Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Hearsay hearsay (hearsay), n. Quoting someone else's words when that person is not present to say whether those words are true; rumor. Hearsay is not allowed as evidence in a court of law. "So, you get it?" asked Megan, leaning back in her chair. "They're the same. See?" The math problem was about symmetry. There were five different shapes drawn on the page, and for each one, Evan had to figure out if the shape was symmetrical or not. If it was, he had to draw the line of symmetry. Megan had already done the first one to show him how.

第4章道听途说（传闻），名词 在别人不在场的情况下引用别人的话来证实这些话的真实性；谣言。 道听途说不能作为法庭上的证据。 “那么，你明白了吗？”梅金靠在椅子上问。 “它们是一样的。看到了什么?”这道数学题是关于对称的。 纸上画了五种不同的形状，对于每一种形状，埃文都必须弄清楚形状是否对称。 如果是的话，他必须画出一条对称线。 梅金已经做了第一个，教他怎么做。

But Evan was having a hard time thinking about symmetry when he was sitting right next to Megan Moriarty. "That one's easy," said Evan, trying to sound cool. "Everybody knows that hearts are symmetric." "Not all hearts," said Megan. "Look at this one." "Well, that's just freaky," said Evan. The next three shapes weren't too hard, and Evan was able to draw the line of symmetry for each one. But the last one had him stumped, and Megan

但当埃文坐在梅根·莫里亚蒂旁边时，他很难想到对称。 “这个很简单，”埃文说，试图让自己听起来冷静一些。 “人人都知道红心是对称的。” “不是所有的心，”梅金说。 “看看这个。”“嗯，这太奇怪了，”埃文说。 接下来的三个形状并不太难，埃文能够为每个形状画出对称线。 但上次他被难住了，还有梅根

finally had to let him in on the trick: the shape wasn't symmetrical at all. "It looks like it should work," said Megan, "but it never does, no matter where you draw the line. Jessie showed me that. She's a math genius, huh?" Evan didn't say anything. Having a sister who was smart enough to skip a whole grade was like having a best friend who was a basketball star. It made you look bad by comparison. "Hey, Evan?" said Megan, dropping her voice and leaning in even closer. They both looked over at Mrs. Overton, who was talking on the class phone. Evan could smell the coconut shampoo Megan used on her hair. It made him think of ice cream at the Big Dipper. "How do you think Scott Spencer got the money for that 20/20?" The nice, floaty feeling leaked out of Evan. "Scott Spencer? Huh!" said Evan. "I know what you mean," said Megan, sitting back and twirling her hair. "He always acts so nice when the teacher's around, but then he's really mean in the

最后，我不得不让他知道这个把戏：形状根本不对称。 “看起来应该管用，”梅金说，“但不管你在哪里划清界限，它都行不通。 杰西给我看了。她是个数学天才，对吧？”埃文什么也没说。 有一个聪明到可以跳过一年级的妹妹，就像有一个篮球明星的好朋友。 相比之下，这让你看起来很糟糕。 “嘿，埃文？”梅金压低声音说，靠得更近了。 他们都看了看奥弗顿夫人，她正在用班级电话讲话。 埃文能闻到梅根用在头发上的椰子香波的味道。 这让他想起了北斗七星的冰淇淋。 “你觉得斯科特·斯宾塞是怎么搞到20/20节目的钱的？”那种飘逸的感觉从埃文身上流露出来。 “斯科特·斯宾塞?嗯！”埃文说。 “我明白你的意思，”梅金说着，靠在椅背上，捻着头发。 他说：“老师在的时候，他总是表现得很好，但到了晚上，他就变得很刻薄

halls." "Yeah, that's Scott," mumbled Evan. "You know," said Megan, leaning in again. "Scott once told me his mother makes ten dollars a minute. Do you believe that?" Evan thought of the Spencers' house and the vacations they took every year—skiing and the Caribbean and even Europe—and he didn't doubt it for a second. "Sure," he said. "You should see where he lives." "I heard he has a new TV that's as big as the whiteboard." Megan pointed to the large whiteboard at the front of the room. "Probably," said Evan. "You wouldn't think a kid like that would steal things." Megan's eyes opened wide. "Does he really steal? Alyssa told me he does. She said he took her charm bracelet out of her locker and then pretended he'd found it on the playground. Just to impress her. But I don't know if that's true." Evan was dying to tell her that Scott had stolen

大厅。”“是的，那是斯科特，”埃文咕哝着说。 “你知道的，”梅金说着，又靠了过去。 “斯科特曾经告诉我，他妈妈每分钟能挣10美元。 你相信吗？”埃文想起了斯宾塞家的房子和他们每年的度假——滑雪、去加勒比海，甚至去欧洲——他一点也不怀疑。 “当然，”他说。“你应该看看他住的地方。” “我听说他有一台和白板一样大的新电视。” 梅金指着房间前面的大白板。 “可能吧，”埃文说。“你不会认为那样的孩子会偷东西。” 梅金睁大了眼睛。“他真的偷东西吗？” 艾丽莎告诉我他有她说他从她的储物柜里拿走了她的手镯然后假装是在操场上捡到的。 只是为了给她留下好印象。但我不知道这是不是真的。” 埃文很想告诉她斯科特偷了东西

$208 from him—but he couldn't. "He stole lunch money from Ryan once. And he took a candy bar from the Price Chopper. He steals lots of things." Megan looked at him closely. "Did you see him take the money or the candy bar?" she asked. Evan shook his head. "No, but Ryan said—" "That's just a rumor, then," said Megan. "You can't believe everything you hear. That's what my parents always say." "If you knew him like I do, you'd think it was true, too." "Maybe," said Megan. "But I don't listen to rumors. People probably say things about me that aren't true! And about you, too!" Evan wondered if that was so. What would people say about him? Did his friends talk about him behind his back? He didn't like to think about that. But what Megan said got him thinking about the missing money. Evan never actually saw Scott take the money, but he had told everyone—Paul and Ryan and Adam and Jack—that Scott had taken it.

但他不能。 “他曾经偷过瑞安的午餐钱。 他还从砍刀店拿了块糖。 他偷了很多东西。” 梅金仔细地看着他。 “你看见他拿钱或糖果了吗？”她问。 埃文摇了摇头。“没有，可是瑞安说——”“那么，那只是个谣言。”梅金说。 “你不能相信你听到的一切。 我父母总是这么说。” “如果你像我一样了解他，你也会认为这是真的。” “也许吧，”梅金说。“但我不听谣言。 人们对我的评价可能不是真的！还有你！”埃文不知道是不是这样。 人们会怎么说他？ 他的朋友在背后议论他吗？ 他不愿意去想那件事。 但梅根的话让他想起了丢失的钱。 埃文从未亲眼看到斯科特拿钱，但他告诉了所有人——保罗、瑞安、亚当和杰克——斯科特拿了钱。

And they'd all believed him, because... well, because it was true! Evan was sure of it. "You have to know Scott," Evan said, shaking his head again. But he could hear his mother's voice: Rumors are like pigeons. They fly everywhere and make a mess wherever they go.

他们都相信了他，因为…… 好吧，因为这是真的！埃文对此很有把握。 “你必须认识斯科特，”埃文说，又摇了摇头。 但他能听到母亲的声音：谣言就像鸽子。 他们到处飞，走到哪里就弄得一团糟。