【正文】 rrassing. 我松了口氣，同時(shí)覺(jué)得自己太遜了。當(dāng)時(shí)我看到風(fēng)箏掛住的位置，馬上認(rèn)定它已經(jīng)回不來(lái)了。但朱莉不這么想。她二話不說(shuō)就爬上樹幫我拿下來(lái)。嘿，這真讓人尷尬。So I made a mental picture of how high she39。d climbed, and the next day I set off to outdo her by at least two branches. I made it past the crook, up a few limbs, and then — just to see how I was doing — I looked down. 我默默地計(jì)算了一下她到底爬了多高，然后第二天計(jì)劃至少爬到比她高出兩根樹枝的位置。我攀上了第一個(gè)大的杈彎，向上爬了兩三根枝杈，然后——只是想看看自己進(jìn)展如何——我向下看去。Mistake! It felt like I was on top of the Empire State Building without a bungee. I tried looking up to where my kite had been, but it was hopeless. I was indeed a treeclimbing weenie. 大——錯(cuò)——特——錯(cuò)！我仿佛站在帝國(guó)大廈的頂層，沒(méi)系安全帶。我試著抬頭尋找昨天風(fēng)箏掛住的位置，但是根本看不見(jiàn)。我是個(gè)不折不扣的爬樹白癡。Then junior high started and my dream of a Julifree existence shattered. I had to take the bus, and youknowwho did, too. There were about eight kids altogether at our bus stop, which created a buffer zone, but it was no fort zone. 上了初中，我以為朱莉會(huì)從此消失的夢(mèng)想也破滅了。我需要坐校車，而那個(gè)名字也不能提的人也是。我們這一站大概有八個(gè)學(xué)生一起等車，總是吵吵嚷嚷的，算是緩沖地帶，但絕不是個(gè)安全地帶。Juli always tried to stand beside me, or talk to me, or in some other way mortify me. 朱莉總想站在我身邊，跟我說(shuō)話，或者用別的什么方法來(lái)折磨我。And then she started climbing. The girl is in the seventh grade, and she39。s climbing a tree — way, way up in a tree. And why does she do it? So she can yell down at us that the bus is five! four! three blocks away! Blowbyblow traffic watch from a tree — what every kid in junior high feels like hearing first thing in the morning. 最后她選擇了爬樹。一個(gè)七年級(jí)的女孩，開(kāi)始爬樹——爬得高高的。為什么？因?yàn)檫@樣她就能居高臨下地沖我們喊：校車離這兒還有五……四……三條街！一個(gè)掛在樹上的流水賬式的交通崗哨！每個(gè)初中同學(xué)每天早上聽(tīng)到的第一句話就是她說(shuō)的。She tried to get me to e up there with her, too. “Bryce, e on! You won39。t believe the colors! It39。s absolutely magnificent! Bryce, you39。ve got to e up here!” 她想叫我爬上去跟她待在一起：“布萊斯，上來(lái)呀！你絕對(duì)無(wú)法想象這兒的景色有多美！太神奇了！布萊斯，你一定要上來(lái)看看！”Yeah, I could just hear it: “Bryce and Juli sitting in a tree…” Was I ever going to leave the second grade behind? 是啊，我都能想象出來(lái)：“布萊斯和朱莉坐在樹上……”二年級(jí)的往事，難道還陰魂不散嗎？One morning I was specifically not looking up when out of nowhere she swings down from a branch and practically knocks me over. Heart attack! 一天早晨，我刻意地沒(méi)有向樹上看去，她忽然從樹杈上跳下來(lái)，生生地撞到了我。害得我心臟病都要犯了！I dropped my backpack and wrenched my neck, and that did it. I refused to wait under that tree with that maniac monkey on the loose anymore. I started leaving the house at the very last minute. I made up my own waiting spot, and when I39。d see the bus pull up, I39。d truck up the hill and get on board. 我的背包掉在地上，還扭到了脖子，都賴她。我再也不愿意跟這只從精神病院跑出來(lái)的發(fā)瘋的猴子一起在樹下等車了。從此以后，我總是拖到最后一分鐘才從家里出來(lái)。我設(shè)置了屬于自己的校車站，看到校車快到了，就沖到山坡上去登車。No Juli, no problem. 沒(méi)有朱莉，就沒(méi)有麻煩。And that, my friend, took care of the rest of seventh grade and almost all of eighth, too, until one day a few months ago. That39。s when I heard a motion up the hill and could see some big trucks parked up on Collier Street where the bus pulls in. There were some men shouting stuff up at Juli, who was, of course, five stories up in the tree. 這種狀況貫穿了七年級(jí)和八年級(jí)的大多數(shù)時(shí)間，一直延續(xù)到幾個(gè)月前的一天。那天，我聽(tīng)到山坡上一陣騷動(dòng)，幾輛卡車停在克里爾街平時(shí)的校車站。一些人仰著頭沖朱莉喊著什么，而她當(dāng)然是在五層樓高的樹頂上。All the other kids started to gather under the tree, too, and I could hear them telling her she had to e down. She was fine — that was obvious to anyone with a pair of ears — but I couldn39。t figure out what they were all arguing about. I trucked up the hill, and as I got closer and saw what the men were holding, I figured out in a hurry what was making Juli refuse to e out of the tree. 孩子們也慢慢朝樹下聚攏過(guò)來(lái)，我聽(tīng)見(jiàn)他們說(shuō)她必須從樹上下來(lái)。她很好——對(duì)于任何一個(gè)耳朵沒(méi)有問(wèn)題的人來(lái)說(shuō)都聽(tīng)得出來(lái)——但我不明白他們?cè)诔呈裁础Ｎ覜_上山坡，當(dāng)我離得近一點(diǎn)兒、看清那些人手里拿的是什么，我立刻明白了為什么朱莉拒絕從樹上下來(lái)。Chain saws. 那是一臺(tái)鏈鋸。Don39。t get me wrong here, okay? The tree was an ugly mutant tangle of gnarly branches. The girl arguing with those men was Juli — the world39。s peskiest, bossiest, most knowitall female. But all of a sudden my stomach pletely bailed on me. Juli loved that tree. Stupid as it was, she loved that tree, and cutting it down would be like cutting out her heart. 千萬(wàn)別誤解。這棵樹長(zhǎng)滿了多瘤的樹脂，糾結(jié)成難看的一團(tuán)。和那些人吵架的人是朱莉——全世界最麻煩、最霸道、永遠(yuǎn)全知全能的女人。但是一瞬間我的胃就抽搐起來(lái)。朱莉愛(ài)這棵樹，雖然聽(tīng)起來(lái)很蠢，可她就是愛(ài)這棵樹，砍樹就等于在她的心里砍上一刀。Everyone tried to talk her down. Even me. But she said she wasn39。t ing down, not ever, and then she tried to talk us up. “Bryce, please! Come up here with me. They won39。t cut it down if we39。re all up here!” 每個(gè)人都勸她下來(lái)，包括我在內(nèi)。但她說(shuō)絕不下樹，永遠(yuǎn)也不，然后她試圖說(shuō)服我們?！安既R斯，求你了！上來(lái)跟我一起。如果我們?cè)谶@兒，他們就不敢砍樹了！”For a second I considered it. But then the bus arrived and I talked myself out of it. It wasn39。t my tree, and even though she acted like it was, it wasn39。t Juli39。s, either. 我思考了一秒鐘。但這時(shí)校車來(lái)了，我告訴自己不要卷進(jìn)去，這不是我的樹，同樣這也不是朱莉的樹，雖然她表現(xiàn)得好像是她的。We boarded the bus and left her behind, but school was pretty much a waste. I couldn39。t seem to stop thinking about Juli. Was she still up in the tree? Were they going to arrest her? 我們登上校車，把她一個(gè)人留在那里，但這些都沒(méi)有用。我忍不住一直在想朱莉，她還在樹頂上嗎？他們會(huì)不會(huì)把她抓起來(lái)？When the bus dropped us off that afternoon, Juli was gone and so was half the tree. The top branches, the place my kite had been stuck, her favorite perch — they were all gone. 放學(xué)后，當(dāng)校車把我們送回來(lái)的時(shí)候，朱莉已經(jīng)不見(jiàn)了，一起消失的還有上半棵樹。頂部的樹枝，我的風(fēng)箏曾經(jīng)卡住的地方，她最最心愛(ài)的棲身之地——統(tǒng)統(tǒng)消失了。We watched them work for a little while, the chain saws gunning at full throttle, smoking as they chewed through wood. The tree looked lopsided and naked, and after a few minutes I had to get out of there. It was like watching someone dismember a body, and for the first time in ages, I felt like crying. Crying. Over a stupid tree that I hated. 我們?cè)谀莾嚎戳艘粫?huì)兒，看鏈鋸如何開(kāi)足馬力，冒著濃煙，就像在把木頭嚼一嚼吞下去似的。大樹看起來(lái)?yè)u搖欲墜，毫無(wú)還手之力，沒(méi)過(guò)多久，我就非得離開(kāi)那里不可。這活像是在觀察一個(gè)分尸現(xiàn)場(chǎng)，有生以來(lái)，我第一次有種想要尖叫的感覺(jué)。為了一棵愚蠢的、我痛恨已久的樹而尖叫。I went home and tried to shake it off, but I kept wondering, Should I have gone up the tree with her? Would it have done any good? I thought about calling Juli to tell her I was sorry they39。d cut it down, but I didn39。t. It would39。ve been too, I don39。t know, weird. She didn39。t show at the bus stop the next morning and didn39。t ride the bus home that afternoon, either. Then that night, right before dinner, my grandfather summoned me into the front room. He didn39。t call to me as I was walking by — that would have bordered on friendliness. What he did