Birthday生日

Saturday星期六

Today was my birthday, and I guess things went more or less like I expected. The relatives started showing up around 1:00.I asked Mom to invite as many people as possible so I could maximize my gift potential,and I got a pretty good turnout.

今天是我的生日，事情或多或少按我的預(yù)想發(fā)展。下午一點(diǎn)左右親戚一個(gè)個(gè)到了。我叫老媽能請(qǐng)多少人來就請(qǐng)多少人來，那我就可以收到最多禮物，結(jié)果相當(dāng)理想。

I like to cut to the chase on my birthday and get right to the gifts, so I told everyone to gather in the living room.

過生日的時(shí)候我喜歡一步到位直奔禮物環(huán)節(jié)。所以我叫大家在客廳里集合。

I took my time with the cards, just like Mom asked. It was a little painful,but I got a good haul, so it was worth it.

按照老媽吩咐，我用了足夠的時(shí)間處理賀卡。這有一點(diǎn)痛苦，不過我收獲甚豐，倒還算值得。

Key points

relative 親戚 show up 到場(chǎng) maximize 最大化 potential 可能性 turnout 到場(chǎng)人數(shù) cut to the chase 開門見山 gather 聚集 worth 值得的

Unfortunately, as soon as I collected my checks, Mom con fiscated the money to pay off Mr. Jefferson.

倒霉的是，一看到我開始把鈔票從賀卡里抽出來，老媽就把錢全部沒收，說要還給杰弗遜先生。

Then I moved on to the wrapped presents, but there weren't a whole lot of those. The first gift, from Mom and Dad, was small and heavy, which I thought was a good sign. But I was still pretty shocked when I opened it.

接著是包裝好的禮物，不過數(shù)量不多。第一件禮物是老爸老媽送的，體積小重量大，我以為這是個(gè)好兆頭。不過打開禮物的時(shí)候我依然吃了一驚。

When I looked more closely, I found out it wasn't an ordinary cell phone. It was called a “Ladybug.” The phone didn't have a keypad on it or anything. It only had two buttons: one to call home and one for emergencies. So it’s pretty much useless.

再仔細(xì)一點(diǎn)看，我發(fā)現(xiàn)那并不是平日所見到的手機(jī)。這個(gè)玩意叫“甲殼蟲小姐”，上面并沒有鍵盤之類的輸入設(shè)備，只有兩個(gè)按鈕：一個(gè)按鈕是撥回家，一個(gè)按鈕是撥緊急呼叫。所以這手機(jī)基本沒啥用。

Key points

con fiscate 沒收 wrapped 包好的 sign 跡象 shocked 驚愕的 keypad （電話）按鍵 button按鈕emergency 緊急情況

All my other gifts were clothes and other stuff I didn’t really need.I was still hoping I might get that recliner, but once I realized there weren't any places Mom and Dad could be hiding a giant leather chair, I gave up looking.

其他禮物還包括衣服和一些我不需要的東西。我還盼著也許會(huì)收到躺椅，不過當(dāng)我意識(shí)到屋里沒有地方可以讓老爸老媽藏起這么一件龐然大物的時(shí)候，我也就死心了。Then Mom told everyone it was time to go into the dining room to have some cake. Unfortunately, Uncle Joe's dog, Killer, had beaten us to it.

接著老媽跟大家說該到飯廳吃蛋糕了。倒霉的是，喬叔叔的狗奇勒比我們搶先一步。

I was hoping Mom would go out and get me a new cake, but she just took a knife and cut away the parts the dog didn't touch.

我本來希望老媽會(huì)給我買個(gè)新蛋糕，可她只是拿把小刀切掉了狗咬過的那部分。

Mom cut me a big piece, but by that point I wasn't really in the mood for cake. Especially not with Killer throwing up little birthday candles under the table.

老媽給我切了一大塊蛋糕，可到這個(gè)時(shí)候我真的沒心情吃蛋糕，尤其是我看到奇勒在桌底吐出生日蠟燭時(shí)，就更不用說了。

Key points

stuff 物品 recliner 躺椅 giant 巨大的 leather 皮革制的 beaten 打?。ㄟ^去分詞） touch 嘗；觸碰 by that point 在那時(shí)

Sunday星期天

I guess Mom must've felt bad about how my birthday went down,because today she said we could go to the mall and get a “makeup gift.”

我想老媽一定是為我的生日落得這個(gè)下場(chǎng)感到難過，因?yàn)榻裉焖f我們可以去購物廣場(chǎng)買一件禮物作為補(bǔ)償。

Mom took Manny and Rodrick along for the ride, and she said they could each pick out something, too, which is totally unfair, because it wasn’t THEIR birthday yesterday.

老媽帶上曼尼和羅德里克，她說他們也可以各自挑件禮物。這一點(diǎn)都不公平，昨天又不是他們過生日。

We walked around the mall for a while and ended up in a pet store. I was hoping we could pool our money to buy a dog, but Rodrick seemed to be interested in a different kind of pet.

我們?cè)谫徫飶V場(chǎng)逛了一圈，最后停在一家寵物店。我巴望著大家一起湊錢買只小狗，但羅德里克似乎對(duì)另外一種寵物更感興趣。

Key points

guess 推測(cè) pick out 挑選 totally 完全 unfair 不公平的 mall 購物中心

To be continued