Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 Tony's face lit up as they took off running. Carmen knew he loved the taste of the thick, sticky syrup. And he wasn't the only one. Kids from the neighborhood visited the tank all the time. The tank leaked. Molasses was always dripping down the sides, like ice cream melting down a cone. Kids would scoop the molasses into their mouths with their fingers, or turn sticks into molasses

当他们起跑时，托尼的脸亮了起来。 卡门知道他喜欢那种粘稠的糖浆的味道。 他并不是唯一一个。 邻居的孩子们经常来参观那个水箱。 油箱漏水了。糖蜜总是从两边滴下来，就像冰淇淋从蛋筒里融化一样。 孩子们会用手指把糖蜜舀进嘴里，或者把棍子变成糖蜜

lollipops. Who needed to waste a penny at the candy store when you could get a taste of molasses for free? "I thought you hated molasses," Tony said as they trotted along. Carmen shrugged. "Maybe I'll take some to Rosie." Rosie was a horse, an old mare who lived at the stable where Papa worked. Carmen liked to take her out for rides after school. They'd go to the park by the harbor. Rosie would nibble on the grass and Carmen would write letters to Nonna. Her grandmother loved hearing about all the people in the North End. But Tony was her favorite. She called him trottolino—wild boy. But today, Rosie and Nonna's letter would have to wait. It took only a few minutes to get to the tank, which rose up over them like the mountains in Carmen's village back in Italy. Except the tree

棒棒糖。当你可以免费品尝糖蜜时，谁还需要在糖果店浪费一分钱呢？ “我还以为你讨厌糖蜜呢，”他们小跑着走着，托尼说。 卡门耸耸肩。“也许我该带一些给罗茜。” 罗西是一匹马，一匹住在爸爸工作的马厩里的老母马。 卡门喜欢放学后带她出去兜风。 他们会去港口边的公园。 罗茜会啃草，卡门会给奶奶写信。 她的祖母喜欢听有关伦敦北端人的故事。 但托尼是她的最爱。 她叫他trottolino——野男孩。 但是今天，罗茜和奶奶的信要等一等了。 他们只花了几分钟就到达了坦克，坦克就像卡门在意大利的村庄里的山脉一样耸立在他们身上。 除了树

covered mountains were beautiful. The tank was hideous—brown-painted steel covered with syrupy slime. Tony slammed his hand onto the sticky tank. "I win!" he said gleefully. Carmen grinned at her friend. She'd finally cheered him up! Nonna's voice echoed in her mind. Ben fatto—good job. "Wow!" Tony said, pulling his hand away from the tank. His fingers dripped with syrup. "It's leaking like crazy!" Tony was right about that. The tank always leaked a little. But today the goo was bleeding through the lines where the sheets of metal came together. Thick streams of molasses ran down the sides. Tony stuck his finger into his mouth and closed his eyes. "MMMMMMMmmmm," he said. "Tastes like Cracker Jacks."

群山很美。 水箱是可怕的棕色钢漆，上面覆盖着糖浆状的黏液。 托尼用力地把手放在粘糊糊的水箱上。 “我赢了！”他高兴地说。 卡门朝她的朋友咧嘴一笑。 她终于让他高兴起来了！外婆的声音在她的脑海里回响。 本胖，干得好。“哇!”托尼说着，把手从坦克上抽了回来。 他的手指上滴着糖浆。 “漏得快疯了！”托尼是对的。 水箱总是漏一点。 但今天，黏液从金属片的连接处渗出。 密密麻麻的糖蜜顺着山坡流下来。 托尼把手指塞进嘴里，闭上了眼睛。 “嗯嗯嗯，”他说。“尝起来像脆饼。”

Carmen dipped a finger into the syrup, then took a catlike lick. "Blech!" The molasses tasted sweet, but with a bitter, black-licorice aftertaste. She shook her head and made a face. Tony laughed. Then he smeared some molasses above his top lip, making a sticky brown mustache. "Hello," he said, lowering his voice. "I'm Mr. Lawrence. Recess is now against the law!" They both had a good laugh. "Let's find some sticks," Tony said. He started walking around the tank, scanning the ground. Carmen didn't need a stick—she'd had enough molasses, thanks. Plus, being this close to the tank gave her a queasy feeling. She tried not to look at the dead flies stuck in the goopy puddles on the ground. She wrinkled her nose as she breathed in the sickly-sweet smell. Blech was right. She stared at the tank, wondering why it leaked so much.

卡门用手指蘸了蘸糖浆，然后像猫一样舔了舔。 “薄板!”糖蜜尝起来很甜，但有一种苦的黑甘草味。 她摇了摇头，做了个鬼脸。 托尼笑了。然后，他在上唇上涂了一些糖蜜，弄出了黏糊糊的棕色胡子。 “你好。”他压低声音说。 “我是劳伦斯先生。现在休息是违法的！”他们俩都大笑起来。 “我们找些树枝吧，”托尼说。 他开始在坦克周围走动，扫视地面。 卡门不需要棒子——她已经喝够糖蜜了，谢谢。 另外，离水箱这么近让她感到恶心。 她尽量不去看粘在地上水坑里的死苍蝇。 她皱起鼻子，吸进那令人作呕的甜味。 布莱希是对的。她盯着水箱，不知道为什么漏水这么多。

Whoever built it did a bad job. And why did the molasses company have to put such a big tank right here? It blocked out the sun and ruined the views of the harbor. And Carmen hated to think about what all that molasses was used for. She'd heard Papa and his boss, Mr. Vita, talking about it at the stable a few years ago. They were in the little back office, playing cards. Carmen was brushing Rosie. "They say it can hold more than two million gallons of molasses," Mr. Vita said. Two million gallons? That sounded like enough to fill a big pond. Papa whistled. "What do they do with it all?" Carmen had been wondering the same thing. She knew some famous American foods had molasses in them, like baked beans and gingerbread. But two million gallons? That was a lot of gingerbread. "It's used for bombs," Mr. Vita said.

造它的人做得很糟糕。 为什么糖蜜公司要在这里放这么大的水箱？ 它挡住了阳光，破坏了海港的景色。 卡门不愿意去想那些糖蜜是用来干什么的。 几年前，她听到爸爸和他的老板维塔先生在马厩里谈论这件事。 他们在后面的小办公室里打牌。 卡门在给罗茜刷牙。 “他们说它能装200多万加仑的糖蜜，”维塔说。 两百万加仑？听起来足够填满一个大池塘了。 爸爸吹口哨。“他们用这些钱做什么？”卡门也一直在想同样的事情。 她知道一些著名的美国食物里有糖蜜，比如烤豆和姜饼。 但是两百万加仑呢？姜饼太多了。 “它是用来制造炸弹的，”维塔说。

"Bombs?" Papa said with surprise. Carmen nearly dropped Rosie's brush. Was Mr. Vita joking? No. He explained that the molasses went to a factory where it was boiled down into something called industrial alcohol. Then it was used to make dynamite and bombs. Strange, Carmen had thought. But then Rosie had snorted, impatient to get out for a walk. Carmen put the tank out of her mind. Back then, the molasses tank was just one of many strange things about America. Carmen had only just figured out that Red Sox weren't things you wore on your feet. And why did so many English words have sneaky letters that made no sounds? The bombs didn't mean much to Carmen, either, back then. The Great War had just started, and America hadn't yet joined the fight against Germany. But now, three years later, tens of thousands of American soldiers had been killed in brutal

“炸弹?”爸爸惊讶地说。 卡门差点把罗茜的刷子掉在地上。 维塔是在开玩笑吗？不。他解释说，糖蜜被送到一家工厂，在那里被熬制成一种叫做工业酒精的东西。 然后它被用来制造炸药和炸弹。 奇怪，卡门想。 但是罗茜哼了一声，迫不及待地想出去散步。 卡门把坦克的事抛诸脑后。 那时候，糖蜜罐只是美国众多怪事中的一件。 卡门刚刚才明白红袜队的衣服不是穿在脚上的。 为什么那么多英语单词都有不发音的鬼鬼祟祟的字母？ 那时候，炸弹对卡门来说也没什么意义。 第一次世界大战刚刚开始，美国还没有加入对抗德国的战斗。 但是现在，三年后，成千上万的美国士兵在残酷的战争中丧生