Pyramid Surprise
金字塔惊喜
Linda and I were born only a few days apart, so every year we plan a birthday party together. This year, our birthday theme was “Discover the Pyramids”.
琳达和我出生的时间相隔只有几天，所以每年我们都会计划一起过生日。今年，我们的生日主题是“发现金字塔”。
“What about inviting Mary?” Linda asked.
“邀请玛丽怎么样？”琳达问。
Mary was lonely, and hadn’t made many friends, but she was better at math than anyone else in class.
玛丽很孤独，朋友不多，但她的数学是班上最好的。
“Hmm, she wears the same old trousers every day. How could she even afford a party dress?”
“嗯，她每天都穿同一条旧裤子。她怎么能买得起派对礼服呢？”
After school the next day, Linda handed me a box. “What’s that?” I asked.
第二天放学后，琳达递给我一个盒子。“那是什么？”我问。
“My birthday gift from my aunt. I thought it would be nice to give this to Mary,” Linda said.
琳达说：“我姑姑给我的生日礼物，我想把这个送给玛丽会很好。”
I opened the box. Inside was a gift certificate for our favorite clothes store.
我打开了盒子，里面是我们最喜欢的服装店的礼券。
“Wow,” I gasped. We both knew how many cute clothes that would buy.
“哇，”我很诧异。我们都知道这可以买很多件可爱的衣服。
“So, are we going to just hand it to her?”
“那么，我们就这样交给她？”
“How embarrassing that would be!” Linda answered.
“那该有多尴尬啊！”琳达回答。
She was right. Mary would be totally embarrassed if we gave her money for clothes.
她是对的。如果我们给玛丽钱买衣服，她会非常尴尬的。
“What if we ask our teacher…”
“我们要不问下老师……”
“Wait a second. I have an idea.” Linda said.
“等一下，我有个主意。”琳达说。
“What? What?”
“什么？什么？”
“I’m not going to tell you!”
“我不告诉你！”
On the day of our party, Mary arrived, with—no surprise—the very old brown trousers.
在我们聚会的那天，玛丽来了，不出所料，她穿着那条很旧的棕色裤子。
We sang, danced and ate biscuits. “And now for the big prize game,” Linda said. Big prize? My mouth dropped. This was not in the plan.
我们唱歌、跳舞、吃饼干。“现在是大奖赛，”琳达说。大奖？我很吃惊，这不在计划中。
“The big prize game is like this: Tom and Sam were building pyramids... If their pyramids had to be 60 feet high, who would finish first?”
“大奖赛是这样的：汤姆和萨姆正在建造金字塔……如果他们的金字塔必须有60英尺高，谁会第一个完成？”
A math game. Of course! Linda winked at me. No one was surprised when Mary came up with the answer before anyone else and walked off with the box.
一个数学游戏。当然！琳达向我眨了眨眼。当玛丽在别人之前想出答案，拿着盒子走了，没有人感到惊讶。
The next week, Mary wore a new pair of trousers, and even a new dress. The whole time she had a big smile on her face.
第二周，玛丽穿了一条新裤子，甚至还穿了一件新裙子。她脸上始终挂着灿烂的笑容。
And so did we.
我们也是。
