5. George Who

Chapter 5 George Who? "Why don't you invite Joe to come over this weekend?" suggested Marvin's mother. "He could spend the night." Two days had passed since Gina and Heather told Joe he was a door key. Now everybody called him that. Marvin lay in bed. When his mother came in to wish him a good night, he told her about Joe. He didn't tell her everything. He just said he felt bad, because there was a new kid at school and everyone picked on him. "I try to be nice to him," said Marvin. "I think he knows that." Marvin knew what it was like to be picked on. Earlier in the year, everyone had picked on him. He remembered how bad he felt. It was probably even

第五章乔治是谁?“你为什么不邀请乔这个周末过来呢?”马文的妈妈建议道。 “他可以在这儿过夜。” 两天前吉娜和希瑟告诉乔他是一把钥匙。 现在大家都这么叫他了。 马文躺在床上。当他妈妈进来祝他晚安时，他告诉了她关于乔的事。 他并没有把一切都告诉她。 他只是说他很难过，因为学校新来了一个孩子，所有人都欺负他。 “我尽量对他好，”马文说。 “我想他知道这一点。”马文知道被人欺负是什么滋味。 今年早些时候，每个人都找他的茬。 他记得自己当时有多难受。 这可能是

worse for Joe, he thought, since Joe just moved here from far away. He wanted to be Joe's friend. But he was afraid that everyone would pick on him again. And then if Joe moved back to Chicago, Marvin would be friendless. "I'm afraid if I'm nice to Joe, then the kids will be mean to me, too," he said. "Maybe if you're nice to Joe, the other kids will be nice to Joe, too," said his mother. She kissed him good night.

对乔来说更糟，他想，因为乔刚从很远的地方搬到这里来。 他想成为乔的朋友。 但他害怕大家又会找他的麻烦。 如果乔搬回芝加哥，马文就没朋友了。 “我担心如果我对乔好，孩子们也会对我不好，”他说。 “也许如果你对乔好，其他孩子也会对乔好，”他妈妈说。 她吻他道晚安。

On Friday, Mrs. North asked Joe to tell her something about George Washington. "Who?" asked Joe. "You, Joe," said Mrs. North. "I mean, who'd you want to know about?" "George Washington." "I don't think I know him." The class cracked up. "How about Abraham Lincoln?" asked Warren. "Do you know him?" "I don't think so," Joe said. "Does he go to this school?" Everyone laughed some more. Mrs. North had to remind the class not to laugh at their classmates. "We go to school to learn. If we already knew everything, then we wouldn't have to go to school." Marvin didn't laugh. Maybe in Chicago they didn't teach about presidents until the fourth grade. Joe was still wearing his baggy pants and Mickey Mouse T-shirt. He'd worn the same clothes all week. "I wonder why he never changes his clothes," Judy said

星期五，诺斯夫人请乔给她讲一些关于乔治·华盛顿的事。 “谁?”乔问。“你，乔，”诺斯太太说。 “我是说，你想知道谁的事?”“乔治·华盛顿”。 “我想我不认识他。” 全班大笑起来。“亚伯拉罕·林肯怎么样?”沃伦问。 “你认识他吗?”“我不这么认为，”乔说。 “他在这所学校上学吗?”大家又笑了起来。 诺斯夫人不得不提醒全班同学不要嘲笑他们的同学。 “我们上学是为了学习。 如果我们什么都知道了，那我们就不用去上学了。” 马文没有笑。也许在芝加哥，他们直到四年级才开始教总统。 乔仍然穿着宽松的裤子和米老鼠的t恤。 他整个星期都穿着同样的衣服。 “我想知道他为什么从不换衣服，”朱迪说

at lunch. "Do you think those are the only clothes he owns?" She was sitting next to Casey Happleton. Marvin, Nick, and Stuart sat across from them. "He owns other clothes," said Marvin. "The moving van probably got lost. So he has to wear the same clothes every day, until the moving van gets here." Joe was sitting all by himself, way down at the end of the table. "How come you're always sticking up for him?" asked Nick. "I don't always stick up for him," said Marvin. "Yes, you do!" said Casey. "When I told you he kissed the flagpole, you said he was being patriotic." "Do you like him?" asked Judy. "Is he your friend?" "He's stupid," said Stuart. "Maybe he knows things we don't know," said Marvin. "Maybe he knows some really fun games that we've never heard of. Just like he's never heard of wall-ball." "He's never even heard of baseball," said Casey, and everybody except Marvin laughed. "He's a door key," said Nick.

在午餐。“你以为他就只有这些衣服吗?”她坐在凯西·哈普尔顿旁边。 马文、尼克和斯图亚特坐在他们对面。 “他还有别的衣服，”马文说。 “搬运车可能是迷路了。 所以他每天都得穿同样的衣服，直到搬家车来。” 乔独自一人坐在桌子的尽头。 “你为什么总是袒护他?”尼克问。 “我并不总是支持他，”马文说。 “是的，你有!”凯西说。 “当我告诉你他亲吻旗杆时，你说他是在爱国。” “你喜欢他吗?”朱迪问。 “他是你的朋友吗?”“他很笨，”斯图亚特说。 “也许他知道一些我们不知道的事情。”马文说。 也许他知道一些我们从未听说过的有趣游戏。 就像他从来没听说过wall-ball一样。” “他从来没听说过棒球，”凯西说，除了马文，每个人都笑了。 “他是一把门钥匙，”尼克说。

"Just because he's not from here?" said Marvin. "If you went to Chicago, the kids there might think you were a double door key!" "That's why I'm not going to Chicago," said Nick. Judy Jasper had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a bag of Cheetos. Marvin watched as she opened up her sandwich. She carefully placed the Cheetos, one at a time, on top of the peanut butter. The Cheetos fit together like tiles on a bathroom floor. Stuart had a bag of potato chips. He crumbled the potato chips in his fist and dropped the crumbs into his carton of milk. "Admit it, Marvin," said Judy. "Joe is just plain weird." She placed the bread with the jelly back on top of the peanut butter and Cheetos. "He does some pretty strange things," Stuart agreed. Judy bit into her peanut butter, Cheetos, and jelly sandwich. Stuart drank his potato chip and milk mixture. "I guess," said Marvin.

“就因为他不是本地人吗?”马文说。 “如果你去芝加哥，那里的孩子可能会认为你是一把双门钥匙!”“这就是我不去芝加哥的原因，”尼克说。 朱迪·贾斯帕吃了一个花生酱果冻三明治和一袋奇多。 马文看着她打开三明治。 她小心翼翼地把奇多一块一块地放在花生酱上。 奇多就像浴室地板上的瓷砖一样贴合在一起。 斯图尔特有一袋薯片。 他用拳头把薯片揉碎，然后把碎屑扔进牛奶盒里。 “承认吧，马文，”朱迪说。 “乔就是个怪人。” 她把带果冻的面包放回花生酱和奇多上面。 “他做了一些非常奇怪的事情，”斯图亚特同意道。 朱迪咬着她的花生酱、奇多和果冻三明治。 斯图尔特喝了他的薯片和牛奶混合物。 “我想是的。”马文说。