Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 Ma straightened her white nurse's cap and kissed Danny good-bye. When she opened the door, Danny heard her gasp. Danny hurried over. Ma said that there was no crime here in Pearl City. Still, Danny was used to being on the lookout for people lurking outside their door, waiting to pounce. But there was nothing on their porch but a pot of pink flowers, wrapped in a bow.

妈妈整理了一下她的白色护士帽，吻了吻丹尼说再见。 当她打开门时，丹尼听到了她的喘息声。 丹尼匆匆赶了过来。马说珍珠城没有犯罪。 尽管如此，丹尼还是习惯了提防那些潜伏在门外、等着突袭的人。 但是，他们的门廊上除了一盆粉红色的花外，什么也没有。

"Goodness!" Ma said. "That man doesn't quit!" Every morning for the past week, there had been a present waiting for Ma on their porch. They all came from a man named Lieutenant Andrew Maciel — Mack. He was a B-17 pilot at Hickam Air Force Base, where Ma worked. Danny had met him a few times when he drove Ma home. He came from New York City, so Danny figured he couldn't be all bad. But then Danny found out he was from that fancy part of New York City called Sutton Place. Danny and Finn hated those rich Sutton Place kids, with their chauffeured cars and snooty expressions. Danny hoped Ma wasn't sweet on this guy. She smelled the flowers and smiled a little before handing the pot to Danny. Then she kissed Danny again and headed on her way. Danny could hear her humming until she disappeared around the corner. He brought the flowers to their little patio around back. He sat down on one of their rickety little chairs. The sun felt good on his face, and

“天哪!”马说。“那个人就是不肯放弃!”在过去的一个星期里，每天早上都有一份礼物在门廊上等着妈妈。 它们都来自一个叫安德鲁·马西尔·麦克中尉的人。 他是希卡姆空军基地的一名B-17飞行员，马在那里工作。 丹尼开车送妈妈回家的时候见过他几次。 他来自纽约，所以丹尼觉得他不可能全是坏人。 但后来丹尼发现他来自纽约一个叫萨顿的高档地方。 丹尼和芬恩讨厌萨顿区那些有钱的孩子，他们开着有司机的车，神情傲慢。 丹尼希望妈妈对这家伙没有好感。 她闻了闻花，微微一笑，然后把花盆递给丹尼。 然后她又吻了丹尼一下，然后就上路了。 丹尼能听到她的嗡嗡声，直到她消失在拐角处。 他把花带到他们后院的小露台上。 他在一张摇摇晃晃的小椅子上坐了下来。 阳光照在他脸上很舒服，而且

there was a warm breeze off the ocean. Maybe he'd miss the smell of the air here when he got back to New York — it smelled sweet, like sugar cane and pineapple. One thing he'd definitely miss was the sound of the bells that rang out every hour from the battleships anchored in Pearl Harbor. The naval base was just five minutes from their house. There had to be a hundred warships crowded into the harbor with their guns ready to blast away. The best were the eight battleships. They were huge — like skyscrapers turned on their sides. Ma said the battleship guns were so powerful that one blast could blow an entire house to smithereens. Danny wished he could tell his teacher in New York about those ships. Most teachers at their school hadn't bothered much with Danny and Finn. But Mrs. Mills was different. When it was too hot or cold outside, Danny and Finn would offer to wash Mrs. Mills's chalkboard for her. She always said yes, and she always happened to have a Thermos of lemonade or hot chocolate with just enough for them. She also had a big world map on the wall of her

海面上吹来一阵暖风。 也许他回到纽约后会怀念这里空气的味道——闻起来很甜，有甘蔗和菠萝的味道。 有一件事他肯定会怀念，那就是每小时从停泊在珍珠港的战舰上响起的钟声。 海军基地离他们家只有五分钟的路程。 必须有一百艘战舰挤进港口，他们的大炮随时准备开火。 最好的是八艘战列舰。 它们是巨大的，就像两侧翻转的摩天大楼。 马说，战舰的大炮威力巨大，一次爆炸就能把整座房子炸成碎片。 丹尼希望他能把那些船的事告诉他在纽约的老师。 他们学校的大多数老师都不怎么关心丹尼和芬恩。 但米尔斯太太不一样。 当外面太热或太冷的时候，丹尼和芬恩会主动提出帮米尔斯太太洗黑板。 她总是答应，而且她总是碰巧有一瓶柠檬水或热巧克力，刚好够他们喝。 她也有一个大的世界地图在她的墙上

classroom. They could point to any country and Mrs. Mills could tell them everything about it. More recently, Mrs. Mills had talked to them about the wars happening all around the world. She pointed to Asia, where Japan was fighting China. She pointed to Europe, where there was a maniac named Adolf Hitler in charge of Germany. He was sending his armies out to conquer every country he could. Mrs. Mills hated Hitler. "The world has to stop that monster," she told them. "He's marching across Europe now. But you watch. If we don't stop him, he'll want America next. He'll want to hang a German flag over the Empire State Building."

教室。他们可以指给他们看任何一个国家，米尔斯太太就能告诉他们有关这个国家的一切。 最近，米尔斯太太和他们谈论了世界各地正在发生的战争。 她指的是亚洲，当时日本正在那里与中国作战。 她指了指欧洲，那里有一个叫阿道夫·希特勒的疯子统治着德国。 他派遣军队去征服每一个他能征服的国家。 米尔斯太太讨厌希特勒。“世界必须阻止那个怪物，”她告诉他们。 “他现在正在欧洲各地行军。 但是你看。如果我们不阻止他，下一个目标就是美国。 他会想在帝国大厦上悬挂一面德国国旗。”

Danny and Finn didn't like that idea one bit. And then one day they heard a shocking rumor: One of Earl's guys said that German U-boat submarines were sneaking around the waters just off Coney Island, in Brooklyn. That did it! Danny and Finn skipped school and hopped a subway down to Brooklyn. They sat there all day, freezing on Coney Island Beach, watching out for U-boats. They had no idea what a U-boat would look like. But that didn't matter. Finn brought his baseball bat. If a German soldier

丹尼和芬恩一点也不喜欢这个主意。 然后有一天，他们听到了一个令人震惊的谣言:厄尔的一个手下说，德国的u型潜艇正在布鲁克林科尼岛附近的水域偷偷摸摸。 就是这样!丹尼和芬恩翘了课，坐地铁去了布鲁克林。 他们整天坐在那里，在科尼岛海滩上看着u型潜艇，冻得瑟瑟发抖。 他们不知道u型潜艇长什么样。 但这并不重要。芬恩带来了他的棒球棒。 如果一个德国士兵

had tried to step onto the sand, Finn was ready to clobber him. They didn't spot a U-boat. But the day wasn't a total waste. When Mrs. Mills heard that they'd skipped school to protect America, she gave them both an automatic 100 percent on their spelling tests. Finn grinned so big you could see the gold tooth from when he broke up a fight between two of his little brothers. Thinking about his good times with Finn gave Danny a strange feeling. Of course Danny never cried — he was no sissy. And he'd learned a trick when he was younger. On those nights when he was alone in the apartment, wishing Ma wasn't gone so much, wondering why his father had left them, he'd push all the feelings down, and then pack them tight together. He could almost imagine them somewhere deep inside him, a hard ball of ice. Lately that cold hard place had grown so big Danny almost felt numb. But it was better than lying around crying. Now Danny stood up, cursing himself for wasting time. He had to pack, write his note to

当他试图踩到沙滩上时，芬恩准备狠狠地揍他一顿。 他们没有发现潜艇。 但这一天并没有完全浪费。 当米尔斯夫人听说他们逃学是为了保护美国时，她在拼写测试中自动给了他们两个100分。 芬恩笑得那么开心，你都能看到他的金牙，那是他制止两个弟弟打架时留下的。 想起和芬恩在一起的美好时光，丹尼有一种奇怪的感觉。 丹尼当然从不哭——他可不是娘娘腔。 当他年轻的时候，他学会了一个技巧。 在那些晚上，当他独自一人在公寓里，希望妈妈不要那么频繁地离开，想知道他父亲为什么离开他们，他会把所有的感觉都压下来，然后把它们紧紧地挤在一起。 他几乎可以想象它们在他内心深处的某个地方，一个坚硬的冰球。 最近，那个又冷又硬的地方变得如此之大，丹尼几乎感到麻木。 但总比躺着哭强。 丹尼站了起来，诅咒自己浪费了时间。 他得收拾行李，给