Each Other
美音、自然拼读、分级阅读与词汇复习
Even though Chris and Amanda spent a lot of time together, they never talked.
虽然克里斯和阿曼达在一起度过了很长一段时间,但他们从未说过话.
Amanda didn’t mind this much.
阿曼达不介意,
In her opinion, people talked too much.
在她看来,人们谈论太多。
That went for the girls at school, commercials on television, and even Mom sometimes, though that wasn’t a nice thing to think.
学校的女生、电视的广告、甚至妈妈,
She suspected that Chris thought people talked too much, too, which was why they let the silence lie when they were alone together.
她怀疑克莉丝认为人们也说得太多了,这就是为什么在两人单独在一起的时候,他们让沉默谎言.
“ Amanda!
“阿曼达!
Get your shoes on.
穿上你的鞋子。
We need to go shopping,” Mom yelled from the back door.
我们需要去购物,”妈妈从后门大叫。
“Haaw.
“呵.
Amanda groaned.
阿曼达叹息了
She was lying in the grass, staring straight up at the treetops and imagining she was floating on her back in her very own swimming pool.
她躺在草地上,直望着树顶 想象着她在自己的游泳池里漂浮
Chris sat in a lawn chair near her, watching the football game on the little black-and-white TV with the rabbit ears and the twist-dial channel changer.
克莉丝坐在她附近的草地上,在小黑白电视上观看了足球比赛,里面有兔子耳朵和曲折的双向频道变换器.
Kansas City was losing but coming back strong, and Amanda didn’t want to leave with ten minutes still on the clock.
肯萨斯城虽然输了,
“Did you hear me?”
“你听到了吗? “
Mom shouted again, her voice coming through the windows along with the jingle of her keys.
妈妈又喊了一遍,她的声音从窗户走来,还有她钥匙的叮当.
“I hate shopping,” Amanda said.
“我讨厌购物,”阿曼达说。
“You’ll hate starting school in worn-out clothes even more,” Mom chimed back.
“你更讨厌穿着破旧的衣服开始上学,
“I like my clothes.
“我喜欢我的衣服。
I’m just going to wear out the new ones anyway,” Amanda said.
阿曼达说,
Amanda felt a nudge on her leg.
阿曼达的腿有动静
Chris had tapped her with his sneaker.
克里斯用他的运动鞋拍她
He nodded toward the house, letting her know that she should stop arguing and go with Mom.
他朝房子点头 让她知道 她应该停止争吵 和妈妈去。
Amanda sighed, got up, and headed inside.
阿曼达叹了口气,站起来,然后往里面走
“I’ll let you know,” Chris said, meaning the score of the game.
「我会告诉你, 」克里斯说,
When he did talk, it was like that—short and direct, without a single extra word.
当他说话的时候,就像那样, 短而直接, 没有一个额外的单词。
She thought to herself that when she got home, it would be like that again.
她自己想,当她回家, 它会是这样再次。
He’ d say, “Twenty-one, fourteen,” without introducing it or explaining what he meant.
他说: " 二十一、十四, " 没有介绍或解释他的意思。
But she’ d get it.
但是,她明白这一点。
In the car, Mom nervously sipped her iced tea.
在车里,妈妈紧张地把冰茶倒了
Then she started talking.
然后她开始说话。
“What’s up, baby doll?
“怎么了,宝贝?
How’ve you been?”
最近好吗? “
she asked.
她问。
Amanda wasn’t sure how to answer.
阿曼达不确定如何回答。
She saw Mom after work every day.
她每天下班后都见到妈妈
Was there anything new she should report?
她有什么新情况要报告吗?
“How’s your summer going?”
“夏天过得怎么样? “
Mom pressed.
妈妈按了
“It’s going okay.”
" 进展顺利。 “
“ Are you disappointed that you couldn’t go to camp?”
“...... 你对无法去露营感到失望吗? “
“No.”
“没有。”
Amanda had gone to Lake Pines Summer Camp for the past two summers, but Mom couldn’t afford to send her this year after she and Chris paid for their wedding.
阿曼达过去两个夏天都去过松湖夏令营,
Amanda didn’t mind at all.
阿曼达根本不介意。
For the past two years, her counselor had told her that the woodworking class she wanted to take was “just for boys.”
在过去两年里,她的顾问告诉她,她想上的木工班“只为男孩。 “
“Mom, is there something you need to tell me?”
“妈妈,你有什么需要告诉我的吗? “
Mom sighed.
妈妈叹了口气
“I don’t know, honey.
「我不知道,
Things don’t seem to be going as I imagined.”
事情似乎不像我想象的那样发展。 “
She paused.
她停下来了
Amanda knew that unlike Chris, Mom would always go on to explain what she meant, even if Amanda had already guessed.
阿曼达知道 不像克莉丝 妈妈总是继续解释她的意思 即使阿曼达已经猜到了
“I mean with Chris,” Mom said.
“我是指克里斯,”妈妈说。
“I like Chris.
“我喜欢克里斯。
I like having him around,” Amanda said.
阿曼达说,
“Well, I do, too, honey, but just being around isn’t enough sometimes,” Mom said.
“我也是,亲爱的,但有时光在身边是不够的,”
“You haven’t talked about this with him, have you?
“你没有和他谈这个,
No, you guys don’t talk about anything,” she said, answering her own question.
她回答自己的问题。
“No.
“否。
We don’t really need to talk,” Amanda said.
阿曼达说:
The car stopped at a light, and Mom took a deep breath in and out.
车停在了一盏灯口,妈妈就深呼吸了.
“Well, I need someone to talk to.
“嗯,我需要有人说话。
Another grownup.
又一成年人.
And Chris just.
还有克里斯
having thought that her mother talked too much.
以为她妈妈说得太多了
“ Are you getting a divorce?”
“...... 你要离婚吗? “
Amanda asked.
阿曼达问.
Amanda was very familiar with divorce.
阿曼达对离婚非常熟悉.
Mom and Dad had gotten one when Amanda was barely three years old—so young that she didn’t even remember.
阿曼达年仅三岁,
Then there was Mom’s boyfriend, Chuck, with his blonde mustache and all his action figures.
然后是妈妈的男朋友查克, 带着他金发的胡子和他所有的动作人物。
He was fun, and even though he and Mom were never married, it still hurt like a divorce when he left.
他很有趣,虽然他和妈妈从未结过婚,他离开时仍然像离婚一样痛苦.
Even Gram and Gramps were divorced, though they lived in the same building and still shouted at each other from their porches the way they had when they were married.
甚至外公和外公也离婚了,尽管他们住在同一座建筑里,仍然像结婚时一样从门廊相呼相叫.
Mom started to sniff a bit, and she didn’t answer.
妈妈开始嗅到一点,
They pulled into a space in the Mega Mart parking lot, and Mom reapplied her makeup in the rearview mirror before they got out and went inside the store.
他们拉入了Mega Mart停车场的一空间,妈妈在出门前将她的化妆品重新放入后视镜并进入商店.
They shopped for hours before heading back home.
他们在回家前购物了好几个小时。
“We lost,” was all Chris said when Amanda and Mom got home.
“我们输了”,当阿曼达和妈妈回家时,克里斯都这么说。
Their shopping bags were filled with new, itchy clothes.
他们的购物袋里装满了新的痒衣服.
As usual, Mom had tried to get Amanda to try on the pink shirts with all the ribbons and ruffles, but Amanda insisted on plain colors—red, blue, and green, and nothing girly.
和往常一样,妈妈曾试图让阿曼达尝试穿上粉红色衬衫,并配上所有的丝带和花纹,但阿曼达坚持着平淡的颜色——红,蓝,绿等颜色,没有女生色彩.
Amanda was going to ask what the score was, but if they’ d lost, it really didn’t matter much.
阿曼达会问得分多少,
Across the street, she saw her neighbor Cameron on a big pile of dirt, planting a stick into the top like a flagpole on a mountain.
在街对面,她看到邻居卡梅伦在一堆大土上,把一根棍子插入山顶上,就像山上的旗杆.
“Going out to play,” she shouted as she ran to join Cameron.
她跑去和Cameron会合时大叫。
The dirt pile had been left there when the town dug holes for new telephone poles, and the work crews had never come back to take it away.
当镇上挖出新电话杆的洞时,土堆就被留在了那里,工人再也没有回来取走.
“Where were you?”
“你当时在哪里? “
Cameron asked.
卡梅伦问。
“School shopping,” Amanda said.
“学校购物”,阿曼达说。
“Did you get any cool stuff?”
“你有什么很酷的东西吗? “
Cameron asked.
卡梅伦问。
“My mom said I could save my paper-route money and get a graphing calculator.”
“我妈妈说,我可以省下我的纸路费,并获得一个绘图计算器。 “
“No, just clothes.”
“不,只是衣服。 “
“Hmm.”
“嗯。”
Cameron started absentmindedly smacking the dirt pile with his stick.
卡梅伦开始不小心用棍子打泥土堆.
Amanda had had big plans for the dirt pile.
阿曼达对泥土堆有大计划
She’ d wanted to make a fort by hollowing out the inside and building a long, low window facing the street.
她想挖出一个堡垒,
Then she was going to plant junglelike plants all over the top to camouflage it.
然后她打算把丛林般的植物种到顶端去伪装
But Cameron never put up much of an effort, and he tore down half of what they’ d done each time she went to Dad’s for a weekend.
但卡梅伦从未付出过很大努力, 每次她去爸爸家过周末, 他都撕下他们一半的工作。
“You’ll be going to Hogan Elementary, right?
" 你会去霍根小学,对吧?
Now that your mom and Chris are married, you’ll definitely be staying here and not going to your dad’s for the school year, right?”
现在你妈妈和克莉丝结婚了,你肯定要呆在这里, 而不是去你爸爸的学年,对吧? “
“Who knows how long they’re going to be married,” Amanda said.
阿曼达说,
She dug some loose dirt out of what had almost been the entrance to their fort, and started to reshape it.
她从他们堡垒的入口挖出一些松散的泥土,开始重塑.
“ Are you serious?”
“...... 你是认真的吗? “
Cameron asked.
卡梅伦问。
“That’s what Mom said.
" 妈妈是这么说的。
She said that it wasn’t as she imagined, and when I asked if they were getting divorced, she didn’t say anything.”
我问她们是否要离婚时, “
Beside her, Cameron began carving out a long channel down the side of the pile.
除了她 卡梅隆开始在堆放地上挖出一条长道
“Hey, don’t be mad at me when I say this,” he said.
「嘿,
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
他用后手擦去口.
“I never really liked Chris all that much.
“我从来没有真正那么喜欢克丽丝。
Chuck was more fun.
查克更好玩一点
Remember when he got all those bottle rockets for the Fourth of July?”
还记得当他得到了所有的瓶子火箭 为国庆? “
“I guess he was sort of more fun,” Amanda said.
Amanda说,“我想他比较有趣。”
“But Chris and I are more alike.
“但克里斯和我更相似。
We understand each other.”
我们理解对方 “
“He seems kind of grumpy sometimes,” said Cameron.
卡梅伦说,“他有时似乎有些暴躁。”
“Well, I do, too,” said Amanda, now feeling kind of grumpy at Cameron.
阿曼达说, “我也是,”现在对卡梅伦有点生气。
She didn’t really hang out with him at school—just during summers, when they were the only kids in the neighborhood.
她并没有真正在学校和他在一起,
“I’m going to get an ice pop,” Amanda said, without even bothering to offer Cameron one.
Amanda说, “我要吃冰块了,” Amanda说,
“Finished your fort?”
“完成你的要塞? “
Chris asked when she stepped inside the house.
克里斯问,当她走进房子。
He had the big TV taken apart all over the living room floor.
他在客厅地板上把大电视都拆了
It had been like that for a week now, but Amanda found that she liked watching Chris fix the TV almost as much as she had liked watching TV.
但阿曼达发现她喜欢看克莉丝 和喜欢看电视差不多
Amanda kneeled down next to the disassembled screen.
阿曼达跪在被拆卸的屏幕旁边.
“No.
“否。
It never gets anywhere.
它永远不会得到任何地方。
It keeps changing shape.”
它不断改变形状。 “
Chris pointed at the big TV tube.
克里斯指向了大电视管.
“Radioactive,” he said.
他说,“放射性问题”。
“Can’t put it in the trash.”
“不能把它放在垃圾桶里。 “
“Dangerous?”
“危险? “
she asked.
她问。
“Not unless it’s broken.
“除非它被打破,
You need help?”
你需要帮助吗? “
She knew he was talking about the fort.
她知道他说的是要塞
“Sure.”
当然
“Let’s go,” Chris said.
" 让我们去, " 克里斯说。
And out they went.
他们出去了
Cameron was creating some kind of battlefield in his yard.
卡梅伦正在他的院子里制造某种战场.
He looked up and watched them pass but didn’t act as if he wanted to join.
他抬头看着他们通过,
Chris and Amanda worked on the fort all that day.
克里斯和阿曼达整天都在堡垒工作
By nightfall, the mound of dirt had changed shape again.
到了深夜,泥土丘又变了形状.
From one side, it looked like a pile of dirt, but from another side, you could see a wall starting to form--and a room.
从一面看,它看起来像一堆泥土, 但从另一面,你可以看到一堵墙 开始形成 - 和一个房间。
Chris was packing the dirt wall down solid, so it wouldn’t shift around.
Chris把泥墙打得粉碎,
They worked on it every day.
他们每天都在做
Chris didn’t really talk about what he was doing.
克里斯并没有真正谈论他在做什么。
It was as if he knew just what she wanted.
就好像他知道她想要什么一样
He found some old boards in the garage and built a skinny frame.
他在车库里发现了一些旧的木板并建造了一具瘦相框.
By Friday, there was a long, narrow spy window looking out over the neighborhood.
到周五,有一个很长很窄的间谍窗口 看着附近。
Saturday morning, Amanda asked Mom if they could go to the plant store and buy some ferns and vines to plant all over the fort as camouflauge.
星期六早上,阿曼达问妈妈,他们是否可以去工厂商店购买一些藤蔓和藤蔓来在堡垒上作"camouflaug"来种植.
“ Absolutely not,” she said.
“...... 绝对不行,”她说。
“But, Mom—” “First of all,” Mom began, and Amanda rested her weight back on her heels in preparation for the lecture, “that dirt belongs to the city crew, not to us.
“但是,妈妈,”“首先,”妈妈开始,阿曼达在准备讲座时把重心放在脚跟上,“泥土属于城市船员,而不是我们。
Second, it’s not even in our yard.
第二,它甚至不在我们的院子里。
Third, plants are expensive, and we can’t afford to buy them as toys.
第三,植物价格昂贵,我们买不起它们作为玩具。
Fourth, they’re just going to come along with bulldozers and smash the thing anyway.”
第四, 他们只是用推土机来砸东西。 “
“But the pile’s been there for almost a year!
“但堆积已近一年了!
Our fort’s almost done—it’s the coolest thing.”
我们的要塞几乎完成了,这是最酷的事情。 “
Amanda said.
阿曼达说。
“Don’t interrupt me.
" 不要打断我。
You’ve spent every day out there in the dirt, ruining the clothes we bought for school.”
你每天都在泥地上度过, “
Amanda stuck out her bottom lip.
阿曼达把嘴唇伸出来
“We were making something.
“我们在做一些事情。
You didn’t even look at it.
你甚至没有看。
Chris may not talk a lot, but he sure knows me better than you do.”
克里斯可能不太会说话 但他比你更了解我 “
As soon as Amanda said it, she waited for Mom to be furious and start yelling at her.
阿曼达一说,她就等着妈妈发怒,开始对她大叫.
But instead, Mom’s mouth just opened a little, and she stared at Amanda with huge eyes.
但是,妈妈的嘴刚刚张开一点,她用巨大的眼睛盯着阿曼达.
She didn’t even cry.
她甚至没有哭.
“Go to your room,” Mom said.
" 回到你的房间, " 妈妈说。
Her voice sounded flat.
她的声音听起来很平平
Amanda almost never cried, and she tried not to now, but there was already mud on her pillow—her tears had picked up dirt from her cheeks.
Amanda几乎从未哭过,她试图现在没有哭过,但枕头上已经有泥 -- -- 她的眼泪从脸颊上取出泥土。
She heard Mom moving pots around, getting ready to start dinner.
她听到妈妈到处搬来搬去 准备开始吃饭了
She knew that Mom’s mouth would be moving silently as she worked, as it always did when she was upset.
她知道妈妈的嘴会像工作一样静静地动,
Talking, talking, always talking.
说话,说话,总是说话。
Every time Amanda thought about what she had said to Mom, she couldn’t figure out whether she was sorry or whether she had just been telling the truth.
每次阿曼达想到她对妈妈说的话, 她都无法知道她是否道歉,
She heard Chris go around the side of the house, turn on the hose, and rinse the dirt off his hands.
她听说了 克瑞斯绕到房子的一侧,把水管打开,从他手上取出污垢.
That was another way that Amanda and Chris were different from Mom, but like each other.
这是阿曼达和克莉丝和妈妈不一样的另一种方式,但彼此相似.
Amanda and Chris were always getting dirty doing things like working on the car, fixing the water heater, or putting in a new back step.
阿曼达和克丽丝总是做一些脏事 比如在汽车上工作 修取取水器 或者做个新的后台
Mom was always complaining about dirty hands.
妈妈总是抱怨脏手。
After the hose stopped, Chris’s footsteps went around the house and inside.
水管停了之后,克里斯的脚步走遍了房子和里面.
“Where’ d she go?”
" 她去了哪里? “
he asked.
他问。
“Who?”
“谁？”
Mom said.
妈妈说。
There was another thing— Amanda and Chris always had to explain to Mom what they meant, but they always understood each other.
还有一件事——阿曼达和克莉丝总是要向妈妈解释他们的意思,但他们总是互相理解.
Mom was always explaining things to them even after they got it.
妈妈总是向他们解释 事情,即使他们得到了它。
“ Amanda,” Chris said.
“阿曼达,” 克里斯说。
Mom’s voice got quiet, and Amanda couldn’t hear what she said.
阿曼达听不到她说的话。
They spoke back and forth for a moment, and then Chris’s footsteps went down the hall to their bedroom.
克里斯的脚步走下大厅去他们的卧室。
Amanda didn’t hear anything but kitchen sounds for a while, so she figured that no one was going to come and talk to her after all.
阿曼达只听到厨房的声音,
But then she heard the doorknob turn, and Chris came in.
但后来她听到门把手转弯,克里斯进来了.
Chris didn’t say hello or start asking her if she wanted to talk, as Mom always did.
Chris并没有像妈妈一样,
Amanda even found herself wondering why she couldn’t just stay with Chris if he and Mom did get a divorce.
阿曼达甚至想知道,
He sat down in the chair by her bed.
他坐在她床边的椅子上
She didn’t roll over to face him, and he didn’t speak for a long time.
她没有翻身去面对他,
“You hurt your mom when you said that,” he said.
“你说那话时你伤害了你妈妈。”
Amanda felt her tears start running down her cheeks again.
阿曼达觉得她的眼泪又开始流下她的脸颊了
She wiped them away, not wanting to get more dirt on her covers.
她擦去他们,不想得到更多的污垢 在她的被子。
“She doesn’t understand me,” she said, whispering so that Chris wouldn’t know she was crying.
她说:「她不理解我,
“She didn’t even look at our fort.”
她甚至不看我们的要塞。 “
“She knows what’s best for you, and she loves you,” Chris said.
她知道什么对你最好,
“Sometimes people have a hard time talking to each other,” Chris said.
Chris说:“有时人们很难互相交谈。”
Amanda had to think about that for a minute.
阿曼达得考虑一下
She knew it was true— she and Mom often did have a hard time talking to each other.
她知道这是真的——她和妈妈经常很难互相交谈.
She thought it was awfully strange that Mom, who talked so much, would find it difficult to talk to anyone.
她觉得非常奇怪,妈妈, 谁说话这么多, 会发现很难与任何人说话。
Suddenly Amanda began to understand something about Mom: maybe talking was her way of trying to figure things out.
阿曼达突然开始了解妈妈: 也许说话是她试图弄清楚事情的方法.
Whenever Mom was giving her a talk or asking her too many questions, she really just wanted to understand.
每当妈妈给她一个谈话 或问她太多的问题, 她真的很想知道。
Amanda had never thought that she was particularly hard to understand, but then again, maybe she was.
阿曼达从未想过她特别难理解,但后来再次,也许她就是.
She never really told Mom much of anything.
她从来没有真正告诉妈妈什么。
“I guess you understand Mom pretty well, don’t you?”
“我想你很了解妈妈, “
she asked Chris.
她问克里斯。
“I haven’t been too great about it lately,” he said.
他说:「我最近对此不太满意,
“She needs to get some feedback once in a while.
“她需要偶尔得到一些反馈。
And you need to apologize.
你该道歉了
Families have to work at staying together.”
家庭必须工作在一起。 “
Amanda didn’t nod or say anything.
阿曼达没有点头,
She knew Chris would realize that he had made his point.
她知道克莉丝会意识到他已经说清楚了
After a short time, he got up and left the room, closing the door behind him.
不久后,他起身离开房间,将后门关上.
Amanda sat up, blew her nose, and got ready to clean herself up to talk to Mom.
阿曼达坐了起来,打爆了鼻子,准备把自己打扫干净去和妈妈说话.
“Three pickup trucks, five cars, a telephone van, two dogs, and a snapping turtle,” Cameron said, reading from a sheet of paper.
卡梅伦说,“三辆小卡车、五辆汽车、一辆电话车、两只狗和一只快活的乌龟,”从一张纸上看。
“Those are all the things that passed by the fort window today, and not one of them knew I was behind here.
“今天,这些都是要塞窗口经过的东西,没有人知道我在这里。
This place is great!
这地方太棒了!
Where have you been?”
你们去哪儿了? “
he asked.
他问。
Amanda had just arrived, and found Cameron.
阿曼达刚到 找到卡梅伦
“Mom and I went to get our nails done,” Amanda said.
Amanda说,“我和妈妈去修指甲了。”
“ And we bought vines at the plant store.”
“...... 我们在工厂买了藤子 “
“Really—where are they?
“真的,他们在哪里?
Can we plant them?
我们可以种下它们吗?
Or don’t you want to mess up your pretty nails?”
还是你不想弄坏你的指甲? “
“No, it’s not that.
" 不,不是这样的。
I made a deal with my mom.
我跟我妈做了个交易
She’s bringing the vines and the hose for us.
她带了藤条和水管给我们。
I said I’ d go and have a ‘salon day’ with her if she came outside and helped us plant the camouflage on the fort this afternoon.”
我说,如果她外出帮助我们在今天下午的要塞上安放迷彩,我会和她一起过个 " 沙龙日 " 。 “
“No way!”
绝对不行!
Suddenly, water showered on them from somewhere.
突然间,水从某处冲到他们身上
They looked up to see Mom dragging the dripping hose across the road.
他们抬头看妈妈把滴水管拖过马路
She aimed the sprayer right at them.
她用喷雾器瞄准他们
“You two had better run!”
“你们两个最好跑!”
she yelled, laughing.
她大叫,大笑着
Cameron and Amanda took off, screaming with muddy delight.
卡梅隆和阿曼达起飞了, 带着泥巴般的快活尖叫.