19

We emptied the thermoses out on the kids scaling the wall. Unfortunately, Rowley hadn't added any WATER to the hot chocolate mix, so all it did was ANNOY them. sprinkle, sprinkle, gasp, cough. Oh, I thought those guys were about to take control of the wall, but then Latricia Hooks and Speed Bump saved the day by dumping trash cans full of SLUSH on them. SPLOOSH splosh. oh.

我们把保温壶里的东西都泼向爬雪墙的孩子们。 可惜罗利没在热巧克力粉里加水，只把他们惹得恼羞成怒。 撒呀撒，喘呀咳。 哦，我以为那帮人就要攻下墙了，结果拉特里夏·胡克斯和斯皮德·邦普倒了满满两垃圾桶碎冰泥砸过去，救了场。 哗啦啦，扑通通。 哦。

We didn't have a second to celebrate, though, because the Lower Surrey Street kids were already launching their next attack. Half the fifth-grade football team lives at the bottom of the hill, and they tried to take down the wall with brute FORCE. They ran at it with their football helmets on wham, slam, bam, head, uh, But the wall held UP, and those guys wore themselves out with the effort. By now, EVERYONE was tired. The sun was out, and it was actually starting to get WARM. I really wished I hadn't worn my thermal underwear, because I was ROASTING with those extra layers.

可我们根本没工夫庆祝，因为下萨里街的孩子们已经发起下一轮进攻了。 五年级橄榄球队有一半孩子住在山脚下，他们想靠蛮力推倒雪墙。 他们戴着橄榄球头盔往墙上冲——哐当！砰！咚！撞得头昏……不过雪墙还是牢牢撑住了，这帮人反倒把自己累垮了。 这时候，所有人都累坏了。 太阳出来了，天气居然开始变暖和了。 我真后悔穿了保暖内衣，多了这几层，我都快烤熟了。

The Lower Surrey Street kids kept coming at us, and we kept driving them BACK. And after a while, NOBODY had the energy to keep fighting. Finally, the other team turned around and went back home. At first we thought that meant we had WON. But those guys weren't giving up. They were just REFUELING. By now it was lunchtime, and the kids at the bottom of the hill came back outside with sandwiches and snacks. and when some kids started handing out JUICE BOXES it was a little hard to watch.

下萨里街的孩子不停进攻，我们不停把他们打回去。 打了好一会儿，没人还有力气接着打了。 最后，对方转过身回家去了。 一开始我们还以为我们赢了。 可这帮人可不是要放弃。 他们只是回去补充体力罢了。 这会儿到午饭点了，山脚下的孩子们拿着三明治和零食回到了外面。 看到有些孩子还分起了果汁盒，我们看着真不好受。

We were all pretty thirsty on the wall, and it was only getting HOTTER. Some kids started sucking on SNOWBALLS to stay hydrated, Suck suck and they got through half of our stockpile before the rest of us realized what was happening. We did an inventory of what we had left, and we knew we didn't have enough to fight off a major assault. So we split our remaining snowballs into thirds and put Anthony Denard in charge of protecting them. We kept waiting for the next attack from the Lower Surrey Street kids, but it never came.

我们守在墙上个个都渴得要命，天还越来越热。 有些孩子开始啃雪球解渴，吸呀吸，等我们其他人反应过来，他们都吃掉半囤货了。 我们盘点了剩下的物资，知道这点东西不够扛住一次大进攻。 所以我们把剩下的雪球分成三份，让安东尼·德纳德负责看管。 我们一直等下萨里街孩子发起下一轮进攻，可进攻一直没来。

After a while we realized their strategy was to wait us out until we CRACKED, and then take our wall without a fight. Pervis Gentry was the first one on our side to break. He hadn't even had BREAKFAST this morning, so the sight of all those sandwich crusts lying on the ground made him CRAZY. He climbed over the wall and ran down the hill, and that was the last any of us saw of him. He disappeared in a cloud of snowballs. Piff, piff, piff, buff, buff, oh, But the REST of us hill kids kept it together. Three HOURS went by, but the Lower Surrey Street kids weren't BUDGING.

过了一阵我们才反应过来，他们的计策就是耗着我们，等我们撑不住了，就能不费吹灰之力夺走雪墙。 珀维斯·金特里是我们这边第一个撑不住的。 他今天早上连早饭都没吃，所以看到地上掉的那些三明治边，他都快疯了。 他爬过雪墙往山下跑，我们之后就再也没见过他。 他消失在一片雪球纷飞里。 噼啪，噼啪，噼啪，砰砰，哦，不过我们剩下住在山上的孩子还是撑住了。 三个小时过去了，下萨里街的孩子一步都没挪。

In fact, they looked like they were settling in for the NIGHT. A few of them had strung extension cords to their houses, so now they had ELECTRICITY. And we could see the glow of their TV sets from where WE were. Things were going from bad to worse on the wall. A lot of the younger kids were tired and hungry and wanted to go HOME. And I couldn't blame them, because by now, it was DINNERTIME. Jacob Hoff said he was supposed to have a clarinet lesson at six o'clock, and if he missed it his parents would be mad. And the rest of us could understand that kind of thing.

事实上，他们看起来都打算在这儿过夜了。 有几个人从家里拉了延长线，现在他们都有电用了。 我们在我们这儿都能看到他们电视机发出来的光。 雪墙这边的情况越来越糟了。 好多小孩子又累又饿，都想回家了。 我也不怪他们，因为这会儿都到晚饭点了。 雅各布·霍夫说他六点要上单簧管课，错过课父母会生气。 我们其他人都能理解这种事。