Pet寵物

前情提要：我的生日最后被喬叔叔的狗奇勒搞砸了，為了補償，媽媽帶著我、曼尼和羅德里克去購物廣場買禮物……Sunday星期天

Mom handed us each a five-dollar bill and told us we could buy whatever we wanted, but fivebucksdoesn't exactly get you very far in a pet store. I finallysettled onthis really cool angelfish that's all different colors.

老媽給我們每人5塊錢，讓我們想要啥就買啥?？墒?塊錢在寵物店里能買什么呢。我的目標最后鎖定了一條長得很帥的神仙魚，它身上有各種顏色。

Rodrick picked out a fish, too. I don't know what kind it was, but the reason Rodrick chose it was because the label on the tank said the fish was “aggressive.”

羅德里克選的也是魚。我不知道他選的是什么魚。羅德里克買它是因為貼在水族箱上的標簽說這條魚“富有攻擊性”。

Manny spent HIS five bucks on fish food. At first I thought it was because he wanted to feed the fish that me and Rodrick bought, but by the time we got home, Manny had eaten half thecanister.

曼尼的5塊錢全買了魚飼料。起初我以為他想用這飼料喂我和羅德里克的魚。不過等我們回到家，我發(fā)現(xiàn)曼尼已經吃掉了半盒飼料。

Key points

buck 美元 settle on決定，選定 aggressive富于攻擊性的 canister小罐

Monday星期一

This is the first time I've had my very own pet, and I'm kind of getting into it. I feed my fish three times a day, and I keep his bowl really clean.

這是我第一次擁有自己的寵物，我有點愛上它了。我每天喂三次魚，把小魚缸刷得干干凈凈。

I even bought a journal so I could keeptrackof everything my fish does during the day. I have to admit, though, I'm starting to have a little trouble filling up the pages.

我還寫了一本養(yǎng)魚日記，每天記錄魚的一舉一動。不過我得承認，我開始覺得填滿一頁日記有點困難。

I asked Mom and Dad if we could buy one of thoseaquariumsand get atonof fish to keep my little guycompany.But Dad said that aquariums cost money and maybe I could ask for one for Christmas.

我問老爸老媽可不可以買一個水族箱，再買一堆魚給我的小家伙做伴。可老爸說水族箱很貴，也許到了圣誕節(jié)我可以要水族箱做禮物吧。

Key points

track 足跡，蹤跡 aquarium 養(yǎng)魚缸 ton 許多 company 作伴；公司

See, this is whatstinksabout being a kid. You only get two shots at getting stuff you want, and that's on Christmas and your birthday.And then when one of those days DOES come, your parentsmessthingsupand buy you a Ladybug.

看到了吧，這就是做小孩吃虧的地方。每年你只有兩次機會可以得到你想要的東西，那就是圣誕節(jié)和你的生日。而等這兩個日子真的到來，你父母就把事情搞砸，給你買一個“甲殼蟲小姐”。

If I had my own money, I could just buy whatever I wanted and not have toembarrassmyself every time I needed to rent a video game or buy a piece of candy or something.

要是我自己有錢，就可以想要什么就買什么，省得每次我想租一盤游戲碟或者買一塊糖果的時候都要丟臉。

Anyway, I've always known that I'll eventually be rich and famous,but I'm starting to get a little concerned that it hasn't happened yet. I figured I’d at LEAST have my own reality TV show by now.

不管怎么說，我知道自己以后一定會名利雙全。不過我有點擔心，為什么到現(xiàn)在還沒有什么苗頭。我覺得到現(xiàn)在我至少應該有一檔自己的電視真人秀節(jié)目。

Key points

stink 讓人覺得很糟糕 mess up 弄糟；攪亂 embarrass 使尷尬

Last night I was watching one of those television shows where anannylives with a family for a week and then tells them all the ways they'rescrewing up.

昨天晚上我一直看電視真人秀，說的是有個保姆和一個家庭同住一周，逐樣逐樣指出那一家人如何把家里弄得亂七八糟。

Well, I don’t know if the woman had to go to some special nanny school or something, but that’s the kind of job I was BORN to do.

不知道那位女士是不是上過什么保姆特殊培訓班，不過我天生就是做這種工作的料子。

I just need tofigure outhow to get myself in line for that job when the nannyretires.

這個保姆遲早會退休不干，我現(xiàn)在要做的就是搞清楚怎么才能進入保姆的候補人選名單。

Key points

nanny 保姆 screw up把……搞糟 figure out 弄清楚 retire 退休

The End

本欄目選自《小屁孩日記7—從天而降的巨債》（中英雙語版），由新世紀出版社授權選載。