評論
打印
The Clearing
空地
Jesse Stuart
杰西•斯圖爾特
Finn and I were pruning the plum trees around our garden when a rock came crashing among the branches of the tree I was pruning.
我和芬恩修剪果園周圍的李子樹時，一塊石頭從我正在修剪的樹枝之間落了下來。
"Where did that come from?" I asked Finn, who was on the ground below piling the branches.
“從哪里飛來的石頭呢？”我問在地面上收集樹枝的芬恩。
"I don't know," he said.
“我也不知道，”他說。
Then we heard the Hinton boys laughing on the other side of the valley. I went back to pruning. In less than a minute, a rock hit the limb above my head, and another rock hit at Finn's feet. Then I came down from the tree. Finn and I started throwing rocks. In a few minutes, rocks were falling like hailstones around them and around us. One of their rocks hit Finn on the foot, and one of our rocks hit the largest Hinton boy's head.
這時，山谷那邊傳來了欣頓家孩子們的笑聲。我接著修剪起了樹枝。還不到一分鐘后，又一塊石頭擊中了我頭頂的樹干，另一塊砸中了芬恩的腳。我從樹上跳了下來，開始和芬恩一塊向他們扔石頭。幾分鐘內，石塊像冰雹一樣落在他們和我們身邊。他們扔來的一塊石頭擊中了芬恩的腳，我們扔過去的一塊擊中了欣頓家老大的腦袋。
"Think of it," Finn said. "We fight before we know each other's names! What will it be as time goes on?"
“想想吧，”芬恩說，“我們彼此還不認識就干仗了！將來可怎么辦呢？”
We fought all afternoon with rocks. At sunset the Hinton boys took off up the path and over the hill. We went home. When Pa asked why we hadn't finished pruning the trees, we told him.
我們整個下午都在進行石頭戰。日落時，欣頓家的孩子們順著小路向北、翻過山離開了。我們也就回家了。當爸爸問我們為什么沒有修剪完李子樹時，我們把發生的事情告訴了他。
"I told you," he said to Mom, "this is what happens when people live too close!"
“我早就和你說過，”他對媽媽說，“住得太近，就會發生這種事情。”
"Wait until we get to know each other," Mom said.
“等等看吧！我們會了解彼此的。”媽媽回答說。
"But how are we ever going to know people like them?" Pa asked.
“但是我們怎么才能了解像他們這樣的人呢？”爸爸接著問道。
"Oh, something will happen," she replied calmly. "You'll see."
“哦，有些事情總會發生的，”媽媽平靜地回答，“等著看吧。”
