Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9 Jess couldn't sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she imagined St. Helens exploding, and then a flaming wind sweeping down the mountain. Finally she took her quilt and went into Mom's room. Mom was awake, too, and moved over in bed to make space for Jess.

杰西睡不着。 每当她闭上眼睛，她就想象着圣。 海伦火山爆炸了，然后一股燃烧的风从山上刮下来。 最后，她拿起被子，走进妈妈的房间。 妈妈也醒了，她挪了挪床，给杰西腾地方。

"Don't be worried," Mom said. "You heard what Dr. Morales said. We're safe here in Cedar." "I know, but I just can't stop thinking about it." "I can't, either," Mom said. "But I think we need to put it out of our minds. Maybe Dr. Morales has just watched too many disaster movies." Jess smiled. "That part about the snakes was a bit much." Mom giggled a little. "But do you really think St. Helens is going to erupt?" Jess asked. "Could that actually happen?" Mom turned toward Jess. She moved closer, so their noses were almost touching. "Whatever happens, you and I will make it through. Like we always have, and like we always will." Mom said the words without a shred of doubt. Jess looked at Mom. She still needed to tell her about the camera.

“别担心，”妈妈说。 “你听到莫拉莱斯医生说的话了。 我们在雪松很安全。” “我知道，但我就是忍不住想它。” “我也不行，”妈妈说。 “但我认为我们需要把它抛诸脑后。 也许莫拉莱斯医生只是看了太多灾难片。” 杰斯笑了。“关于蛇的那部分有点过分了。” 妈妈咯咯地笑了一下。“但是你真的认为圣? 海伦火山要爆发了?”杰斯问道。 “这真的会发生吗?”妈妈转向杰西。 她走近一些，他们的鼻子几乎碰到了一起。 “不管发生什么，你和我都会挺过去的。 就像我们一直做的那样，也会一直做下去。” 妈妈毫不怀疑地说了这些话。 杰西看着妈妈。她还是得告诉她相机的事。

But suddenly Jess was so tired. She closed her eyes. And with Mom's calming words whispering through her mind, Jess fell asleep. The next morning, Jess and Mom had barely finished breakfast when the twins came barging through their door. "We're in the newspaper!" Sam cried. "You are?" Jess said with surprise. "Not us," Eddie cried. "St. Helens!" They held up the Seattle paper, with a headline screaming out from the front page. MOUNT ST. HELENS AWAKES! Jess couldn't believe that their mountain was on the front page of an important newspaper like the Times. At school that day, their teacher, Mr. Daley, canceled their fractions quiz. Instead, he gave them a lesson about volcanoes. He explained that

但突然间，杰西累极了。 她闭上了眼睛。妈妈安慰的话语在杰茜的脑海里回响，她睡着了。 第二天早上，杰西和妈妈刚吃完早餐，双胞胎就闯了进来。 “我们上报纸了!”萨姆喊道。 “你是谁?”杰西惊讶地说。 “不是我们，”埃迪叫道。“圣。 海伦斯火山!”他们举起西雅图的报纸，头版上醒目的标题。 圣海伦火山苏醒了!杰斯不敢相信他们的山出现在《泰晤士报》这样重要报纸的头版上。 那天在学校，他们的老师戴利先生取消了分数测验。 相反，他给他们上了一堂关于火山的课。 他解释说

the Earth was like a big ball of candy, with different layers. The outer shell was the crust, and it was about eighteen miles thick. Underneath was an ocean of fiery, molten rock. In some spots, there were cracks in the crust, and that's where volcanoes formed. Jess was shocked to learn that there were fifteen hundred volcanoes around the world that could be active. And fourteen of them were right in the Cascades. How did she not know any of this? None of the kids in the class knew. On the blacktop, nobody wanted to play kickball. They all nervously eyed the mountain, which rose up in the distance. Kids gathered around as Sam repeated Dr. Morales's story of Mount Pelée. He explained about the warning signs — the rotten-egg stench of sulfur gas, the mudslides, and, of course, the pit vipers. He told them about the fiery hurricane wind that swept down the mountain.

地球就像一个大糖果球，有不同的层次。 它的外壳是地壳，大约有18英里厚。 下面是一片炽热的熔岩海洋。 在一些地方，地壳中有裂缝，这就是火山形成的地方。 杰斯震惊地得知世界上有1500座火山可能是活跃的。 其中14个就在喀斯喀特。 她怎么一点都不知道? 班上的孩子都不知道。 在柏油路上，没有人想玩踢球。 他们都紧张地注视着远处耸立的山。 孩子们围了过来，萨姆重复了一遍。 莫拉莱斯关于佩尔萨伊山的故事。 他解释了那些警告信号——硫磺气体的臭鸡蛋味、泥石流，当然还有蝮蛇。 他告诉他们，猛烈的飓风从山上刮了下来。

The kids listened with wide eyes and slack jaws. This story was way better than the legend of Skeleton Woman. On Tuesday, Missy saw a garter snake slithering through the grass behind the blacktop. "It's a pit viper!" she shrieked. Other kids freaked out, too. It took Mr. Daley the rest of recess to calm them down and to convince them that there were no pit vipers in Washington State — or anywhere in the United States. Over the next few days, the police set up roadblocks on Spirit Lake Memorial Highway. They wouldn't let anyone within ten miles of the mountain, not even loggers. The whole town seemed to be holding its breath, waiting for something to happen. And then, on Friday, something did. It was near the end of the school day, and Jess was gathering her notebooks for dismissal.

孩子们睁大眼睛，张大嘴巴听着。 这个故事比骷髅女的传说好多了。 周二，米西看到一条袜带蛇在柏油路后面的草地上爬行。 “是毒蛇!”她尖叫道。 其他孩子也吓坏了。 在课间休息剩下的时间里，戴利先生让学生们冷静下来，并说服他们在华盛顿州——或者美国的任何地方——都没有蝮蛇。 在接下来的几天里，警方在灵湖纪念公路上设置了路障。 他们不让任何人靠近这座山十英里之内，甚至伐木工人也不允许。 整个城镇似乎都在屏住呼吸，等待着什么事情发生。 然后，在周五，事情发生了。 那是临近放学的时候，杰茜正在收拾她的笔记本，准备下课。

Suddenly a loud boom rattled their desks and sent Mr. Daley's coffee mug crashing to the floor. Twenty-one heads turned and stared out the window. They had a perfect view of St. Helens rising up over the ridge. It didn't look peaceful anymore. Pale gray smoke was gushing out of the top. "It's erupting!" Sam cried.

突然，一声巨响震响了他们的桌子，把戴利先生的咖啡杯震掉在地上。 二十一个人转过头来，凝视着窗外。 他们有一个完美的圣。 海伦站在山脊上。 它看起来不再平静了。 浅灰色的烟从山顶喷涌而出。 “这是爆发了!”萨姆喊道。