3 Cups and Balls

Chapter 3 Cups and Balls Cups and Balls (n) a classic magic trick that is more than two thousand years old, in which several small balls seem to appear and disappear under overturned cups; in his book, Professor Hoffmann called this trick "the groundwork of all legerdemain" Jessie was sitting right next to her father when the phone rang. He had been telling them about something called an IED, which sounded to Jessie like a bomb because it had exploded in the road right in front of the transport vehicle he had been riding in. "If we'd been even twenty feet closer," he said, "we would have all been dead. I'm not kidding you." "Jake!" Jessie's mom looked angry and tired at the same time. Mixed-up emotions. Hard for Jessie to

杯子和球(n)一个有两千多年历史的经典魔术，在这个魔术中，几个小球似乎在翻倒的杯子下面出现又消失；在他的书中，霍夫曼教授称这个戏法为“所有戏法的基础”。当电话铃响时，杰西正坐在她父亲旁边。 他一直在告诉他们一个叫简易爆炸装置的东西，杰西听起来像炸弹，因为它就在他乘坐的运输车前面的路上爆炸了。 “如果我们再靠近20英尺，”他说，“我们就都死了。 我不是在开玩笑。”“杰克!”杰西的妈妈看上去既生气又疲惫。 混乱的情绪。杰西很难

read. "I don't want you telling the kids stories like that." "Why not? They're old enough. They're not babies, right?" He turned to Jessie. She nodded. "I'm not a baby." She glanced at Evan, who was slouching in the doorway. He was practicing with his quarter, making it dance across his knuckles, then disappear into the palm of his hand. That's when the phone rang, so loud it made Jessie jump half an inch. Her mother hurried to answer it, as if she wanted to stop the horrible noise as quickly as possible. Jessie's head hurt, and her stomach felt achy, like it was pumped full of air and pressing out in all directions. She wondered if she felt this way because she was so glad her dad was home. "Sometimes I forget what an American phone sounds like," said her dad, leaning in toward Jessie. He flashed his special smile at her, his eyes crinkling up at the corners. Jessie wished with all her heart she could say, Me,

阅读。“我不希望你给孩子们讲那样的故事。” “为什么不呢?他们够大了。 他们不是婴儿，对吧？”他转向杰西。 她点了点头。“我不是婴儿。” 她瞥了埃文一眼，他正没精打采地站在门口。 他在练习他的硬币，让它在他的指关节上跳舞，然后消失在他的手掌里。 就在这时，电话铃响了，响得杰西吓了一跳。 她的母亲急忙去接电话，好像她想尽快停止可怕的噪音。 杰西的头很痛，她的胃也很痛，就像被泵满了空气，向四面八方挤压。 她不知道自己之所以有这种感觉，是不是因为她很高兴爸爸回来了。 “有时候我都忘了美国电话是什么声音了，”她爸爸说着，向杰西倾过身来。 他对她露出了特别的微笑，眼角皱起了眉头。 杰西真心希望她能说：我，

too! She wanted to be just like her dad. A prizewinning reporter. Brave. Fearless. A hero. Though she didn't really want to go to war. Too loud. Too messy. Too scary. She looked closely at her dad. Taking inventory. That's what she called it. Looking to see what had changed since the last time she'd seen him. Everyone always said he was handsome, but Jessie didn't really know what that meant. Her whole life, she'd been hearing how handsome her dad was. One time she overheard her grandma saying to her mom, Jake's biggest problem is that he's too handsome for his own good. That confused Jessie. How could being handsome be a problem? To Jessie, his face looked mostly the same: gray-blue eyes, straight nose, high cheekbones, and a strong jaw. He had thick dark hair that seemed just a little bit longer than the last time. There were also a few wisps of gray above his ears. That was new. Was her dad getting old? She knew he ran five miles a day, and old people didn't do that. Jessie looked at

太!她想成为像她爸爸一样的人。 一位获奖记者。勇敢。 无所畏惧。一个英雄。虽然她并不想参战。 太花哨了。太乱了。太可怕了。 她仔细地看着她爸爸。 在库存。她是这么说的。 想看看自从上次见到他之后他发生了什么变化。 每个人都说他很帅，但杰西并不知道那是什么意思。 她这辈子都在听别人说她爸爸有多帅。 有一次，她无意中听到奶奶对妈妈说，杰克最大的问题是他长得太帅了。 这让杰西很困惑。长得帅怎么会是个问题？ 在杰西看来，他的脸基本上还是老样子：灰蓝色的眼睛，笔直的鼻子，高高的颧骨，结实的下巴。 他有一头浓密的黑发，似乎比上次长了一点。 他的耳朵上方也有几缕灰色。 这是新的。她爸爸老了吗？ 她知道他每天跑五英里，老年人是不会那样做的。 杰西看着

her father's hands, which were resting on the edge of the kitchen table. He had long fingers and strong hands. No ring. Jessie always looked for that when he came home. "Hey!" said her mother into the phone. "Is something wrong? I was beginning to worry when I didn't hear from you." She walked into the dining room, which was now Grandma's bedroom, and closed the door behind her. Grandma was visiting her old neighbors, the Uptons, back in upstate New York. Jessie's mom had driven her there the day before. She was going to spend the week with her friends while Mom was away. It would have been too hard for Peggy to take care of Evan and Jessie and Grandma. Grandma had a way of forgetting things—like what year it was, or why she was living with the Treskis now, or even the names of her own grandkids. The Uptons, though, were used to Grandma and her forgetful ways. They were her oldest friends. She would be safe with them. But now Jessie wondered if the phone call was

她父亲的手放在厨房的桌子边上。 他有长长的手指和强壮的双手。 没有戒指。杰西每次回家都在找这个。 “嘿！”她妈妈对着电话说。 “出什么事了吗？”我刚开始担心，却没收到你的消息。” 她走进餐厅，现在是奶奶的卧室，随手关上了门。 奶奶去拜访她的老邻居厄普顿一家，他们住在纽约州北部。 杰西的妈妈前一天开车送她去的。 妈妈不在的时候，她打算和朋友们共度一周。 佩吉要照顾埃文、杰西和奶奶太难了。 奶奶总是会忘记一些事情——比如今年是哪一年，为什么她现在和特雷斯基一家住在一起，甚至是她自己孙子的名字。 不过，厄普顿一家已经习惯了奶奶和她那健忘的作风。 他们是她的老朋友。 她和他们在一起会很安全。 但现在杰西不知道那个电话是不是

from Grandma. Maybe there was a problem. Maybe she needed them. Maybe something had gone wrong. She tapped her foot against the rung of the chair to try to make the feeling in her stomach go away. "Hey, Evan," said her dad. "Come over here." Evan stuffed the quarter in his pocket, then slowly pushed away from the door frame he was leaning on and walked over to the kitchen table. His dad got up and stood beside him, pulling Evan in close and resting his hand flat on the top of Evan's head. "How much have you grown this year?" Evan shrugged. "Three inches and one-quarter!" said Jessie, jumping up and dancing around the two of them. "That's what Dr. Becker said at his last checkup. She said he was going to be as tall as you. Maybe taller!" "Taller than me?" Their dad stretched up to his full height, straightening his back and puffing out his chest. "We'll see about that! I'm still growing, you know!" "Are not! Are not!" shrieked Jessie, laughing and

从奶奶。也许有什么问题。 也许她需要它们。也许出了什么问题。 她用脚轻敲椅子的横档，试图消除肚子里的那种感觉。 “嘿，埃文，”她爸爸说。 “过来。”埃文把25美分的硬币塞进口袋，然后慢慢地从靠在他身上的门框上推开，走向厨房的桌子。 他的爸爸站起来，站在他身边，把埃文拉近，把手平放在埃文的头顶上。 “你今年长了多少？”埃文耸了耸肩。 “三英寸又四分之一！”杰西说着，跳起来围着他们俩跳舞。 这是贝克尔医生在上一次体检时说的话。 她说他会长得和你一样高。 也许高!”“比我高？”他们的爸爸伸直了腰，挺直了腰，挺起胸膛。 “我们走着瞧吧！”你知道，我还在长呢！”“不!不是！”杰西尖叫着，笑着说

jumping higher in the air. She felt as if she had an electric current running right through her body. Her dad was so much fun! "Jessie! Settle down!" said Evan, sounding just like their mom. Jessie whirled around so she was facing her brother. "You're not the boss of me, Evan Treski." "Fine," said Evan. "Let your head explode. See if I care." He headed for the stairs. "Where are you going?" asked their dad. "I've got things to do," said Evan. "Like what?" Mr. Treski flashed his special smile. "His magic act!" shouted Jessie, not wanting to be left out of the conversation. "He's going to put on a show, so he's practicing all the time." "Magic?" said their dad, smiling even wider. "I used to know a few tricks. Well, one at least. I wonder if I remember it." He rubbed his hand along his cheek and scratched his chin. Jessie noticed that he had some whiskers growing on his face. She hoped he wasn't going to grow a beard. Jessie hated

在空中跳得更高。 她觉得好像有一股电流穿过她的身体。 她爸爸太有趣了！“杰西!安静！”埃文说，声音就像他们的妈妈。 杰西转过身来，面对着她的哥哥。 “你不是我的老板，埃文·特雷斯基。” “很好，”埃文说。“让你的头爆炸。 看看我是否在乎。”他朝楼梯走去。 “你们要去哪里？”爸爸问。 “我有事情要做，”埃文说。 “像什么?”特雷斯基露出了他特别的微笑。 “他的魔术表演！”杰西喊道，她不想被排除在谈话之外。 “他要表演，所以他一直在练习。” “魔法？”他们的爸爸笑得更欢了。 “我以前知道一些把戏。 好吧，至少一个。不知道我还记不记得。” 他用手擦了擦脸颊，挠了挠下巴。 杰西注意到他脸上长了一些胡须。 她希望他不要留胡子。 杰西恨