(单词翻译:单击)
Chapter Twenty-four
第二十四章
One day Maya and Mama and all of the brothers and sisters and other family members came together in a big building and sat quietly while I demonstrated a new trick I’d been taught,
有一天，玛雅、妈妈、所有的兄弟姐妹和其他家庭成员聚在一幢大楼里，他们静静地坐着，与此同时，我在演示了一个我学过的新把戏：
which was to walk very slowly down a narrow path between wooden benches, mount some carpeted stairs, and stand patiently
我要慢慢地在木凳之间的狭窄路径上走路，爬上铺着地毯的楼梯，耐心地站着
while Al removed something from a small pack I carried on my back.
而艾尔则从我背上的小背包里拿出什么东西。
Then everyone sat and admired me while Maya and Al had a conversation.
当玛雅和艾尔交谈时，每个人都坐下来欣赏我。
Maya was wearing a big fluffy outfit, so I knew we weren’t going to the park to play afterward,
玛雅穿着一件蓬松的大外套，所以我知道我们等会不会去公园玩，
but that was okay because everyone seemed so glad at how well I’d done the trick.
但不去也没关系，因为每个人似乎都很高兴我成功完成了这次表演。
Mama even cried, she was so happy.
妈妈甚至哭了，她很高兴。
Then we went to Mama’s house and children ran around and fed me cake.
然后我们去了妈妈家，孩子们跑来跑去，喂我吃蛋糕。
A few months later, we all moved into a different house with a much better backyard.
几个月后，我们都搬进了另一所房子，那个房子的后院环境更好。
It had a garage, too, but thankfully no one suggested I sleep out there.
那里也有一个车库，但谢天谢地，没有人提议让我睡在外面。
Al and Maya slept together and, though they didn’t mind when I jumped up to be with them,
艾尔和玛雅睡在一起，不过他们不介意我跳上去和他们一起睡，
there was frankly no room to get a good night’s sleep and anyway the cats kept climbing up there, too,
坦白说，床上的地方太小，都没法好好睡觉，而且那几只猫也一直往床上来，
so I eventually learned to lie on the floor next to Maya’s side,
所以我最终学会了躺在玛雅旁边的地板上，
where I could get up and follow her if she awoke during the middle of the night and went anywhere.
这样一来，如果她半夜醒来，要去任何地方，我就可以起来跟着她。
Gradually, I came to understand that we wouldn’t be doing work anymore.
渐渐地，我意识到我们再也不会出去工作了。
I could only conclude that we’d Found everybody who needed to be Found and that Wally and Belinda had lost interest in the whole process.
我只能得出这样的结论：我们已经找到了所有需要找到的人，而沃利和贝琳达对找人的过程已经失去了兴趣。
Maya still went running, though, and Al sometimes went with us, though he had trouble keeping up.
玛雅仍然会去跑步，而艾尔有时和我们一起去，尽管他跟不太上。
I was therefore surprised when Maya excitedly loaded me into the truck and took me for a car ride.
因此，当玛雅兴奋地把我装进车里，带我去兜风时，我感到很惊讶。
It felt like we were going to do work, except that Maya’s mood was different, less urgent.
那感觉就像我们要去工作了，只是玛雅的心情变了，不那么急迫了。
