Chapter 9

Chapter 9 I Scream! You Scream! Then We Get in Trouble for Yelling, So We Use Our Inside Voices to Ask Politely for Ice Cream. Dark clouds blanketed the sky, and thunder rumbled in the distance. But the rain, at last, had stopped falling, and the wind had calmed to a gentle breeze. Ash was happy for the break in the weather. She was only in town for a few more days, after all, and she still had several favorite locations she wanted to visit. There was the bat house that she had helped build, on the edge of school property. A bookstore that had a huge selection of graphic novels and manga. And the best ice cream shop around, with dozens of flavors and uncountable toppings. She asked Morgan to join her for ice cream. She thought it was about time the two of them had a very important talk. And she was worried that he wouldn't like what she had to say.

第九章我尖叫！你尖叫!然后我们会因为大喊大叫而惹上麻烦，所以我们会用内心的声音礼貌地要求吃冰淇淋。 乌云笼罩着天空，远处雷声隆隆。 但是，雨终于停了，风也平静下来，变成了和风。 阿什很高兴天气变好了。 毕竟，她只在城里多待几天，而且她还有几个最喜欢的地方想去看看。 还有她帮忙建的蝙蝠屋，就在学校附近。 一家书店，有大量的图画小说和漫画可供选择。 还有附近最好的冰淇淋店，有几十种口味和数不清的配料。 她邀请摩根和她一起吃冰淇淋。 她觉得他们俩是时候进行一次非常重要的谈话了。 她担心他会不喜欢她要说的话。

But in Ash's experience, ice cream made everything a little bit better. That was especially true about ice cream with a friend. And not just human friends. Morgan had gotten permission to bring the hamsters home for the evening. Baron Sweetcheeks and Duchess Dimples were each in their own plastic ball, rolling around at Ash's feet.

但在阿什的经验中，冰淇淋让一切都变得更好。 和朋友一起吃冰淇淋尤其如此。 而且不只是人类朋友。 摩根得到了把仓鼠带回家过夜的许可。 甜颊男爵和酒窝公爵夫人都在自己的塑料球里，在阿什的脚边打滚。

"It's so hard to choose," Ash said as they waited in line. "There are so many options!" "Yeah," Morgan agreed. But when it was his turn to order at the shop window, he asked for a cup of simple vanilla ice cream. They sat on a nearby swing set, and Morgan's eyes bounced between his plain white scoop and the multicolored confection Ash had chosen: three flavors of ice cream, topped with bright sprinkles, gummies, walnuts, and a drizzle of butterscotch. Ash laughed as Morgan goggled. "You can't get this

“很难选择，”他们在排队时，阿什说。 “选择太多了！”“是的，”摩根同意道。 但当轮到他在商店橱窗点餐时，他要了一杯简单的香草冰淇淋。 他们坐在附近的秋千上，摩根的目光在他那只普通的白色勺子和阿什点的五颜六色的糖果之间来回跳动：三种口味的冰淇淋，上面撒着明亮的糖屑、软糖、核桃和细细的奶油糖。 摩根瞪大了眼睛，艾什笑了。 “你不可能得到这个

specific combination anywhere near my house," she explained. "It looks so chaotic," he said. "Is it good?" "Of course it's good," Ash answered, and she licked her lips. "It's all sugar, after all." "I guess I could be a bit more daring," Morgan said. "But I get worried about what could happen. I know for a fact that I like vanilla ice cream. So why risk getting something I won't like as much?" Ash laughed again. "Because you might find something you like even more. You can't know unless you try!" "I guess," Morgan replied, looking skeptical. Ash watched him poke at his ice cream with his spoon. She took a breath. It was now or never. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about," said Ash. Morgan looked confused. "My ice cream selection?" "No," said Ash. "Your reluctance to try new things." "Oh." Morgan watched the hamsters rolling around beneath his feet. "This sounds serious." "It's not a big deal," Ash promised. "It's just that I have an idea. And I want to make sure you really

在我家附近任何特定的组合，”她解释道。 “看起来太混乱了，”他说。 “好吗？”“当然好了，”艾什回答，舔了舔嘴唇。 “毕竟都是糖。” “我想我可以更大胆一点，”摩根说。 “但我担心可能发生的事情。 我知道我喜欢香草冰淇淋。 所以为什么要冒险得到我不太喜欢的东西呢？”阿什又笑了。 “因为你可能会发现你更喜欢的东西。 你不试试就不知道！”“我想是的，”摩根回答，露出怀疑的神色。 阿什看着他用勺子戳冰淇淋。 她深吸了一口气。机不可失，时不再来。 “这正是我想跟你说的，”阿什说。 摩根看起来很困惑。“我的冰淇淋选择？”“不，”阿什说。 “你不愿意尝试新事物。” “哦。”摩根看着仓鼠在他脚下打滚。 “听起来很严重。”“没什么大不了的，”阿什保证道。 “我只是有个主意。 我想确定你真的

listen to it. And I hope that you'll consider it before you try to shoot it down." "I don't shoot ideas down," Morgan said a little defensively. Then he added, "Do I?" "Not always," said Ash. "But when we needed help deciphering a code, I thought we should ask my Wildling troop for help. And you weren't happy about that." "Well, that's certainly true…," said Morgan. He took a scoop of ice cream without taking a bite. "Or what about our decision to let Theo join the club? You didn't like that." She grinned. "And you were the same way when I joined, remember?" "That was a long time ago!" Morgan said, leaning back in his swing. "I've changed. I'm way more relaxed and open."

听一听。我希望你在试图击落它之前考虑一下。” “我不会否决任何想法。”摩根有点为自己辩护。 然后他又说：“是吗？”“不总是这样。”阿什说。 “但当我们需要帮助破译密码时，我想我们应该向我的野人部队求助。 你对此并不高兴。” “嗯，那当然是真的……”摩根说。 他一口也没咬就拿了一勺冰淇淋。 “或者我们让西奥加盟俱乐部的决定呢？” 你不喜欢那样。”她咧嘴一笑。 “我加入的时候你也是这样，记得吗？”“那是很久以前的事了！”摩根说，身子向后靠在秋千上。 “我已经改变了。我现在更放松、更开放了。”

"Good," said Ash. "In that case, I've got an idea." She pulled a sheet of graphing paper from her pocket with her free hand before unfolding it and handing it to Morgan. The paper contained her design for something she was calling a slime engine. "Really, it was Po's idea. He inspired me when he tried to force the vex to move toward the Evoker King fragments. This device should help us do that." Morgan took a moment to wrap his head around Ash's design. She had labeled everything clearly, but there were a lot of different elements. The slime engine made use of sticky pistons, redstone blocks, and slime blocks. But at heart, the idea was simple. The slime engine would crawl forward on its own, using a wall of slime to push anything in its path. "Because slime blocks can push vexes!" Morgan said. He wanted to slap his forehead with the realization, but his hands were full of ice cream and blueprints. "Ash, this is brilliant." He furrowed his brow. "Only, to cover a large space, we'd need a lot of these engines, all coming from different directions." "Right. My thinking exactly," said Ash. "And that brings us to the part I'm nervous to say out loud, but here goes: Morgan, I think we should invite more kids to join us in Minecraft."

“很好。”阿什说。“既然这样，我有个主意。” 她用另一只手从口袋里掏出一张画纸，然后把它展开递给摩根。 这张纸上有她设计的一种东西，她称之为“黏液引擎”。 “真的，这是阿宝的主意。 当他试图迫使恶灵移向唤起王的碎片时，他启发了我。 这个设备应该能帮我们做到这一点。” 摩根花了一点时间思考艾什的设计。 她把每样东西都标清楚了，但有很多不同的元素。 黏液发动机使用粘性活塞、红石块和黏液块。 但从本质上讲，这个想法很简单。 黏液引擎会自己爬行前进，利用黏液墙来推动前进道路上的任何东西。 “因为黏液块可以推动烦恼！”摩根说。 意识到这一点，他想拍自己的额头，但他的手中却满是冰淇淋和蓝图。 “阿什，这太棒了。”他皱起眉头。 “只是，为了覆盖很大的空间，我们需要很多这样的引擎，它们都来自不同的方向。” “正确。我的想法完全正确。”阿什说。 “这就引出了我不敢大声说出来的部分，但我想说的是：摩根，我认为我们应该邀请更多的孩子加入我们的Minecraft。”