Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Impartial impartial (impartial), adj. Treating everyone the same; not taking sides in an argument; fair and just. At recess, Jessie didn't waste any time. Evan watched as she pulled index cards, one by one, out of a big envelope. All the fourth-graders crowded around. "You're the plaintiff," she said to Evan, and handed him a green index card that said PLAINTIFF on it. "That means you're the victim of the crime." Evan studied the card, then stuck it in his back pocket. A kids' court sounded like a crazy idea to him. A crazy Jessie idea. But he was used to those, and this one might get him a new Xbox 20/20, not to mention the satisfaction of proving Scott's guilt in front of

第六章不偏不倚的，公正的 对每个人都一视同仁；不站队的：在争论中不站队的；公平公正。 课间休息时，杰西没有浪费任何时间。 埃文看着她从一个大信封里一张一张地抽出索引卡。 所有的四年级学生都围了过来。 “你是原告，”她对埃文说，递给他一张绿色的索引卡，上面写着原告。 “这意味着你是犯罪的受害者。” 埃文仔细研究了这张卡片，然后把它放进了后口袋。 儿童法庭对他来说是个疯狂的主意。 疯狂的杰西主意。但他已经习惯了，这次可能会给他买个新的Xbox 20/20，更不用说当着斯科特的面证明他有罪的满足感了

everybody. For that, he was willing to give it a try. "I'm Evan's lawyer," said Jessie, and she gave herself a purple index card that said LAWYER FOR THE PLAINTIFF. Then she turned to Scott. "You're the defendant, which means you're the one who's on trial." She gave him a yellow index card that said DEFENDANT on it. Then she started to hand out five orange index cards. "Hey!" shouted Scott. "Don't I get a lawyer?" "Hold on! You'll get one in a minute," said Jessie sharply. She continued handing out cards. "I want Ryan," said Scott. "Sorry," said Ryan, holding up an orange card. "I'm a witness." "Then I want Paul." "He's a witness, too," said Jessie, handing Paul the last orange card. "Everyone who was at Jack's house on the day of the crime is a witness." "Well, then who's going to be my lawyer?" asked Scott, crumpling his DEFENDANT card. Jessie ignored his question. She held up a purple

每一个人。为此，他愿意试一试。 “我是埃文的律师，”杰西说，她给自己准备了一张紫色的索引卡，上面写着原告的律师。 然后她转向斯科特。“你是被告，也就是说受审的人是你。” 她给了他一张黄色的索引卡，上面写着被告。 然后她开始分发五张橙色的索引卡。 “嘿！”斯科特喊道。“我不用请律师吗？”“等一下!你马上就会得到一个。”杰西严厉地说。 她继续发卡片。 “我想要瑞恩，”斯科特说。 “对不起，”瑞安说，举起一张橙色的卡片。 “我是证人。”“那么我需要保罗。” “他也是证人，”杰西说着，把最后一张橙色卡片递给保罗。 “案发当天在杰克家的每个人都是证人。” “那么，谁来做我的律师呢？”斯科特揉皱了他的被告卡，问道。 杰西没有理会他的问题。 她举起一只紫色的手

card. "Megan, you're on the jury," she said. Evan's heart jumped. There was one vote he could count on. "When's the trial?" said Megan. "After school," said Jessie. "On Friday." Megan shook her head. "I think we're going away this weekend." "You can't miss the trial!" said Jessie. Evan wanted to shout the same thing, but he kept his mouth shut. "I'll talk to my mom," said Megan. "Maybe we can leave later. But you'd better give this card to somebody else." She handed the purple card back to Jessie. "Oh, all right," said Jessie, sounding disappointed. "Take one of these." She handed Megan a white card that said AUDIENCE on it. It only took Jessie another minute to hand out the twelve JURY cards and the rest of the AUDIENCE cards. All the audience members were girls because all the witnesses were boys and the jury, as Jessie explained to everyone, had to be fifty-fifty.

卡。“梅根，你是陪审团成员，”她说。 埃文的心狂跳起来。有一票是他可以指望的。 “审判是什么时候？”梅金问。 “放学后，”杰西说。 “星期五”。梅金摇了摇头。 “我想我们这个周末要出去。” “你不能错过审判！”杰西说。 埃文也想喊同样的话，但他没吭声。 “我要和我妈妈谈谈，”梅金说。 “也许我们可以晚一点走。 但你最好把这张卡片给别人。” 她把那张紫色的卡片还给了杰西。 “哦，好吧。”杰西说，听起来很失望。 “拿一个吧。”她递给梅金一张白色的卡片，上面写着“听众”。 杰西只花了一分钟就把12张陪审团的卡片和其他观众的卡片发了出去。 所有的观众都是女孩，因为所有的证人都是男孩，而陪审团，正如杰西向大家解释的那样，必须是一半一半。

Evan looked around. It was weird, the way all the kids were going along with Jessie's idea. Didn't they know this was all fake? And how did Jesse know all this legal stuff? How did she always know things he didn't know? Jessie rounded up the six girls who held white audience cards. Then she turned to Scott. "You can pick anybody from the audience to be your lawyer. Technically, we don't even need the audience. No offense," said Jessie, turning to the girls. "I don't want a girl lawyer," said Scott. "Suit yourself," said Jessie, shrugging. "But don't come back and complain you weren't offered legal counsel." "A bunch of girls!" said Scott. "Some offer! I'll be my own lawyer. I'll defend myself." He turned to Jessie. "And I'll beat you at it, too!" he said. That was just like Scott, thought Evan. Always thinking he was the best. Always the kid who had the best stuff. Who took the best vacations. Who had everything.

埃文环顾四周。很奇怪，所有的孩子都赞同杰西的想法。 难道他们不知道这都是假的吗？ 杰西是怎么知道这些法律的？ 她怎么总是知道他不知道的事？ 杰西把六个拿着白人观众卡的女孩围了起来。 然后她转向斯科特。“你可以从观众中挑选任何一个人来做你的律师。 严格来说，我们根本不需要观众。 无意冒犯，”杰西转身对女孩们说。 “我不想要一个女律师，”斯科特说。 “随你便。”杰西耸耸肩说。 “但不要回来抱怨没有为你提供法律顾问。” “一群女孩！”斯科特说。 “一些提供!我自己当律师。 我会为自己辩护的。”他转向杰西。 “我也会打败你的！”他说。 这就是斯科特，埃文想。 总是认为他是最好的。 总是那个拥有最好东西的孩子。 谁度过了最棒的假期。 他拥有一切。

"Good," said Jessie. "Defend yourself." There was just one more index card in her envelope. Evan watched as she pulled it out slowly. The card was red. It had one word on it. Jessie looked around like she was making a very important decision, but Evan knew she'd already decided who would get that red card. Jessie never left anything until the last minute. "The judge is going to be... David Kirkorian." There was dead silence. Then Paul shouted out, "Are you kidding me?" "He can't be a judge!" said Ryan. "He collects human bones!" "I do not!" said David, turning bright red but stepping up to Jessie and taking the card out of her hand. Then everyone started talking at once. David, meanwhile, held up the red card and shouted, "Ha, ha! I'm the judge! I'm the judge!" They made so much noise, the duty teacher came over to see what was going on with class 4–0. That quieted everyone

“很好，”杰西说。“保护自己”。 她的信封里只有一张索引卡。 埃文看着她慢慢地把它拔出来。 卡片是红色的。上面只有一个字。 杰西环顾四周，好像她正在做一个非常重要的决定，但埃文知道她已经决定了谁会得到红牌。 杰西从来不会留东西到最后一刻。 “法官将会…… 大卫Kirkorian。”一片死寂。 保罗大声说：“你开玩笑吗？”“他不能当法官！”瑞恩说。 “他收集人骨！”“我不知道！”大卫说着，脸涨得通红，但他走到杰西面前，从她手里拿过那张卡片。 然后大家立刻开始说话。 与此同时，大卫举起红牌，喊道：“哈，哈！我是法官！我是法官！”他们太吵了，值班老师过来看看4-0班发生了什么事。 这使大家安静了下来

down. Nobody wanted the duty teacher getting involved. One of the unspoken rules on the playground was Never tell the duty teacher what's really going on. "Why him?" asked Paul after the duty teacher walked away. "Because he's the only one in the whole class who's impartial," said Jessie. "He's not friends with Evan or Scott. He'll be fair. He won't play favorites. And that's the most important thing about a judge. A judge has to treat everyone the same." David held up the red card in one hand and placed the other one over his heart. "I solemnly swear that I'll be a fair judge," he said. "Good," said Jessie. But Evan couldn't believe it. Who was going to listen to a kid like David Kirkorian? For Evan, the day went downhill from there. All afternoon in class, they worked on things that Evan hated: math fact drills, spelling rules, and writers' workshop. Then Mrs. Overton discovered that one of

下来。没人想让值班老师掺和进来。 操场上的一条潜规则是永远不要告诉值班老师发生了什么事。 “为什么是他？”值班老师走开后，保罗问道。 “因为他是全班唯一一个不偏不倚的人，”杰西说。 “他和埃文或斯科特都不是朋友。 他会很公平的。他不会偏心。 这是法官最重要的一点。 法官必须对所有人一视同仁。” 大卫一手举起红牌，另一只手捂着心口。 他说：“我庄严宣誓，我会是一个公正的法官。” “很好，”杰西说。但埃文不敢相信。 谁会听大卫·柯克兰这样的孩子的话呢？ 对埃文来说，这一天从那时起就开始走下坡路了。 整个下午，他们都在做埃文讨厌的事情：数学事实练习、拼写规则和作家研讨会。 然后奥弗顿夫人发现其中一个