7 I’m Sorry

CHAPTER 7 I'm Sorry Things went from bad to worse when I got home. I made the mistake of telling Mom that I'd written a script of what had happened in the lunchroom. "May I see it?" Mom asked. I opened my backpack, pulled out my notebook, and handed it over. Usually when Mom reads things I've written, she smiles and says, "Stella! I'm so proud of your writing!" But this time Mom was NOT smiling,

第七章 真抱歉 我回到家后，情况变得越来越糟了。 我犯了个错，居然跟妈妈说我把午餐室发生的事写成了一个小剧本。 “能给我看看吗？” 妈妈问。 我打开书包，掏出笔记本，递给了她。 往常妈妈看我写的东西时，都会笑着说：“斯特拉！ 你写的东西真让我骄傲！” 但这次妈妈一点都没笑，

and when she opened up her mouth to speak, this is what she said: "I think we need to have a little talk, Stel." "You didn't like it," I said. "Stella, come sit," Mom said. She sat down on my bed, and patted the space on the mattress right next to her. There was a lump in my throat like a gobstopper, and my eyes burned like I'd eaten a handful of Hot Tamales. I sat down next to Mom, and she went on. "I think your script was just fine. In fact, I think it was very well done." "So why do we need to talk?" I asked. "Because when I read it, I felt really sad for one of the characters," she said. "Me?" I asked. "Well, yes, Stel. I'm always sad when you're sad," Mom said. "But I was thinking about another character—I was thinking

她一开口，说的是：“斯特尔，我觉得我们得好好聊聊。” “你不喜欢这个剧本对吧。”我说。 “斯特拉，过来坐。”妈妈说。 她坐到我的床上，拍了拍身边的床垫位置。 我喉咙里堵得像塞了个大硬糖，眼睛火辣辣的，就像吃了一把辣糖似的。 我坐到妈妈身边，她继续说道。 “我觉得你的剧本写得挺好的。 说实话，写得非常棒。” “那我们为什么要聊呀？” 我问。 “因为我读的时候，为其中一个角色觉得特别难过。”她说。 “是我吗？” 我问。 “嗯，是啊，斯特尔。 你难过的时候我总会跟着难过。”妈妈说。 “但我还在想另一个角色——我在想

about Joshua." Did she just say JOSHUA?!!! How could she feel bad for him? "Didn't you read the parts about how he called me Smella—a bunch of times, and then he called me Spilla, and then he called me Smella again?!" "Yes," Mom said. "And Joshua was wrong to say those things. But you were wrong, too. When you told Joshua he was the reason you weren't going, that was wrong. It hurt his feelings." "But he'd already hurt mine," I reminded her. "And that was wrong." "Two wrongs don't make a right. You know that." "I'm sorry," I said. "I was just so sad because... well, I do want to go see the show being taped."

约书亚。” 她刚才说的居然是约书亚？！！！ 她怎么会替他觉得难过啊？ “你没看到他好多次叫我‘臭臭拉’，然后又叫我‘撒撒拉’，之后又喊我‘臭臭拉’的那些部分吗？！” “我看到了。”妈妈说。 “约书亚说那些话确实不对。 但你也有错呀。 你跟约书亚说你不去是因为他，那话是不对的。 那伤到他的心了。” “可是是他先伤我的心的呀。”我提醒她。 “他那样做确实不对。” “两个错加起来也变不成对的呀。 你知道这个道理的。” “对不起。”我说。 “我只是太难过了，因为…… 唉，我真的很想去看节目录制现场。”

"I told you that you would," Mom reminded me. "How did you know that?" "I've been your mom a long time," Mom told me, just like she'd told Penny yesterday. "And I've paid a lot of attention to the things you want to do. It was just a feeling I had." "But I didn't even know I would feel that way!" "It's all right," Mom said. "You're only eight, and you're going to get things wrong sometimes. But when you do, it's really important to apologize." "I have to say sorry to Joshua?" "You got it," Mom said. "But he really is the biggest meanie in my whole entire class! I don't think anyone has ever had to apologize to him. He's always the one who has things to be sorry for."

“我早就跟你说过你会想去的呀。”妈妈提醒我。 “你怎么会知道呀？” “我当你妈妈这么久啦。”妈妈告诉我，和她昨天跟彭妮说的话一模一样。 “你想做的事我都留心着呢。 我就是有这么个感觉。” “可我自己都不知道我会这么想呀！” “没关系的。”妈妈说。 “你才八岁，有时候难免会做错事。 但做错事之后，道歉是非常重要的。” “我得跟约书亚说对不起吗？” “没错呀。”妈妈说。 “可他真的是我全班最最大的坏蛋！ 我觉得从来没人需要跟他道歉。 从来都是他做错事要跟别人道歉的。”

"I know he's not the nicest to you. But in this case, can you look beyond the mean things and see some nice things he was doing?" "Look beyond the mean things? Like when he called me Smella the first time, and the second, and the third, and the fourth, and then I spilled. And even when he brought the napkins and helped me—" "Ah," Mom interrupted. "What was that you just said?" "When he brought the napkins and helped me," I repeated. "He was the only one who was left, because everyone else ran out to the playground, and Miss Linka made him." Mom shook the pages of my play in her hand. "And according to this very well- written script, Joshua stayed to help up until the moment you hurt his feelings, right?"

“我知道他对你不太友好。 但这次，你能不能别只看他做的坏事，看看他也做了些好事呀？” “别只看坏事？ 就是他第一次叫我‘臭臭拉’，第二次、第三次、第四次，然后我就把东西撒了。 就连后来他拿纸巾帮我——” “啊，”妈妈打断了我。 “你刚才说什么？” “他拿纸巾帮我呀。”我重复道。 “其他人都跑到操场去了，就剩他在那，是林卡老师让他留下的。” 妈妈晃了晃手里我写的剧本。 “而且根据这个写得特别好的剧本，约书亚一直留下来帮忙，直到你说的话伤到他为止，对吗？”