Diary of a Wimpy Kid

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想發展。下午一點左右親戚一個個到了。我叫老媽能請多少人來就請多少人來，那我就可以收到最多禮物，結果相當理想。

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.

過生日的時候我喜歡一步到位直奔禮物環節。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，我用了足夠的時間處理賀卡。這有一點痛苦，不過我收獲甚豐，倒還算值得。

Key points

relative 親戚 show up 到場 maximize 最大化 potential 可能性 turnout 到場人數 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，我以為這是個好兆頭。不過打開禮物的時候我依然吃了一驚。

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.

再仔細一點看，我發現那并不是平日所見到的手機。這個玩意叫“甲殼蟲小姐”，上面并沒有鍵盤之類的輸入設備，只有兩個按鈕：一個按鈕是撥回家，一個按鈕是撥緊急呼叫。所以這手機基本沒啥用。

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。我還盼著也許會收到躺椅，不過當我意識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.

我本來希望老媽會給我買個新蛋糕，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，可到這個時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，就更不用說了。

Key points

stuff 物品 recliner 躺椅 giant 巨大的 leather 皮革制的 beaten 打敗（過去分詞） touch 嘗；觸碰 by that point 在那時

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下場感到難過，因為今天她說我們可以去購物廣場買一件禮物作為補償。

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.

我們在購物廣場逛了一圈，最后停在一家寵物店。我巴望著大家一起湊錢買只小狗，但羅德里克似乎對另外一種寵物更感興趣。

Key points

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

To be continued