Books

My Summer Reading Report

我的暑期阅读报告
Black and white photograph of a hand turning the page of a book
Photograph from Shutterstock

Name: Anthony González

姓名:安东尼·冈萨雷斯(Anthony González)

Grade: 7

七年级

The book I chose to read this summer is . . .

这个暑假我选的书是……

“The Grimoire of the Coven of the Newe England,” and it is an undiscovered gem of American literature. For real undiscovered, because I found this book buried deep in the ground after my dog, Alfie, dug up the back yard at this Airbnb in Massachusetts where me, my mom, and her boyfriend, Judd, were staying this past summer.

《新英格兰女巫集会魔典》(The Grimoire of the Coven of the Newe England),这是一部尚未被发现的美国文学瑰宝。说“尚未被发现”是真的,因为这本书是我家狗阿尔菲(Alfie)在马萨诸塞州一处爱彼迎民宿的后院刨坑时,从地底下挖出来的。今年夏天,我、我妈,还有她男朋友贾德(Judd)就住在那儿。

The author of this book is . . .

这本书的作者是……

Ms. Perkins, I tried looking but I couldn’t find any author. All it said on the first page was “BEWARE ye who read these pages for ye will learn the ways of Hell and in so doing renounce the God of Men.” So I guess Anonymous? Or Shakespeare.

珀金斯老师,我试着找过,但没找到作者。扉页上只写着:“凡读此书者,当知警醒,因尔将习得地狱之道,并由此背弃人类之上帝。”所以我猜作者是“佚名”?或者莎士比亚。

The genre of the book is . . .

这本书的体裁是……

I think the genre of “The Grimoire of the Coven of the Newe England” is grimoire, or spell book. That’s my guess, because the word is in the title, and also because the whole thing is, like, fifty pages of spells with pictures of some ladies dancing naked around a fire with a demon that has a giant p*nis. I know I’m too old for picture books but I was in a bind, Ms. P! There were no other books in the house, and Mom and Judd said that maybe we could go into town to see if they had a bookstore there, but when we went the only bookstore they had there was a gas station that sold maps, books about talking to angels, and also truck nutz.

我觉得《新英格兰女巫集会魔典》的体裁就是魔典,或者说咒语书。这是我的猜测,因为这个词就在书名里,而且整本书差不多五十页全是咒语,还配了插图,画着一些女人光着身子围着一堆火跳舞,旁边站着一个长着巨大阳具的恶魔。我知道我这个年纪早就不该看图画书了,但我当时实在没办法,珀金斯老师!那房子里没有别的书,我妈和贾德说也许我们可以进镇上看看有没有书店,结果我们去了之后发现,那儿唯一的书店是个加油站,卖地图、讲怎么跟天使对话的书,还有卡车睾丸挂件。

The main character in the book is . . .

这本书的主人公是……

I think the main character in the book is you? Like, the person reading it? Because the book is just a manual, there are no characters—unless you count the people in the illustrations. In that case, the main character is probably the p*nis demon. He’s in a lot of them.

我觉得这本书的主人公是你?就是正在读这本书的人?因为这本书就是一本手册,里面没有人物——除非你把插图里的人也算上。那样的话,主人公大概就是那个阳具恶魔。他在好多插图里都出现了。

What I liked most about the book is . . .

这本书我最喜欢的地方是……

The illustrations. Not only do they help you understand what the spells do but they also show you some stuff I definitely can’t write about in a book report for school!

插图。它们不仅能帮你理解那些咒语是干什么用的,还让你看到了一些我绝对没法在学校读书报告里写出来的东西!

The most challenging thing about this book is . . .

这本书最有挑战性的地方是……

The old-timey language, like the “ye”s and the “thou”s and the “give thine soule to the Prince of Darkness”es. I tried to Google “when was the grimoire of the coven of the newe england written?” but when I did a green light came out of the book and blasted my phone out of my hands and across the room. It bounced off the wall and hit Alfie in the face, killing him on the spot.

那种老掉牙的语言,比如满篇的“尔”“汝”,还有“将汝之灵魂献予黑暗王子”之类的。我试着用谷歌搜“新英格兰女巫集会魔典写于什么时候?”,结果一道绿光从书里射出来,把我手机从手里打飞出去,摔到房间另一头。手机弹到墙上,砸中了阿尔菲的脸,当场就把它砸死了。

What I disliked most about the book is . . .

这本书我最不喜欢的地方是……

When the book killed my dog.

它杀死了我的狗。

This book made me feel . . .

这本书让我感觉……

SCARED.

害怕。

This book taught me . . .

这本书教会了我……

A lot! Mostly the chapter called “To Re-turne a Loved One to This Realme.” I used that spell to bring back Alfie! So I learned that the world of the living and the world of the dead are closer than we thought. Plus, I recited the incantation in Latin—even though I didn’t know I could speak it! So I guess this book also taught me a third language.

太多了!主要是那章叫“如何让所爱之人重返此世”。我用那个咒语把阿尔菲复活了!于是我明白了,生者的世界和死者的世界比我们想象的要近得多。而且,我用拉丁文念了咒语——我居然都不知道自己会说拉丁文!所以我想,这本书还教会了我第三门语言。

The theme of this book is . . .

这本书的主题是……

I would have to say rebirth, because it brought my dog back to life. Once I was done with the incantation, a storm hit our back yard and the ground opened up. A chorus of voices was chanting from below, “To bring one back, we must take one in return.” The voices were so loud that Judd came downstairs and asked what the h*ll was going on. Tough for him because the voices replied, “He will do nicely.” Then a figure appeared from the depths of the earth. It was p*nis demon! He grabbed Judd and ate him in one big gulp. This sucked because Judd was nice. Then p*nis demon turned to me and said, “It is done,” and Alfie woke up!

我想应该是重生,因为它让我的狗死而复生了。我念完咒语之后,一阵暴风雨席卷了我们后院,地面裂开了。地底下传来一阵齐声吟唱:“欲带回一人,须以一人交换。”声音大得把贾德吵醒了,他下楼问这他妈是怎么回事。他倒霉就倒霉在这儿,因为那些声音回答说:“他正合适。”然后,大地深处出现了一个身影。是阳具恶魔!他一把抓住贾德,一口就吞了下去。这太糟糕了,因为贾德人挺好的。接着,阳具恶魔转向我说:“事已办妥。”然后阿尔菲就醒了!

If I could ask the author one question, it would be . . .

如果我能问作者一个问题,那会是……

Who are you? My teacher really wants me to know. Also, am I banned from Heaven now? Because, after p*nis demon took Judd, the skies cleared and p*nis demon went back below and the ground closed shut. A bright light came down from the sky and made it look like it was day. Then a figure descended. There are no words to describe what it looked like—and, trust me, I tried using all my vocab words—but I knew it was an angel. The angel grabbed the grimoire and gave me a real judgmental look as it said something in its language that I couldn’t understand. But it pointed to Heaven and made it clear that I was not welcome there. Of course, I was kicking myself for not buying that book on talking to angels, because then I could explain that I was only reading the grimoire for school! So I guess the biggest lesson I learned was that not only should you not judge a book by its cover but also you should not judge a gas-station bookstore by its truck nutz.

你是谁?我老师真的很想知道。还有,我现在是不是被天堂禁止入内了?因为,阳具恶魔带走贾德之后,天空放晴,恶魔回到了地下,地面合拢了。一道耀眼的光芒从天而降,照得四周如同白昼。然后一个身影缓缓降下。我没办法用任何语言描述它的样子——相信我,我把我所有学过的词汇都试过了——但我知道那是一位天使。天使一把抓起那本魔典,用一种我无法理解的语言说了些什么,同时给了我一个极其鄙夷的眼神。但它指了指天堂,明确表示我不受欢迎。当然,我懊悔得要命,后悔没买那本讲怎么跟天使对话的书,那样我就可以解释,我读这本魔典只是为了完成学校的作业!所以我想,我学到的最大的教训就是:不仅不能以貌取书,也不能因为加油站书店卖卡车睾丸挂件,就以貌取店。

I would recommend this book to . . .

我会把这本书推荐给……

This book ruined my summer, my life, and I guess I can’t go to Heaven anymore, so I wouldn’t really recommend this book, but, if you wanna see illustrations of some old ladies with big boobies, you can’t miss it.

这本书毁了我的夏天,毁了我的人生,而且我猜我以后也上不了天堂了,所以我其实不太会推荐这本书。不过,如果你想看一些画着大胸老太太的插图,那你绝对不能错过它。

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