双语阅读·外国故事：巧克力行动

frag86@126.com

It was supposed to be an easy mission. Get the goods, return to base. It should've been as simple as that. It was hardly brain surgery.
本来是一个简单的任务。拿到货物，返回基地。应该就这么简单。几乎不费脑筋。
Unfortunately, nine-year-olds aren't exactly super-elite agents.
不幸的是，9岁的孩子并不是超级特工。
It was my ninth birthday party. I'd decided to have a sleepover, and my mom had allowed me to invite four people, so I'd chosen my two best friends and two of my cousins.
那是我的九岁生日聚会。我决定举行过夜聚会，妈妈答应我邀请四个人，所以我邀请了我的两个最好的朋友，加上我的两个表姐妹。
We were quite the motley crew. First, there was Emma, my best friend. We'd known each other since kindergarten and did everything together. She had black curly hair that she always kept cut shoulder-length and a huge My Little Pony obsession that she'd passed on to me. At the time we were still holding onto our shared dream of starting a horse ranch together. Yes, we were that kind of horse girl.
我们差不多是支杂牌军。首先，是艾玛，我最好的朋友。我们从幼儿园起就认识，什么事都一起做。她有一头黑色的卷发，她总是把头发剪到齐肩的长度。她还是《我的小马驹》的超级粉丝，并且把我也变成了粉丝。当时，我们还在坚持我们共同的梦想：一起建立一个马场。没错，我们就是那种喜欢马的女孩。
Unfortunately, my other friend Audrey, an intelligent strawberry-blonde girl with the memory of an elephant, was unable to attend due to an event at her family's temple (they were Jewish). Maybe if she'd been there, the whole thing would've gone much more smoothly. She had more brain cells than the rest of us combined.
不幸的是，我的另一个朋友奥黛丽，一个满头草莓金发的聪明女孩，有着大象般的记忆力，由于她家的礼堂有活动（他们是犹太人）而无法参加。也许她在的话，整个行动会进行得更加顺利。她的脑细胞比我们其他人加起来的还要多。
Lauren, my cousin who was older than me by a little less than a year, was the planner. If we decided to do something, Lauren would plan every step to the last second. She'd brush her curtain of long, dark hair behind her shoulder and get right to business.
劳伦，我的表姐，比我大了不到一岁，她是我们的策划。如果我们决定做什么，劳伦会把长长的黑发梳到肩膀后面，然后马上开始工作，她会把每一个步骤策划得妥妥当当。
Alyssa, Lauren's younger sister, was her second-in-command, but if she didn't want to follow orders, she would make it extremely obvious. Her curly brown hair and bubbly personality was the antithesis of Lauren's. She and I loved to match with each other more than with our own sisters. We wore matching teal nightgowns with an ice cream cone print to bed that night and identical sunset orange t-shirts the following day.
阿丽莎，劳伦的妹妹，是她的副手。如果她不想听从命令，她就会开始大闹。卷曲的棕色头发和活泼的性格，跟劳伦刚好相反。我和她喜欢搭配在一起，而不是和我们自己的亲姐妹搭配。那天晚上，我们穿着同款印着冰淇淋筒的茶色睡衣睡觉，第二天穿着一样的落日橙T恤。
My little sister Hailey was the last guest. Even though I hadn't invited her, my mother compelled me to include Hailey in every activity. Funnily enough, it was actually her idea to go through with the Chocolate Caper.
我妹妹海莉是最后一个客人。我没有邀请她，但是我母亲强迫我让海莉参加所有活动。讽刺的是，"巧克力行动"事实上是她的主意。
Much to my disappointment, nobody else wanted to watch The Sound of Music (a movie, according to my mother, that I'd memorized at the age of two, thanks to my great-grandmother who always put it on when she watched me at her house while my mother was at work). Therefore, we retreated to the bedroom Hailey and I shared to turn our bunk bed into a fort. I designated Hailey's bunk (the bottom one) as our headquarters.
令我失望的是，没有人愿意看《音乐之声》（据我母亲说，这部电影我在两岁时就已经记住了，这是我曾祖母的功劳，我母亲工作时，把我放在曾祖母家照顾，她总是放这部电影）。因此，我们回到了我和海莉的卧室，把我们的双层床变成了一个堡垒。我指定海莉的床铺（最下面的那张）作为我们的总部。
"Why?" Hailey asked. It was her favorite word, and every time I heard her ask it I felt a piece of my soul die.
"Because I said so," I told her.
"为什么？" 海莉问道。这是她的口头禅，每次听到她问这个问题时，我都觉得我的身体要炸毛。
"因为我说的，"我告诉她。
That response usually worked, but since we had company, Hailey wasn't ready to concede so quickly this time. She narrowed her blue-grey eyes at me, put her hands defiantly on her hips, and declared, "Mommy says you're not the boss of me."
这种回答通常都有效，但是由于我们还有其他伙伴在，海莉这次并不准备这么快就认输。她眯着蓝灰色的眼睛看着我，轻蔑地双手叉腰，宣布："妈妈说我不用听你的。
I knew this was true, but I was a manipulative little turd, and with our guests intently watching the exchange, I wasn't going to back down and lose my authority as The Birthday Girl. I retorted, "It's my party, and that makes me the boss tonight."
我知道这是真的，但我是一个如此老道的小屁孩，而且我们的客人正密切注视着这一场交锋，我不打算退缩，放弃我作为生日女孩的权利。我反驳道："这是我的聚会，所以今晚我说了算。"
Hailey pouted like a four-year-old (which she was) and let us use her bunk as our headquarters. We hung our blankets down from the top bunk (which had been established by Lauren as our lookout tower), then climbed one by one into Hailey's bed.
海莉像个四岁小孩一样撅着嘴（她本来就是），让我们用她的床铺作为我们的总部。我们把毯子从上铺挂下来（劳伦已经把上铺确立为我们的瞭望塔），然后一个个地爬到海莉的床上。
We spent two or three minutes staring at each other excitedly. None of us had ever made a fort before. After those first minutes were up, we started to get bored. We'd left our stuffed animals in the living room where we'd be sleeping that night, and nobody wanted to go and get them, leaving nothing for us to do.
我们相互盯着对方兴奋了两三分钟。几个人里没有谁以前玩过堡垒，几分钟后，就开始觉得无聊了。毛绒玩偶都放在客厅里了，那天晚上我们是在那里睡觉的，没有人愿意去拿，于是我们无事可做。
Hailey was the first to voice her opinion, since she had no filter whatsoever. "I'm boooored."
"Me, too," Alyssa chimed in. Emma, Lauren, and I all glanced at each other.
海莉是第一个发表意见的人，因为她说话从来不经过大脑。"我..好..无..聊。"
"我也是，"阿丽莎附和着说。艾玛、劳伦和我都互相瞥了一眼。
"We could play My Little Pony," Emma suggested. It was a game the two of us played at school during recess where we pretended to be two ponies that we'd made up. I was more than willing to play, but everyone else... not so much.
"我们可以玩《我的小马》，"艾玛建议。这是我们两个在学校课间休息时玩的游戏，我们假装是我们编造的两匹小马。我非常愿意玩，但是其他人......就不太愿意了。
"Sure!" I chirped.
"No!" Everyone else groaned.
"I'm hungry," Hailey complained.
"好啊！" 我高兴地说。
"不..！" 其他人都无精打采。
"我饿了，"海莉闹道。
"We can go eat some of the snacks," I suggested half-heartedly, referring to the store-bought plate of baby carrots, grape tomatoes, broccoli, chopped celery, and ranch dressing my mom had prepared for us to snack on while we waited for the pizza to arrive. To five kids under the age of ten, this was less than appetizing.
"我们可以去吃零食，"我漫不经心地建议，指的是我妈妈为我们准备的一盘商店买来的小胡萝卜、葡萄番茄、西兰花、切碎的芹菜和牧场沙拉，在我们等比萨送到时可以吃。对于五个十岁以下的孩子来说，这些并不那么合胃口。
"But broccoli is yuckyyyy," Hailey whined, once again stating what everyone else was too polite to say. "I want chocolate!"
"但是西兰花太难吃了，"海莉抱怨，再一次说出其他人故作矜持没说的话。"我想要巧克力！"
Chocolate sounded much tastier than the vegetables and ranch. I remembered that we somehow still had plenty of candy leftover from Halloween, and as soon as I mentioned this, we were ready to plot a caper.
巧克力听起来比蔬菜和牧场食物要好吃得多。我想起我们不知何故还剩下很多万圣节时的糖果，一提到这个，我们就准备策划一场刺激的活动。
Lauren took control and made the plan. Hailey was the lookout. She would check to make sure there were no adults in the kitchen or the living room, where we'd be visible. If the coast was clear, we'd hurry to the kitchen and grab one of the swivelly bar chairs. I was the best at climbing, so I would climb on the chair to reach the candy that was hidden in the highest cabinet to prevent sneaky little girls from eating it when we weren't supposed to.
劳伦开始控制局面并且制定计划。海莉负责望风，她来检查并且确保厨房和客厅里没有大人，在那里我们会被看到。如果安全，我们就赶紧去厨房，搬来一张旋转酒吧凳。我最擅长攀爬，所以我负责爬到凳子上，去拿藏在最高的柜子里的糖果，藏在那是防止我们这些偷偷摸摸的小女孩在我们不该吃的时候去偷吃。
While I did that, Emma and Alyssa would hold the swivelling seat still so I didn't fall. If the adults came, Hailey would report to Lauren and Lauren would stall until the rest of us bagged the loot and made our escape back to our "headquarters."
在我爬上凳子时，艾玛和阿丽莎负责扶着旋转的座椅保持稳定，这样我就不会摔下来。如果有大人来了，海莉负责报告劳伦，劳伦负责拖延时间，直到我们其他人把战利品装进袋子，逃回我们的 "总部"。
At first, it all went smoothly. Hailey reported that the adults — my mom, my two aunts, and my grandparents — were outside on the back patio chatting. We hurried unnoticed into the kitchen and set the barstool in place. I climbed up on the chair and opened the cabinet.
起初，一切都很顺利。海莉报告说，大人们——我妈、我两个姨妈和我爷爷奶奶——在后院聊天。我们神不知鬼不觉地快速走进厨房，把酒吧凳放好。我爬上凳子，打开橱柜。
That was when my dad entered the house, having just returned home from work.
就在这时，我爸爸下班回到家，进了屋。
When I say everyone was scared of my dad, I mean everyone was scared of my dad. My cousins, my friends, even full-grown adult men were scared of my dad. A 6'3", broad-shouldered, stone-faced ex-Marine, the guy was pretty intimidating. To this day I am the only one of my siblings who isn't too scared to argue with him.
当我说每个人都害怕我爸爸时，我的意思是每个人都害怕我爸爸。我的表姐妹、我的朋友们，甚至大人们都害怕我爸爸。他身高1米92，虎背熊腰，面无表情，是个退役的海军陆战队员，很有威慑力。时至今日，我是姐妹中唯一一个不那么害怕他，敢和他争辩的人。
Lauren, despite being the adults' favorite, chickened out and was unable to stall him. Hailey couldn't stall to save her life, so our dad walked straight past her into the kitchen, where he found me perched on the bar stool that was being held steady by Emma and Alyssa. All three of us froze when we saw him.
劳伦，尽管是大人们的最爱，也临阵退缩了，没去拖住他，海莉为了自保也没去，所以老爸直接从她身边走过，进入厨房，看见了我站在艾玛和阿丽莎扶住的高脚凳上。我们看到他时，我们三个都愣住了。
Maybe he was being lenient because it was my birthday, or maybe he was just tired from work, but all he said was a stern, "No. Get down from there."
也许他是因为那天是我的生日而手下留情，也许他只是工作累了，他只是严厉地说了一句 "不行，赶紧下来"。
I was quick to obey, but I doubt it would've made a difference, because all he did was grab a beer from the fridge and head outside, where my grandparents were chatting with my mom and her two sisters, who were visiting for my birthday.
我很快就服从了，但是我怀疑这有什么不同，因为他只是从冰箱里拿了一瓶啤酒就往外走了，在那里我爷爷奶奶正和我妈妈，以及她的两个姐妹聊天，她们是来给我过生日的。
We watched him go, then glanced quickly around at each other, half-terrified that we'd been caught, half-relieved that we weren't in trouble.
我们看着他离开，面面相觑，有逮着被吓得够呛的，也有庆幸没被惩罚的。
I was the first to recover, and I looked accusingly at Lauren and Hailey. "You were supposed to stall him!"
"What's a stall?" Hailey asked.
"He scared me!" Lauren protested. "I freaked out!"
我是第一个恢复过来的，我指责地看着劳伦和海莉。"你们原本应该拖住他！"
"什么是拖住？" 海莉问。
"他吓到我了！" 劳伦抗议道。"我吓坏了！"
"Guys, this is our chance!" Alyssa said, effectively getting us back on track. I climbed back up onto the chair, opened the cabinet, and fished out the canvas bag in which my mom had stored the candy. Once I'd hopped down, Emma and Alyssa put the chair back, and we hurried back to our fort to begin our saccharine feast.
"姐妹们，我们的机会来了！" 阿丽莎的话，一下子让大家缓过神来。我爬回凳子上，打开柜子，在里面翻出我妈妈装糖果的帆布袋子。我一跳下来，艾玛和阿丽莎迅速把凳子搬回去，我们赶紧回到了我们的堡垒，开启我们的“甜蜜”盛宴。
When my Mom came to tell us that the pizza had arrived and it was time to eat, she found all five of us huddled on Hailey's bed with chocolate all over our faces. I was chewing on a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup; Hailey was in the middle of testing how many Milky Way Minis she could fit in her mouth; Alyssa was working on her eighth fun-size bag of M&Ms; Emma was rifling through the bag for more Almond Joys, and Lauren had just finished her third Tootsie Roll and had begun to unwrap her fourth.
我妈妈来告诉我们披萨到了，该吃饭了的时候，发现我们五个人都挤在海莉的床上，脸上都是巧克力。我正在吃里斯花生酱杯；海莉正在测试她能在嘴里塞进多少个银河迷你糖；阿丽莎正在吃她的第八袋迷你装M&Ms；艾玛在袋子里翻找杏仁糖，而劳伦刚刚吃完她的第三个巧克力棒，在开始拆她的第四个。
My mom didn't even get mad. She simply burst into hysterical laughter (though I'm not sure if she was actually amused or if she realized how hard it was going to be to get us all to sleep that night after all that sugar we'd just gorged ourselves on) and went to grab the camera.
妈妈甚至都没有生气，她爆出一阵大笑（虽然我不确定她是不是真的被逗乐了，或者她还没有意识到那晚我们吃了那么多的糖，要让我们睡着会是一件多么困难的事情），然后跑去拿相机。
Everyone, even Alyssa, who ate like a bird, had room for two slices of pizza and a slice of birthday cake. However, right before bed, we were all instructed to put our shoes on and go run laps around the backyard until we had a sugar crash and we were too tired to do anything but troop heavily back into the house, crash on the sofa, and go to sleep.
每个人，甚至连饭量小得像小鸟一样的阿丽莎，都吃下了两片比萨和一片生日蛋糕。然而，就在睡觉前，我们都被要求穿上鞋子，去后院跑圈，跑到我们吃进去的糖分消失。我们累得动不了了，才拖着沉重的步子回到屋里，倒在沙发上埋头大睡。
It was definitely one of my better birthdays.
这绝对是我难忘的生日之一。