13 Patter

Chapter 13 Patter patter (n) a soothing, repetitive sound; a magician's continuous talk during a performance that lulls an audience so they won't notice something that's happening onstage When Jessie woke up, it was raining—a soft patter on the roof—and the first thing she thought of was Professor Hoffmann. She wondered if he could hear the rain down in the basement and if the sound had made him nervous in the night. He seemed to be a very nervous rabbit to Jessie. The second thought that popped into her head was that today was the day her mother was coming home. Finally. Jessie couldn't wait. She slipped out of bed and straight into her slippers. She didn't like walking barefoot, even in

Patter（名词）一种舒缓的、重复的声音；当杰西醒来时，天正在下雨——屋顶上淅淅沥沥地打着雨点——她首先想到的是霍夫曼教授。 她想知道他是否能听到地下室里的雨声，这声音是否使他在夜里感到紧张。 在杰西看来，他似乎是一只非常紧张的兔子。 她脑子里闪过的第二个念头是，今天是她妈妈回家的日子。 最后。杰西等不及了。 她溜下床，直接穿上拖鞋。 她不喜欢光着脚走路，即使在

the house. Then she quickly made her bed. The window to her bedroom was open a couple of inches, and rain was blowing through and onto the floor. She slammed the window shut, then headed downstairs. In the basement, Professor Hoffmann was nervously circling inside his large box. Jessie squatted down and put her head close to the edge, hoping that the sight of a giant human head peering down on him wouldn't make him even more scared. "There's nothing to worry about," she said in a matter-of-fact voice. But Professor Hoffmann kept going around in circles. This was one of the things that Jessie didn't like about animals. You couldn't explain things to them. They just didn't understand. Especially rabbits. Still, she liked Professor Hoffmann. He was a good worker. He had practiced his tricks and learned to sit still and never kicked her when she put him in the rabbit box. She checked his food tray and refilled his bowl

这所房子。然后她迅速整理了床铺。 她卧室的窗户开了几英寸，雨水吹进来，落在地板上。 她砰地关上窗户，然后下楼去了。 在地下室，霍夫曼教授紧张地在他的大盒子里转着圈。 杰西蹲下来，把她的头靠近边缘，希望看到一个巨大的人头俯视着他，不会让他更害怕。 “没什么好担心的，”她用实事求是的口气说。 但霍夫曼教授一直在原地打转。 这是杰西不喜欢动物的原因之一。 你无法向他们解释事情。 他们就是不明白。 尤其是兔子。不过，她还是喜欢霍夫曼教授。 他是个好工人。他已经练习了他的技巧，学会了坐着不动，当她把他放进兔子箱时从不踢她。 她检查了他的食物托盘，又把他的碗倒满了

with fresh water. Then she headed upstairs to the kitchen to wash her hands and get some breakfast. On the kitchen counter was an envelope, and on the outside of the envelope were the words "Evan and Jessie." Jessie frowned. The handwriting was her father's, all capital letters and a little sloppy. Why would he write them a note? Maybe he wanted to sleep in and was telling them not to wake him up until it was time to go to the airport and pick up their mom. Jessie quickly washed her hands, then picked up the note and hurried upstairs. Evan was still sleeping, but the note seemed important. She hesitated a moment outside his door. Now that Evan was almost eleven, he had started sleeping in on the weekends. When they were younger, he and Jessie had both gotten up early whether it was a school day or not. The Locked sign stared her right in the face, daring her to knock—and face the consequences. She knocked.

用淡水。然后她上楼去厨房洗手，吃早饭。 厨房柜台上放着一个信封，信封外面写着“埃文和杰西”。 杰西皱起了眉头。字迹是她父亲的，全是大写字母，有点潦草。 他为什么要给他们写纸条？ 也许他想睡个懒觉，告诉他们在该去机场接妈妈的时候再叫醒他。 杰西赶紧洗手，然后拿起纸条匆匆上楼。 埃文还在睡觉，但那张纸条似乎很重要。 她在他门外犹豫了一会儿。 现在埃文快11岁了，他开始在周末睡懒觉。 当他们年轻的时候，他和杰西都起得很早，不管是不是上学的日子。 上锁的标志直直地盯着她的脸，让她不敢去敲门，并承担后果。 她敲了敲门。

"Go away!" "But it's important!" "You always say that!" Jessie paused and thought about the last half dozen times she'd knocked on Evan's door. "But it is always important." She didn't knock without a good reason. "Ugh. Come in." Jessie hurried in and jumped onto Evan's bed, climbing over his stretched-out legs to position herself with her back against the wall. She liked being able to see everything that was going on, no matter where she was. Without a word, she handed Evan the note. When he saw the handwriting, he sat up quickly and tore open the envelope. He pulled out a piece of Mom's nice stationery, the kind she used for formal letters and thank-you notes. Jessie crowded next to Evan so they could read the letter at the same time. Jessie read the note twice. Then she read it again, just to make sure she hadn't missed anything. But

“走开!”“但这很重要！”“你总是这么说！”杰西停顿了一下，想起了她敲埃文家的门的前六次。 “但它总是很重要。” 她没有正当理由不敲门。 “哎。进来。”杰西赶紧进来，跳到埃文的床上，爬过他伸开的腿，背靠着墙站好。 她喜欢无论身在何处，都能看到正在发生的一切。 她一言不发地把纸条递给埃文。 当他看到字迹时，他迅速坐起来，撕开了信封。 他拿出妈妈的一张漂亮的信纸，就是她用来写正式信件和感谢信的那种。 杰西挤在埃文旁边，这样他们就可以同时读那封信了。 杰西把纸条读了两遍。 然后她又读了一遍，以确保她没有遗漏任何东西。 但

there was nothing to miss. "He's gone," she said at last. "Yep," said Evan, crumpling up the note and

没有什么可错过的。 “他走了，”她终于说。 “是的，”埃文说，把纸条揉成一团，然后

throwing it into his trash can. "Just like always." Jessie pulled her knees up to her chin and thought for a minute. Evan was wrong. This time had been different. He had stayed a really long time. Days and days. But in the end, he still left. "Why?" Evan shrugged. "I don't know." Then he lay back down, as if the conversation were over. Jessie wondered if Evan was about to kick her out of his room, but he didn't say anything, so she figured she was allowed to stay. She looked at the rows of basketball trophies that Evan kept on the bookshelf above his desk. "Is it because he doesn't like us?" asked Jessie, but in her head she was wondering, Is it because he doesn't like me? Any dad would be happy to have a son like Evan—basketball star, most popular kid, talented magician. But she wasn't so sure what her dad thought of her. "He likes us okay," said Evan. "He just likes other things more." "What other things?"

扔进他的垃圾桶。 “一如既往。”杰西把膝盖抬到下巴，想了一会儿。 埃文错了。这一次不同了。 他待了很长时间。 日复一日。但最后，他还是离开了。 “为什么?”埃文耸了耸肩。“我不知道。” 然后他躺下，好像谈话结束了。 杰西想知道埃文是不是要把她赶出他的房间，但他什么也没说，所以她想她可以留下来。 她看着埃文放在书桌上方书架上的一排排篮球奖杯。 “是因为他不喜欢我们吗？”杰西问，但她心里在想，是不是因为他不喜欢我？ 任何父亲都会很高兴有个像埃文这样的儿子篮球明星，最受欢迎的孩子，天才魔术师。 但她不太确定父亲是怎么看她的。 “他很喜欢我们，”埃文说。 “他只是更喜欢别的东西。” “还有什么事？”