最后的機會

安落實

Rachel Pettingill. As Truman trudged1） home from school， he repeated the name in his head. Throughout third grade， and the year before， Rachel Pettingill had earned the highest science grade in the class. The truth was， she scored highest in every subject.

Truman was used to being second best to Rachel. "But science is my thing，" he declared to a stop sign. Truman's parents were scientists， and he would be a scientist. That was just a fact. And somehow， with only one week and one assignment to go before summer， he and Rachel were tied2）. Dead even3）. To .nish on top4）， his last report had to be great. It had to be better than great.

The subject of the project was beehives5）. Truman's class had studied bees for three days， so he was ready. But， as his teacher Mrs. Lawrence had explained， to earn an A+， he needed a "new angle".

Truman pushed open the front door to find his four-year-old brother， Bryan， sprawled6） on the living room rug， hard at work. Paper towel tubes were all over the floor. Bryan leaped to his feet. "Truman， help me build a city！"

"I'd like to，" Truman shrugged， "but I have to do a report on beehives and—"

"Can I help you？" Bryan begged.

"I don't think so， Bryan. Sorry."

Truman went to his room， dropped onto the bed， and studied the ceiling. Rachel's report would be pretty ordinary but perfectly executed and accompanied by one of her incredible drawings. Truman had to come up with something great， but what？

"Truman？" Bryan poked7） his head in.

"Bryan， I said I can't play with you now." Truman tried not to sound mean. His brother could burst into tears at the hint of an unkind word.

"I know where there's a beehive." Bryan smiled.

"Where？" Truman sat up.

"In the wood pile by the garage."

The boys marched to the pile of firewood. Bending down， Bryan pointed out the hive deep inside the pile. Truman took off several top layers of the stacked wood and carefully removed the hive from its hole. "You got it！" Bryan shouted.

Back in his room， Truman sat at his desk， turning the fragile hive under a lamp. It smelled like old leaves. Each cell8） was a perfect hexagon9）. How did the bees fit the cells together so neatly？ And how did they make each cell six-sided？ Could they count？

"Boys， dinner's ready！" his mother called.

All through dinner， Truman struggled to keep cool. If his parents found out he was working on a science project， they would run around pulling out books and volunteering ideas. He wanted to beat Rachel without their help.endprint

As he carried his plate to the kitchen， his father called， "Truman—it's your night to do the dishes."

Truman's heart fluttered10） as he cleaned the plate. If he didn't think of something soon， his chance to beat Rachel would be lost ... maybe forever. The thought of it made his stomach hurt. As he turned around to put the butter into the refrigerator， his foot came down on something with a crunch11）.

"Truman！ You're destroying my city！" Lost in thought， Truman hadn't seen Bryan settle in behind him with a mess of paper tubes.

"Get your stupid tubes out of here， Bryan！ I'm trying to .nish the dishes！" Truman blurted.

Bryan began to cry. Loudly. He gathered an armful of dented12） tubes， threw them under the running faucet13）， and ran sobbing into the living room.

Truman sighed and gathered the dripping tubes in both hands. As he held them over the wastebasket， they suddenly reminded him of something. The beehive！ Looking closer， he noticed the tubes were arranged with one in the middle， surrounded by six others. Truman tore open the drawer near the sink， grabbed a handful of paper clips， and clipped the tubes together. As he suspected， the soggy14） center tube formed a hexagon， just like the cells of the hive. Just to be sure， he tried five and then seven surrounding tubes， but neither way fit. Six was the only number that worked.

"Bees don't count to six，" he said aloud. "They just build round tubes and stick the sides together. The cells have to be six-sided."

Truman ran to the living room and threw his arms around his brother. "Bryan， you did it！ I've got my angle！" he gushed15）. "And a real beehive. And now I can build a model beehive with your tubes！ I mean—if it's OK with you."

"Well ..." Bryan pulled away， still snif.ing.

"You can help me glue them，" Truman offered. Bryan smiled and began picking out his .nest tubes.

Rachel Pettingill didn't stand a chance.

蕾切爾佩廷吉爾。當杜魯門拖著沉重的腳步從學校走回家時，他在心里一直默念著這個名字。在整個三年級以及二年級期間，蕾切爾佩廷吉爾的科學課成績都是班里最高的。實際上，她每門課的得分都是最高的。

杜魯門已經(jīng)習慣了排在蕾切爾后面充當?shù)诙??！暗茖W是我的強項?！彼麑χ粋€停車標志這樣宣稱。杜魯門的父母都是科學家，所以他也會成為一名科學家。這就是事實。然后不知怎的，再過一周完成一項作業(yè)就要到暑假的時候，他和蕾切爾打成了平手，簡直就是勢均力敵。杜魯門要想最終勝出，那他的最后一個報告就必須要出彩，就必須要更勝一籌。

這次課題的主題是蜂巢。杜魯門的班級已經(jīng)研究了三天的蜜蜂，所以他已經(jīng)做好了準備。但是，正如他的老師勞倫斯太太之前所說的，要想得A+，他需要有一個“新的視角”。

杜魯門推開前門，發(fā)現(xiàn)他四歲的弟弟布賴恩正坐在客廳的地毯上忙活著。地上到處都是紙巾筒。布賴恩一下子跳了起來。“杜魯門，幫我造一座城吧！”

“我倒是想幫你，”杜魯門聳聳肩，“但我得做一個關于蜂巢的報告，而且——”

“我能幫你嗎？”布賴恩懇求道。

“我覺得不能，布賴恩。對不起?！眅ndprint

杜魯門回到自己的房間，癱倒在床上，盯著天花板。蕾切爾的報告雖然會十分普通，但寫得堪稱完美無缺，而且還會配上一張她那令人驚嘆的配圖。杜魯門必須想出一個絕妙的主意，但那是什么呢？

“杜魯門？”布賴恩把頭探進來。

“布賴恩，我說了現(xiàn)在不能跟你玩?！倍鹏旈T盡量讓自己的話聽起來不那么刻薄。哪怕有一個字眼讓弟弟覺得不友好，他都會放聲大哭。

“我知道哪兒有蜂巢?！辈假嚩魑⑿χf。

“哪兒？”杜魯門坐了起來。

“在車庫旁邊的木柴堆里?！?/p>

于是，兩人便奔赴那個木柴堆。布賴恩彎下腰，指向了木柴堆深處的蜂巢。杜魯門拿掉堆放在最上面的幾層木頭，小心翼翼地把蜂巢從它的洞里移出來。“你拿到啦！”布賴恩喊道。

返回自己的房間后，杜魯門坐在書桌前，在燈下翻轉輕脆的蜂巢觀察。這東西聞起來就像是枯爛的樹葉。每個巢室都是一個完美的六邊形。蜜蜂是怎樣把這些巢室如此整齊地排列在一起的？它們是怎樣使每個巢室都有六個邊的？難道它們會數(shù)數(shù)嗎？

“小家伙們，晚飯好嘍！”媽媽喊道。

整個晚飯期間，杜魯門竭力保持鎮(zhèn)靜。如果他的父母發(fā)現(xiàn)他正在研究一個科學課題，他們就會忙活起來，不是翻出各種書籍，就是主動提出各種意見。他想在沒有他們幫助的情況下打敗蕾切爾。

他端著自己盤子往廚房送時，爸爸喊道：“杜魯門，今天晚上該你洗碗了。”

杜魯門一邊清洗著盤子，一邊心怦怦直跳。如果他不能盡快想出主意的話，他將失去打敗蕾切爾的機會……也許永遠都沒有機會了。光是想到這個就讓他的胃難受。就在他轉身要把黃油放進冰箱時，他的腳嘎吱一聲踩在了某個東西上。

“杜魯門！你把我的城毀了！”杜魯門剛剛想得太出神，都沒有看到布賴恩拿著一堆紙筒在他身后安頓下來。

“把你這些破紙筒從這里拿走，布賴恩！我好不容易要洗完了！”杜魯門脫口而出。

布賴恩哇哇大哭起來。他攏起一堆被壓扁的紙筒，把它們扔到了嘩嘩流水的水龍頭下，然后抽泣著跑進了客廳。

杜魯門嘆了口氣，雙手撈起那些滴水的紙筒。就在他把這些紙筒拿到廢紙簍上方打算撒手扔掉時，突然之間，它們讓他想起了某個東西。那個蜂巢！仔細一看，他注意到了那些紙筒的排列：有一個紙筒在中間，被另外六個紙筒包圍著。杜魯門拉開水槽附近的抽屜，抓了一把回形針，將那些紙筒夾在了一起。正如他所猜測的，中間浸了水的紙筒形成了一個六邊形，就像蜂巢的巢室一樣。為了確信他的猜測，他嘗試了在中間紙筒周圍放上五個或七個紙筒，但都不合適。六個是唯一奏效的數(shù)字。

“蜜蜂不會數(shù)到六，”他大聲說，“它們只是建造圓形的蜂筒，然后把各個面粘在一起。這樣一來巢室就必須得是六面體?！?/p>

杜魯門跑到客廳，一把摟住了弟弟?！安假嚩鳎阕龅嚼?！我找到我的角度了！”他滔滔不絕地說，“還有一個真正的蜂巢?，F(xiàn)在我可以用你的紙筒建造一個蜂巢模型啦！我的意思是——如果你同意的話?！?/p>

“嗯……”布賴恩掙脫身子，還在抽鼻子。

“你可以幫我把它們粘到一起?！倍鹏旈T提議道。布賴恩笑了，開始挑選他最好的紙筒。

蕾切爾佩廷吉爾沒有取勝的機會了！

1. trudge [tr.d.] vi. 步履艱難地走，費力地走

2. tie [ta.] v. 打成平局，不分勝負

3. even [.i.vn] adj. 均等的；輸贏機會相等的

4. on top： 成功；領先

5. beehive [.bi.ha.v] n. 蜂巢

6. sprawl [spr..l] vi. （懶散地）攤開四肢坐（或躺）

7. poke [p..k] vt. 使……伸（或探）出來

8. cell [sel] n. （蜂房的）巢室

9. hexagon [.heks.ɡ.n] n. 六邊形，六角形

10. .utter [.fl.t.（r）] vi. （心）怦怦亂跳

11. crunch [kr.nt.] n. 嘎吱作響

12. dent [dent] vt. 使產(chǎn)生凹痕，使凹陷

13. faucet [.f..s.t] n. （水）龍頭，閥門

14. soggy [.s.ɡi] adj. 濕透的

15. gush [ɡ..] vt. 夸張地表達，感情充沛地說endprint