Ch12-The Feather of Hope

CHAPTER TWELVE The Feather of Hope A spring breeze was whispering through the trees. "We're home," said Jack. They were back in Frog Creek, wearing their own clothes again. Jack looked in his backpack and pulled out their book on Abraham Lincoln. Annie reached into one of her jacket pockets. "Good, they're still here!" she said. She took out

第十二章希望的羽毛一阵春风飒飒地吹过树林。 “我们到家了，”杰克说。他们回到了青蛙溪，又穿上了自己的衣服。 杰克看了看背包，拿出一本关于亚伯拉罕·林肯的书。 安妮把手伸进夹克的一个口袋。 “太好了，他们还在这里！”她说。 她拿出了

Abraham Lincoln's gifts: the bottle of blackberry ink and the goose-feather pen. "Cool," said Jack. "Before we go, I want to look in our book and see if there's a picture of Willie and Tad," said Annie. She took the book from Jack and checked the index. "Yes!" Then she turned to a page on the Lincoln children. Annie read for a moment, then she whispered a sad "Oh, no." She closed the book and put it down. She looked terribly sad. "What's wrong? What did you read?" said Jack. "I just read that Willie died of typhoid fever in 1862," said Annie. "Oh, no," said Jack. "That was the year after we met him." "Poor Abraham Lincoln," said Annie. "Poor Tad," said Jack. "Yeah, he really needed Willie," said Annie. "And then Tad will lose his dad just four years later," said Jack. "President Lincoln will get assassinated." "I know," said Annie softly.

亚伯拉罕·林肯的礼物：一瓶黑莓墨水和鹅毛笔。 “酷，”杰克说。“在我们走之前，我想看看我们的书，看看有没有威利和泰德的照片，”安妮说。 她从杰克手里接过书，查看了索引。 “是的!”然后她翻到林肯家孩子的那一页。 安妮读了一会儿，然后悲伤地低声说：“哦，不。” 她合上书，放下了。 她看起来非常悲伤。“怎么了? 你读了什么？”杰克说。 “我刚读到威利在1862年死于伤寒，”安妮说。 “哦，不，”杰克说。“那是我们认识他之后的一年。” “可怜的亚伯拉罕·林肯，”安妮说。 “可怜的泰德，”杰克说。“是啊，他真的很需要威利，”安妮说。 “然后泰德就会在四年后失去他的爸爸，”杰克说。 “林肯总统会被暗杀。” “我知道，”安妮轻声说。

Jack didn't know what to say. He felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. All his annoyance at Tad disappeared. He wished he'd been kinder to him. "It doesn't make sense, does it?" said Annie. "I guess that's why hope is such an important thing," Jack said. "What do you mean?" said Annie. "We can't explain why sad things happen," Jack said. "All we can do is hope they make sense someday." "Like when?" said Annie. "When will they make sense?" "I don't know when," said Jack. "Maybe not even in a person's lifetime. Maybe in a world beyond this world." He sighed. "Maybe we just have to accept that it's a mystery." Annie nodded, blinking back tears. "Well, we brought back the feather of hope," she said. "And we gave hope to Abraham Lincoln," said Jack. "And he did really great things as president, didn't he?" Annie said. "Yeah, and he was a great dad, too," said Jack.

杰克不知道该说什么。 他觉得自己像被打垮了一样。 他对泰德的所有烦恼都消失了。 他希望自己当初对他好一点。 “这说不通，对吧？”安妮说。 “我想这就是希望如此重要的原因，”杰克说。 “你是什么意思？”安妮说。 “我们无法解释为什么悲伤的事情会发生，”杰克说。 “我们所能做的就是希望它们有一天能变得有意义。” “比如什么时候？”安妮说。“它们什么时候才会有意义？”“我不知道什么时候。”杰克说。 “也许一辈子都不会。 也许在这个世界之外的另一个世界。” 他叹了口气。“也许我们只能接受这是一个谜。” 安妮点点头，强忍住泪水。 “嗯，我们带回了希望之羽，”她说。 “我们给了亚伯拉罕·林肯希望，”杰克说。 “作为总统，他确实做了很多伟大的事情，不是吗？”安妮说。 “是啊，他也是个好爸爸，”杰克说。

Jack placed the feather of hope in the corner of the tree house next to the glacial buttercup and the emerald rose. "There's one more thing to get to save Penny," said Annie. "Tomorrow," said Jack. "Definitely," said Annie. "Today I just want to live my normal life: have breakfast with Mom and Dad—" "And go to school," added Jack. "We're lucky we can go to school," said Annie. "Yeah," said Jack. "And we're lucky to have a nice house with heat and running water." "And comfortable beds," said Annie. She started down the rope ladder. "And lots of books," said Jack. He grabbed his backpack and climbed down after her. As Jack and Annie headed home between the trees, a breeze shook the wet branches. Sparkling raindrops filled the Frog Creek woods.

杰克把希望之羽放在树屋的角落里，紧挨着冰川毛茛和翡翠玫瑰。 “还有一样东西可以救佩妮，”安妮说。 “明天。”杰克说。“当然，”安妮说。 “今天我只想过正常的生活：和爸爸妈妈一起吃早餐——”“然后去上学，”杰克补充道。 “我们很幸运能去上学，”安妮说。 “是的，”杰克说。“我们很幸运，有一所漂亮的房子，有暖气和自来水。” “还有舒适的床，”安妮说。 她从绳梯上下来。 “还有很多书，”杰克说。 他抓起背包，跟着她爬了下来。 当杰克和安妮从树丛中走回家时，一阵微风吹动着潮湿的树枝。 闪闪发光的雨滴布满了青蛙溪的树林。