Chapter 18

Chapter 18 Kill kill (v) to not publish a story or newspaper that is ready (or close to ready) for publication It didn't take a super detective to figure out that Mrs. Overton was not going to let Jessie hand out her newspaper to the class. Jessie didn't understand why, but there was something about this love stuff that made people act crazy. One look at Mrs. Overton's face when she'd heard "love survey" told Jessie that Mrs. Overton was going to put an end to this extra credit project before it even happened. She was going to kill the Valentine's Day issue of The 4-O Forum, and Jessie couldn't bear that thought. All her hard work—counting up the surveys, writing the

不发表一篇准备好（或接近准备好）出版的文章或报纸。即使不是一个超级侦探也能看出奥弗顿夫人不打算让杰西把报纸分发给全班。 杰西不明白为什么，但爱情的东西总能让人发疯。 当杰西听到“爱情调查”时，她看了一眼奥弗顿夫人的脸，就知道奥弗顿夫人打算在这个额外学分项目发生之前就结束它。 她要把《四零论坛》的情人节版给毁了，杰西受不了这个想法。 她所有的辛勤工作统计调查，写

articles, digging through the boys' trash—all for nothing. She would never have another front-page story like this one. A story that everybody would want to read. It was her one chance to be a star reporter, just like her dad. Even if her statistics were a little bit off, it was now or never. "Well," said Jessie to the empty classroom. "I guess it's time to break some eggs." So while Mrs. Overton met with the principal to try to figure out what to do about the canceled assembly, Jessie walked out to the hallway and retrieved the bag of newspapers from her locker. Then she put on her hat, scarf, mittens, coat, and boots and headed out to the playground. I'll be like one of those old-fashioned newsboys, she thought, and imagined standing in the middle of the playground, shouting, "Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" As she approached the picnic tables, Jessie surveyed the scene. Almost half the class was playing a sloppy game of soccer on the far end of

写文章，翻孩子们的垃圾，都是白干。 她再也不会有这样的头条新闻了。 一个人人都想读的故事。 这是她成为明星记者的唯一机会，就像她爸爸一样。 即使她的统计数据有一点偏差，但这是机不可失的机会。 “嗯，”杰西对空荡荡的教室说。 “我想是时候打破一些鸡蛋了。” 因此，当奥弗顿夫人与校长会面，试图弄清楚如何处理取消的集会时，杰西走到走廊上，从储物柜里拿出那袋报纸。 然后她戴上帽子、围巾、连指手套、外套和靴子，向操场走去。 我会像那些老式的报童一样，她想，想象着自己站在操场中央，大喊：“额外的！额外的!好好读吧！”杰西走近野餐桌时，打量着四周。 几乎有一半的学生在远端踢着一场草率的足球

the playground. There didn't seem to be real teams; it looked like everyone was running over the packed-down snow, chasing after the ball just to keep warm. About ten kids were swarming over the Green Machine, which was the large painted metal climbing structure in the middle of the playground. The last four or five kids were on the swings, hanging on to the cold metal chains as if their mittens were frozen on solid. Except for David Kirkorian. He was walking around the perimeter of the playground by himself, which is what he usually did during recess. Jessie watched as Megan jumped off her swing and ran over to her. "Jessie!" said Megan. "What did you mean when you said a mystery was going to be solved? What mystery?" Jessie looked at Megan's face and could tell that she was worried. Worry was an easy feeling to spot. "The mystery of the candy hearts," said Jessie.

操场上。似乎没有真正的团队；看起来每个人都在压扁的雪地上奔跑，追逐球只是为了保暖。 大约有10个孩子蜂拥在“绿色机器”上，那是操场中央的一个大型彩绘金属攀爬设施。 最后四五个孩子在荡秋千，紧紧抓住冰冷的金属链，好像他们的手套被冻在了固体上。 除了大卫·柯克兰。 他独自绕着操场的外围走着，这是他在课间休息时经常做的事情。 杰西看着梅根从秋千上跳下来，跑向她。 “杰西！”梅金说。“你说要解开一个谜，是什么意思？” 什么神秘?”杰西看着梅金的脸，看得出她很担心。 忧虑是一种很容易察觉的感觉。 “心形糖果的神秘之处，”杰西说。

"I know who sent them." Megan stared back blankly, her mouth slightly open. After a minute, she asked, "Who?" "You! I finally figured it out. All the clues were there. But first I had to figure out that you were the one who wrote the message in the bathroom. As soon as I figured that out, then I knew that you were the one who gave the candy hearts." Megan shook her head. "How?" "Easy. The Mystery Candy-Giver wrote true messages on everyone's hearts. Evan's hearts said I LOVE YOU. They had to be from you because you love Evan." Jessie crossed her arms, the mystery solved. "Plus, you wrote GOOD IDEAS on my hearts, and that's what you wrote on my comment card at the end of last summer. Remember?" Jessie reached into her pocket and pulled out the comment card that she had saved so carefully for all these months.

“我知道是谁送的。”梅金茫然地盯着他，嘴巴微微张着。 过了一会儿，她问：“谁？”“你!我终于想通了。 所有的线索都在那里。但首先我得弄清楚是你在浴室里写的留言。 我一想明白，就知道是你送的心形糖果。” 梅金摇了摇头。“如何?”“简单。 神秘送糖人把真实的信息写在每个人的心里。 埃文的心在说我爱你。 肯定是你送的，因为你爱埃文。” 杰西抱着双臂，谜底解开了。 “另外，你在我心里写下了好主意，去年夏末你在我的评论卡上也是这么写的。 还记得吗?”杰西把手伸进口袋，拿出了她精心保存了几个月的评论卡。

You're a really nice person, and you have good ideas all the time. You're fun to be with. And I'm glad you're my friend, "And"—she raised her index finger like a wise philosopher—"your uncle owns a candy factory." Then Jessie smiled and held up a copy of the newspaper and showed Megan the front-page story. "It's all in there?" asked Megan, looking miserable. "Yep," said Jessie proudly. "Everyone's going to know—you're the one who gave them the candy! They're going to love you!" "Jessie! Don't you see? Everyone's going to know!" Megan's face went wobbly, and Jessie

你是个很好的人，你总是有好主意。 和你在一起很有趣。我很高兴你是我的朋友，“还有，”——她举起食指，像个睿智的哲学家——“你叔叔开了一家糖果工厂。” 杰西笑了笑，拿起一份报纸，给梅根看头版的故事。 “都在里面吗？”梅金问，看上去很痛苦。 “是的，”杰西自豪地说。 “每个人都会知道——是你给他们糖果的！”他们会喜欢你的！”“杰西!你还不明白吗？ 每个人都会知道的！”梅金的脸颤抖起来，杰西

noticed tears pooling in her eyes. Was Megan crying? Why would she cry? But before she could ask, Evan came barreling over. "Jessie, I need to talk to you. Alone." He grabbed Jessie's arm and started to pull her away, but stopped when Jessie said, "Megan's crying." Evan turned to look at Megan. "Why is she crying?" "Because she's the one who gave everyone the candy hearts and..." Jessie shrugged her shoulders. There was just no way to make sense out of any of this love stuff. "You?" said Evan, his voice rising in anger. "You're the one who wrote those messages?" Megan nodded weakly.

我注意到她的眼睛里满是泪水。 梅根在哭吗？她为什么要哭？ 但她还没来得及问，埃文就冲了过来。 "杰西，我得跟你谈谈。 独自一人。”他抓住杰西的胳膊，想把她拉开，但听到杰西说：“梅根在哭。” 埃文转身看着梅金。 “她为什么哭？”“因为是她给大家送心形糖果的……” 杰西耸了耸肩。 我根本无法理解这些爱情的东西。 “你？”埃文说，他的声音因为愤怒而提高了。 “你就是写那些留言的人？”梅金虚弱地点了点头。