8 Leo

8 Leo We've arrived, madam. "Thanks, Hammond. Would you like to pop in for a quick cup of tea?" "That's very kind of you, madam, but I have to head back to the office to take Mr Stone home." His deep voice was warm and soothing. "He'll probably finish work at some point in the next four hours and I have to be ready and waiting or, ahem, y'know..." Hammond made the slitting-throat gesture with his hand. "Yes. Of course. Well, thanks for the lift. "I'm at your service, madam. And very nice to meet you, young miss. "You too." Peanut smiled at him.

8 利奥：我们到了，夫人。 “谢谢你，哈蒙德。 要不要进来坐会儿喝杯茶呀？” “您太客气了，夫人，但我得回办公室接斯通先生回家。” 他的嗓音低沉温暖，让人安心。 “他大概会在接下来四个小时里下班，我得在那儿等着，不然，呃，你懂的……” 哈蒙德用手比了个割喉咙的手势。 “是的。 那当然。 好了，谢谢你送我过来。 “随时为您效劳，夫人。 很高兴见到你，小姑娘。 “我也很高兴见到你。” 皮纳特对着他笑了笑。

The Jones family had lived at 80 Melody Road for the past fifteen years. It was an unremarkable medium-sized Victorian terraced house, its only distinguishing feature a bright yellow front door and window frames painted to match. Mum and Peanut walked up the black-and-white tiled path and went inside. "We're home!" shouted Mum as they entered the hallway. "Everything OK?" A low, flat voice from somewhere at the back of the house replied. "Everything's fine." It was Leo, Peanut's older brother. Leo was sixteen and, like his mother, maths was his thing. Specifically, something called pure maths which, Peanut imagined, was like normal maths but somehow even more mathsy. Maths squared. His dream was to become a theoretical mathematician when he was older. When Peanut had asked him what a theoretical mathematician was, he'd got very excited and said: "Well, it's somebody who tries to figure out the answers to maths questions that nobody else has been able to figure out the answers to before." Why would anybody ever want to waste time doing that?" Peanut had said. "I'd just ask a teacher!" "Ha! Believe it or not, Topknot—" Peanut liked it when he called her that—'there are some questions that even teachers

过去十五年，琼斯一家一直住在旋律路80号。 这是一栋不起眼的中等维多利亚式联排房屋，唯一特别之处就是亮黄色的前门，还有同色的窗框。 妈妈和皮纳特走上铺着黑白瓷砖的小路，走进了屋里。 “我们到家啦！”走进玄关时，妈妈大声喊道。 “一切都好吗？” 屋子深处传来一个平缓低沉的声音，回应了她。 “一切都好。” 说话的是利奥，皮纳特的哥哥。 利奥十六岁，和妈妈一样，他最擅长数学。 具体来说，他研究的是纯数学，在皮纳特看来，这就是比普通数学更“加量不加价”的数学呗。 就是数学的平方嘛。 他的梦想是长大后成为一名理论数学家。 皮纳特问他理论数学家是做什么的时候，他兴奋地说：“嗯，就是专门解那些之前没人能解出来的数学题的人。” 谁会闲得浪费时间做这种事呀？” 皮纳特说道。 “直接问老师不就好了！” “哈！ 信不信由你，小揪揪——”皮纳特很喜欢他这么叫自己——“有些问题就算是老师

don't know the answers to. In fact, sometimes, a theoretical mathematician will have to spend more time working out what the question is in the first place, than they will finding the answer. "OK, you're scaring me now. "Ha. No, it's actually really interesting. And it can be applied in loads of different ways to help in real-life situations. Maybe a doctor needs to calculate the rate at which a particular disease is going to spread, or an engineer needs to know how to make a certain type of boat float. I might be able to work it out for them with a brand-new maths equation that I invent. "So you're saying that by telling them what seven times six is, you'll be able to make a ship sail to Timbuktu? Whatever you say, Pythagoras." This banter would often go on for hours, sometimes accompanied by wrestling, always accompanied by laughter. But Leo didn't laugh very often these days. Not since Dad left. In fact, he had changed beyond all recognition over the course of the last year, and was no longer the wise-cracking, fun-loving brother that Peanut was so fond of. He wore a permanently anxious expression and had separated himself almost entirely from the rest of the family. He spent most of the time either alone in his bedroom, or out with friends. Peanut couldn't remember the last time he had called her Topknot.

也答不出来。 实际上，有时候理论数学家花在弄清楚“问题到底是什么”的时间，都比找答案的时间还要多。 “行啦，你可把我吓到了。 “哈。 才不是，这其实特别有意思。 而且它能用到很多地方，帮助解决现实生活里的问题。 说不定医生要算某种疾病的传播速度，或是工程师要知道怎么让特定的船浮起来，都能用得上。 我可以用自己发明的全新数学公式帮他们算出来。 “所以你是说，就算你告诉他们七乘六等于几，都能让船开到廷巴克图？ 你说啥都对，毕达哥拉斯。” 这种斗嘴常常能持续好几个小时，有时候还会扭打在一起，全程都充满笑声。 但利奥这阵子很少笑了。 自从爸爸离开后，他就没怎么笑过。 其实过去这一年，他变了太多，几乎认不出来了，再也不是皮纳特曾经喜欢的那个爱开玩笑、爱玩闹的哥哥了。 他永远一副焦虑的样子，几乎不和家里其他亲人来往。 他大部分时间要么一个人待在卧室，要么就是和朋友出门。 皮纳特都记不清他上次叫自己小揪揪是什么时候了。