The Porch Light That Blinked at Nine

Gwen lives in one half of a duplex house. Her neighbor Elias lives in the other half. Every night, Gwen's porch light blinks three times at nine o'clock. She thinks it is strange and wants to know why.

格温住在一栋双拼房子的一半里。她的邻居埃利亚斯住在另一半。每天晚上九点，格温的门廊灯都会闪三下。她觉得很奇怪，想知道是为什么。

One evening, Gwen watches the porch light closely. At nine o'clock, it blinks again, right on time. She walks to Elias's side of the house. She knocks on his door.

一天傍晚，格温仔细地盯着门廊灯。九点整，它又闪了，一分不差。她走到房子埃利亚斯那一边，敲了敲他的门。

"Hi, Elias. Can I ask you something strange?" she says. "Sure, what is it?" Elias says. "My porch light blinks every night at nine," Gwen says. "Do you know why?"

“嗨，埃利亚斯。我能问你一件奇怪的事吗？”她说。“当然，什么事？”埃利亚斯说。“我的门廊灯每天晚上九点都会闪，”格温说，“你知道为什么吗？”

Elias thinks for a moment. "Actually, I think I know," he says. "Our two homes share one basement. The timer for both porches is down there."

埃利亚斯想了一会儿。“其实，我想我知道，”他说，“我们两家共用一个地下室。两边门廊的定时器都在那下面。”

"Last week, I plugged in my new holiday lights," Elias says. "I used the same timer by mistake. I'm sorry about that. I'm going to fix it right now."

“上星期，我插上了新买的节日彩灯，”埃利亚斯说，“我不小心用了同一个定时器。对不起。我现在就去改。”

They walk down to the basement together. Elias moves his holiday lights to a different outlet. He checks the timer twice before they go back upstairs.

他们一起走下地下室。埃利亚斯把他的彩灯换到另一个插座上。回楼上之前，他把定时器检查了两遍。

That night, Gwen sits on her porch and waits. Nine o'clock comes, and the light stays steady. She smiles and goes back inside for dinner.

那天晚上，格温坐在门廊上等着。九点到了，灯一直亮着，没有再闪。她笑了笑，回屋吃晚饭去了。