15 THE CHILDREN

CHAPTER 15 THE CHILDREN As time rolled by, Roz saw less and less of Mr. Shareef, but she saw more and more of the children. They were shy at first. The robot might look up from the pasture and see Jad peeking around the corner of the barn, or see Jaya spying from the branches of a tree. But the children were growing bolder. And then one day, Roz marched into the workshop and heard giggling. She walked to the closet in the back, opened the door, and there was Jaya, smiling and trying not to laugh. "I'm hiding from my brother," whispered the girl. "Close the door!" The robot closed the door. A minute later, Jad ran in, flushed and out of breath. "Hey, Roz… have you… seen… Jaya?" The robot just stared. "I know she's in here," said Jad, and he began prowling around the room. He searched under the

第十五章孩子们随着时间的流逝，罗兹看到谢里夫先生的次数越来越少，但看到孩子们的次数却越来越多。 一开始他们很害羞。机器人可能会从牧场向上看，看到Jad在谷仓的角落里偷看，或者看到Jaya在树枝上偷看。 但是孩子们越来越大胆了。 后来有一天，罗兹走进车间，听到了咯咯的笑声。 她走到后面的壁橱前，打开门，看到了Jaya，微笑着，努力忍住不笑出来。 “我在躲我哥哥，”女孩低声说。 “把门关上！”机器人关上了门。 一分钟后，杰德跑了进来，满脸通红，上气不接下气。 “嘿，罗兹……你……看到……贾亚了吗？”机器人只是盯着看。 “我知道她在这里，”杰德说，然后开始在房间里徘徊。 他在下面搜寻。

worktable and behind the tool chest and between all the bulky workshop machines. Finally, he marched up to Roz and said, "I order you to show me where my sister is hiding." The robot pointed to the closet. Jad smiled mischievously and tiptoed over. Then he flung open the door and screamed, "Found you!" "No fair!" Jaya whined. "Roz showed you where I was hiding!" The girl scowled at the robot. "That wasn't very nice, Roz. But you can make it up to me by playing hide-and-seek. Count to one hundred and then try to find my brother and me. Okay?" There was a brief pause. Then the robot said, "Okay." Jaya and Jad squealed with delight and scampered out the door as Roz started counting. The robot's sensitive ears listened carefully to the children outside. She heard quick footsteps crunching across the driveway. She heard a giggle, and the sounds of tree branches shaking. She heard a grunt, and the sounds of hay bales being shoved aside. When the robot finished counting, it took her exactly five seconds to find Jaya up in a tree. It took her another eight seconds to find Jad in the hayloft.

工作台和工具箱后面以及所有笨重的车间机器之间。 最后，他走到罗兹面前说：“我命令你告诉我我妹妹藏在哪里。” 机器人指着壁橱。 杰德调皮地笑了笑，踮着脚尖走了过来。 然后他猛地打开门，尖叫道：“找到你了！”“不公平!”Jaya嘟哝道。 “罗兹告诉你我藏在哪儿了！”女孩对机器人怒目而视。 “那可不太好，罗兹。 但你可以玩捉迷藏来补偿我。 数到一百，然后试着找到我和我哥哥。 没事吧?”短暂的停顿。 然后机器人说：“好吧。” 贾雅和杰德高兴得尖叫起来，跑出了门，罗兹开始数数。 机器人灵敏的耳朵仔细地听着外面孩子们的声音。 她听到车道上传来急促的脚步声。 她听到了咯咯的笑声，还有树枝晃动的声音。 她听到一声咕哝，还有干草被推到一边的声音。 当机器人完成计数后，她只花了五秒钟就找到了树上的Jaya。 她又花了八秒钟才在干草堆里找到杰德。

"Wow, Roz is really good at seeking," said Jad as he picked hay from his hair. Jaya snorted. "Yeah, well, let's just see how good she is at hiding." Roz was even better at hiding. While the children counted, the robot silently slipped away. And an hour later, they still hadn't found her. The siblings stood in the driveway, defeated. "We give up, Roz!" shouted Jad. "You win!" shouted Jaya. The junk pile beside the barn started moving, and Roz appeared. The robot had been sitting there all along, perfectly camouflaged among the scrap metal and old farm machines. "The next time we play, you have to let one of us win," said Jaya to Roz. And the next time they played, Roz did. The robot enjoyed having the children around. They brought a little lightness into her world, and she hoped to bring a little lightness into theirs. Life must have been dark since their mother passed away. However, Roz had another reason for wanting the children around. She needed them. Her only chance of ever returning home was if Jaya and Jad could find

“哇，罗兹真的很擅长寻找，”杰德一边从头发上捡干草一边说。 Jaya哼了一声。“是啊，那就让我们看看她躲得有多好吧。” 罗兹更擅长隐藏。 在孩子们数数的时候，机器人悄无声息地溜走了。 一个小时过去了，他们还是没找到她。 姐弟俩站在车道上，不知所措。 “我们放弃了，罗兹！”杰德喊道。 “你赢了！”谷仓旁的垃圾堆开始移动，罗兹出现了。 机器人一直坐在那里，完美地隐藏在废金属和旧农用机器之间。 “下次我们比赛的时候，你必须让我们中的一个赢，”贾亚对罗兹说。 下次他们打球时，是罗兹赢了。 机器人喜欢有孩子们在身边。 他们给她的世界带来了一点光明，她也希望给他们的世界带来一点光明。 母亲去世后，他们的生活一定很黑暗。 然而，罗兹想要孩子们在身边还有另一个原因。 她需要它们。她回家的唯一机会就是贾亚和杰德能找到

it in their hearts to help her escape. But this was a delicate situation. If Roz tried too hard, the children might say something to their father. If she didn't try hard enough, she might be stuck on that farm forever.

他们心里想帮她逃跑。 但这是一个微妙的情况。 如果罗兹过于努力，孩子们可能会对他们的父亲说些什么。 如果她不够努力，她可能会永远被困在那个农场。