Jess Shows Ana the Town

Walter doesn’t answer. After a minute, he takes his hands from his face. He gets up. He opens the window, and the smoke goes out.

Walter没有回答。过了一分钟，他的手离开脸。他站起来。他打开窗户，烟出去了。

“Make more rolls,” he says. “The bus is at ten to five.” And he works. He doesn’t say a word about the fire. Ana doesn’t ask. But she thinks about it all night.

“多做小面包，”他说，“班车差十分五点来。”然后他工作。关于火，他一句话也不说。Ana没有问。但是她想了这一件事一个晚上。

In the afternoon, Ana has a free day. She comes down the stairs. Jess is in the kitchen. She has her school bag on the floor and her headphones round her neck.

下午，Ana休息。她走下楼梯。Jess在厨房里。她的书包在地上，耳机在脖子上。

“Jess, where is the market?” Ana asks. “I want to buy a jacket. My jacket is not warm.”

“Jess，市场在哪儿？”Ana问，“我想买一件衣服。我的衣服不暖和。”

Jess looks at Ana’s jacket. “That’s not a jacket. That’s a shirt with ideas. Come on. I can show you the town. It’s very small. It takes ten minutes.”

Jess看Ana的衣服。“那不是大衣服。那是一件想太多的衬衫。走吧。我带你看这个小镇。它很小。只要十分钟。”

They walk up Bridge Street. At the top, there is a big square with an old stone building. “That’s the town hall,” Jess says. “And this is the market square. The market is on Tuesdays and Saturdays.”

她们走向Bridge Street。在上面，有一个大广场，有一座老石头楼。“那是镇公所，”Jess说，“这是市场广场。星期二和星期六有市场。”

Today is Tuesday. There are a lot of people in the market. Ana buys a warm green jacket. It is twelve pounds. Jess says it is very ugly. Ana says it is very warm.

今天是星期二。市场里有很多人。Ana买了一件绿色的暖和衣服。十二镑。Jess说它很难看。Ana说它很暖和。

Then it starts to rain. The wind is cold. “Welcome to Hollin Bridge,” Jess says. “It rains here three hundred days a year.”

然后天开始下雨。风很冷。“欢迎来Hollin Bridge，”Jess说，“这里一年下三百天雨。”

They go down to the river. Jess shows Ana the old stone bridge. “The town’s name is from this bridge. Hollin Bridge. It’s very old.”

她们走向河边。Jess带Ana看老石头桥。“小镇的名字来自这座桥。Hollin Bridge。它很老。”

From the bridge, they walk along the river path. After the bakery, the path goes left, to the canal. On the canal, there are long, thin boats in many colours.

从桥上，她们沿着河边的小路走。过了面包店，小路向左去运河。运河上有很长、很细的小船，有许多颜色。

“People live on these boats,” Jess says. “All year. In the rain, in the snow. I think they’re crazy.”

“有人住在这些船上，”Jess说，“住一年。下雨的时候住，下雪的时候也住。我觉得他们疯了。”

Ana likes the boats. A red boat has flowers on the roof. A blue boat has a bicycle on the roof. A dark green boat is very quiet. On its roof, there is a small brown square of paper. It is wet from the rain.

Ana喜欢这些船。一只红色的船，船顶上有花。一只蓝色的船，船顶上有一辆自行车。一只深绿色的船很安静。在船顶上，有一小块棕色的纸。雨水让它湿了。

Ana looks at it for a second. Then Jess says something, and Ana looks at Jess. She doesn’t think about the paper again.

Ana看了一秒钟。然后Jess说话，Ana看Jess。她不再想那一块纸了。

“Have you got a family, Ana?” Jess asks.

“你有家人吗，Ana？”Jess问。