Chapter 12

Chapter 12 A Fair Fight Evan ran toward the bridge, stumbling in the deepening darkness. On the other side, he could see someone running toward him, but the light was so dim, he couldn't tell who it was. The person was running as if a wild animal were chasing it, arms clawing madly at the air, legs galloping down the hill toward the bridge. Evan had to stop abruptly at the bridge to prevent a collision. That's when he saw it was Maxwell. But Maxwell was supposed to be with Jessie. Where was Jessie? Who had screamed? What broke the glass? "Maxwell, what happened?" Evan shouted, but Maxwell wasn't stopping. He barreled over the bridge, running past Evan as if Evan didn't

埃文朝桥跑去，在越来越深的黑暗中跌跌撞撞。 在另一边，他看到有人向他跑来，但光线太暗了，他看不出是谁。 那人跑得飞快，就像一只野兽在追赶他，双臂疯狂地向空中抓来抓去，双腿疾驰而下，朝桥那边奔去。 埃文不得不在桥边突然停车，以防相撞。 这时他才发现是麦克斯韦。 但麦克斯韦应该和杰西在一起。 杰西在哪里？是谁在尖叫？ 什么打破了玻璃？“麦克斯韦尔，发生了什么事？”埃文喊道，但麦克斯韦尔并没有停下来。 他飞快地过了桥，从埃文身边跑过，就好像埃文不知道似的

even exist. "Stop! Stop!" Evan yelled, but it seemed like Maxwell never heard him. He ran up the hill and into the woods, and then he was out of sight. Evan turned and raced over the bridge and up the hill where Maxwell had come from. There was a house up here, the old Jansen house. He saw that the lights were on, so he headed for the porch but then stopped. He heard voices. Coming from behind the barn. And one of them was Jessie's. When Evan rounded the back corner of the barn, he practically ran over his little sister. She was standing with her legs apart, buried halfway up to her knees in the deep snow, with both arms crooked at the elbow. In each hand, she held a rock the size of a baseball. In front of her were two boys. It took Evan just a split second to size them up. The bigger one looked to be just about Evan's size; the other one wasn't much smaller. When Jessie saw Evan,

甚至存在。“停!住手!”埃文喊道，但麦克斯韦似乎根本没听见。 他跑上山，跑进树林，然后就不见了。 埃文转身跑过桥，上了麦克斯韦尔来的那座小山。 这上面有栋房子，詹森家的老房子。 他看到灯亮着，就朝门廊走去，但又停了下来。 他听到了说话声。从谷仓后面传来。 其中一个是杰西的。 埃文在谷仓后面拐弯的时候，几乎从他的小妹妹身上碾过去了。 她两腿叉开站着，埋在深雪里，埋到膝盖的一半，双臂弯曲在肘部。 她的两只手各拿着一块棒球大小的石头。 在她前面有两个男孩。 埃文只花了一瞬间就把他们打量了一番。 较大的那只看上去和埃文差不多大；另一个也没小多少。 当杰西看到埃文时，

she took three quick steps backwards but kept the rocks held tightly in her fists. She'd been holding her own against the boys—that was Jessie!—but Evan could tell she was scared. "Hey!" Evan shouted, and took a step toward the boys. "Is this your brother?" shouted the older boy at Jessie. "He's not so big! We could beat him up with our hands tied behind our backs." The younger boy laughed and said, "Yeah!" "Come on, then," said Evan. He made a move toward the older boy, pushing his chest out and balling up his fists, but just then a rock landed on the ground right between them. "Stop it!" said Jessie. "Fighting is for morons!" "Yeah, like that moron who broke our window!" "He's not a moron. You're the morons! It's disgusting what you were doing!" "What is going on?" shouted Evan. "They were torturing a frog in there, Evan!"

她迅速后退了三步，但仍紧握着石头。 她一直在抵抗那些男孩子——那就是杰西！但埃文看得出她很害怕。 “嘿!”埃文喊道，朝孩子们走了一步。 “这是你哥哥吗？”大男孩朝杰西喊道。 “他没那么大！”我们可以把双手绑在背后痛打他一顿。” 小男孩笑着说：“是啊！”“那就来吧，”埃文说。 他朝那个大男孩走去，把他的胸膛鼓起，握紧拳头，但就在这时，一块石头落在了他们中间的地上。 “住手！”杰西说。“傻瓜才打架！”“是啊，就像那个打碎我们窗户的白痴！”“他不是白痴。 你们是白痴！你做的事太恶心了！”“发生什么事了？”埃文喊道。 “他们在里面折磨一只青蛙，埃文！”

Jessie said, and Evan could tell she was on the very edge of crying. "Maxwell and me were spying on them—" "Yeah, you were spying on us. On our property—" "So what! You should go to jail for what you did!" "You're the one who's going to jail! Trespassing. Spying. Breaking windows!" "Shut up!" Evan yelled, and everyone did. "Jessie, did you break the window?" "No. Maxwell broke the window. Because they had a frog tied up and were trying to pull its legs off. While it was still alive." Evan looked at the two boys, and suddenly they didn't seem to have anything to say. The older one looked at the ground. The younger one looked at the older one, and then he looked down at the ground, too. Evan shook his head. "That is sick. That is really, really sick." Evan was a tough kid who

杰西说，埃文看得出她快要哭了。 “麦克斯韦尔和我在监视他们——”“是啊，你在监视我们。 在我们家里——”“那又怎么样！你应该为你的所作所为进监狱！”“要进监狱的人是你！”非法侵入。 从事间谍活动。打破窗户!”“闭嘴!”埃文喊道，所有人都跟着喊。 “杰西，是你打破了窗户吗？”“没有。 麦克斯韦打破了窗户。因为他们绑了一只青蛙，想把它的腿扯下来。 趁它还活着的时候。” 埃文看了看两个男孩，突然他们似乎没有什么话要说了。 大一点的看着地面。 小的看了看大的，然后他也看了看地面。 埃文摇了摇头。“这太恶心了。 这真是太恶心了。” 埃文是个坚强的孩子

liked guts and gore as much as anyone. But the thought of hurting a real animal made his stomach turn. "It's our property. We can do whatever we want on it. And you're still trespassing." The older boy made a move toward Evan, and the younger one backed him up from behind. Evan stepped forward to show he wasn't afraid. But two of them at once. That was going to be hard, and Evan didn't have a lot of experience with fighting. He tightened his fists at his sides, wishing he had one of his friends from home. Paul or Jack or even Scott Spencer. It would be a fair fight if it were two against two. Wham. Another rock came sailing at them, and this time it hit the older boy in the shoulder. "Jeez, what are you doing?" he shouted. "You can't throw rocks." "Who says?" said Jessie. "Show me the rule book." Her voice sounded funny, and Evan could tell she was shaking. But there she was, standing

和其他人一样喜欢内脏和血腥。 但是一想到要伤害一只真正的动物，他就反胃了。 “这是我们的财产。我们可以在上面做任何想做的事。 你仍然是非法侵入。” 大一点的男孩向埃文走去，小一点的男孩从后面给他撑腰。 埃文走上前去，表示他并不害怕。 但是同时有两个。这将会很困难，而且埃文没有太多的战斗经验。 他握紧了自己的拳头，希望他身边有一个来自家乡的朋友。 保罗，杰克，甚至斯科特·斯宾塞。 如果是二对二，那将是一场公平的比赛。 重打。又有一块石头向他们飞来，这次击中了大男孩的肩膀。 “天哪，你在干什么？”他喊道。 “你不能扔石头。”“谁说的？”杰西说。 “给我看看规则手册。”她的声音听起来怪怪的，埃文看得出她在发抖。 但她就站在那里

up to those boys. Just like she'd stood up to Scott Spencer when she put him on trial for stealing the lemonade money. She might be the smallest fourth-grader in the world because she'd skipped a grade, but Jessie had bossed around the whole class. When it came to justice, she was fearless. Maybe this was going to be a fair fight after all. "Hold her down," said the older boy to the younger boy, and as soon as the smaller one took a step toward Jessie, Evan let loose. He shoved the younger boy so hard, the kid fell to the ground, then he turned on the older boy with both his hands up, ready to swing. The older boy quickly backed away. "Hey, calm down. It's no big deal," he said. "Jeez, you two are really a pain in the neck. Just take your stupid sister and get out of here." Evan kept his fists up in front of him, standing his ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that the younger brother was crying

由那些男孩决定。就像她在斯科特·斯宾塞因偷柠檬水的钱而受审时反抗他一样。 她可能是世界上最小的四年级学生，因为她跳过了一级，但杰西却对全班发号施令。 当涉及到正义时，她无所畏惧。 也许这将是一场公平的战斗。 “按住她，”大男孩对小男孩说，小男孩刚向杰西迈出一步，埃文就松开了。 他把小男孩推得太用力了，小男孩摔倒在地，然后他转向大男孩，举起双手，准备挥杆。 大男孩迅速后退。 “嘿，冷静点。没什么大不了的，”他说。 “天啊，你们两个真是个讨厌鬼。 带着你那愚蠢的妹妹滚出去吧。” 埃文把拳头举在身前，坚持着自己的立场。 从眼角的余光，他看到弟弟在哭