Joe and Bella stories, number seven. Rainy day. One weekend, mum had to work a shift（转换） at the hospital and dad had loads（负载） of marking（标明） to do, which meant that neither（二者都不） of them had time to look after Joe and Bella. But Joe and Bella didn't mind（介意）. They were going to spend the weekend with Gran, and Gran had promised（允诺） to take them to the beach. There was just one problem.

  When they woke up on Saturday morning and looked out of the window, the rain was sheeting（覆盖） down. Bella pressed（压） her nose against the glass and said hopefully, "We can still go, can't we?" But when Gran arrived to collect（收集） them, it was still pouring（灌）. And Gran said they would just have to spend the day at her house instead（代替）. It rained and rained. They watched a movie on TV, and when they stopped, it was still raining. They played cards with Gran, and when they stopped, it was still raining.

  They did some homework, ready for Monday, and when they stopped, it was still raining. They tried taking Gran's dog Selby for a walk, but when they opened the door, Selby took one look（看）, whined, and ran back inside（在里面） again. Eventually（终于）, Gran went off to do some housework（ 家务劳动）. Joe decided to do more homework. He had tests coming up at school, and Mum and Dad were always on at him to work harder. But Bella was too little to worry（ 担忧） about tests.

  "I'm bored," she said. "I hate this weather." "There's nothing we can do about it," said Joe. "You'll just have to make the best of it." Bella stomped off. Joe wasn't paying much attention（注意） to her.

  He was too busy with his maths. After a while, though（ 虽然）, he noticed（注意） a banging and thumping（ 重击） from the kitchen. What was Bella up to? He got up and looked round（在周围） the door. Bella was mixing（使混合） something in a huge（巨大的） mixing（使混合） bowl. "What's that?" Joe asked.

  "It's a lovely（可爱的） cake," said Bella happily（快乐地）. "But you can't have any." "That's a relief（减轻）," said Joe. "Because it looks terrible, and it smells（闻出） worse（坏的）." The cake mixture（混合） had all kinds of lumps（块（尤指小块）） in it, and the smell was like no cake that Joe had ever smelled before. "It's not for humans（人）," said Bella.

  "It's for dogs." "I've made it specially（特意地） for Selby, because he couldn't go for his walk." "What's it got in it?" Joe asked. "Dog food," said Bella. "Silly（傻瓜）." "And it's got cornflakes, because Selby loves cornflakes, and yogurt, because Selby loves yogurt, and toast（烘）, and biscuits（(英)饼干）, and tinned（涂锡于） rice pudding."

  Joe was feeling queasy just thinking about it. "Well, I hope Selby likes it," he said, but Selby didn't like it. When Bella put it down on the floor for him to eat. Raw（未煮过的） because she said it would taste（有⋯⋯的味道） better that way, Selby took one sniff（吸） and then ran out of the room. Bella burst（使爆裂） into tears（ 眼泪）. One came running into the kitchen.

  "Oh, dear. What is the matter（物质）, Bella?" she asked. "It's raining!" Bella howled（嚎叫）. "It's never going to stop. We can't go to the beach, and now Selby doesn't like my cake." Joe didn't say anything, but he knew how Bella felt. It was turning into a horrible（ 令人恐惧的） day.

  "Now, then," said Gran, "things aren't that bad. Why don't we do something to cheer（使振作） ourselves up?" "Like what?" sniffed Bella. "How about we make a cake as a surprise（惊奇） for your parents? A cake for humans, not for dogs? After all, they've been working hard all day." "Can we eat some, too?" asked Bella. "Of course you can," said Gran. "And can it be chocolate sponge（海绵）?" asked Joe.

  "With chocolate fudge icing（冰敷）?" asked Bella. "And sprinkles（撒）?" "It certainly（一定） can," said Gran. They had a lovely time making the cake, and when they had finished decorating（装饰） it, they suddenly（突然地） realized（实现） that it wasn't raining anymore（再也不）. They had been so busy they hadn't even noticed. "Quick! Let's get out while the sun's shining!"

  said Gran. They took Selby down to the park, and when they got back, mum and dad had arrived. Everybody was just ready for a slice（薄片） of cake.