Chapter 5

Chapter Five IN WHICH Jared Reads a Book and Sets a Trap Mallory and Simon were out on the lawn, fencing, when Jared found them. Mallory's ponytail stuck out of the back of her fencing helmet, and Jared could see that it was shorter than it had once been. She was apparently trying to make up for her earlier weakness by ruthless fencing. Simon couldn't seem to get a strike in at all. He was being backed against the side of the broken-down carriage house, his parries becoming increasingly desperate. "I found something!" Jared called. Simon turned his helmeted head. Mallory took that opportunity to strike, pushing the rubber tip of her fencing foil against his chest.

第五章杰瑞德读书设陷阱马洛里和西蒙正在草坪上击剑，杰瑞德发现了他们。 马洛里的马尾从她的击剑头盔后面露了出来，贾里德看得出，马尾比以前短了。 她显然是想用无情的击剑弥补她早先的弱点。 西蒙似乎根本打不进一个全中。 他被背靠着那间破旧的马车房，他的同伴们越来越绝望。 “我发现了一些东西！”杰瑞德。 西蒙转了转戴着头盔的头。 马洛里趁机出击，用她的橡胶剑尖抵住他的胸膛。

"That's three to zip," Mallory said. "I creamed you." "You cheated," he complained. "You allowed yourself to become distracted," Mallory countered. Simon pulled the helmet off his head, flung it down, and looked at Jared. "Thanks a lot." "Sorry," Jared said automatically. "You're the one that always fences with her. I just came out here to catch tadpoles." Simon

“三比零，”马洛里说。 “我骗了你。”“你作弊了，”他抱怨道。 “你让自己分心了，”马洛里反驳道。 西蒙把头盔从头上扯下来，扔到地上，看着杰瑞德。 “非常感谢。”“对不起。”杰瑞德下意识地说。 “你才是那个老是跟她较劲的人。 我只是出来抓蝌蚪的。” 西蒙

scowled. "Well, I was busy. Just because I don't have a bunch of dumb animals to take care of doesn't mean I can't be busy," Jared shot back. "Just shut up, both of you." Mallory took off her own helmet. Her face was flushed. "What did you find?" Jared tried to recapture some of his earlier excitement. "A book in the attic. It's about faeries, real faeries. Look, they're ugly." Mallory took the book out of his hands and looked it over. "This is baby stuff. A storybook." "It's not," Jared said defensively. "It's a field guide. You know, like for birds. So you know how to spot the different kinds." "You think a faerie tied my hair to my bed?" Mallory asked. "Mom thinks you did. She thinks you've been acting weird ever since Dad left. Like getting into all those fights at school." Simon didn't say anything. "But you don't think that." Jared hoped she would agree. "And you always get into fights."

皱起了眉头。“嗯，我很忙。 就因为我没有一群愚蠢的动物需要照顾，并不意味着我不能忙起来，”贾里德反驳道。 “你们两个都闭嘴。” 马洛里摘下了自己的头盔。 她的脸涨得通红。“你发现了什么？”贾里德试图重新找回他早先的兴奋。 “阁楼上的一本书。是关于仙子的，真正的仙子。 看，它们很丑。”马洛里从他手里拿过书，看了一遍。 “这是婴儿的东西。一个故事书。” “不是，”贾里德辩解道。 “这是一本野外指南。你知道，就像鸟类。 所以你知道如何识别不同的种类。” “你认为是仙女把我的头发绑在床上的？”马洛里问道。 “妈妈认为是你干的。她觉得自从爸爸走了以后你就怪怪的。 比如在学校里打架。” 西蒙什么也没说。 “但你不这么认为。” 杰瑞德希望她会同意。 “而且你总是打架。”

Mallory took a deep breath. "I don't think you're stupid enough to have done it," she said, holding up a fist to show what she was going to do to whatever had. "But I don't think it was faeries, either." Over dinner, their mother was oddly quiet as she slid chicken and mashed potatoes onto their plates. Mallory wasn't talking that much either, but Simon was going on and on about the tadpoles he had found and how they were going to be frogs in no time because they already had little arms. Jared had seen them. They had a long way to go. What Simon called arms looked a lot more like fish zits. "Mom?" Jared said finally. "Do we have a relative named Arthur?" Their mother looked up suspiciously from her dinner. "No. I don't think so. Why do you ask?"

马洛里深吸了一口气。 “我不认为你会蠢到做出这种事来，”她说，举起拳头，表示她要怎么处置那件事。 “但我也不认为是仙子干的。” 晚饭时，他们的母亲把鸡肉和土豆泥放到他们的盘子里时，出奇地安静。 马洛里也没怎么说话，但西蒙滔滔不绝地说着他发现的蝌蚪，说它们很快就会变成青蛙，因为它们已经有了小胳膊。 杰瑞德看见他们了。他们还有很长的路要走。 西蒙所谓的手臂看起来更像鱼的青春痘。 “妈妈?”杰瑞德最后说。 “我们有一个叫亚瑟的亲戚吗？”他们的母亲吃完饭，怀疑地抬起头来。 “没有。我不这么想。你为什么这么问？”

"I was just wondering," Jared mumbled. "What about Spiderwick?" "That's your great-aunt Lucinda's surname," his mother said. "It was my mother's maiden name. Maybe Arthur was one of her relatives. Now, tell me why you want to know all this?" "I just found some of his stuff in the attic— that's all," Jared said. "In the attic!" His mother almost spilled her iced tea. "Jared Grace, as you know, half of the entire second floor is so rotted that if you step wrong, you'll find yourself in the downstairs parlor." "I stayed on the safe side," Jared protested. "We don't know if there is a safe side in the attic. I don't want anyone playing up there, especially you," she said, looking right at Jared. He bit his lip. Especially you. Jared didn't say a thing for the rest of dinner.

“我只是想知道。”贾里德咕哝道。 “斯派德威克呢？”“那是你的曾祖母露辛达的姓，”他母亲说。 “这是我母亲的娘家姓。 也许亚瑟是她的亲戚。 现在，告诉我你为什么想知道这一切？”“我只是在阁楼上找到了他的一些东西——仅此而已，”贾里德说。 “在阁楼上！”他妈妈差点把冰茶洒了。 “杰瑞德·格雷斯，你知道的，整个二楼的一半都腐烂了，如果你走错一步，你就会发现自己在楼下的客厅里。” “我是为了安全起见，”贾里德抗议道。 “我们不知道阁楼里是否有安全的一面。 我不想让任何人在那儿玩，尤其是你。”她说着，直直地看着杰瑞德。 他咬着嘴唇。尤其是你。 晚餐后，贾里德什么也没说。

"Are you going to read that all night?" Simon asked. He was sitting on his side of the room. Jeffrey and Lemondrop were running around on the comforter, and his new tadpoles were set up in one of the fish tanks. "So what if I do?" Jared asked. With each crumbling page, Jared was learning strange facts. Could there really be brownies in his house? Pixies in his yard? Nixies in the stream out back? The book made them so real. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now, not even Simon. He just wanted to keep reading. "I don't know," Simon said. "I thought maybe you'd be bored by now. You don't usually like to read." Jared looked up and blinked. It was true. Simon was the reader. Jared mostly just got into trouble. He turned a page. "I can read if I want to."

“你打算整晚都看吗？”西蒙问。 他坐在房间的他那一边。 杰弗里和柠檬水滴在被子上跑来跑去，他的新蝌蚪被放在其中一个鱼缸里。 “那我做了又怎么样？”杰瑞德问。 每翻一页，贾里德都在了解一些奇怪的事实。 他家里真的会有布朗尼吗？ 他的院子里有小精灵？后面小溪里的水仙？ 这本书让他们变得如此真实。 他现在不想和任何人说话，包括西蒙。 他只想继续读下去。 “我不知道，”西蒙说。 “我以为你现在可能会觉得无聊。 你通常不喜欢读书。” 杰瑞德抬起头，眨了眨眼睛。 这是真的。西蒙是读者。 贾里德只是惹上了麻烦。 他翻了一页。“如果我想读，我可以读。”