Tabloids: Facts or Lies? 小报：事实还是谎言？

Tuesday星期二

美发

Today Mom said I was looking“shaggy”, so she told me she was taking me to get a haircut.

今天老妈说我看起来“蓬头垢脸”，她要带我去剪头发。

But I never would've agreed to get my hair cut if I knew that Mom was taking me to Bombshells Beauty Salon, which is where Mom and Gramma get THEIR hair cut.

要是我知道老妈带我去的地方是她和外婆经常光顾的“丽人美发店”，打死我也不跟她到那儿去剪头发。

I have to say, though, the whole beauty salon experience wasn't that bad.First of all, they have TVs all over the place, so you can watch a show while you're waiting to get your hair cut.

不过我得说，这次去美发店倒不太糟糕。首先，那儿到处都有电视机，可以一边等发型师一边看节目。

Second, they have lots oftabloids, those newspapers you see in thecheckoutlines atgrocerystores. Mom says tabloids are full of lies, but I think there's some really importantstuffin those things.

其次，那儿有很多小报，就是那些人们在超市一边排队等候结账一边看的报纸。老妈说小报充斥着谎言，可我觉得小报上确实有些重要的东西。

Key points

shaggy 毛发蓬松的 tabloid 小报 checkout 结账 grocery 食品杂货店 stuff 材料；资料

Gramma is always buying tabloids,even though Mom doesn'tapprove.A few weeks ago Gramma wasn't answering her phone, so Mom got worried and drove over to Gramma's to see if she was OK. Gramma was fine, but she wasn't picking up her phone because of something she read.

尽管老妈不喜欢小报，但外婆还是经常买。几个星期前外婆好几天不接电话，老妈心急火燎地开车去外婆家，却发现她好得很。她不接电话全因她读到的一段新闻。

无绳电话会损害老年人的记忆力。

But when Mom asked Gramma where she got her information, Gramma said —

老妈问外婆，她是怎么知道这条信息的，外婆说：

呃……《纽约时报》。

Whenever Mom fi nds any tabloids at Gramma's house, she takes them home and throws them in thegarbage. Last week I fi shed one out of thetrashand read it in my bedroom.

只要老妈在外婆家发现小报的踪影，马上就会把报纸带回家，扔进垃圾桶。上周我在垃圾桶里翻到一张小报，偷偷拿回房里看。

I'm glad I did. I found out that North America will be underwater within six months, so that kind of takes thepressureoff me to do well in school.

我很庆幸自己读了这张小报。报上说北美大陆6个月后就会被水淹没，这样一来我就没必要在学校里好好学习了。

Key points

approve 赞成 garbage 垃圾 trash 垃圾 pressure 压力

Horrible Midnight 恐怖午夜

Friday星期五

Wedugaround, and then we found ahorrormovie at the bottom of Rodrick'sdrawer.

I couldn't believe our luck. Neither one of us had actually seen a horror movie before,so this was a really big fi nd.

我们四处翻箱倒柜，在罗德里克的抽屉里找到一盘恐怖电影的光碟。我们的运气好得令人难以置信。我和罗利谁也没看过恐怖电影，这算得上是大收获了。

喂，你死定了。

I asked Mom if Rowley could spend the night, and she said yes. I made sure I asked Mom when Dad was out of the room,because Dad doesn't like it when I havesleepoverson a "work night".

我问老妈罗利能不能在我们家留宿，她说没问题。我特意等老爸不在房间的时候才去问老妈，他不喜欢我在“工作日的晚上”留同学在我们家过夜。

Last summer Rowley spent the night at my house, and we slept in thebasement.

去年暑假罗利也在我们家留宿过，我们一起睡地下室。

Key points

dug 寻找 horror 恐怖、可怕的事物 drawer 抽屉

sleepover 孩子到别的小朋友家过夜 basement 地下室

I made sure Rowley took the bed that was closest to thefurnaceroom, because that room really freaks me out. Ifi guredif anything came out of there in the middle of the night, it wouldgrabRowley fi rst and I'd have a fi ve-second head start toescape.

我让罗利在正对锅炉房的床上睡，因为我特别害怕那房间。万一三更半夜鬼魂从那儿飘出来，它会先抓住罗利，我就多了5秒钟的时间逃跑。

At about 1:00 in the morning, we heard something in the furnace room thatscaredthe living daylights out of us.

凌晨1点左右，我们听见锅炉房里有些动静，吓得魂飞魄散。

It sounded like a little ghost girl or something, and it said —

那声音听起来像一个年幼的女鬼，它说：

我藏起来了……你找得到我吗？

Me and Rowley practicallytrampledeach other to death trying to get up the basement stairs.

我和罗利没命地冲上楼梯，几乎没把对方给踩死。

Weburst intoMom and Dad's room, and I told them our house washauntedand we had to move immediately.

我们冲进老爸老妈的房间，我跟他们说我们的房子有鬼，必须马上搬家。

To be continued

未完待续

Key points

furnace 火炉 fi gure 估计，认为 grab 抓住 escape 逃脱 scare 使害怕

trample 重重地踩 burst into 闯入 haunted 闹鬼的