小屁孩日记 · 13 The Meltdown
And while we were trying to deal with all THAT, some little kid from Mrs. Jimenez's playgroup tunneled up through the bottom of our fort and TOTALLY took us off guard. The next thing we knew, our fort was totally infested with PRESCHOOLERS. And to cap it all off, the Marlee sisters did a sneak attack from the rear, which was terrifying, because those girls go for the EYES.
就在我们忙着处理那堆烂摊子的时候,希梅内斯夫人托儿班的一个小不点从我们雪堡底部挖洞钻了进来,完全打了我们个措手不及。 等我们反应过来,整个雪堡已经全挤满了这帮幼儿园小孩。 最倒霉的是,马利姐妹从后方偷偷偷袭,这太吓人了,因为这几个丫头专门往眼睛上打。
Me and Rowley got driven out of the fort and onto the open battlefield, where it was just total MAYHEM. Everyone was fighting everyone ELSE, and any sense of order was just GONE. Then something happened that made everyone STOP. Joe O'Rourke got hit in the mouth with an ice ball and lost a couple of TEETH.
我和罗利被赶出了雪堡,被逼到开阔的战场,那里完全乱成了一团糟。 所有人都在乱打一气,原本的规矩彻底荡然无存。 就在这时,发生了一件事让所有人都停了手。 乔·奥罗克被冰雪球打中嘴巴,掉了好几颗牙齿。
In our neighborhood, ice balls are on the "banned" list in snowball fights. So when somebody crossed that line, everybody knew things had gone too far. Representatives from all the clans had a meeting in the center of the empty lot to settle on the RULES. Everyone agreed that ice balls were off-limits, and so was yellow snow. We came up with a bunch of OTHER rules, too, like how it's not OKto stuff snow in someone's hat and then put it back on their head. Once we agreed on everything, we were ready for the next round of battle.
在我们小区,打雪仗时冰雪球是明确“禁用”的。 所以有人越界之后,所有人都知道事情闹得太过分了。 各个帮派的代表在空地中央开了个会,重新定下规矩。 所有人都同意冰雪球和黄雪都不能用。 我们还定了一堆别的规矩,比如说不能把雪塞进别人帽子再往人家头上戴。 等所有规矩都谈妥,我们就准备好开始下一轮战斗了。
But while we were doing all that TALKING, we didn't notice what was happening right BEHIND us. The Lower Surrey Street kids had snuck up to the top of the hill with their sleds, and by then, there was nothing we could do to STOP them. Now, if there's ONE thing that unites us hill kids, it's when the kids from the BOTTOM of the hill try to take what's OURS. We don't have much, but we have the HILL, and no one's gonna take that from us. As long as the plow was stuck, we knew those guys were just gonna keep COMING.
可我们光顾着商量规矩,完全没注意到身后发生的动静。 下萨里街的孩子们带着雪橇偷偷摸到了山顶,事到如今我们已经拦不住他们了。 要说有什么事能让我们山上的孩子团结起来,那就是山脚下的孩子想来抢我们的地盘。 我们没什么别的财产,但这座山是我们的,谁也别想把它抢走。 只要扫雪车还陷着,我们就知道这帮家伙一定会源源不断攻上来。
So we decided to DO something about it. The only way to keep the Lower Surrey Street kids from coming back up the hill was to build a WALL to block their path. And we didn't wanna build some puny wall they could just push over, either. We wanted something that was SOLID. But we needed to make it FAST,because those guys were already marching back up the hill with their sleds. So we got recycling bins from some nearby houses and started BUILDING. We made it a DOUBLE wall, so if anyone broke through the first layer, they'd still have to deal with the SECOND one. And we stockpiled a TON of snowballs.
所以我们决定做点什么应对。 要拦住下萨里街的孩子再冲上山,唯一的办法就是修一堵墙挡住去路。 而且我们才不想修那种一推就倒的弱小破墙。 我们要修就修扎扎实实的墙。 但我们得赶工,因为那帮家伙已经带着雪橇往山上走了。 所以我们从附近人家找来回收箱,开始动手筑墙。 我们修了双层墙,就算有人冲破第一层,还有第二层等着他们。 我们还储备了一大堆雪球。
We weren't gonna be able to get boiling oil, so I sent Rowley up to his house to fill some thermoses with hot chocolate. The homeschooled kids went out and collected icicles to stick into the wall, and the duplex kids threw together some snowmen to make it seem like there were more of us than there actually WERE. And when the Lower Surrey Street kids came BACK, we were READY for them. When those guys saw our WALL, they didn't know what to DO.
我们弄不到滚沸的热油,所以我派罗利回他家,往保温壶里灌热巧克力。 在家上学的孩子出去捡了冰锥插在墙上,住双联公寓的孩子堆了好些雪人,让我们看起来人数比实际更多。 当下萨里街的孩子攻过来的时候,我们已经做好了准备。 那帮家伙看见我们修的墙,都不知道该怎么办了。
