Karen, Judy and I were the last ones back in the school room after lunch. We put our metal lunch boxes on the shelf above the coat hooks, which were mostly empty. All of the other sixth graders were already outside, playing marbles or hop scotch or jumping rope, since it was a pleasant spring day.
卡倫、朱迪和我是最后三個(gè)吃完午飯回到教室的。當(dāng)我們把各自的金屬飯盒放到衣帽鉤上方的架子上去的時(shí)候，衣帽鉤上幾乎已經(jīng)空了。在這個(gè)明媚的春日，六年級(jí)的其他學(xué)生都已經(jīng)到外面去玩彈珠、跳房子或者跳繩去了。

“Look what I found this morning in the storage cupboard when I was getting out some art supplies for Mrs. Eiffler.” With a conspiratorial grin on her face, Karen held up a wooden box filled with short pieces of chalk in every color of the rainbow.
“快看我今天上午給艾夫勒夫人取美術(shù)用品時(shí)在儲(chǔ)存柜里找到了什么！”卡倫帶著一臉陰謀者的壞笑，舉起了一個(gè)木頭盒子，里面裝滿了五顏六色的小粉筆頭。

“Wow! What fun it would be to write on the chalkboard while everyone is outside.” Judy’s eyes twinkled with anticipation.
“哇！當(dāng)大家都在外面的時(shí)候，偷偷在黑板上寫(xiě)字該是多么有趣的事啊！”朱迪的眼睛因期待而閃閃發(fā)亮。

“But Mrs. Eiffler doesn’t want us writing on the chalkboard,” I responded, already feeling guilty, although we had not yet done a thing.
“但是艾夫勒夫人不讓我們?cè)诤诎迳蠈?xiě)字啊，”我回答道，盡管我們還沒(méi)做什么，我就已經(jīng)覺(jué)得心虛了。

“Don’t be such a ‘fraidy cat’, Janet. No one will ever know,” said Karen, reaching into the box and drawing out a piece of chalk.
“別這么膽小啊，珍妮特，沒(méi)人會(huì)知道的?！笨▊愓f(shuō)著就把手伸進(jìn)了盒子里，拿出了一小支粉筆。

“Right. Everyone is outside, so we’re safe. No one will tell on us.” Judy was already drawing a house with sure strokes.
“對(duì)啊，大家都在外面呢，所以我們很安全，沒(méi)有人會(huì)告我們的狀的?！敝斓弦呀?jīng)開(kāi)始一筆一劃地畫(huà)房子了。

I reluctantly joined my friends in the artwork, wanting to be part of what was going on, but afraid of being caught. I knew well that we were breaking not one, but two class rules. The second rule was that no one was allowed to stay inside at noon without a written excuse from home if the weather was nice.
我極不情愿地加入了朋友們的藝術(shù)創(chuàng)作活動(dòng)，只是想要成為這個(gè)活動(dòng)的一份子，但是心里卻很害怕被當(dāng)場(chǎng)抓住。我清楚地知道我們不只違反了一條班紀(jì)，而是兩條。第二條班紀(jì)是：在天氣允許的前提下，沒(méi)有家長(zhǎng)的書(shū)面理由，任何人都不能中午留在室內(nèi)。

Trying various colors, we drew houses, trees and three-dimensional boxes. It was fun! All the time we were watching the clock, knowing that our fun would be over if anyone walked into the room.
我們用各種各樣的顏色畫(huà)了房子、樹(shù)和三維立體的盒子。真是有趣極了！我們始終都注意著時(shí)間，因?yàn)槲覀冎酪坏┯腥诉M(jìn)來(lái)，我們的娛樂(lè)活動(dòng)也就告終了。

Then Judy had an idea. “We’re all right-handed. Let’s see who can write their name best using their left hand.”
朱迪忽然又冒出個(gè)主意：“我們都是右撇子，讓我們看看誰(shuí)能用左手寫(xiě)自己的名字寫(xiě)得最棒！”

Judy and Karen picked up their chalk and started writing. I chose a white piece from the box and wrote my name. The handwriting was a bit shaky, but no one would doubt that it said “Janet.”
朱迪和卡倫拿起粉筆就開(kāi)始寫(xiě)。我從盒子里選了一根白色的，也開(kāi)始寫(xiě)自己的名字，筆跡有一點(diǎn)歪歪扭扭，但沒(méi)人會(huì)懷疑寫(xiě)的是“珍妮特”。

“I think Judy is the winner,” said Karen. “Hers is the best.”
“我覺(jué)得朱迪贏了，”卡倫說(shuō)，“她的字最棒?！?/div>

“We’d better get this board cleaned off before Mrs. Eiffler comes back,” said Judy, eying the clock. She picked up an eraser and began erasing our handiwork from the board. Everything came off... but my name!
“我們最好在艾夫勒夫人回來(lái)之前把黑板擦干凈，”朱迪一邊看著鐘一邊說(shuō)道。她拿起黑板擦開(kāi)始把我們的作品擦掉。所有的東西都被擦掉了——除了我的名字！

In disbelief, I looked at the chalk I held in my sweaty hand. On closer examination, it wasn’t chalk at all. I had picked up a small piece of white color crayon which was mixed in with the pieces of chalk.
我滿腹狐疑地看著自己汗?jié)竦男∈种芯o握的粉筆——經(jīng)過(guò)仔細(xì)的觀察，原來(lái)它根本不是粉筆，我竟然用的是一小支混在粉筆頭里的白色蠟筆！

My stomach churned and my knees felt weak. What would Mrs. Eiffler do to me?

我的胃里一陣翻騰，膝蓋也發(fā)軟了。艾夫勒夫人會(huì)怎么懲罰我呢？

[en]My mother had a saying: “Fools’ names and fools’ faces always appear in public places.” I never understood fully what it meant before. Now I did! I was a fool, and there was my name in crayon to prove it. And the teacher would be returning soon.

我媽媽說(shuō)過(guò)一句諺語(yǔ)：“傻瓜的名字、笨蛋的臉，大庭廣眾之下總能見(jiàn)。”我以前總是不能完全理解這句話的意思?，F(xiàn)在我懂了！我就是一個(gè)傻瓜，黑板上那個(gè)用蠟筆寫(xiě)出來(lái)的名字就證明了這一點(diǎn)。而且老師馬上就要回來(lái)了。

“Quick, let’s get some wet paper towels,” said Judy, springing into action.
“快點(diǎn)兒，咱們弄點(diǎn)兒濕紙巾來(lái)?！敝斓弦贿呎f(shuō)一邊馬上開(kāi)始行動(dòng)。

After vigorous rubbing, my name still remained.
不管怎么使勁擦，我的名字依然留在黑板上。

“I think I saw a can of cleanser by the sink in the coat room,” I said as I raced to find it. Precious minutes were ticking away.
“我想我在更衣室的水槽邊看到過(guò)一罐清潔劑，”我一邊說(shuō)一邊跑過(guò)去找到了這罐清潔劑。珍貴的時(shí)間一分一分地溜走。

We rubbed and my name came off all right, but in the process of removing it, we left an abrasion on the chalkboard.
我們擦呀擦呀，終于把我的名字徹底給擦掉了，但是在擦洗的過(guò)程中，我們?cè)诤诎迳狭粝铝艘恍K磨損的痕跡。

Listening for footsteps coming down the hall, we dried the scrubbed area as much as we could with more paper towels and fanned it with a book to remove every tell-tale trace of wetness.
聽(tīng)到了大廳里傳來(lái)的腳步聲，我們盡最大的努力用更多的紙巾把擦過(guò)的地方弄干，還用一本書(shū)把任何可能泄密的濕痕扇干。

We were just slipping into our desks as the bell rang and the other students began entering the room. The teacher walked in soon afterward.
我們剛剛溜回自己的座位，鈴聲就響起來(lái)了，其他同學(xué)也開(kāi)始進(jìn)屋了，老師隨后也走了進(jìn)來(lái)。

Mrs. Eiffler never asked about abrasion and maybe never noticed it. But I did. Every time I walked past the marred surface of the chalkboard, I remembered. Oh, how I remembered.
艾夫勒夫人從來(lái)也沒(méi)有問(wèn)過(guò)黑板上那塊磨損的地方是怎么回事，可能從來(lái)也沒(méi)有注意到。但是我注意到了，每次我走過(guò)黑板上那塊被損壞的地方，我就會(huì)想起這件事，噢，我記得是那么清楚！

The lesson I learned that day is one I never forgot, even though over forty years have passed since the event. “No one will ever know” is never true. Even if no one else found out, I myself knew. Sometimes living with a guilty conscience is punishment enough.
即使是在四十多年后的今天，我也無(wú)法忘記那天我所得到的教訓(xùn)?！皼](méi)有人會(huì)知道”是永遠(yuǎn)不可能的，即使其他人真的沒(méi)有發(fā)現(xiàn)，我自己心里也清楚，有時(shí)候，遭受著良心的譴責(zé)已經(jīng)是最大的懲罰了。