Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Joint Venture joint venture (joint venture) n. Two or more people joining forces to sell a certain amount of goods or to work on a single project. When the goods are sold or the project is finished, the joint venture ends. "Your sister is really—" "Shut up," said Evan. "Huh?" "Just shut up. She's okay. She just... she doesn't... look, she's okay. So just shut up." "Y'okay," said Scott, holding up his free hand to show he meant peace. Evan was getting abused on both sides. The

第三章合资企业合营企业（合资企业） 两个或两个以上的人联合起来销售一定数量的商品或共同完成一个项目。 当货物售出或项目完成时，合资企业即告结束。 “你妹妹真是——”“闭嘴，”埃文说。 “嗯?”“闭嘴。她是好的。 她只是……她不… 听着，她没事。所以闭嘴吧。” “好吧，”斯科特说，举起他那只空着的手，表示他的意思是和平。 埃文受到了双方的虐待。 的

heavy cooler was banging against his inside leg with every step. And the plastic chairs were scraping against his outside leg. Bruised and bloodied, he thought to himself. All for the fun of hanging out with Scott Spencer. Why couldn't Jack have been home? Or Ryan? And why did Adam have to be on the Cape this week? It stunk. "How far are we walking?" grunted Scott. "Just to the corner." Evan watched as drops of sweat fell off his face and landed on the hot sidewalk. "We shoulda stayed in the driveway. It was shaded." "The corner's better. Trust me," said Evan. He remembered when Jessie had said the same words to him last summer. They were setting up a lemonade stand together, and Evan had been grumbling about dragging the cooler across the street and down two houses, just like Scott. But Jessie had insisted. "There's sidewalk on this side," she'd said.

沉重的冷却器每走一步都撞在他的内腿上。 塑料椅子刮着他的腿。 遍体鳞伤，浑身是血，他心想。 都是为了和斯科特·斯宾塞玩得开心。 杰克为什么不在家呢？ 还是瑞安?为什么亚当这周一定要去好望角？ 它发臭。“我们还要走多远？”斯科特咕哝着。 “就在拐角处。”埃文看着汗珠从脸上掉下来，落在炎热的人行道上。 “我们应该待在车道上。 它被遮蔽了。”“拐角比较好。 相信我，”埃文说。他想起去年夏天杰西对他说过同样的话。 他们一起摆了一个柠檬水摊，埃文一直在抱怨要拖着冷藏箱穿过街道，穿过两个房子，就像斯科特一样。 但杰西坚持要去。“这边有人行道，”她说。

"So we'll get the foot traffic coming in both directions. And people in cars coming around the curve will have time to see us and slow down. Besides, there are a bunch of little kids on the side street and their mothers won't want them crossing Damon Road. The corner's better. Trust me." And she was right. They'd made a ton of money that afternoon. It took ten seconds to set up the lemonade stand. Evan unfolded the chairs and set one on each side of the cooler. Scott tilted the sign toward the street for maximum effect. Then they both sat down. "Man, is it hot," said Evan. He took off his baseball cap and wiped the sweat from his face with his shirt. Then he grabbed an ice cube from the cooler, balanced it on his head, and stuck his cap back on. "Yeah," said Scott. "I'm thirsty." He reached into the paper bag and pulled out a cup. It was one of those large red plastic cups that vendors use at professional baseball games. Then Scott took one of

“所以我们会有两个方向的客流量。 开车绕过弯道的人将有时间看到我们并放慢速度。 再说，小街上有一群小孩他们的妈妈不会让他们穿过达蒙路的。 拐角比较好。相信我。” 她是对的。那天下午他们赚了一大笔钱。 摆好柠檬水摊只花了十秒钟。 埃文打开椅子，在冷却器两边各放了一把。 斯科特把牌子朝街道倾斜，以达到最大效果。 然后他们都坐了下来。“天啊，好热啊，”埃文说。 他摘下棒球帽，用衬衫擦去脸上的汗水。 然后他从冷藏箱里抓起一块冰块，把它平衡在头上，然后戴上帽子。 “是的，”斯科特说。“我渴了。” 他把手伸进纸袋，拿出一个杯子。 那是小贩在职业棒球比赛中使用的那种红色大塑料杯。 然后斯科特拿了一个

the pitchers from the cooler and filled the cup to the brim with lemonade. "Hey, not so much," said Evan, pouring himself a cup, too, but only partway. He glugged down half his drink. Not bad, he thought, though he noticed a dead fruit fly floating on the top. His mom had been battling a mad fruit-fly infestation ever since the weather had turned really warm. The kitchen sink area, where they kept their fruit bowl, was dotted with tiny, feathery fruit-fly corpses. Scott drained his cup and tossed it on the ground. "Aahhh," he said, satisfied. "That was good. I'm gonna have another." Evan reached for the trashed cup and stowed it under his seat. "Nah, c'mon, Scott. You're gonna drink all our profits if you do that." He stretched his legs out by putting his feet on top of the cooler. "Just chill." "I'm gonna chill by having another cup," said Scott. There it was. That mean bite in Scott's voice.

水罐从冷藏箱里拿出来，把杯子灌满了柠檬水。 “嘿，没那么多。”埃文说着，也给自己倒了一杯，但只倒了一半。 他狼吞虎咽地喝了半杯酒。 不错，他想，尽管他注意到一只死果蝇漂浮在上面。 自从天气变暖以来，他妈妈一直在与疯狂的果蝇侵扰作斗争。 他们放水果盘的厨房水槽里，点缀着细小的、长着羽毛的果蝇尸体。 斯科特喝干了杯子里的水，把它扔在地上。 “啊，”他满意地说。 “那很好。我要再来一次。” 埃文伸手去拿那只破杯子，把它放在座位下面。 “不，来吧，斯科特。如果你这么做，我们的利润就全被你喝光了。” 他把脚放在冷藏箱上，伸伸腿。 “寒意”。斯科特说：“我要再喝一杯放松一下。” 它就在那儿。斯科特的声音里透着刻薄。

Evan's shoulders tensed up. "Move your feet," said Scott. "It's hot out here." "Dude, you're—" Evan sat up expectantly and looked down the street. "Hey, here comes our first customer." A mother pushing a double stroller came into view. At the same time, one of the kindergartners from down the street rode her bike up, noticed the sign, and quickly pedaled back to her house. Within five minutes, there was a small crowd of neighborhood kids and pedestrians buying lemonade from the stand. Evan let Scott handle all the money while he took care of the pouring and the "sweet talk." That's what his mother called it when a salesperson chatted her up. "Trust me," she had once told Evan and Jessie. "Buying something is only half about getting something. The other half is all about human contact." Mrs. Treski knew about these things because she was a public relations consultant. She'd even written a booklet called Ten Bright Ideas to

埃文的肩膀绷紧了。 “移动你的脚，”斯科特说。 “外面太热了。”“老兄，你是——”埃文满怀期待地坐了起来，看了看街道。 “嘿，我们的第一位顾客来了。” 一位推着双人婴儿车的母亲走了进来。 与此同时，街那头的一个幼儿园的孩子骑着自行车过来了，她注意到了这个标志，很快就骑车回家了。 不到五分钟，就有一小群邻居的孩子和行人在小摊上买柠檬水。 埃文让斯科特处理所有的钱，而他负责倒酒和“甜言蜜语”。 当一个售货员跟他妈妈搭讪时，她就这么说。 “相信我，”她曾经对埃文和杰西说。 “买东西只是得到东西的一半。 另一半是关于人与人之间的接触。” 特雷斯基夫人知道这些事情，因为她是一名公关顾问。 她甚至写了一本名为《十个好主意》的小册子

Light Up Your Sales for one of her clients. And Evan was like her: He was good at talking with people. Even grownups. It was easy for him. So he kept the conversation flowing, along with the lemonade. People hung around. Most of them bought a second cup before they left. Evan was so busy, he almost didn't notice Jessie flying out of the garage on her bike and riding down the street toward town. Good riddance, he thought— but at the same time he wondered where she was going. During a lull in business, Evan walked all around the stand, picking up discarded plastic cups. Scott sat in his chair, jingling the coins in his pocket. "Man, we are gonna be so rich," said Scott. "I bet we made five bucks already. I bet we made ten! How much you think we made?" Evan shrugged. He looked at the stack of used cups in his hand and counted the rims. Fourteen. They'd sold fourteen cups so far. And each cup of lemonade cost fifty cents. Evan heard Mrs. DeFazio's

为她的一个客户点亮你的销售。 埃文和她很像：他善于与人交谈。 甚至成年人。这对他来说很容易。 于是他一边喝柠檬水，一边让谈话继续进行。 人们四处闲逛。他们中的大多数人在离开前买了第二杯。 埃文太忙了，他几乎没有注意到杰西骑着自行车冲出车库，沿着街道朝镇上骑去。 总算摆脱了，他想——但同时又不知道她要到哪里去。 在生意清淡的时候，埃文在摊位周围走来走去，捡起废弃的塑料杯。 斯科特坐在椅子上，口袋里的硬币叮当作响。 “天哪，我们要发财了，”斯科特说。 “我打赌我们已经赚了五块钱。 我打赌我们做了十个！你认为我们赚了多少钱？”埃文耸了耸肩。 他看了看手里那堆用过的杯子，数了数杯沿。 十四。到目前为止，他们已经卖出了14杯。 一杯柠檬水要50美分。 埃文听到了德法齐奥夫人的声音