18 Conjuring

Chapter 18 Conjuring conjuring (v) making something appear unexpectedly, as if out of nowhere; (n) the performance of magic tricks Evan was good at stage patter, but he couldn't keep talking like this forever. He had already walked three times around the basket, pointing out that it was truly empty and that Jessie had disappeared into thin air. Then he had turned the basket upright again and refastened the lid. Then he had lifted the basket off the ground, carefully holding the false bottom in place, to show that there was nothing under the basket. "My assistant is gone! Disappeared! Vanished! Who knows if we will ever see her again?" The audience was completely silent, staring in wonder at the stage. Evan felt as though he had cast a spell over

(v)使某物突然出现，仿佛不知从哪里冒出来的；埃文很擅长舞台台词，但他不可能永远这样说话。 他已经绕着篮子走了三圈，指出篮子真的是空的，杰西已经消失得无影无踪了。 然后他又把篮子翻了起来，重新拧紧了盖子。 然后他把篮子从地上提了起来，小心地托住假底，以表明篮子下面什么也没有。 “我的助手不见了！”消失了!消失了!谁知道我们还能不能再见到她呢？”全场鸦雀无声，惊奇地盯着舞台。 埃文觉得自己好像中了魔咒

them. But it was a spell that wouldn't last forever. Where was Jessie? Why didn't she appear at the back of the audience as they had planned? Maybe she was stuck under the porch? Could she have hurt herself when she fell through the hole? Maybe she'd gotten so scared in the basket that she'd fainted after escaping. Evan scanned the back of the audience, trying to see if there was any movement in the woods. She should have appeared by now. Something must have gone horribly wrong. He was just about to announce that the show was over, pull the curtains closed, and go through the hole in search of Jessie, when he saw her sneaking through the trees behind the audience. What a relief! She was probably just being her usual klutzy self, taking twice as long to crawl out from under the porch as anyone else. That was Jessie! "Yes, she's gone!" he called out to the audience. "Gone! But I have the power to bring her back! With a wave of my magic wand—one, two, three!"—Evan swished his wand in giant circles, as if he were

他们。但这咒语不会永远持续下去。 杰西在哪里？为什么她没有按照他们的计划出现在观众的后面？ 也许她被困在门廊下面了？ 她从洞里掉下去的时候会不会伤着了自己？ 也许她在篮子里太害怕了，逃跑后晕倒了。 埃文扫视了一下观众的后面，想看看树林里是否有什么动静。 她现在应该已经出现了。 一定是出了什么可怕的问题。 他正要宣布演出结束，拉上窗帘，穿过洞去找杰西，这时他看到她偷偷地从观众后面的树林里钻了出来。 真是松了一口气！她可能只是像往常一样笨手笨脚，花了别人两倍的时间才从门廊下爬出来。 那是杰西！“是的，她走了！”他向观众喊道。 “走了!但我有能力让她复活！一挥我的魔杖——一，二，三！——埃文挥舞着魔杖，绕着巨大的圈，好像他是

scooping up the air and gathering it into a powerful cyclone—"I will make her reappear! As you can see!" As Evan pointed his wand to the back of the audience, everyone in the backyard turned. When they saw Jessie standing there, they burst into wild applause. "And look what I can make reappear!" yelled Jessie over the loud applause as she walked to the stage. "Professor Hoffmann!" She raised both hands over her head so that everyone could see the small white rabbit she held. Evan shouted, "Woohoo! That's all, folks!" and jumped down off the stage. He rushed up to Jessie and put both his hands on Professor Hoffmann, just to be sure he was real. He'd learned enough about smoke and mirrors to know that you couldn't always trust your eyes, but touching the rabbit's soft fur and feeling his familiar twitch convinced him that the rabbit was back from the dead. "He was in the woods?" asked Evan. "No!" whispered Jessie. "He was under the porch.

卷起空气，聚集成一个强大的旋风——“我要让她重新出现！”你也看到了！”当艾文用魔杖指着观众的背后时，后院的每个人都转过身来。 当他们看到杰西站在那里时，爆发出热烈的掌声。 “看看我能让什么重现！”杰西走到舞台上，在热烈的掌声中喊道。 “霍夫曼教授!”她把双手举过头顶，这样每个人都能看到她抱着的小白兔。 埃文喊道：“哇！就这样，伙计们！”然后从舞台上跳了下来。 他冲向杰西，双手放在霍夫曼教授身上，只是为了确定他是真的。 他已经对烟雾和镜子有了足够的了解，知道你不能总是相信自己的眼睛，但触摸兔子柔软的皮毛，感觉它熟悉的抽搐，让他确信兔子又死而复生了。 “他在树林里？”埃文问。 “不！”杰西小声说。他在门廊下面。

There's a tiny hole in the foundation. Tiny!" She held up her hand and made a circle about the size of a half-dollar. "He must have squeezed through it! And he's been hiding under the porch ever since." "Wow! He's the escape artist! We should call him Houdini," said Evan. "Nope. He's Professor Hoffmann, and he's never going anywhere again." Jessie lifted the rabbit to her face and laid her cheek against his soft fur. She loved Professor Hoffmann. He had survived a Category 1 hurricane, too, just like them. "Take a bow!" said Megan. So Evan and Jessie jumped back up onstage and bowed over and over again as the audience applauded and whistled and shouted "Bravo!" Evan had the feeling that Jessie would stay up there all day, but he could tell that Professor Hoffmann was getting jumpy, so he called out, "Show's over!" and people started trailing away. Jessie put Professor Hoffmann safely in his rabbit box with a whole lettuce leaf. Evan knew that if the rabbit pooped, he'd be the one who had to clean it,

地基上有个小洞。 小!”她举起手，做了一个大约半美元大小的圈。 “他一定是挤进去的！”从那以后，他就一直躲在门廊下面。” “哇!他是逃生高手！我们应该叫他胡迪尼，”埃文说。 “不。他是霍夫曼教授，他哪也不会去了。” 杰西把兔子举到她的面前，把她的脸颊贴在它柔软的皮毛上。 她喜欢霍夫曼教授。 他也经历过一级飓风，就像他们一样。 “鞠躬！”梅金说。于是埃文和杰西跳回舞台，一次又一次地鞠躬，观众们鼓掌、吹口哨，高呼“太棒了！”埃文有一种感觉，杰西会在那里呆一整天，但他看得出霍夫曼教授开始紧张起来，于是他喊道：“表演结束了！”人们开始散开。 杰西把霍夫曼教授和一整片生菜放在兔子箱里。 埃文知道如果兔子拉屎了，他就得负责清理，

but that was okay. Jessie had done such a great job with the Amazing Disappearing Trick that he didn't mind taking care of doody duty. They were hauling a large branch over to the side yard when Evan saw something that made him forget everything else. "Mom!" he shouted, dropping the branch and running full speed at his mother. By the time he wrapped his arms around her and breathed in her familiar smell (green tea shampoo and powdered laundry detergent), Jessie was pulling on their mother's arm. Evan wasn't sure why, but he suddenly started crying, and then his mother started crying, too! "We got a rabbit!" announced Jessie. "What?" asked their mother, disentangling herself from Evan's full-body hug. Evan glared at Jessie. He didn't think that was the best beginning to their mom's return. "His name is Professor Hoffmann. He was

但没关系。杰西的神奇消失魔术做得太棒了，他不介意打扫厕所。 他们正把一根大树枝拖到旁边的院子里，这时埃文看到了一件让他忘记了一切的东西。 “妈妈！”他喊道，扔下树枝，全速向妈妈跑去。 当他张开双臂抱住她，呼吸着她熟悉的气味（绿茶洗发水和洗衣粉）时，杰西正在拉着母亲的胳膊。 埃文不知道为什么，但他突然哭了起来，然后他的妈妈也哭了起来！“我们有一只兔子！”杰西宣布。 “什么？”他们的母亲问道，从埃文的全身拥抱中挣脱出来。 埃文怒视着杰西。他不认为这是妈妈回来的最好开端。 “他叫霍夫曼教授。 他是

supposed to be part of our magic show. That's why Dad got him. But then he couldn't be in the show because we thought he had died because... because... he..." Jessie's voice stumbled and faltered and then simply collapsed into silence. "A rabbit? Huh." Their mother shook her head, and Evan could see a trace of annoyance on her face. "Let me talk to your dad about that." She started to walk around the side of the house and into the backyard, but she stopped dead when she saw the Climbing Tree. "Oh, my God!" she said. Jessie started to jump up and down. "It landed on my bed! Right on my bed! Evan saved my life because he told me to sleep in your bed. When we woke up, there was a sound like a cannon going off! Kapow!" "Why didn't Dad call me? When did this happen?" Then Evan saw that their mother was staring at the porch. The railing was missing, but not in jagged pieces. It was cleanly removed. "Evan, did

应该是我们魔术表演的一部分。 所以爸爸才买了他。但后来他不能出演了，因为我们以为他死了，因为…… 因为…他……”杰西的声音结结巴巴，结结巴巴，然后就完全沉默了。 “一只兔子?嗯。”他们的母亲摇了摇头，埃文可以从她脸上看到一丝烦恼。 “让我和你爸爸谈谈这件事。” 她开始绕着房子走到后院，但是当她看到那棵爬树时，她突然停了下来。 “哦，我的上帝！”她说。杰西开始跳上跳下。 “它落在我的床上了！”就在我床上！埃文救了我的命，因为他让我睡你的床。 当我们醒来时，听到一声像大炮的声音！心血来潮!”“爸爸为什么不给我打电话？” 这是什么时候发生的？”然后埃文看到他们的母亲正盯着门廊。 栏杆不见了，但不是参差不齐的碎片。 它被干净地移走了。“埃文,