5 What Happens When You Try to Kill ’Em with Kindness

CHAPTER 5 What Happens When You Try to Kill "Em with Kindness You probably want to hear all about my really good idea. But I'm too mad to write about it. It's not because Mrs. Finkel thought it was a bad idea. She doesn't even know it yet. It's something even worse. Tuesday started off just regular. First Geography, then English. Then it was snack time, and that was when all the bad stuff happened. Guess whose fault it was.

第五章 当你试着用善意“征服”对方时发生了什么 你肯定想好好听听我那个超棒的主意是怎么回事。 可我现在气坏了，不想写这件事。 倒不是因为芬克尔老师觉得这主意不好。 她甚至还根本不知道这个主意呢。 是发生了更糟的事。 星期二一开始本来平平常常的。 先上地理课，再上英语课。 然后到了点心时间，所有倒霉事就是这时候发生的。 猜猜这都是谁的错。

If you said Joshua, then you are EXACTLY RIGHT!!! Here's what happened. Mrs. Finkel said, "Okay, boys and girls, it's snack time. And if anyone has further questions about their short stories, feel free to come up and ask me. Anyone? Stella, do you want to talk about your progress?" "No, I'm good," I said quickly. I hate when teachers single you out like that, and my cheeks got hot again. The really bad thing about blushing is that everyone can see how embarrassed you are. I had Dad's surprise treat from the night before as my snack, so I ducked my head down and pulled it out from under my desk. It looked SO DELICIOUS. It was wrapped up in a clear plastic bag, tied with a red ribbon, like a present.

如果你说是约书亚，那你可太对了！！！ 事情是这样的。 芬克尔老师说：“好了，孩子们，现在是点心时间。 要是谁对自己写的短篇故事还有疑问，随时可以过来问我。 有人要问吗？ 斯特拉，你要不要说说你的进展？” “不用啦，我没问题的。”我赶紧回答。 我最讨厌老师这样当众点我的名了，我的脸又唰地一下热了。 脸红最讨厌的地方就是，所有人都能看出来你有多难为情。 我的点心是爸爸前一天晚上给我准备的惊喜小零食，所以我低下头，把它从课桌底下掏了出来。 它看起来好吃极了。 它被装在透明的塑料袋里，用一根红丝带系着，就像个小礼物似的。

Usually I get up and stretch for the first half of snack time. Then Mrs. Finkel claps her hands and everyone returns to their own desks. That's when I eat. But this time, I thought maybe I'd just stay at my desk the whole time. The treat looked too good to wait any longer. I untied the ribbon and started to pull off the plastic wrap, and then— "Is that an ice-cream pop?" a voice asked. Joshua's voice. I looked up and there he was, standing next to my desk. It did look sort of like an ice-cream pop, since it was on a stick and it had chocolate coating. "No," I said. Not that I knew for sure what it was. But it couldn't be ice cream, because that's too melty to take to school. "What is it then?"

平常点心时间的前半段，我都会站起来活动活动。 等芬克尔老师拍拍手，大家就都回到自己的座位上。 那时候我才开始吃点心。 可这次，我觉得我不如全程都坐在座位上算了。 这份小零食看着太诱人了，我实在等不及了。 我解开丝带，正要扯开塑料袋，就在这时——“那是冰棍吗？” 一个声音响了起来。 是约书亚的声音。 我抬头一看，他就站在我课桌旁边。 它看起来确实有点像冰棍，因为它插在小棍上，外面还有一层巧克力壳。 “不是。”我回答。 其实我也不确定它到底是什么。 但它肯定不是冰淇淋，因为冰淇淋太容易化了，根本没法带到学校来。 “那它是什么呀？”

"It's a secret," I told him. "Secrets don't make friends," Joshua said. Like he would know anything about making friends. He didn't have any! But then I remembered what Mr. King had said about Joshua being lonely. He didn't have friends, which made him mean, which made it so he didn't have friends. If I didn't tell him, did that make me a meanie? So I said it, right then: "It's not really a secret. It's a surprise." "Can I have it?" he asked. "No," I said. I didn't say no in a mean way. It was my only snack, and he had his own snack at his desk. I was sure of it. "I'm supposed to taste-test it." "How about just half?" he said. "I'll taste- test it with you." Sometimes Penny and I are Official Batts

“这是个秘密。”我告诉他。 “秘密可交不到朋友哦。”约书亚说。 说得他好像很懂怎么交朋友似的。 他一个朋友都没有！ 可我这时突然想起了金先生说的，约书亚很孤独。 他没有朋友，所以才变得凶巴巴的，而他脾气坏，就更交不到朋友了。 要是我不告诉他，我是不是也变成小气鬼了？ 所以我当时就说：“其实也不是什么秘密。 是个惊喜啦。” “能给我吃吗？”他问。 “不行。”我回答。 我说不行的时候语气一点都不凶。 这是我唯一的点心，他自己座位上也有他的点心啊。 我肯定他有。 “我应该帮你尝尝味道好不好呀。” “那分我一半行不行？”他说。 “我可以和你一起尝。” 有时候我和佩妮会做巴茨家的官方甜品试吃员，

Confections Taste-Testers, but no one else is. And give him half? The treat was bigger than my usual snack, but still not that big. Kill "em with kindness, Mr. King had said. Giving Joshua half would be a really REALLY kind thing. It was the kind of thing Willa would have done, before she moved away to Pennsylvania. Like when Clark dropped the cupcake Arielle brought for her birthday, Willa shared hers with him. She was probably being nice and

但其他人可没这个资格。 而且还要分他一半？ 这份点心比我平时的点心要大，可也没大到能分一半出去的地步。 金先生说过，要用善意“征服”对方。 分给约书亚一半，肯定是件特别特别善良的事。 要是威拉还没搬去宾夕法尼亚的话，她肯定会这么做的。 上次克拉克把阿里尔带来过生日的纸杯蛋糕弄掉了，威拉就把自己的分给了他。 说不定她现在正在新学校，