Chapter 4

Chapter 4 That Bad Feeling Evan stared in amazement. The hole in the wall was gone. He and Pete had worked all day, first ripping out the damaged studs and replacing them with clean, dry wood, then trimming the old boards so that the ragged hole became a neat rectangle, then measuring and cutting and nailing in the new sheets of plywood. There was still the dry wall to hang and the outside shingles to replace, but the hole was gone. Evan had never felt such a sense of accomplishment in his life, not even when he and Jessie had won the Labor Day Poster Contest at the end of the summer. Now he was sweeping up the sawdust that lay as thick as a carpet under his feet. Pete said no carpenter worth his salt leaves a mess behind at the end of the day. So Evan was sweeping up the

第四章那种不好的感觉埃文吃惊地瞪着眼睛。 墙上的洞不见了。 他和皮特干了一整天，首先把损坏的螺柱拔出来，换上干净、干燥的木头，然后修整旧木板，把那个破破烂烂的洞变成一个整齐的长方形，然后测量、切割和钉上新的胶合板。 还有干墙要挂，外面的瓦片要换，但洞已经不见了。 埃文一生中从未有过这样的成就感，甚至在夏末他和杰西赢得劳动节海报比赛的时候也是如此。 现在他正在清扫脚下像地毯一样厚的锯末。 皮特说称职的木匠都不会在一天结束的时候留下烂摊子。 所以埃文在打扫

sawdust and bent nails and small chips of wood, while Pete hauled the bigger scraps out to the truck. But every once in a while, Evan stopped and held the broom still in his hands so that he could admire the work they had done. He couldn't wait to show his mom when she got back from the hospital. He was dumping the last pile of sawdust into the large gray plastic barrel when he heard loud clomping on the front porch, followed by the front door opening. Evan walked into the living room just as Jessie tried to step over the threshold wearing her snowshoes. "Evan! The bell is gone!" She tripped over the doormat and fell face first into the living room, landing hard on her hands and knees. Behind her was an older boy Evan had never seen before. He had funny-looking cross-country shoe-boots on his feet, and he was carrying a pair of ski poles. Evan guessed he was at least twelve, maybe thirteen.

锯屑、弯曲的钉子和小木屑，而皮特则把大块的碎片拖到卡车上。 但每隔一段时间，埃文就会停下来，把扫帚仍然拿在手里，这样他就可以欣赏他们所做的工作。 当他妈妈从医院回来时，他迫不及待地想给她看。 他正在把最后一堆锯末倒进那个灰色的大塑料桶里，突然听到前廊上传来很响的撞门声，接着是前门开了。 埃文走进客厅时，杰西正穿着雪鞋试图跨过门槛。 “埃文!铃响了！”她被门垫绊了一下，脸朝下摔进了客厅，双手和膝盖重重地着地。 在她身后是一个埃文从未见过的大男孩。 他脚上穿着一双滑稽的越野靴，手里拿着一根滑雪杖。 埃文猜他至少十二岁，也许十三岁。

"I can't get these off," said Jessie. She had rolled onto her back in the living room and was holding her feet up in the air. The snowshoes were dripping clumps of snow onto her face and the floor. "Help me, Evan!" "Oh, for Pete's sake," he said. He crossed over to where she was squirming and grabbed hold of one of the snowshoes. The boy had a funny smile on his face and was rocking back and forth, one foot out in front of the other. "Hey," said Evan, as a way of introducing himself. "You don't see that every day," said the boy, looking at Jessie, who looked like a ladybug caught on her back. "Yeah, actually, I do," said Evan. Jessie was always tripping over something or getting caught on something or dragging something along behind her. Evan unclipped one snowshoe and then the other and flipped them off Jessie's feet. "The bell is gone, Evan! Gone!" "What do you mean? Grandma's bell?"

“我脱不下来，”杰西说。 她在客厅里翻了个身，把脚举在空中。 雪鞋把一片片的雪滴到她脸上和地板上。 “救救我，埃文！”“哦，看在上帝的份上，”他说。 他走到她扭动的地方，抓住一只雪鞋。 男孩脸上挂着滑稽的微笑，一只脚伸到另一只脚前面，前后摇晃着。 “嘿，”埃文说，作为一种自我介绍的方式。 “这可不是每天都能看到的，”男孩看着杰西说，她看起来就像一只被困在背上的瓢虫。 “是的，事实上，我喜欢，”埃文说。 杰西总是被什么东西绊倒，或者被什么东西抓住，或者拖着什么东西走在她身后。 埃文解开一只雪鞋，然后又解开另一只，把它们从杰西的脚上脱掉。 “铃响了，埃文！”不见了!”“你是什么意思？” 奶奶的钟?”

"Yes! The New Year's Eve bell!" "It can't be gone. You must have climbed the wrong hill." "No, we didn't. The wooden post was there, just like always, but the bell is gone!" Evan shook his head. "That thing weighs—I don't know—a hundred pounds. There's no way someone could just walk off with it. And besides, who would want to take it?" "Who wouldn't want to take it?" Jessie asked, bouncing from one foot to the other. "It's an antique and it's famous—" "It's not famous, Jessie," said Evan, shaking his head. "Just 'cause it's in that book doesn't make it famous." "Well, it's worth two thousand five hundred dollars!" "Is not!" "I'll show you!" Jessie ran to the couch where she'd left The Big Book of Bells that morning and pulled out a letter that was tucked into the back

“是啊!除夕钟声敲响！”“它不可能消失。 你一定是爬错山了。” “不，我们没有。木桩还在，像往常一样，但是钟不见了！”埃文摇了摇头。 “那东西有——我不知道——一百磅重吧。 不可能有人就这么拿走了。 再说，谁会想要它呢？”“谁不想要呢？”杰西一边问，一边从一只脚跳到另一只脚。 “这是古董，而且很有名——”“不出名，杰西，”埃文摇着头说。 “仅仅因为它在那本书里，并不能使它出名。” “嗯，它值两千五百美元！”“不是!”“我给你看！”杰西跑到那天早上她把《钟声大书》放在那里的沙发上，拿出塞在沙发后面的一封信

cover of the book. She handed it to Evan, who read it slowly, not understanding all the words but getting the general idea. About five years ago, Grandma had had the bell appraised to find out how much it was worth, and Jessie was right: the letter said the bell was worth $2,500. "Wow," said Evan. Maxwell bobbed his head several times, rocking back and forth on his feet. "We've got to find it," said Jessie, pulling on Evan's arm. "New Year's Eve is in three days! If we don't ring the bell on New Year's Eve..." Jessie couldn't get the words out, and Evan knew what she was feeling. It was hard to imagine not ringing the bell on New Year's Eve. They had always done that, for as long as he could remember. Evan looked at the boy and then back at his sister. "Jessie...?" He half pointed at Maxwell, hoping his sister would get the hint, but as usual, she didn't. "Uh, my name's Evan," he said to the

书的封面。她把它递给埃文，埃文慢慢地读着，虽然不能理解所有的单词，但大致了解了其中的意思。 大约五年前，奶奶让人给这只钟估价，想知道它值多少钱，杰西是对的：信上说这只钟值500美元。 “哇，”埃文说。麦克斯韦尔晃了几下脑袋，用脚前后摇晃着。 “我们得找到它。”杰西拉着埃文的胳膊说。 “还有三天就是除夕了！”如果我们在除夕夜不敲钟……” 杰西说不出话来，埃文知道她的感受。 很难想象在除夕夜不敲响钟声。 从他记事起，他们就一直这样做。 埃文看了看男孩，然后又看了看他的妹妹。 “杰西……?”他半指了指麦克斯韦尔，希望他的妹妹能明白他的意思，但和往常一样，她没有明白。 “呃，我叫埃文，”他对她说

boy, sticking out his hand the way grownups did. "How do you do," said the boy, shaking Evan's hand. "My name's Maxwell. I'm smart!" Then he rocked forward on his left foot and shook his right hand in the air. Evan looked at him closely. "Maxwell lives in the yellow house. The one with the big rock out front," said Jessie. "He knows Grandma really well." "Yep," said Maxwell. "I come here all the time." Maxwell was rocking back and forth steadily now, snapping his right hand in the air with each forward motion. "We watch TV! And we do puzzles. And we feed the birds. And I'm smart! That's what Mrs. Joyce says. She says, 'Maxwell, you are smart!'" There was a moment's silence, and then Evan asked, "What grade are you in?" "Sixth grade," said Maxwell. "Hardy Middle School. Grade six." "Mom's home!" shouted Jessie, running for the front door. Evan had heard it, too—the old

孩子，像大人一样伸出手来。 “你好，”男孩握着埃文的手说。 “我叫麦克斯韦尔。我聪明!”然后他用左脚向前摇晃，右手在空中摇晃。 埃文仔细地看着他。 “麦克斯韦尔住在黄色的房子里。 前面有一块大石头的那个，”杰西说。 “他真的很了解奶奶。” “是的，”麦克斯韦尔说。“我经常来这里。” 麦克斯韦现在正稳定地前后摇晃着，每向前移动一次，他的右手就在空中啪地一声。 “我们看电视！”我们做拼图。 我们喂鸟。而且我很聪明！乔伊斯太太是这么说的。 她说：“麦克斯韦尔，你很聪明！’”沉默了一会儿，埃文问道：“你读几年级？”“六年级，”麦克斯韦尔说。 哈代中学。六年级。” “妈妈回来了！”杰西喊道，跑向前门。 埃文也听到了——老的