Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Trial by Jury trial by jury (trial by jury), n. A legal proceeding in which the guilt or innocence of a person accused of a crime is decided by a group of his or her peers, rather than by a judge or panel of judges. Evan looked around and felt as though he'd dropped into an alternate universe. First of all, he was sitting on a basketball, which felt strange. Second, here was his sister, acting like she was the leader of the free world. Jessie could sometimes be bossy at home, but Evan was used to seeing her on the sidelines at school. On the edge of whatever was

第十章陪审制度陪审制度（Trial by Jury） 一种法律程序，在这种法律程序中，被指控犯罪的人的有罪或无罪是由他或她的一组同伴而不是由法官或法官小组来决定的 埃文环顾四周，感觉自己好像掉进了另一个宇宙。 首先，他坐在一个篮球上，感觉很奇怪。 第二，这是他的妹妹，表现得好像她是自由世界的领袖。 杰西有时在家里很专横，但埃文已经习惯了在学校里看到她在一旁看热闹。 在任何东西的边缘

happening on the playground. Eating quietly at a cafeteria table. Sitting with her hands in her lap at the all-school assemblies. Suddenly she was the leader. And it was weird. Evan stared at the twelve kids sitting in the jury box, and that was weird, too. If he looked at each kid, one at a time, all he saw were the faces of kids he'd known for most of his life. Nothing new. But when he looked at them all together, standing in the box that Jessie had made out of jump ropes, they looked different. Even Adam, his best friend in the world, seemed almost unfamiliar. They were the jury —the ones who would either hand him a new Xbox 20/20 or make him stand up in class and apologize in front of everybody. Suddenly, they didn't seem like the kids he'd known forever. They had turned into something much bigger. Evan's eyes traveled across the courtroom: to the witnesses all standing together behind the line of the jump rope, to the audience waiting patiently for the trial to begin, and to David Kirkorian standing at his

发生在操场上。 在自助餐厅的餐桌上安静地吃饭。 在全校集会上，她双手放在腿上坐着。 突然间她成了领袖。 这很奇怪。埃文盯着坐在陪审席上的十二个孩子，那也很奇怪。 如果他看着每一个孩子，一次一个，他所看到的都是他认识了大半辈子的孩子们的脸。 什么新东西。但当他看着他们一起站在杰西用跳绳做的盒子里时，他们看起来不一样了。 就连亚当，他在这个世界上最好的朋友，也显得很陌生。 他们是陪审团——要么给他一个新的Xbox 20/20，要么让他在课堂上站起来当着大家的面道歉。 突然之间，他们看起来不像他永远认识的孩子了。 它们变成了更大的东西。 埃文的目光扫视了整个法庭：看向一起站在跳绳线后面的证人，看向耐心等待审判开始的听众，看向站在他面前的大卫·柯克里安

milk-crate podium. And that was the weirdest thing of all. Every single one of the fourth-graders had shown up after school and put on a nametag. (Okay, so Malik had taped his nametag to his butt, but he was still standing in the witness box, ready to testify.) Everyone was waiting to do whatever Jessie told them to do. It was as if all of a sudden there was a whole new set of rules at school, and everyone —everyone—had agreed to follow them. Even Scott Spencer was sitting on his basketball. He had his knees spread wide, and he was drumming a beat on the ball. Chook-uh-ta-chook, chook-uh-tachook, chook-uh-ta-chook. He had that look. That Scott Spencer look. The look in his eyes that seemed to say, It's all good. It's all cool. It's all mine. That was the thing about Scott Spencer. Somehow, some way, he always managed to spin things so that everything worked to his advantage. Evan remembered the time they were in first grade, playing in Scott's basement playroom. Scott's mom

牛奶箱讲台。这是最奇怪的事情。 每一个四年级的学生都在放学后出现，并戴上了名牌。 （好吧，马利克把他的名牌粘在了屁股上，但他仍然站在证人席上，准备作证。）每个人都在等着做杰西让他们做的事。 就好像突然之间，学校里有了一套全新的规则，每个人——每个人——都同意遵守这些规则。 就连斯科特·斯宾塞也坐在他的篮球上。 他双膝摊开，在球上击鼓。 chok -uh-ta-chook, chok -uh-tachook。 他有那种表情。斯科特·斯宾塞的表情。 他的眼神似乎在说，一切都很好。 一切都很酷。都是我的。 斯科特·斯宾塞就是这样。 不知何故，他总能设法扭转局势，使一切都对他有利。 埃文还记得他们一年级的时候，在斯科特家地下室的游戏室里玩耍。 斯科特的妈妈

was at work. His dad worked at home, like Evan's mom did, but his office was all the way at the other end of the house, and it was soundproof! Evan remembered how they used to play a game of seeing who could make enough noise to get Mr. Spencer to come out of his office. They practically had to set off a bomb to get him to come out! So that day, they were playing pick-up sticks for pennies, betting a penny on every game. At first Scott was winning, and Evan had lost about seven cents. But then Evan started catching up, and then he was ahead, and Scott owed him eleven whole cents, which seemed like a lot of money back then. "Hey, let's get a snack," said Scott, and they could have gone all on their own to get something out of the kitchen, but instead Scott went to his dad's office and asked him to bring them something in the playroom. And of course when Scott's dad saw that they were betting pennies, he ended the game and made Evan return everything he'd won. "Betting isn't allowed in this house," he'd said. But Evan had thought to

在工作。他爸爸在家工作，就像埃文妈妈一样，但他的办公室在房子的另一端，而且是隔音的！埃文记得他们曾经玩过一个游戏，看谁能发出足够的声音把斯宾塞先生从办公室里弄出来。 他们几乎是引爆了炸弹才把他弄出来的！所以那天，他们玩的是一分钱的捡球游戏，每场都赌一分钱。 一开始斯科特赢了，埃文输了大约7美分。 但后来埃文开始追上来，然后他领先了，斯科特欠他整整十一美分，在当时看来是一大笔钱。 “嘿，我们吃点零食吧，”斯科特说。他们本来可以自己去厨房拿点东西，但斯科特却去了他爸爸的办公室，让他在游戏室给他们拿点东西。 当然，当斯科特的爸爸看到他们在赌便士时，他结束了比赛，让埃文把赢的钱都还了。 “在这所房子里不允许赌博。”他说。 但埃文想到了

himself, Losing, that's what's not allowed. Evan looked at Scott. Evan wasn't a fighting kid. He'd only gotten in two fist fights in his whole life, and one of them had been with Adam, his best friend! Both those fights had been fast and furious, and then they'd been over. No hard feelings. Apologies all around. Everyone agreeing not to fight anymore. Why couldn't it be that way with Scott? What was it about him that made Evan's blood boil? That turned one thing into another—a fight about some missing money into a full-blown trial by jury? Evan opened his mouth to say something to Scott— Which is exactly when David K. picked up the gavel, banged it on the block of wood, and read from the top index card, "All rise! Court is in session. The Honorable David P. Kirkorian presiding."

失败，那是不允许的。 埃文看着斯科特。埃文不是个好斗的孩子。 他一生中只打过两次拳，其中一次是和他最好的朋友亚当！这两场战斗都进行得又快又激烈，然后就结束了。 别生气。到处道歉。 大家都同意不再打架了。 为什么斯科特就不能这样呢？ 他到底是什么让埃文火冒三丈？ 这把一件事变成了另一件事——一场关于钱丢了的争吵变成了一场全面的陪审团审判？ 埃文张开嘴想对斯科特说点什么——就在这时，大卫·K。 拿起小木槌，在木块上敲了一下，然后从上面的索引卡片上读出：“全体起立！”法庭正在开庭。 尊敬的大卫·p·柯克兰主持。”