Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Due Diligence due diligence (due diligence), n. Taking the time and making the effort to do a reasonably-good job at something; the opposite of negligence. "Can we take a break now?" asked Megan, sitting up on her knees. She held the blue marker in her hand as if it were a lighted candle. Her fingers were covered with ink in all colors, and she had a pencil stuck through the base of her ponytail. Jessie was lying on her stomach with her whole box of colored pencils spread out in front of her. There was no way they could take a break now! The trial was tomorrow. There was still so much left to do.

第七章尽职调查（Due Diligence） 花时间和精力把某件事做得还算不错；疏忽的反义词。 “我们现在可以休息一下吗？”梅金问，跪着坐了起来。 她手里拿着蓝色的马克笔，仿佛它是一根点燃的蜡烛。 她的手指上沾满了各种颜色的墨水，她的马尾辫底部插着一支铅笔。 杰西趴在地上，整盒彩色铅笔摊开在她面前。 现在他们不可能休息了！审判就在明天。 还有很多事情要做。

She'd already interviewed the five witnesses who were going to testify—Paul, Ryan, Kevin, Malik, and Jack—to find out exactly what they remembered about the day of the crime when they were at Jack's house. She'd written out index cards for David Kirkorian that told him exactly what he was supposed to say during the trial. WHEN! THE TRIAL BEGINS: You bang your gavel and say: "All rise! Court is in session. The Honorable David P. kirkoraian presiding." IF SOMEBODY TALKS WHO'S NOT SUPPOSED TO: You say: "Order in the court! Order in the court! If

她已经采访了五位将要出庭作证的证人——保罗、瑞安、凯文、马利克和杰克——以了解他们在杰克家时对案发当天的确切记忆。 她已经为大卫·柯克兰写好了索引卡，上面确切地告诉他在审判中应该说些什么。 当!审判开始了：你敲着木槌说：“全体起立！法庭正在开庭。 尊敬的大卫·p·柯克兰主持。” 如果有人说了不该说的话：你说：“法庭保持秩序！”法庭肃静！如果

you're not quiet, I will hold you in contempt!" WHEN YOU SWEAR IN A WITNESS: You say: "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" Now she was finishing up coloring the map that showed where each person would stand or sit during the trial. And she still had to write her closing argument! Jessie felt—for the first time in her life—as if she was about to take a test and she hadn't studied long enough. "Let's just work a little longer," she said. "Are you almost done with the nametags?" Megan showed Jessie the twelve jury nametags,

你要是不安静，我就要藐视你！”当你在证人面前宣誓时：你说：“你是否发誓所言属实，全部属实，绝无虚言？”现在，她正在给地图上色，地图上显示了每个人在审判期间站着或坐着的位置。 她还得写结案陈词！杰西有生以来第一次感到，好像她即将参加一场考试，而她学习的时间还不够长。 “我们再多干一会儿吧，”她说。 “你的名牌快做好了吗？”梅根给杰西看了十二个陪审团的名牌，

the five witness nametags,

五个证人的名牌，

and the judge's nametag. "Those are good," said Jessie. "Now you just have to do the ones for the audience." Megan groaned. "This is why Evan calls you Obsessie Jessie." Jessie hated that nickname. She hated all nicknames! Why had Evan told Megan about that? "I am not obsessed. I just work hard. It's called due"—she thought for a minute, but couldn't come up with the name—"something." She scrounged under the papers that were scattered on the floor and

还有法官的名牌。“那些很好，”杰西说。 “现在你只需要为观众做那些。” 梅金呻吟着。“这就是为什么埃文叫你痴迷杰西。” 杰西讨厌这个绰号。 她讨厌所有的绰号！埃文为什么要告诉梅根这件事？ “我没有痴迷。我只是努力工作。 它叫做“due”——她想了一会儿，但想不出名字——“什么东西。” 她翻遍了散落在地板上的文件

found "Trial by Jury," the booklet her mother had written. She started flipping through the pages. "But we've been doing this for hours!" wailed Megan. "I want to go outside." "Due diligence!" said Jessie. "That's what it's called. Doing your job so that later, no one can blame you and say you didn't work hard enough." "Well, due diligence is BORING!" said Megan. She picked up the ruler that Jessie had been using to draw straight lines on her map and began to balance it upright in the palm of her hand. She was pretty good at it. Jessie was impressed. Suddenly, Megan asked, "Do you think you can really prove that Scott stole Evan's money?" Jessie felt her throat close up for an instant. That was the question she was most afraid of. That was the question that had kept running through her mind last night as she lay in bed, trying to fall asleep. "I don't know. I'd better be able to." Jessie imagined standing up in front of the whole class and apologizing to Scott. It made her feel like throwing

找到了她母亲写的小册子《陪审团审判》。 她开始翻动书页。 “可我们已经干了好几个小时了！”梅金哭着说。 “我想出去。”“尽职！”杰西说。 “这就是它的名字。做好自己的工作，这样以后就没有人会责备你，说你不够努力了。” “嗯，尽职调查很无聊！”梅金说。 她拿起杰西一直用来在地图上画直线的尺子，开始在手掌上把它竖起来。 她做得很好。 杰西被打动了。突然，梅金问道：“你觉得你真的能证明斯科特偷了埃文的钱吗？”杰西感到喉咙哽住了。 这是她最害怕的问题。 这就是昨晚她躺在床上想入睡时脑子里一直在想的问题。 “我不知道。我最好能做到。” 杰西想象着站在全班同学面前向斯科特道歉。 这使她想要投掷