《英語沙龍》(原版閱讀)︱Forgetful Red

昵稱2530266 2017-12-11

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好忘事兒的小紅帽

By Rosalie Maggio Illustrated by Wayne Alfano Narrated by Lilly Yu

本文刊載于《英語沙龍》（原版閱讀）2017年11期

Forgetful Red 來自英語沙龍 05:40

就在前不久，我們一家人搬到了這個小鎮(zhèn)。在這里，我誰也不認識，偏偏趕上學(xué)校組織萬圣夜晚會。我真不想去，一沒伙伴，二沒服裝——我們的衣服還沒全部拆完箱?？墒?，媽媽催著我，硬把我推上車。我穿著我哥哥的大灰狼外套，又熱又難看，就這樣進了學(xué)校萬圣夜現(xiàn)場。體育館里擠滿了小丑、機器人、海盜、幽靈、牛仔還有公主。我正琢磨著怎么逃離，一個挎著提籃的小紅帽揪住了我的胳膊，我們這一組合說不定能得個最佳服裝配對獎呢！她去拿果汁前，叮囑我，如果我們分開了，晚會結(jié)束時就在邊門那碰頭。不過，小紅帽似乎有點健忘，每次她離去回來時好像都不記得之前我們的約定。嗨，反正我也沒有朋友，不能太挑剔別人的缺點，畢竟人無完人嘛！不過等晚會結(jié)束后，我走到約定的邊門，卻著實大吃一驚……

“No! No! I won’t go! I don’t want to go! I’m not going!”

I was still arguing when Mom hustled me out the door and into the car. I think I left skid marks on the kitchen floor.

We had moved to town a few days before, and I didn’t know anyone, not one person, at my new school. So why would I want to go to the all-school Halloween party that afternoon?

I wouldn’t.

Also, we couldn’t find my costume in the boxes that we were still unpacking, so I had to wear my brother’s Big Bad Wolf costume, which is hot, scratchy, and really ugly.

So there I was, riding along in a miserable old wolf costume.

We arrived at the school, and the gym was jam-packed with clowns and robots and pirates and ghosts and cow?boys and princesses.

As I was standing there thinking about how I could escape, a Little Red Riding Hood with a basket of goodies for Grandma came running up to me and grabbed my hand.

“Come on!” she said. “They’re giving a prize for the best costume pair. You and I are perfect!”

She was right. Little Red Riding Hood and I, the Big Bad Wolf, won first prize. Afterward, we drank orange juice while we talked about all the other kids’ costumes.

“If we get separated,” she said, “l(fā)et’s meet by the side door after this is over. Maybe you can come to my house.”

“OK,” I said. I wished I could see behind her mask, but she seemed really nice. And hey, I had no friends. I wasn’t going to be choosy.

She ran off to get more juice. A few seconds later, I saw her again, but she was coming from the other end of the gym. I wondered how she got over there so fast.

“Come here!” she said. “I need a partner for the fishing pond.” She pulled my arm.

“What did you do with your basket?” I asked.

“Basket?” she said. “What basket?”

Hmmm. My new friend didn’t have a very good memory. But, as I said, I wasn’t about to be choosy.

At the fishing pond, we were such good partners that they finally sent us away before we won all their prizes. Red and I didn’t argue about which prizes we each wanted. I considered that a good sign for our friendship.

She had to go find her sister, so I said, “Don’t forget! Meet me at the side door after this is over!”

“Huh?” she replied. After a pause, she said, “Side door? OK. I’ll be there.”

I shook my head. Red sure was forgetful. But hey, no friend is perfect, right?

A few minutes later, she found me again. “They’re having the Pets on Parade contest, and you can be my pet, OK? I’ll be the only one there with a wolf.”

As she dragged me across the floor, Red looked at my armful of prizes and said, “Wow! Where did you get all that stuff?”

But she was my friend now, so I just overlooked her bad memory.

And she was right about the Pets on Parade contest. We won. I was the only wolf, and I put on a good show, growling and snarling at people.

Red ran off to show her bookstore gift certificate to her teacher. I knew what a bad memory she had, so I yelled after her, “Don’t forget! Meet me at the side door afterward.”

She looked puzzled, but she called back, “OK! See you!”

When the school bell rang to signal the end of the Halloween party, I headed for the side door. I crossed my fingers, hoping that my new friend, Little Red Riding Hood, would be there.

She was there.

By that, I mean that there were three of them! Three Little Red Riding Hoods. If I hadn’t been wearing my wolf mask, I would have looked pretty silly, with my eyes bug?ging out and my jaw dropping open. Three of them?

I pulled off my mask, and they pulled off theirs. We all studied one another, then started laughing.

And that’s the story of how I met my three best friends.

hustle ['h?sl] vt. 催促

skid [sk?d] n. 打滑；[車輛] 剎車；滑軌

Halloween [?h?l??'i?n] n. 萬圣夜，（英語Halloween，為“All Hallows’ Eve”的縮寫，意為“萬圣節(jié)的前夜”），在每年的10月31日。西方傳統(tǒng)文化上認為萬圣夜是鬼怪世界最接近人間的時間。萬圣節(jié)又叫諸圣節(jié)（All Saints’ Day），是西方的傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日，在每年的11月1日

scratchy ['skr?t??] a. 刺癢的

jam-packed [d??m 'p?kt] a. 塞緊的；擁擠不堪的

goody ['g?d?] n.〈口〉好吃的東西，糖果

choosy ['t?u?z?] a. 好挑剔的，挑三撿四的

snarl [snɑ?l] vt.&vi. 咆哮著（說），厲聲地說（~ at）

certificate [s??t?f?k?t] n. 證書

bug out（眼球）暴突

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