about bad luck?"

第六章 拿错书了。这本书是斯特拉·B写的《我失踪的朋友》，是另一个斯特拉·B哦。 “天哪！” 我说。 “我拿错书啦，这就是那本吓人的书！” “哦哦，斯特拉，”艾瑞尔柔声细气地说。 “你不觉得这是因为…… 唉，就是因为……” “因为什么？”我问道。 “因为约书亚说的坏运气那件事吗？”

"Oh no," Lucy broke in. "Mr. Ramos put our books down way before Joshua said that. And besides, he was just making things up to be mean." "But I broke a mirror at home before I came here. And that's SEVEN YEARS of bad luck. Penny said." "Oooh," Arielle said again. "Penny's only in kindergarten," Lucy told me. "But lots of bad luck things have hap- pened," I reminded her. "Seeing a ghost doesn't count as bad luck." "It doesn't count as good luck," I said.

“不对啦，”露西插嘴说。 拉莫斯先生早在约书亚说那番话之前，就把我们的书放好了呀。 再说了，他就是故意编瞎话欺负人。” “可是我来这儿之前，在家里打碎了一面镜子呀。 那可是要带来七年坏运气的。 佩妮说道。” “哦哦，”艾瑞尔又感叹了一声。 “佩妮才上幼儿园呢，”露西对我说。 “可是已经发生好多倒霉事了呀，”我提醒她。 “看见鬼魂不算坏运气。” “那也不算好运气呀，”我说。

"And other things happened, too. Like getting spilled on, and now getting the wrong book." "Just bring the book back to Mr. Ramos," Talisa said. "He'll let you trade it in for the book you wanted." So that's what I did. I picked the book up by its corner, and I held it as far out in front of me as I could, as if it smelled bad. Mr. Ramos was sitting at his desk eating his pizza, even though it was pretty late for dinner, and he had told us we weren't allowed to eat in the library. Sometimes

“而且还发生了别的倒霉事。 比如刚才被泼了一身，现在又拿错书。” “你把书拿回给拉莫斯先生就好啦，”塔利萨说。 “他会帮你换成你想要的那本的。” 我就照她说的做了。 我捏着书角把它捡起来，尽量把它伸得离我远远的，就好像它有难闻的味道一样。 拉莫斯先生正坐在办公桌前吃披萨，虽然这个点吃晚饭已经很晚了，而且他之前还说过不许我们在图书馆吃东西。 有时候

grown-ups don't obey the rules that they make for kids. "Excuse me, Mr. Ramos," I said. Mr. Ramos chewed and swallowed. "Yes, Stella?" I put My Missing Friend down on the desk. "This wasn't the book I was supposed to get," I said. "I wanted Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing." "I know," Mr. Ramos said. "I made a switch." "But I thought we were allowed to pick our own books." "You are—but when I was checking Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing out for you, I real- ized you'd read it before." "It was one of my favorites," I said. "I'm happy to hear that," he said. "But I thought maybe you'd want to try something

大人自己就不遵守他们给小孩定的规矩。 “打扰一下，拉莫斯先生，”我说。 拉莫斯先生嚼完咽了下去。 “怎么啦，斯特拉？” 我把《我失踪的朋友》放在桌上。 “这不是我要借的书，”我说。 “我想要《四年级的无聊生活》。” “我知道呀，”拉莫斯先生说。 “是我换的。” “可是我们不是可以自己选书吗？” “是可以自己选呀，但我帮你登记借《四年级的无聊生活》的时候，想起你之前已经读过啦。” “它本来就是我最爱的书之一呀，”我说。 “我很高兴你这么说，”他说。 “不过我觉得你今晚说不定想试试点”

new tonight. This book—My Missing Friend— looked pretty interesting to me. And look at the name of the author!" It was at that exact moment that Mrs. Finkel and Joshua came back in the library. "Who's the author?" Joshua asked. He leaned over to look at the book. "Stella B? No way! You can't write books. You're only eight." "I can too write books," I told him. "But I didn't write this one. A different Stella B did— in nineteen thirty-three. She might not... well, she's probably not even alive anymore." "Maybe she was the ghost trying to talk to you," Joshua said. "Or maybe... maybe you're a ghost!" Another chill went up my spine. "Joshua," Mrs. Finkel said, "didn't we just agree that you were going to do your best to behave in front of all your classmates—

新东西读读。 这本书——《我失踪的朋友》——我看着就觉得挺有意思的。 你看看作者的名字呀！” 就在这个时候，芬克尔夫人和约书亚回到了图书馆。 “作者是谁呀？” 约书亚问道。 他凑过来看这本书。 “斯特拉·B？ 不可能！ 你才不会写书呢。 你才八岁呀。” “我当然会写书，”我对他说。 “但这本书不是我写的。 是另一个斯特拉·B写的，一九三三年写的。 她可能已经…… 唉，她估计都不在人世了。” “说不定她就是那个想跟你说话的鬼魂呀，”约书亚说。 “要不然就是……说不定你就是鬼魂！” 我后背又一阵发凉。 “约书亚，”芬克尔夫人说，“我们刚刚不是说好，你要在所有同学面前好好表现——”