Pet宠物

前情提要：我的生日最后被乔叔叔的狗奇勒搞砸了，为了补偿，妈妈带着我、曼尼和罗德里克去购物广场买礼物……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.

老妈给我们每人5块钱，让我们想要啥就买啥。可是5块钱在宠物店里能买什么呢。我的目标最后锁定了一条长得很帅的神仙鱼，它身上有各种颜色。

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.”

罗德里克选的也是鱼。我不知道他选的是什么鱼。罗德里克买它是因为贴在水族箱上的标签说这条鱼“富有攻击性”。

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块钱全买了鱼饲料。起初我以为他想用这饲料喂我和罗德里克的鱼。不过等我们回到家，我发现曼尼已经吃掉了半盒饲料。

Key points

buck 美元 settle on决定，选定 aggressive富于攻击性的 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.

这是我第一次拥有自己的宠物，我有点爱上它了。我每天喂三次鱼，把小鱼缸刷得干干净净。

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.

我还写了一本养鱼日记，每天记录鱼的一举一动。不过我得承认，我开始觉得填满一页日记有点困难。

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.

我问老爸老妈可不可以买一个水族箱，再买一堆鱼给我的小家伙做伴。可老爸说水族箱很贵，也许到了圣诞节我可以要水族箱做礼物吧。

Key points

track 足迹，踪迹 aquarium 养鱼缸 ton 许多 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，这就是做小孩吃亏的地方。每年你只有两次机会可以得到你想要的东西，那就是圣诞节和你的生日。而等这两个日子真的到来，你父母就把事情搞砸，给你买一个“甲壳虫小姐”。

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.

要是我自己有钱，就可以想要什么就买什么，省得每次我想租一盘游戏碟或者买一块糖果的时候都要丢脸。

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.

不管怎么说，我知道自己以后一定会名利双全。不过我有点担心，为什么到现在还没有什么苗头。我觉得到现在我至少应该有一档自己的电视真人秀节目。

Key points

stink 让人觉得很糟糕 mess up 弄糟；搅乱 embarrass 使尴尬

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.

昨天晚上我一直看电视真人秀，说的是有个保姆和一个家庭同住一周，逐样逐样指出那一家人如何把家里弄得乱七八糟。

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过什么保姆特殊培训班，不过我天生就是做这种工作的料子。

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

这个保姆迟早会退休不干，我现在要做的就是搞清楚怎么才能进入保姆的候补人选名单。

Key points

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

The End

本栏目选自《小屁孩日记7—从天而降的巨债》（中英双语版），由新世纪出版社授权选载。