Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 AROUND 3:00 THE EDGE OF THE BEACH GALVESTON, TEXAS It seemed every kid in Galveston was in the water—swimming, splashing, floating on a raft or tub, racing a toy boat. Charlie and Sarah waded to the

得克萨斯州加尔维斯顿，似乎每个加尔维斯顿的孩子都在水里游泳，戏水，在木筏或浴缸上漂浮，在玩具船上比赛。 查理和萨拉涉水走到河边

middle of the street, where the water came halfway up Charlie's thighs. "This is the spot," Sarah announced, plopping the washtub down. She climbed inside and sat with her legs crossed. Charlie gave the tub a spin, and Sarah whirled around. Charlie floated around on his back while Sarah spun around in the tub. After a few minutes, he stood up and looked out at the Gulf. It had probably been churned up during the storm. But it was already calming down. Most days, the water seemed like a big, rippling pond. The tub had stopped spinning, and Sarah drifted toward Charlie. She sighed. "Don't you think it would be fun to have a real ocean?" she said.

在街道中间，水淹到了查理的大腿。 “就是这里。”萨拉宣布道，把洗脸盆扑通一声放下。 她爬进去，跷着二郎腿坐了下来。 查理把浴缸转了一圈，莎拉也转了一圈。 查理仰面漂浮，莎拉在浴缸里打转。 几分钟后，他站了起来，望着外面的海湾。 它可能是在暴风雨中搅起来的。 但它已经平静下来了。 大多数时候，水看起来像一个荡漾的大池塘。 浴缸停止了旋转，莎拉飘向查理。 她叹了口气。“你不觉得拥有一个真正的海洋会很有趣吗？”

"This is a real ocean," Charlie said. "The Gulf is part of the Atlantic Ocean." "I know that," Sarah said, giving Charlie a look. "I meant with big waves we could ride on top of. Like in Hawaii." They'd learned about Hawaii in school. It was a bunch of islands in the Pacific that had just become a territory of the United States. Their

“这是一个真正的海洋，”查理说。 “墨西哥湾是大西洋的一部分。” “我知道，”莎拉说着，看了查理一眼。 “我的意思是，如果有大浪，我们可以在上面骑。 就像在夏威夷。”他们在学校里学过夏威夷。 它是太平洋上的一群岛屿，刚刚成为美国的领土。 他们的

teacher had showed them a picture of someone in Hawaii riding on top of a giant wave on a long wooden board. Sarah stood up in the tub and held out her arms, like the people in the picture. "Look! I'm riding the waves!" she shouted. And then she teetered. "Whoooa!" She plopped into the water with a loud splash. Charlie laughed. He held out his hand and pulled her to her feet. "Look," she said, giving Charlie a nudge. "There she is." Charlie followed Sarah's gaze over to three girls from their class last year. His cheeks got hot when he recognized the one in the middle: Rosemary Cline. Charlie had a crush on her, and Sarah knew it. Rosemary had one of the best singing voices in their class. Plus, her dad was kind of famous; he was the chief of Galveston's weather office. He'd come to their class last year to give a talk on

老师给他们看了一张照片，上面是一个人在夏威夷骑在一块长木板上的巨浪上。 萨拉在浴缸里站起来，伸出双臂，就像画中的人一样。 “看!我在乘风破浪！”她喊道。 然后她摇摇欲坠。“Whoooa !”她扑通一声跳入水中。 查理笑了。他伸出手把她拉了起来。 “看，”她说着，用胳膊肘推了推查理。 “她在那儿。”查理跟着莎拉的目光走到他们去年班上的三个女生面前。 当他认出中间的那个人：罗斯玛丽·克莱恩（Rosemary Cline）时，他的脸颊热了起来。 查理喜欢她，莎拉也知道。 罗斯玛丽的歌声是班上最好的。 另外，她爸爸还挺有名的；他是加尔维斯顿气象办公室的负责人。 去年他来他们班做了一个关于

weather. It was pretty interesting. He talked about different storms. Sarah asked about the big hurricane that had recently hit Puerto Rico, a big island not so far from Florida. They'd all heard about it, of course. Thousands of people were killed. Mama's church group collected clothes and money to send there. "Hurricanes are the most powerful storms in nature," Mr. Cline had said. "But we never have to worry about a big hurricane hitting Galveston. It's impossible." Everyone in Galveston knew this—Mr. Cline was always being quoted in the newspaper. Charlie looked out at the Gulf now, remembering how Mr. Cline had explained it to them. He said that most big Atlantic Ocean hurricanes follow the same path. They form off the coast of Africa, chug across the Atlantic, then sweep over Florida and the East Coast of the United States.

天气。非常有趣。 他谈到了不同的风暴。 萨拉问到最近袭击波多黎各的大飓风，波多黎各是离佛罗里达不远的一个大岛。 当然，他们都听说过这件事。 成千上万的人丧生。 妈妈的教会小组收集衣服和钱送到那里。 “飓风是自然界中最强大的风暴，”克莱恩说。 “但我们从来不用担心飓风会袭击加尔维斯顿。 这是不可能的。”加尔维斯顿的每个人都知道这一点。 报纸上总是引用克莱因的话。 这时，查理望着窗外的海湾，想起克莱恩先生是怎样向他们解释的。 他说，大多数大西洋飓风都遵循同样的路径。 它们在非洲海岸形成，穿过大西洋，然后横扫佛罗里达和美国东海岸。

"These hurricanes can't reach Galveston, because the winds will always pull them north," he said. "And if a powerful storm does enter the Gulf, Galveston can't be damaged. This part of the Gulf is too shallow for there to be truly powerful waves." Charlie looked at the puny little waves now. It would be fun to have huge waves to ride on. But it was better not to have to worry about hurricanes. Sarah gave Charlie a little shove. "Go say hi to Rosemary." Charlie shook his head. He liked Rosemary. But that didn't mean he actually wanted to talk to her! Plus, the overflow was ending—the water starting to rush back into the Gulf. Soon the streets would be dry, and kids would be building sand castles on the beach. The current tugged hard on Charlie's legs, like it wanted to take him for a ride.

“这些飓风无法到达加尔维斯顿，因为风总是会把它们往北拉，”他说。 即使强风暴进入墨西哥湾，加尔维斯顿也不会受损。 海湾的这一部分太浅了，不会有真正强大的海浪。” 查理现在看着那小小的波浪。 能在巨浪上驰骋一定很有趣。 但最好是不用担心飓风。 莎拉推了查理一把。 “去跟罗斯玛丽打个招呼。”查理摇了摇头。 他喜欢罗斯玛丽。但这并不意味着他真的想和她说话！此外，溢流即将结束——海水开始涌回墨西哥湾。 很快街道就会变干，孩子们会在海滩上堆沙堡。 水流使劲地拽着查理的腿，好像要带他去兜风似的。