Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 They sat together in an empty classroom. Dr. Sato had given Ben an apple and a cup of water. Ben devoured them both. He told Dr. Sato the story about what had happened in the tsunami, how Mom and Harry and Ojisan had been swept away from him. "They're gone," Ben said. "No, they are not gone," Dr. Sato said, reaching over and grabbing Ben's hand. "People are scattered everywhere. Have patience. You are safe here. And we will wait."

他们一起坐在一间空教室里。 佐藤医生给了本一个苹果和一杯水。 本把它们都吃光了。他告诉约翰博士。 佐藤讲述了海啸中发生的事情，妈妈、哈里和欧尻山是如何从他身边被冲走的。 “他们走了，”本说。“不，它们没有消失。” 佐藤说着，伸手抓住本的手。 “人们分散在各处。 有耐心。你在这里很安全。 我们将等待。”

Dr. Sato had a look in his eye. And for a flickering second, it reminded Ben of the way Dad would look, when Ben would glimpse him in the stands during a basketball game. It didn't matter if the team was winning or losing, or if Ben was on fire or all thumbs. Dad always looked so sure. And that look never wavered. Dr. Sato told Ben his own story — how he'd just gotten to his house when the quake happened. His house was high in the hills, above the school. He'd stood on his porch as the wave hit. "I watched the waves destroy Shogahama," he said, his face darkening. It was no use trying to get to the hospital, and so he came to the school. "I knew people would need help," he said. People like Ben. It had been Dr. Sato who lifted him up when he collapsed in the school hallway. Two teachers had helped the doctor clean Ben's cuts and bruises,

佐藤医生的眼睛里有一种眼神。 有那么一瞬间，它让本想起了爸爸看篮球比赛时在看台上的样子。 不管球队是赢是输，也不管本是激情四射还是笨手笨脚的。 爸爸看上去总是那么自信。 他的表情从未动摇过。 佐藤医生给本讲了他自己的故事——地震发生时他刚到家。 他的房子在高山上，在学校的上方。 海浪袭来时，他站在门廊上。 “我看着海浪摧毁了Shogahama，”他说，他的脸变黑了。 去医院是没有用的，所以他来到了学校。 “我知道人们需要帮助，”他说。 人们喜欢本。那是约翰博士。 当他在学校走廊倒下时，是佐藤扶起了他。 两位老师帮医生清理了本的伤口和瘀伤，

find him clothes, and carry him to the gym to sleep. "I hated to leave you," he said. "But some of us went out into the night, to see if we could find survivors." Dr. Sato looked away for a moment, and Ben could tell that there hadn't been any survivors to find. Before Ben could think too hard about this, two women came in to speak to Dr. Sato. They were both sensei — teachers at the school. The teachers and Dr. Sato spoke, and in the swirl of Japanese words, Ben heard his name. When they finished talking, the women smiled at Ben and left. "We have lots of work to do," Dr. Sato said. "It could be days before help gets to us. The village is completely cut off. And so it's up to us to figure out how to find food and water. We have ten children whose parents have not arrived. We have to look out for them."

给他找衣服，带他去健身房睡觉。 “我不愿离开你，”他说。 “但我们中的一些人走到夜里，看看能否找到幸存者。” 佐藤医生把目光移开了一会儿，本可以判断出没有任何幸存者。 本还没来得及认真考虑这个问题，就有两个女人来找他。 佐藤。他们俩都是学校的高级教师。 老师们和佐藤博士说话了，在日语的漩涡中，本听到了他的名字。 当他们结束谈话时，女人对本笑了笑，然后离开了。 “我们还有很多工作要做。” 佐藤说。“我们可能需要几天才能得到救援。 这个村庄与外界完全隔绝了。 所以如何找到食物和水就取决于我们了。 我们有十个孩子的父母还没有到。 我们必须照顾好他们。”

It took Ben a few seconds to realize that the "we" and "us" meant Ben, too. Dr. Sato explained that the two teachers he'd just met had been here through the night. "They need to go check on their families," he said. Ben nodded. "And so I've told them that you will watch over some of the younger children while they are gone." Ben stared at Dr. Sato. He was asking Ben to take care of children? How could Ben take care of anyone right now? How could he do anything when he was so worried about Mom and Harry and Ojisan? But before he could speak, one of the teachers was back. She had three little kids with her. They looked to be maybe five or six years old. All boys. The teacher introduced them to Ben: Kazu, Hidecki, and Akira. The boys looked shy and scared. But then Nya stepped forward.

本花了几秒钟才意识到“我们”和“我们”也指的是他。 佐藤博士解释说，他刚刚遇到的两位老师昨晚一直在这里。 “他们需要去看看家人，”他说。 本点了点头。“所以我告诉他们，在他们离开的时候，你会照看一些年幼的孩子。” 本盯着佐藤医生。他让本照顾孩子吗? 本现在怎么能照顾别人呢? 他那么担心妈妈，哈里和欧吉桑，怎么能做点什么呢? 但他还没来得及说话，一位老师就回来了。 她带着三个小孩。 看起来大概有五六年了。 所有的男孩。老师把他们介绍给本:和、Hidecki和Akira。 男孩们看起来又害羞又害怕。 但随后妮雅走上前来。

"Eee, eee," she said. The boys giggled. Dr. Sato said a few words to the boys in Japanese. "I've said that you are their sensei," he told Ben. "I've told them that you are in charge." He patted Ben on the back. "I'm heading out with some others to see if we can find some supplies," Dr. Sato added. "I'll be back this afternoon." And in a flash, he and the teacher were gone. The boys looked at Ben expectantly. He opened his mouth to say something, but remembered they didn't speak English. He wondered what he could do to keep them busy. There was no power, no TV, no video games. Ben looked out the window at the playground. And then he saw the hoop, behind the slide. He'd seen a net bag of basketballs in the corner of the gym.

“咦，咦，”她说。男孩们咯咯地笑。 佐藤医生用日语对男孩们说了几句话。 “我说过你是他们的老师，”他告诉本。 “我已经告诉他们你是负责人。” 他拍拍本的背。 “我要和其他人一起出去看看能不能找到一些补给品。” 佐藤说。“我今天下午就回来。” 转眼间，他和老师就不见了。 男孩们期待地看着本。 他张开嘴想说点什么，但想起他们不会说英语。 他想知道他能做些什么让他们忙起来。 没有电，没有电视，没有电子游戏。 本望着窗外的操场。 然后他看到了滑梯后面的铁圈。 他看到体育馆的角落里有一袋篮球。

He led the boys outside, and they all shivered in the cold. But soon they were running around. Ben's aching muscles loosened up. The sun got brighter in the sky, and they had stripped off their coats. The boys worked hard. Soon the air was filled with the sound of bouncing balls and laughing boys. After lunch, the boys took a break to climb on the jungle gym. Ben decided to practice his own shots. He worked through his free throws and threes. He was surprised by how good it felt, how much he'd missed playing. At one point he stood at the back of the blacktop, as far away from the hoop as he could get. He and Dad used to have contests, to see who could shoot from farthest away. The boys stopped their climbing and watched Ben. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.

他把孩子们领出去，他们都冻得发抖。 但很快他们就四处乱跑了。 本疼痛的肌肉放松了。 天空中的太阳越来越亮，他们脱下了外衣。 男孩们努力工作。很快，空气中充满了弹跳球的声音和男孩们的笑声。 午饭后，孩子们休息一下去爬攀架。 本决定自己练习投篮。 他通过罚球和三分球来训练。 他惊讶于这种感觉有多好，他是多么想念打球。 有一次，他站在柏油路的后面，尽可能地远离铁环。 他和爸爸过去常常比赛，看谁射得最远。 男孩们停止了攀爬，看着本。 反弹。反弹。反弹。