【E04】Chapter 1-3：卢卡奶奶的陆上经历

CHAPTER 1 第1章-3

Meanwhile, Luca’s dad, Lorenzo, was busy with his prized showcrabs. He was cleaning a speckled specimen, “Luca!” he said. “Look atPinchy-Pessa.

She’s molting. Oh, it’s magnificent! Now, here’s a champion showcrab if ever I saw one . . . ”

Luca looked at the crab and did his best to sound interested,“Oh, nice.” Then he looked at the crab’s eye stalks, and right away thecreature opened her claws, assuming an attack position!

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Lorenzo warned. “Don’t look her in theeyes!”

“Sorry,” Luca said.

“But don’t apologize!” Lorenzo added. “She can sense weakness.”

The crab pinched Luca.

“Ow!” he said as Luca’s mom pulled the crab from his ear and guided him over to the table.

与此同时，卢卡的爸爸洛伦佐正忙着摆弄他心爱的参赛螃蟹。他正擦拭着一个有斑点的标本。“卢卡！”他说，“看看夹脚佩莎。她正在蜕皮。哦，太棒了！这是我见过最有冠军相的螃蟹……”

卢卡看着那只螃蟹，竭力装出感兴趣的样子说：“哦，真棒。”然后他看向蟹的眼柄，这只螃蟹马上张开钳子，摆出了攻击的姿势！

“哎，哎，哎！”洛伦佐警告说，“不要看她的眼睛！”

“对不起。”卢卡说。

“但不要道歉！”洛伦佐补充道，“她会觉得你软弱可欺。”

螃蟹夹住了卢卡。

“哎哟！”卢卡的妈妈把蟹钳从他耳边拽开，卢卡疼得叫了一声，然后被领到了餐桌前。

“Come eat, Luca,” she said. “We’d better beat those Branzinos atthe crab show this year. Everyone thinks Bianca Branzino’s so great, with herprize-winning crabs and amazing dolphin impression. Please! Anyone can dothat!”

Luca looked up as his mom did an incredibly accurate imitation ofBianca Branzino’s imitation of a dolphin: “AAAAHEHEHEHEHE! Right?”

“I don’t know why dolphins even sound like that. You know? Whydon’t they just talk?” Lorenzo asked.

While Daniela and Lorenzo pondered the Branzinos and dolphins,Grandma noticed that Luca was remarkably quiet.

“来吃吧，卢卡。”妈妈说，“我们最好在今年的螃蟹比赛上战胜那些布朗兹鲈家的人。每个人都觉得比安卡·布朗兹鲈很棒，因为她的螃蟹比赛获奖，她还有令人称道的模仿海豚的本领。拜托！谁都能做到！”

卢卡抬起头看着妈妈惟妙惟肖地模仿比安卡·布朗兹鲈模仿海豚时的样子：“啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊！是这样吗？”

“我不知道海豚为什么那样发声。你知道吗？为什么他们不说话呢？”洛伦佐问道。

当达妮拉和洛伦佐思忖着布朗兹鲈家的人和海豚的事时，外婆注意到卢卡异常安静。

“What’s on your mind?” Grandma said.“I—I,” Luca stammered .“Well, I was just wondering. Where do boats come from?”

His dad had just taken a bite of his meal. He spat it across thetable. His mom gasped.

“The land monster town,” Grandma explained.

“Just above the surface. I beat a guy at cards there once.”

Now it was Luca’s turn to gasp.

“你在想什么？”外婆说。

“我—我，”卢卡结结巴巴地说，“嗯，我只是想知道船是从哪里来的。”

卢卡爸爸才吃进一口饭就吐到了桌子对面。卢卡妈妈倒吸了一口凉气。

“陆怪小镇，”外婆解释道，“就在陆地上。我曾经去那里打扑克赢过一个人。”

现在轮到卢卡倒吸一口气了。

Both Daniela and Lorenzo were making “Stop!” gestures atGrandma, who either didn’t see them or saw them but didn’t care.

“Mom! What are you doing?” Daniela asked.

“He’s old enough to hear about it,” Grandma said with a shrug.

“You’ve been to the surface?” Luca said in amazement. “And . . .and done the change?”

“Nope! Nope! The end! Shut it down!” Daniela exclaimed.

“I was just curious—”

“Yeah, well, the curious fish gets caught!” Daniela said. “We donot talk, think, discuss, contemplate , or go anywhere near the surface! Gotit?”

达妮拉和洛伦佐都在对外婆做“停下”的手势，外婆或是没看见或是看到了但并不在意。

“妈妈！你在干什么？”达妮拉问道。

“他已经长大了，可以听这些了。”外婆耸耸肩说。

“你到陆地上去过？”卢卡吃惊地说，“而且……给那里带去了改变？”

“不！不！打住！不要说了！”达妮拉大叫道。

“我只是好奇—”

“是啊，好奇的鱼没好下场！”达妮拉说，“我们不要谈、不要想、不要讨论、不要思忖，也不要去海面附近的地方！明白吗？”

Luca wanted desperately to hear more of Grandma’s stories of theland monster town, but he knew there would be no convincing his mom.

“Yes, Mom.”

“Here,” Daniela said, handing Luca a snack, “Now let’s get backto work.”

Sensing her son’s disappointment, Daniela continued, “Hey. Lookme in the eye. You know I love you, right?”

“I know, Mom,” Luca said, and he left the house, thinking of theworld above.

卢卡极想听外婆讲更多关于陆怪小镇的故事，但他知道拗不过妈妈，只好答应道：

“是，妈妈。”

“给。”达妮拉说着，递给卢卡一份点心，“现在我们回去工作吧。”达妮拉感觉到了儿子的失望，继续说：“嘿，看着我。你知道我爱你，对吧？”

“我知道，妈妈。”卢卡说着就离开了家，他还在想着海面上的世界。