Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 Jackson ran down the halls. He'd seen the boys' room on his walk to the classroom. But now he couldn't find it. After three wrong turns he finally made it. He pushed his way into a stall and stood there. His heart pounded. Sweat dripped down his back. But the queasy feeling passed. A minute later the outside door creaked open.

杰克逊跑过大厅。 他在去教室的路上看到了男孩们的房间。 但是现在他找不到了。 在转错了三个弯之后，他终于到了。 他挤进一个隔间，站在那里。 他的心怦怦直跳。汗水从他背上滴落下来。 但恶心的感觉过去了。 一分钟后，外面的门吱吱地开了。

"Jackson?" Miss Lawrence. Jackson stepped out of the stall. Miss Lawrence was right outside the boys' room, with the door open just a crack. "Do you need to see the nurse?" she said. Nurse? Last winter Jackson nearly cut his finger off chopping wood. The blood soaked his shirt. Mom sewed up the deep cut with a needle and thread. Jackson bit down on a stick so he wouldn't yell out in pain with every stab of the needle. Jackson didn't need a nurse for a queasy stomach. "No, thank you," he said. Miss Lawrence put her hand on his shoulder as they walked back to the classroom. "You'll feel better," she said. "First days are hard…" "Thanks," Jackson said, breaking away.

“杰克逊吗?”劳伦斯小姐。杰克逊走出隔间。 劳伦斯小姐就在男孩们的房间外面，门只开了一条缝。 “你需要看护士吗？”她说。 护士?去年冬天，杰克逊砍柴时差点把手指砍断。 血浸透了他的衬衫。 妈妈用针线把那个很深的伤口缝好了。 杰克逊咬住了一根棍子，这样他就不会在针扎的时候痛得大叫。 杰克逊的胃不舒服不需要护士。 “不，谢谢，”他说。当他们走回教室时，劳伦斯小姐把手放在他的肩膀上。 “你会感觉好些的，”她说。 “刚开始的日子很难熬……”“谢谢，”杰克逊说着挣脱了。

He knew Miss Lawrence was trying to be nice. But she didn't understand. He wasn't some spoiled town kid. He'd grown up in the bush. The rest of the morning went okay. Luckily, kids didn't make a big deal about him rushing out of the room. Leonor leaned over and quietly asked him if he was okay, but that was it. It turned out Jackson was way ahead of most kids in math. He whipped through his long division problems. In grammar they worked on commas, which Mom had taught him about last year. And the work wasn't boring. Miss Lawrence cracked jokes and even made stuff interesting. Jackson didn't fall asleep once. Plus, they had music class. Jackson didn't know any of the songs, but he liked listening to the other kids sing. When it was time for lunch, the kids all took their lunchboxes to the cafeteria. The noise in

他知道劳伦斯小姐是想表现得友善些。 但她不明白。 他不是什么被宠坏的小镇孩子。 他是在灌木丛中长大的。 上午剩下的时间过得还不错。 幸运的是，孩子们并没有对他冲出房间大惊小怪。 莉诺俯下身，轻声问他是否还好，但仅此而已。 事实证明，杰克逊在数学方面远远领先于大多数孩子。 他很快就做完了长除法题。 在语法课上，他们学习了妈妈去年教过他的逗号。 而且这份工作并不枯燥。 劳伦斯小姐会讲笑话，甚至把事情讲得很有趣。 杰克逊一次也没睡着。 另外，他们有音乐课。 杰克逊一首歌也不懂，但他喜欢听其他孩子唱歌。 到了吃午饭的时间，孩子们都把他们的午餐盒带到自助餐厅。 噪音

there was louder than a thunderstorm in the bush. The giggles and shrieks of the kids. The shouts of the frazzled-looking teacher trying to get the little kids to stop throwing food. The banging of chairs and slamming of metal lunchboxes. And Jackson had barely bitten into his bologna-and-cheese sandwich when kids started asking him questions about the bush. "What did you eat?" "Where did you sleep?" "Did you have electricity?" "How did you take a shower?" Jackson answered as best he could. The kids were especially amazed to hear how he had to lug water from the creek just to wash dishes or take a bath. "It sounds really fun!" Leonor said. "Like a camping trip." Sure, Jackson thought. That's what Mom and Dad had thought when they first got to the bush.

灌木丛里的声音比雷暴还大。 孩子们的咯咯笑和尖叫。 疲惫不堪的老师试图让孩子们停止扔食物的喊叫声。 椅子的撞击声和金属午餐盒的撞击声。 杰克逊刚吃完他的腊肠奶酪三明治，孩子们就开始问他关于灌木丛的问题。 “你吃了什么？”“你睡在哪儿？”“你们有电吗？”“你是怎么洗澡的？”杰克逊尽力回答。 当孩子们听到他不得不从小溪里拖水来洗碗或洗澡时，他们感到特别惊讶。 “听起来真的很有趣！”莱昂诺说。 “就像露营一样。”当然，杰克逊想。 爸爸妈妈刚到灌木丛时也是这么想的。

Then they almost died ten times. But no reason to tell these kids any of that. "I don't know," Nora said, nibbling on a chip. "I couldn't live without electricity." "I'd miss listening to music," Mary said. In music class, Jackson had noticed that Mary had the best singing voice. "I'd miss my Twinkies," Chris added, picking up one of the vanilla cakes and giving it a kiss. The kids all laughed—even Jackson. "What's the most amazing thing you've ever seen?" Leonor asked, leaning forward. Jackson felt all their eyes on him, but surprisingly, he didn't get queasy like before. He thought about some of his favorite moments in the bush. A huge rainbow he saw after a big storm last summer. The sound of thousands of birds starting to sing at once right before a springtime sunrise. The time he saw an eagle snatch a huge salmon from the river with its

然后他们几乎死了十次。 但没必要告诉孩子们这些。 “我不知道，”诺拉边说边啃着一块薯片。 “没有电我活不下去。” “我会想念听音乐的，”玛丽说。 在音乐课上，杰克逊注意到玛丽有最好的歌声。 “我会想念我的Twinkies的，”克里斯说着，拿起一个香草蛋糕，吻了一下。 孩子们都笑了，包括杰克逊。 “你见过的最神奇的事情是什么？”利奥诺探身问。 杰克逊感到所有的目光都在他身上，但令人惊讶的是，他没有像以前那样感到恶心。 他想起了他在灌木丛中最喜欢的一些时刻。 去年夏天暴风雨过后，他看到了一道巨大的彩虹。 在春天的日出之前，成千上万只鸟同时开始歌唱。 有一次，他看到一只鹰用它的爪子从河里抓了一条巨大的鲑鱼

pointy talon toes. To Jackson, every day in the bush was amazing. But he was pretty sure these town kids didn't want to hear about sunsets and birds. They wanted blood, guts, and snarls. Jackson had the perfect story.

尖尖的爪子。对杰克逊来说，丛林里的每一天都很奇妙。 但他很确定这些镇上的孩子不想听日落和鸟的故事。 他们要血，要内脏，要咆哮。 杰克逊有一个完美的故事。