Then junior high started and my dream of a Juli-free existence shattered. I had to take the bus, and you-know-who did, too. There were about eight kids altogether at our bus stop, which created a buffer zone, but it was no comfort zone. Juli always tried to stand beside me, or talk to me, or in some other way mortify me.
进入初中，我想摆脱朱莉的梦想破灭了。我得坐公共汽车，她也一样。在我们的公交车站，大约有八个孩子，那里创造了一个防止拥挤的缓冲区，但绝不是舒适区。朱莉总是试图站在我身边，或者和我说话，或者以其他方式折磨我。
And then she started climbing. The girl is in the seventh grade, and she’s climbing a tree – way, way upin a tree. And why does she do it? So she can yell down at us that the bus is five! four! three blocks away! Blow-by-blow traffic watch from a tree – what every kid in junior high feels like hearing first thing in the morning.
然后她开始爬树。这个女孩，初一了，竟然爬上了高高的树干。那她为什么要这么做呢？她就可以居高临下对我们大喊，巴士到了离我们还有五、四、三条街！她就是树梢上的即时交通岗哨——也是任何一个初中生每天早上听到的第一件事。
She tried to get me to come up there with her, too. “Bryce, come on! You won’t believe the colors! It’s absolutely magnificent! Bryce, you’ve got to come up here!” Yeah, I could just hear it: “Bryce and Juli sitting in a tree… ” Was I ever going to leave the second grade behind?
她也想让我和她一起上去。“布莱斯，来吧！”你难以相信这里的色彩有多么绚丽！真是太棒了！布莱斯，你上来吧！”
是的，我似乎又听到那首童谣：“布莱斯和朱莉坐在树上……” 我怎会让二年级的噩梦阴魂不散？
One morning I was specifically not looking up when out of nowhere she swings down from a branch and practically knocks me over. Heart a-ttack! 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 I’d see the bus pull up, I’d truck up the hill and get on board.
No Juli, no problem.
一天早上，我刻意没有抬头看，突然不知她从哪根树枝冒出，晃荡下来，差点把我撞倒了。心脏病差点犯了！我的背包掉在地上，还扭到了脖子，就是这样。我再也不愿意跟这只放养的疯猴子一起在树下等车了。从此，我总是拖到最后一分钟才从家里出来。我设置了属于自己的校车站，看到校车靠边停车，就冲到山坡上去登车。
没有朱莉，就没有麻烦。
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. That’s when I heard a commotion 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.
伙计们，这种状态一直持续到初一结束和几乎初二整个学期，直到几个月前的一天出现了变故。那天，我忽然听到山坡上一阵骚动，一些大卡车停在科利尔街，公共汽车停靠点。一些人对着朱莉大吼大叫，朱莉当然就在五层楼高的梧桐树上。
All the other kids started to gather under the tree, too, and I could hear them telling her she had to come down. She was fine – that was obvious to anyone with a pair of ears – but I couldn’t figure out what they were all arguing about.
所有的孩子也开始聚拢到树下，我听到他们说，叫她下来。她很好——对于任何一个耳朵没有问题的人来说都听得出来——但我不知道他们在争吵什么。
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 come out of the tree.
Chain saws.
我冲上山坡，当我走近，看到男人们拿着的工具时，我很快就明白了是什么让朱莉拒绝从树上出来。
那是一台链锯。
Don’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 world’s peskiest, bossiest, most know-it-all female. But all of a sudden my stomach completely 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.
别误会我的意思！这棵树长满多瘤的树脂，弯弯曲曲，丑陋无比。与那些男人吵架的女孩是朱莉——世界上最令人讨厌、最专横、最无所不知的女孩。但突然间，我的胃抽搐起来。朱莉喜爱那棵树。虽然听起来很蠢，但她太爱那棵树，把它砍下来就像挖她的心一般。
Everyone tried to talk her down. Even me. But she said she wasn’t coming down, not ever, and then she tried to talk us up. “Bryce, please! Come up here with me. They won’t cut it down if we’re all up here!”
每个人都试图说服她。就连我也是。但她说她不会下来，绝不下来，然后她试图说服我们。“布莱斯，求求你，和我一起到树上来吧。如果我们都上来，他们就不会砍树了！”
For a second I considered it. But then the bus arrived and I talked myself out of it. It wasn’t my tree, and even though she acted like it was, it wasn’t Juli’s, either.
有那么一秒钟我思想动摇了。但后来公共汽车来了，我说服自己离开了。那不是我的树，尽管她表现得像是这样，但也不是朱莉的。
We boarded the bus and left her behind, but school was pretty much a waste. I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about Juli. Was she still up in the tree? Were they going to arrest her?
我们登上了汽车，把她一个人留在那边，但我也白去学校了。我忍不住一直在想着朱莉。她还在树上吗？他们会抓她吗？
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.
那天下午，当公共汽车让我们下车时，朱莉不见了，那棵树有一半也被砍掉了。最上面的树枝，我的风筝被卡住的地方，她最喜欢的栖木——它们都不见了。
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 (向一侧倾斜) and naked, and after a few minutes I had to get out of there. It was likewatching someone dismember a body, and for the first time in ages, I felt like crying. Crying. Over a stupid tree that I hated.
我们看了一会儿，链锯开足马力，全速运转，冒着浓烟，就如同生生地嚼碎树干一样。那棵树摇摇欲坠，几分钟后我不得不离开那里。这就像看着肢解尸体一样，多年来我第一次想哭。大哭。为了一棵我痛恨的蠢树。
读后小记：
如果你小时候最喜爱的玩具被抢走，你会怎样？嚎啕大哭？
如果你和梦寐以求的高校失之交臂，你有时什么感受？黯然神伤？
如果你信誓旦旦的爱人背叛了你，你又将如何？痛不欲生？
如果你能感同身受，你就能理解女主人Juli最喜爱的梧桐树被伐木工人砍后的感受。
Juli最终释怀了吗？她能原谅懦弱的Bryce吧？请听下回分解。
