Dear Arizona,

亲爱的亚利桑那：

My brother is so lucky. Good stuff is always happening to him. Do you believe in luck? And if so, how can I get more of it?

我的兄弟运气特别好，常有好事发生在他身上。你相信运气吗？如果真有运气，我怎样才能得到更多一些呢？

—Looking for Luck in Louisiana

——身在路易斯安那寻找好运的人

Dear Looking,

亲爱的运气寻觅者：

I was eating breakfast with one hand, petting my cat, Cow, with the other, and reading the back of the cereal box, when—“YOUCH!” I screamed. “Why’d you pinch me?”

我当时正一手吃早餐，一手爱抚着我的猫“牛牛”，同时在看燕麦片盒子背面的信息。就在这时——“哎呦”，我尖叫起来，“你干嘛捏我？”

“You’re not wearing green,” said my little brother, Tex. “Everyone knows you get pinched if you don’t wear green on Saint Patrick’s Day!”

“因为你没穿绿色衣服，”我的小弟弟特克斯说，“人人都知道如果在圣帕特里克节里不穿绿色衣服就会被捏！”

“It’s true,” said my little sister, Indi.

“这是真的！”我的小妹妹英蒂说。

I was mostly mad about getting pinched, but also a tiny bit glad about being reminded that it was Saint Patrick’s Day.

我对自己被掐感到非常生气，但有一点儿值得高兴的是，这提醒了我今天是圣帕特里克节。

I panicked. “What am I going to do? I don’t have time to change. I’ll get pinched all day long!”

我惊慌失措：“我该怎么办？我没时间换衣服了。一整天我都会被人捏的！”

“Well,” Tex said, taking the old green baseball cap off his head, “you could borrow my lucky hat.”

“好吧，”特克斯从他头上摘下那顶绿色的旧棒球帽，说，“你可以借我的幸运帽。”

“But it’s your favorite!” I said.

“但它可是你的最爱。”我说。

“I know,” said Tex. “Just promise to give it back after school.”

我知道，”特克斯说，“只要你答应放学后还给我就行了。”

“No problem,” I said, glancing in the mirror on my way out the door. “I look like a goofball in this thing!”

“没问题，”我说。出门前，我照了照镜子。“戴上这个东西，我看上去就像个傻瓜！”

“A lucky goofball!” said Tex.

“一个幸运的傻瓜！”特克斯说。

“Hum.” I grabbed my backpack. “Thanks, I think.”

“嗯，”我抓起书包说道，“好吧，谢谢。”

Now, before I go on, you should know that I’m not an overly superstitious¹ person. I don’t believe that thirteen is an unlucky number or that breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck. I definitely don’t freak out if a black cat crosses my path. And when it comes to things like lucky four-leaf clovers and lucky pennies, I just never believed in them.

说到这里，你要知道我不是个极其迷信的人。我不认为13是个倒霉的数字，或者打碎镜子会带来7年的厄运。我决不会因为一只黑猫在我面前走过而被吓坏，也决不会相信诸如幸运四叶草、幸运便士这类东西。

Anyway, I was racing² to catch the school bus, and I saw a dollar on the sidewalk! I looked around to see if anyone was looking for it, but people just kept stepping on the poor thing, so I decided⁴ to rescue it. I’d found pennies and nickels before, but never a dollar! Then, I didn’t miss the bus, because the bus was even later than me—which never happens!

不管怎样，当我正拼命追赶校车 时，我看到人行道上有张一美元的钞票！我环顾四周，看看有没人在找它，可人们都相继踩过这个可怜的家伙，所以我决定营救它。以前我捡过便士和镍币，可从没 发现过一美元的钞票。随后，我没有错过校车，因为校车甚至比我还晚到——这是从未发生过的！

My luck didn’t stop there. Carlos and Jackson were sitting behind me, quizzing each other on spelling words. I turned around and said, “You guys know that test isn’t till tomorrow, right?”

我的运气并未就此打住。卡洛斯和杰克逊刚好坐在我后面，正相互考单词拼写。我转过头去，说：“你们知道明天才测验，对吗？”

“It got switched to this morning,” said Jackson. “Remember? There’s some assembly tomorrow. ”

“已经改到今天早上了。”杰克逊说，“记得吗？明天有个大会要开。”

“That’s right. I totally forgot!” I said. “I’m so lucky that I sat in front of you. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have found out till it was too late!” I got out my spelling words, studied all the way to school. And ended up acing³ the test!

“对哦。我忘得一干二净！”我说，“坐在你们前面我多么幸运啊。不然，到我发现已经晚了。”我拿出要考的单词表来，去学校的一路上，我都在复习。最终，我考了个好成绩。

The minute I got home, I gave Tex a gigantic hug.

一回到家，我就给特克斯一个大大的拥抱。

“This is the luckiest hat in the world,” I said. “I’m never taking it off!”

“这是世界上最幸运的帽子。”我说，“我永远都不取下来了！”

“But you promised to give it back!” said Tex.

“但你答应过要还给我的。”特克斯说。

“I know, but…” I pretended to try to pull the hat off my head. “I think it’s stuck.”

“我知道，但是……”我假装试图把帽子摘下来，“我想它粘住了。”

“It is not!” said Tex.

“没有！”特克斯说。

“Please-oh-please let me borrow your lucky hat for one more day!” I begged.

“求求你把你的幸运帽借我再用一天。”我请求道。

“Tomorrow I’m auditioning⁶ for the school play, and I need every bit of help I can get.”

“明天我要参加学校话剧表演的选角面试，我需要得到所有帮助。”

“OK,” said Tex. “One more day. But you’d better be really nice to me.”

“好吧，”特克斯说，“再借一天。但你最好真得对我好点。”

“I will,” I agreed. “In fact, here you can have my lucky dollar!” Tex let out a whoop⁷, then started dancing around and waving his gift in the air.

“我会的，”我同意道，“这样，我这张幸运美元给你！”特克斯欢呼了一声，接着，他一边在空中挥舞着他的礼物，一边开始在四周跳起舞来。

The next day turned out to be super lucky. My audition⁵ couldn’t have gone better.

第二天，我的运气棒极了。我的试演再好不过了。

“Wow, Arizona!” said my friend Mareya. “I can’t believe how amazingly you just did! You are so getting a major part in this play!”

“哇，亚利桑那！”我的朋友玛瑞娅说，“你刚刚的表演太令人吃惊了，我简直不敢相信！你肯定可以在这部话剧里演主角！”

“Thanks! You did really great, too!” I said. “But honestly, the only reason I did OK is because I had my lucky hat.”

“谢谢！你也表演得很棒！”我回答道，“不过，老实说，我表演好全因为我有一顶幸运帽。”

“What lucky hat?” asked Mareya.

“什么幸运帽？”玛瑞娅问。

“This one,” I said, reaching into my backpack, where I thought I’d put Tex’s hat since I couldn’t wear it for the audition. But it wasn’t there! “Oh no!” I cried. “It’s gone! What am I going to tell Tex?”

“就是这个，”我边说边把手伸进书包里，我以为我把特克斯的帽子放在书包里了，因为我不能戴着它表演。但帽子不在里面！“哦，不！”我喊道，“它不见了！我怎么跟特克斯交代啊？”

Mareya helped me look for it. Luckily, we found Tex’s hat in my locker⁸. Also luckily, I discovered that I could be lucky with or without a goofy-looking cap in my possession.

玛瑞娅也帮我找，幸运的是，我们发现原来帽子放在我的储物柜里了。同样幸运的是，我发现无论戴不戴那顶落入我手中让我看起来滑稽可笑的帽子，我都会有好运。

“So it wasn’t the hat,” said Mareya. “This is just a wild guess, but maybe it was all those hours you spent practicing over the past month.”

“所以，并不是因为那顶帽子，”玛瑞娅说，“那不过是瞎猜罢了。也许那是你过去一个月里刻苦练习的结果。”

“Hmm,” I said. “It’s possible.”

“嗯，”我说，“可能是！”

So, dear Looking, I guess you could say that luck is a combination of being prepared, believing in yourself…and maybe just a tiny bit of magic! In other words, luck may come your way, but you have to be ready for it when it does!

所以，亲爱的运气寻觅者，我想你可以说幸运是这样一个组合——做好准备，相信自己……也许再加上一点点的魔法！换言之，幸运也许正向你走来，但在它降临时，你得做好准备！

Ciao for now.

写到这里。再见。

Arizona

亚利桑那