Chapter 1
Arthur was paining a picture at the kitchen table, when his sister D.W. sneaked up behind him.
"I know you're here, D.W.," he said.
"I know I'm here, too," she answered.
Rrriinnng!
"Will you get the phone, D.W.?" asked Arthur.
"I can't." D.W. was frowning. "I'm too busy trying to figure out what you're painting."
"Will you just ANSWER THE PHONE!?"
D.W. squinted at the paper. "Is that a horse or a pig?"
"This isn't twenty questions, D.W. Go away."
“You shouldn't talk to me like that,” said D.W. "I'm your sister."
"Don't remind me."
哥哥Arthur正在畫畫，妹妹D.W.躡手躡腳地走過來，想看看他畫的到底是個啥東西。哥哥對妹妹很不耐煩，讓她走開。妹妹覺得哥哥對自己態度不好，沒有哥哥樣兒。
twenty questions 刨根問底，一個英文小游戲。
玩法：
準備紙、筆
心里想好一個東西，記下來（防止臨時改答案）。讓對方猜。
對方可以提出20個問題，我只回答yes或no。
20個問題問完以后，對方給出一個答案，看看和記下來那個東西是不是一致。
在這里妹妹問哥哥畫的是什么，哥哥嫌煩，不想回答，用“這不是刨根問底游戲”來拒絕她。
Mrs. Read entered from the living room. "Arthur, that was Alan's mother on the phone. She was just confirming his plans to stay with us this weekend."
Arthur brightend. The Brain was coming over because his parents were going on some kind of business trip. But Arthur didn't care about their trip. What he cared about was having a friend over for two whole days.
"This is going to be great!" said Arthur. "For once there'll be somebody who'll do all the things I like. It'll be like having a brother for the weekend."
最后還是媽媽接了電話。原來Arthur 的好朋友、同學 the Brain 要來Arthur家住兩天。Arthur特別高興，多個兄弟一起玩兒。
Arthur imagined all the fun stuff they could do....
“Are you sure this will work?” asked Arthur, hammering the last nail into a wooden box with a glass bubble on top.
The Brain approached him wearing protective goggles and big rubber gloves. He was carrying a large glowing ball.
"Just wait until I insert the nuclear core. Will you open the door?"
Arthur swung open a small door in the side of the box and The Brain tossed the core inside it. Immediately the glass bubble began to glow.
"Okay," said the Brain, "we have ignition. Let's go."
He and Arthur stepped inside. The Brain pulled a lever and the box began to shake. Outside the bubble, houses and streets disappeared and the neighborhood became a forest.
protective goggles:護目鏡
nuclear core：（反應堆的）堆芯
we have ignition：點火
lever：操縱桿
Arthur開始腦補，和the Brain玩耍的情景。倆人造了個穿越神器，一下子穿到了史前，房子和街道都消失了，周圍景物變成了原始森林。
Arthur looked at his watch. Its hands were turning backward.
"What time do you want to go home?" he asked.
"Home?" said the Brain. "That could be a problem. I don't know how to go forward in time. Just back."
"You mean we're stuck here!?"
Outside, a crater closed up and a comet returned to space. A tyrannosaurus appeare beside them and was opening its mouth to take a big bite.
crater：火山口
comet：彗星
tyrannosaurus [t??r?n?'s??r?s]：暴龍
糟糕的是，the Brain并不知道怎么穿回現代。而這時，一只霸王龍正張開血盆大口。
“Whoa!” said Arthur, looking around the kitchen. Maybe it would be better to do something else, he thought.
Inside his room, Arthur and the Brain put on suction boots. Then they walked up the walls and onto the ceiling.
D.W. entered the room. "Arthur?"
Suddenly a hairy spider dropped down in front of her face. She screamed and ran out.
Up on the ceiling, Arthur and the Brain reeled in the spider, laughing hysterically.
"Yes," said Arthur, smiling sweetly at his sister, "this will definitely be one weekend I'll never forget."
suction boots：suction 吸。這是Arthur想像出來的能夠吸在天花板上的鞋子。
reeled in：收線
hysterically：歇斯底里地
穿越回古代太危險了，還是想點別的吧。Arthur想象和the Brain穿上吸氣靴，上墻，上天花板。用蜘蛛嚇唬妹妹取樂。
Arthur越想越美，斷定這將是一個令他難忘的周末。
