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预想发展。下午一点左右亲戚一个个到了。我叫老妈能请多少人来就请多少人来，那我就可以收到最多礼物，结果相当理想。

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.

过生日的时候我喜欢一步到位直奔礼物环节。所以我叫大家在客厅里集合。

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.

按照老妈吩咐，我用了足够的时间处理贺卡。这有一点痛苦，不过我收获甚丰，倒还算值得。

Key points

relative 亲戚 show up 到场 maximize 最大化 potential 可能性 turnout 到场人数 cut to the chase 开门见山 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，一看到我开始把钞票从贺卡里抽出来，老妈就把钱全部没收，说要还给杰弗逊先生。

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.

接着是包装好的礼物，不过数量不多。第一件礼物是老爸老妈送的，体积小重量大，我以为这是个好兆头。不过打开礼物的时候我依然吃了一惊。

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.

再仔细一点看，我发现那并不是平日所见到的手机。这个玩意叫“甲壳虫小姐”，上面并没有键盘之类的输入设备，只有两个按钮：一个按钮是拨回家，一个按钮是拨紧急呼叫。所以这手机基本没啥用。

Key points

con fiscate 没收 wrapped 包好的 sign 迹象 shocked 惊愕的 keypad （电话）按键 button按钮emergency 紧急情况

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.

其他礼物还包括衣服和一些我不需要的东西。我还盼着也许会收到躺椅，不过当我意识到屋里没有地方可以让老爸老妈藏起这么一件庞然大物的时候，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.

接着老妈跟大家说该到饭厅吃蛋糕了。倒霉的是，乔叔叔的狗奇勒比我们抢先一步。

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.

我本来希望老妈会给我买个新蛋糕，可她只是拿把小刀切掉了狗咬过的那部分。

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.

老妈给我切了一大块蛋糕，可到这个时候我真的没心情吃蛋糕，尤其是我看到奇勒在桌底吐出生日蜡烛时，就更不用说了。

Key points

stuff 物品 recliner 躺椅 giant 巨大的 leather 皮革制的 beaten 打败（过去分词） touch 尝；触碰 by that point 在那时

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.”

我想老妈一定是为我的生日落得这个下场感到难过，因为今天她说我们可以去购物广场买一件礼物作为补偿。

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.

老妈带上曼尼和罗德里克，她说他们也可以各自挑件礼物。这一点都不公平，昨天又不是他们过生日。

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.

我们在购物广场逛了一圈，最后停在一家宠物店。我巴望着大家一起凑钱买只小狗，但罗德里克似乎对另外一种宠物更感兴趣。

Key points

guess 推测 pick out 挑选 totally 完全 unfair 不公平的 mall 购物中心

To be continued