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The Clearing
空地
Jesse Stuart
杰西•斯图尔特
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.
我和芬恩修剪果园周围的李子树时，一块石头从我正在修剪的树枝之间落了下来。
"Where did that come from?" I asked Finn, who was on the ground below piling the branches.
“从哪里飞来的石头呢？”我问在地面上收集树枝的芬恩。
"I don't know," he said.
“我也不知道，”他说。
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.
这时，山谷那边传来了欣顿家孩子们的笑声。我接着修剪起了树枝。还不到一分钟后，又一块石头击中了我头顶的树干，另一块砸中了芬恩的脚。我从树上跳了下来，开始和芬恩一块向他们扔石头。几分钟内，石块像冰雹一样落在他们和我们身边。他们扔来的一块石头击中了芬恩的脚，我们扔过去的一块击中了欣顿家老大的脑袋。
"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，”芬恩说，“我们彼此还不认识就干仗了！将来可怎么办呢？”
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.
我们整个下午都在进行石头战。日落时，欣顿家的孩子们顺着小路向北、翻过山离开了。我们也就回家了。当爸爸问我们为什么没有修剪完李子树时，我们把发生的事情告诉了他。
"I told you," he said to Mom, "this is what happens when people live too close!"
“我早就和你说过，”他对妈妈说，“住得太近，就会发生这种事情。”
"Wait until we get to know each other," Mom said.
“等等看吧！我们会了解彼此的。”妈妈回答说。
"But how are we ever going to know people like them?" Pa asked.
“但是我们怎么才能了解像他们这样的人呢？”爸爸接着问道。
"Oh, something will happen," she replied calmly. "You'll see."
“哦，有些事情总会发生的，”妈妈平静地回答，“等着看吧。”
