Chapter 22

Chapter 22 "All the News That's Fit to Print" "All the News That's Fit to Print" is the motto of the New York Times newspaper, printed on the front page of every issue; it means the paper won't print a story that is inaccurate, irresponsible, or harmful without a reason "Quiet!" shouted Mrs. Overton. Pandemonium had erupted in the classroom. Scott was waving the newspaper over his head, running circles around the bookcase that housed the gerbils, while Evan chased after him, shouting, "You'd better give it back, or else!" Mrs. Overton clapped her hands once. "Scott, give me that paper, now!" "He stole it from me!" yelled Megan.

“所有值得刊登的新闻”是《纽约时报》的座右铭，刊登在每期报纸的头版；这意味着报纸不会无缘无故地刊登不准确、不负责任或有害的报道。 教室里爆发了一场混乱。 斯科特在头上挥舞着报纸，绕着放沙鼠的书柜跑来跑去，埃文在后面追着他，喊道：“你最好把报纸还给我，否则你就等着吧！”奥弗顿太太拍了拍手。 “斯科特，把那张纸给我，马上！”“他从我这里偷走了它！”

"It's mine!" shouted Evan. "Technically," said Jessie, "it's mine." "Scott Spencer! This instant!" Scott slowly walked over to Mrs. Overton, with the paper held open in front of him, greedily reading all the words he could before handing it to his teacher. Jessie could tell he wanted nothing more than to read the articles —her articles—and couldn't help feeling a little thrill to know that her paper was that good. Jessie watched as Evan followed Scott and stood in front of their teacher. "Please, Mrs. Overton. Don't read it. It's private." Mrs. Overton glanced up from the front page and looked straight at Jessie. "Jessie? What's going on here?" Jessie raised both her hands and let them flop at her side. "I wanted to write a blockbuster. I wanted to write something everyone would want to read." Jessie still didn't understand what was so wrong with that. But the kids in 4-O were like

“这是我的！”埃文喊道。 “严格来说，”杰西说，“是我的。” “斯科特·斯宾塞!这一刻!”斯科特慢慢地走向奥弗顿太太，把报纸摊开在面前，贪婪地把能读到的字都读了一遍，然后递给了老师。 杰西看得出来，他只想读读那些文章——她的文章——当知道她的报纸写得那么好时，不禁有点激动。 杰西看着埃文跟着斯科特站在老师面前。 “求你了，奥弗顿太太。不要读它。 这是私人的。”奥弗顿太太从头版抬起头来，直视着杰西。 “杰西?这是怎么回事？”杰西举起双手，让它们在身边拍打着。 “我想写一部大片。 我想写一些大家都想读的东西。” 杰西仍然不明白这有什么不对。 但是4-O区的孩子们说

a pack of wolves closing in for the kill. "Well, it looks like you've achieved your goal." Mrs. Overton's face did not look happy. Was she going to punish Jessie? Send her to the principal's office? "Jessie promised she would tell us the results of the survey," said Tessa. "A promise is a promise." "That's true," said Mrs. Overton. "And we all know what Langston says about promises." She pointed to the picture of Langston spitting out the words NEVER MAKE A PROMISE YOU CAN'T KEEP. ALWAYS KEEP THE PROMISES YOU MAKE. "Mrs. Overton?" said Megan. "May I please read one of the letters from my advice column to the class?" "Not right now, Megan." "It's kind of important," she said. "We don't want to hear your advice column!" shouted Jack. "We want to find out who's in love!" The class started making all kinds of noise, but Mrs. Overton silenced them with one

一群狼逼近，想要杀戮。 “嗯，看起来你已经达到了你的目标。” 奥弗顿太太的脸看上去并不高兴。 她要惩罚杰西吗？ 送她去校长办公室？ “杰西答应过她会告诉我们调查的结果，”特莎说。 “承诺就是承诺。”“那倒是真的，”奥弗顿太太说。 “我们都知道兰斯顿是怎么说承诺的。” 她指着那幅画，画中兰斯顿吐出“永远不要许下你无法兑现的承诺”这句话。 永远遵守你做出的承诺。 “奥弗顿太太？”梅金说。 “我可以读一封我写给全班同学的建议专栏的信吗？”“现在不行，梅根。” “这很重要，”她说。 “我们不想听你的建议专栏！”杰克喊道。 “我们想知道谁恋爱了！”全班同学开始发出各种各样的声音，但奥弗顿夫人只发出一声，让他们安静下来

swoosh of her raised hand. "Please?" said Megan. "It doesn't have anything to do with love." Mrs. Overton allowed Megan to show her the letter she wanted to read and then gave her permission to read it out loud. Dear Friend in 4-O, I feel terrible. I did something I'm not supposed to do. Nobody knows. Every day I feel bad. I keep waiting to get caught. What should I do? Signed, Guilty in the Fourth Grade Dear Guilty, You're never going to feel better until you confess. Go to a grownup you trust and tell the truth. I guarantee you'll be happy you did.

她举起的手嗖地一声。 “拜托？”梅金说。“这和爱没有任何关系。” 奥弗顿太太允许梅金给她看她想读的那封信，然后允许她大声读出来。 亲爱的4-O的朋友，我感觉糟透了。 我做了一件不该做的事。 没有人知道。每天我都感觉很糟糕。 我一直在等着被抓住。 我该怎么办？签名：四年级的罪犯亲爱的罪犯，除非你承认，否则你永远不会感觉好起来。 去找一个你信任的成年人，告诉他真相。 我保证你会很高兴你这么做了。

Megan folded the paper and handed it back to her teacher. "I've decided to take my own advice. Mrs. Overton, I'm the one who handed out the candy hearts. I know I shouldn't have done it, but it was Valentine's Day, and I thought it wasn't such a bad thing to do." Jessie looked around at her classmates. They were all frozen in their seats. It wasn't every day that someone admitted to being guilty of a crime. "And also," continued Megan. She took a big breath. "I wrote something on one of the doors in the bathroom. I tried to clean it off, but I couldn't get it all. I'm sorry!" And then she exploded in tears. Great big, sloppy, wet tears. Jessie had never seen anyone cry like that before. It reminded her of a nature video she'd watched of a river dam breaking in a torrential rainstorm. Whoosh! Mrs. Overton wrapped her arms around Megan and didn't seem to mind one bit that

梅金把纸叠好，递给了老师。 “我决定采纳自己的建议。 奥弗顿夫人，心形糖果是我发的。 我知道我不应该这么做，但那天是情人节，我觉得这样做并不是件坏事。” 杰西看了看周围的同学。 他们都僵在座位上。 并不是每天都有人承认犯了罪。 “还有，”梅金接着说。 她深深地吸了一口气。“我在浴室的一扇门上写了些东西。 我想把它洗干净，但洗不干净。 我很抱歉!”然后她大哭起来。 又大又湿的眼泪。 杰西以前从未见过有人哭成那样。 这让她想起了她看过的一个自然视频，在一场暴雨中，一条河的大坝决口了。 嗖!奥弗顿太太搂着梅根，似乎一点也不介意

Megan was sopping the front of her shirt with tears and snot. For Jessie, that was proof that Mrs. Overton was a good teacher. The rest of the class did their best not to watch. They looked at the floor or their own feet or their desks. Jessie looked up at the photo of Langston proclaiming, TO ERR IS HUMAN, TO FORGIVE, DIVINE. When Megan quieted down, Mrs. Overton handed her a box of tissues and sent her to the nurse's office for a wet washcloth and to have a few quiet moments. "Well," Mrs. Overton said. "Let's go sit on the rug." Everyone scrambled over to the rug, happy to leave behind the uncomfortable scene they'd just witnessed. Mrs. Overton settled into her rocking chair. "First," said Mrs. Overton, "whose newspaper is this?" Evan and Jessie both raised their hands. "I wrote it," said Jessie, "but it's Evan's copy."

梅金的眼泪和鼻涕浸湿了她的衬衫前襟。 对杰西来说，这证明了奥弗顿夫人是个好老师。 其他同学尽量不去看。 他们看着地板或自己的脚或桌子。 杰西抬头看了看兰斯顿的照片，宣称：犯错是人，宽恕是神。 梅金安静下来后，奥弗顿太太递给她一盒纸巾，让她到护士办公室拿一块湿毛巾，让她安静一会儿。 “嗯，”奥弗顿太太说。 “我们去坐在地毯上吧。” 每个人都爬到地毯上，高兴地离开了他们刚刚目睹的不舒服的场面。 奥弗顿太太坐在摇椅上。 “首先，”奥弗顿太太说，“这是谁的报纸？”埃文和杰西都举起了手。 “是我写的，”杰西说，“但这是埃文的稿子。”