Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Accused accused (accused), n. A person who has been charged with a crime or who is on trial for a crime. Jessie and Megan were walking to school, and they were late. Jessie had called Megan at 7:00 that morning, and again at 7:30, and then at 7:55 and 8:10, but Megan had still been late leaving her house. ("I was late because you kept calling me," she grumbled on the way out the door.) Ten whole minutes late. So now they were half running, half walking, trying to get to school before the bell rang. Normally, Jessie wouldn't have minded missing the before-school time on the playground, but to day she had things to do. On the playground. Before

第五章被控告的（被控告的）； 被指控犯罪的人或因犯罪而受审的人 杰西和梅根走路去上学，她们迟到了。 那天早上7点，杰西给梅根打了电话，7点半又打了一次，7点55分和8点10分又打了一次，但梅根出门还是迟到了。 （“我迟到是因为你一直打电话给我，”她在出门的时候抱怨道。）整整晚了十分钟。 所以现在他们半跑半走，试图在下课铃响之前赶到学校。 通常，杰西不会介意错过上学前在操场上的时间，但今天她有事情要做。 在操场上。之前

school. With no grownups around. "C'mon, c'mon," she said to Megan. Megan's legs were longer than Jessie's, but Megan was slow because her mailbag kept banging into her knees. "Why do we need to get there so early?" asked Megan. She was loping along, about ten feet behind Jessie. "You'll see when we get there. Keep running, keep running." "Better hurry, girls," said Darlene when they got to the crosswalk. "I heard the first bell." Jessie and Megan speed-walked across the street. Running wasn't allowed. "Oh, no!" said Jessie when they rounded the corner and caught sight of the playground. "They're already lining up. Come on!" By the time Jessie and Megan ran onto the blacktop, the entire fourth grade was lined up, waiting for the signal to file into school. The girls should have gone to the end of the line, but Jessie marched right up to the middle, where Scott Spencer

学校。没有大人在身边。 “来吧，来吧，”她对梅金说。 梅格恩的腿比杰西的长，但梅格恩走得很慢，因为她的邮袋一直撞在她的膝盖上。 “我们为什么要这么早到那儿？”梅金问。 她大步走着，跟在杰西后面大约十英尺。 “我们到那儿你就知道了。 继续跑，继续跑。” “姑娘们，最好快点，”当她们走到人行横道时，达琳说。 “我听到第一声铃响了。”杰西和梅根快步穿过街道。 跑步是不允许的。“哦，不！”当他们转过拐角，看到操场时，杰西说。 “他们已经在排队了。 来吧!”杰西和梅根跑上柏油路的时候，整个四年级的学生已经排好了队，等待着进入学校的信号。 女孩们应该走到队伍的最后，但杰西径直走到队伍的中间，斯科特·斯宾塞在那里

was trying to knock Paul's baseball cap off his head. Evan was standing farther up, bouncing the class basketball. He was Equipment Manager this week, which meant he was responsible for bringing in all the playground stuff—balls, jump ropes, Frisbees. "Hey," said Scott, noticing Jessie. "The end of the line is back there!" "So?" said Jessie, rummaging in her backpack. "So no cutting," said Scott. "Isn't that the rule?" Even Jessie could tell he was making fun of her. "I'm not cutting," said Jessie, pulling a piece of paper from her backpack and holding it out in front of her. "I'm serving you with a warrant for your arrest." A few of the boys in front of Scott turned around, and some of the girls at the end of the line moved up so they could see, too. "You're what?" asked Scott. "Here, take it," said Jessie, shoving the piece of paper closer to him. Scott reached out and grabbed it like he was going to rip it to shreds.

试图把保罗的棒球帽从他的头上撞下来。 埃文站得更高了，正在弹着班级篮球。 这周他是设备经理，这意味着他要负责把操场上所有的东西带进来——球、跳绳、飞盘。 “嘿，”斯科特说，注意到杰西。 “队伍的尽头在后面！”“那又怎样？”杰西说着，在背包里翻找着。 “所以不要剪，”斯科特说。 “这不是规定吗？”就连杰西都能看出他在取笑她。 “我没有剪，”杰西说着，从背包里抽出一张纸，举到她面前。 “我给你发了一张逮捕令。” 站在斯科特前面的几个男孩转过身来，排在队伍最后的一些女孩也走到前面，这样她们也能看到。 “你是什么？”斯科特问。 “给，拿着。”杰西说着，把那张纸推到他身边。 斯科特伸手抓住它，好像要把它撕成碎片。

"That's it!" shouted Jessie. "You touched it. That means you've been served. Now you have to appear in court." Jessie was pretty sure she knew what she was doing. She had been reading a booklet called "Trial by Jury: The American Legal System in a Nutshell." It was one of the public service booklets that her mom wrote as part of her business as a public relations consultant. Scott immediately dropped the paper on the ground like it was on fire. "You can't do that!" "Oh, yes I can," said Jessie. "If you touch it, that means you've been served. You can't get out of it now." "Get out of what? What are you even talking about?" By now, everyone in the line had turned to watch. Evan had stopped dribbling the basketball, but he didn't leave his spot in line. Jessie picked up the arrest warrant from the ground and read it out loud. She had written it using the calligraphy pen her grandmother had given her for her last birthday.

“就是它！”杰西喊道。 “你碰了它。这意味着你已经被送达了。 现在你得出庭了。” 杰西很确定她知道自己在做什么。 她一直在读一本名为《陪审团审判：美国法律制度概览》的小册子。 这是她妈妈写的一本公共服务小册子，是她作为公共关系顾问工作的一部分。 斯科特立刻把报纸扔在地上，就像它着火了一样。 “你不能这么做！”“哦，是的，我能，”杰西说。 “如果你碰了它，那就意味着你被招待了。 你现在逃不掉了。” “摆脱什么？”你到底在说什么？”这时，队伍里的每个人都转过身来观看。 埃文已经停止了运球，但他没有离开他的位置。 杰西从地上捡起逮捕令，大声读了出来。 这是她用祖母送给她的去年生日礼物——书法笔写的。

Warrant for the Arrest of Scott Spencer Scott Spencer, you are hereby charged with the Crime of Stealing $208 from the pocket of Evan Treski's Shorts on September 5th of this year. On Friday you are to appear in Court to plead your case. There, a Jury of your peers will decide if you are guilty or not. If you are found guilty She got as far as that when Scott interrupted. "You gotta be kidding me," he said, crossing his arms and laughing. "You're joking, right?" Jessie shook her head. Not a single person in the fourth-grade line was talking. Everyone was watching Jessie and Scott. She continued reading, "'If you are found guilty—'" "Are you saying," said Scott, his eyes narrowing and a scowl appearing on his face, "that I stole

斯科特·斯宾塞逮捕令斯科特·斯宾塞，你被控于今年9月5日从埃文·特雷斯基的短裤口袋里偷08美元。 星期五你要出庭为你的案子辩护。 在那里，由你的同伴组成的陪审团将决定你是否有罪。 如果你被判有罪她刚说到这，斯科特就打断了她。 “你一定是在跟我开玩笑吧，”他说着，交叉着双臂大笑起来。 “你在开玩笑吧？”杰西摇了摇头。 四年级队列里没有一个人说话。 每个人都在看着杰西和斯科特。 她继续读，“‘如果你被判有罪——’”“你是说，”斯科特说，他眯起眼睛，一脸怒容，“我偷了东西

money?" Jessie took a deep breath. She knew it was a big deal to accuse someone like that. "Yes, I am," she said. There were murmurs among the fourth-graders. "What about you?" asked Scott, turning toward Evan and taking a few steps forward. He reached out to poke Evan in the chest, but Evan swatted his hand away before it ever touched him. "Are you saying I stole your money?" Jessie looked at Evan. He dribbled the basketball twice, then held it in his hand, staring at it. Suddenly, Jesse realized that she should have talked to Evan before doing any of this. He was the one who'd been the victim of the crime. He was the one who would still have to play with Scott every day at recess. He was the one who would have to testify against him in a court of law. But it was too late now. Everyone was watching them. Everyone was waiting to see what would happen next.

钱?”杰西深吸了一口气。 她知道那样指责别人是件大事。 “是的，我是，”她说。四年级的学生们在窃窃私语。 “那你呢？”斯科特转向埃文，向前走了几步，问道。 他伸手去捅埃文的胸口，但埃文还没来得及碰他就把他的手拍走了。 “你是说我偷了你的钱？”杰西看着埃文。 他运球两次，然后拿在手里，盯着它看。 突然，杰西意识到她应该在做这一切之前先和埃文谈谈。 他才是这次犯罪的受害者。 每天课间休息时，他还得和斯科特一起玩。 他是那个必须在法庭上指证他的人。 但现在已经太晚了。每个人都在看着他们。 每个人都在等着看接下来会发生什么。